The Adventure is Over

My doctor did a routine physical for me a couple of months ago. My blood pressure was up to 140/90, with cholesterol skimming around the 250 marker.

Despite all the reassurance in the Atkins book that this diet would not adversely affect either of those numbers, plus the fact that I had not been actively following the Atkins plan ever since starting to teach at the New York Summer Music Festival this past summer, these numbers put the permanent brakes on the Atkins Diet Plan for me forever.

My doctor informed me that the best way to treat high blood pressure and high cholesterol was to:

1. drastically increase cardio exercise
2. drastically reduce animal fats in my diet
3. reduce salt in my diet
4. reduce caffeine
5. lose weight
   

I may be simply drawing unfounded corroberations here, but my cholesterol didn't jack up past the 200-mark until AFTER trying out the Atkins Diet a few years back. Though granted, I had been eating astonishingly poorly for quite a few months, exulting in gorging on the ballpark food at Shea and Dodger stadiums, New York Pizza, and home-broiled T-bone steaks. And of course the incredible oyster sashimi at the Sushi House of Taka, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Okay, it may not be at all due to the Atkins Diet that my BP and Chol were suddenly lousy. it could simply be due to my bad eating habits and utterly sedentary lifestyle. maybe . Possibly.

But my doctor certainly recommends laying off the steaks, butter, chicken skin, pork rinds, and other Homer Simpson foods. Which conveniently are all Atkins-approved. So farewell, Dr. Atkins and your radical approach to nutrition, eliminating all highly-processed sugars and grains from one's diet, and thusly removing much of the joys of eating!

Adios Atkins Adventurers. I thought it was fun ... but I think I was sadly mistaken.

Keisuke Hoashi
Retired Atkins Adventurist