Colette Heimowitz Discusses Changes At Atkins Nutritionals (Episode 167)
14 08 2008If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Hello and welcome back to another in-depth look at the evolving world of low-carb dieting at the only diet and health program you can count on twice a week to bring you quality interviews with the news makers and shakers who are helping people change their lives for the better. It’s The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show With Jimmy Moore!
Today, Jimmy follows up with the folks at Atkins Nutritionals regarding the concerns that some listeners have had about the company distancing itself from the late great Dr. Robert C. Atkins’ core principles. You may have seen their recent marketing campaign and web site relaunch boasting of “lean protein” and “healthy whole grains.” Since none of this kind of language lines up with what most of us associate with the Atkins diet that Dr. Atkins share for three decades, Jimmy wanted to get to the bottom of it and speak with a representative from the Atkins company for himself to ask the tough questions.
Atkins Nutritionals spokeswoman Colette Heimowitz, who is the only remaining employee at the company from the days of Dr. Atkins, was delighted to share a conversation with us explaining the new marketing perspective Atkins Nutritionals is using, the reasons behind it, and why it really isn’t a change in anything other than reminding people about positive aspects of the plan that are often overlooked.
Colette also shares information about what has happened at Atkins Nutritionals following the emergence from bankruptcy two years ago, some familiar names on the new all-star consulting team, and what features will be re-introduced at the Atkins Nutritionals web site. As a bonus, listen in for the best reason to consider going off Induction!
If you wanted to know what is happening at Atkins Nutritionals right now, then here’s your chance to get the full scoop straight from the horse’s mouth. As always, listen and ENJOY and leave us your comment below or by calling (206) 202-6516 anytime and leaving your spoken message.
LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 167
- Official Atkins Nutritionals web site
- The All-New Atkins Advantage: The 12-Week Low-Carb Program to Lose Weight, Achieve Peak Fitness and Health, and Maximize Your Willpower to Reach Life Goals
- Atkins Advantage bars
- Atkins Advantage Caramel bars
- RELATED BLOG POST: “Heimowitz: Atkins Nutritionals A ‘Much Stronger Company’ Post-Bankruptcy”
- RELATED BLOG POST: “Atkins Bankruptcy Means Nothing Regarding Future Of Low-Carb”
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From over 400 pounds to 230, Jimmy Moore is 
So, all we have to do now is convince Dr. Ornish that more “good” fat is fine, and we’ll all agree, right? This has me sputtering. Other than the passing mention of butter, this program is now closer to the South Beach diet. The lines between all the various plans are now completely fuzzy. Forgive me if I babble. The new website has the new plan, and it spawns more questions. Yep, there are still 4 phases, but start at any one of them that you think will do the trick. Lean protein? Does that include ribeye steaks? Chicken skin? Cheese? The benefits of fat are ignored or downplayed on the website. They talk of “good fat,” with a passing mention of butter and coconut, but most people will interpret “good fat” as mono- or polyunsaturated fats. Where’s the bold proclamation that all natural fat is GOOD for people? Why is it skimmed over like a dirty secret? This is the problem we face in everyday life, having to defend the eating of fat and usually giving in or letting it drop. My mother has finally decided to try to stick to Dr. Bernstein’s program for her diabetes, and her blood sugars have dropped. She’s taking half the insulin she had been and has lost a few pounds. But she was at the foot doctor’s the other day and she mentioned that her blood sugars were down, and he was encouraging until she mentioned “low-carb.” Immediately he said that he hoped that she wasn’t following Atkins because her cholesterol levels would go up and yadda, yadda, yadda. She meekly said, “Oh, no, I’m eating good fats.” ARRRGGHHH! If no one ever tells these health professionals exactly what they’re doing to achieve weight loss and better blood sugar levels, how will they ever know the truth? And now Atkins Nutritionals is trying to skirt around the same issues to keep everybody happy. Why are they so concerned about others’ mistatements regarding what the Atkins plan is all about? So they change the plan to shut the ignoramuses up? No bad vegetables? Apples? Cherries are OK? I recall seeing Dr. Atkins on a talk show where he refused to eat a grape. The idea that we have to increase our carb counts to “get used” to them is ridiculous. I thought I understood Dr. Atkins position that metabolically challenged people could never go back to higher levels of carbs. Now we can as long as they’re not refined?? They are straddling the fence to win the approval of the mainstream instead of making the mainstream see the truth. And to endorse the “whole grain” business just panders to the perception by the mainstream that we need them for health. Talk about ignoring science! This plan, at the higher end of the carb range, with the whole grains (and then we have to reduce the fat, if we eat more carbs), is simply the old Weight Watchers program! Grass-fed beef is great if you can find it and afford it. What if you can’t? Regular ol’ ground beef won’t do the job? The focus on health instead of weight loss is nice, but the underlying message is that permanently reduced carbs levels is not healthy, and that eating higher levels of carbs is (along with less fat). No wonder Dr. Ornish is confused about what we all agree upon.
If Atkins isselling out, I’ll no longer recommend to my friends that they try it. What’s the point?
Fortunately, there is still Protein Power. I think the Eades have too much integrity to pull this crap in the interest of getting more people to buy in to it.
Jeanne, we can still recommend to our friends that they read Dr. Atkins’ books. And caution them to ignore the commercial venture that bought the right to bear his name. Here’s a comment I wrote for “The Fat Fight Goes On,” a post on TierneyLab, a blog of the New York Times.
Excellent point and one I wasn’t aware of. I still refer to the classic Dr. Atkins books myself and will continue to recommend them to my friends.
Yes, it’s important to distinguish Atkins the awesome low-carb diet from Atkins Nutritionals who promotes products. I’m not saying the products are necessarily bad, but the marketing of the diet by the company that sells those product is dead wrong IMHO!