Crud. Not only did the Herald not publish my letter, they sent me a really stupid response too. Read on if you want to see the exchange.My Letter:
As an Atkins dieter myself (and twenty kilos lighter because of it), I’d like to say thanks for your great even-handed article. Unfortunately Mr. Matthews got one fact glaringly wrong – the Atkins plan does NOT instruct dieters to eliminate all carbs from their diets. This is impossible. Instead you are urged to reduce your daily intake of carbs to 20 grams for the first two weeks, after which you start increasing gradually. Atkins’s detractors (who rarely seem to have read his books) often imagine that we eat nothing but steak and eggs at every meal. Trust me; even at 20 grams you can still eat several cups of vegetables a day… You just can’t have them in the form of a salad sandwich.
Their Reply:
Many thanks for the information. The article came from a UK newspaper. The column accompanying it did make the point it was a low, rather than no-carb diet.
How crappy is that? I was responding to this direct quote from the article: “To trigger this effect, Atkins dieters are instructed to begin by eliminating all carbohydrates from their diet, forcing their bodies to get energy by burning up fat reserves instead.” It clearly says “all”. That’s a MISTAKE, and it’s exactly the kind of MISINFORMATION that leads to knee-jerk negative reactions. Grrr. I might have to send them another message.
grandpa_joe
October 25, 2003 — 2:28 pm
Stick it to them. Newspapers hardly ever admit they are wrong (which they often are, human error and all that) unless you are a celebrity with a several hundred thousand lawyer at your beck and snip. Power to the peeps, as the man did say, though it wasn’t Mr Atkins.
Steve
October 25, 2003 — 3:13 pm
I’m not surprised. The high-and-mighty communists at the Silly Morning Herald don’t let journalistic ethics get in the way of provoking knee-jerk negative reactions. Make the switch to Murdoch. Yay Capitalism!
Kris
October 26, 2003 — 9:18 am
Ugh, bastards! They did publish an Atkins letter, just not mine. Mine had actual information in it! This one’s just some guy going, “I did it. It worked.” Well duuuuhhhhhhhh.