Atkins Empire is Collapsing

- Roger Mason

     

The ketogenic lifestyle has finally peaked and is falling like a rock. People are tired of bad breath, sour body odor, digestive problems, lack of energy, constipation, high cholesterol and every other problem caused by this high fat insanity. Never underestimate the stupidity of the American public and the average Boobus americanus.

By the time 2004 ends, sales of low carb products will exceed two billion dollars. 2005 will be a much different matter. In the last six months the flagship of the low carb lifestyle, Atkins Nutritionals, saw a one third drop in sales. Atkins Nutritionals had to write off over fifty million dollars worth of unsold and expired low carb, Sucralose filled crap that nobody wanted anymore. How can anyone think “Indulgence” ice cream is actually good for you? Did you ever try low carb pasta, low carb beer, or low carb bread? They lost almost sixty million dollars just in the second quarter of the year. What did they lose in the third quarter? What will they lose in the fourth quarter of 2004? For such a supposedly successful company why did they have to borrow almost a third of a billion (that’s billion with a “B”) dollars from the mega-giant banker Goldman Sachs? Rumors abound that they may be in default on their mind boggling debt payments.

Chris Donnelly, an executive at Standard & Poors said the Atkins Company was operating on a very thin margin and was liable for default. They need revenue of $30 million a quarter just to keep their heads above water. Revenue fell from a healthy $87 million in January of 2004 to only $29 million in August and God-only-knows how much it has fallen by now. 2005 will be a disaster for them. We can only pray they go under.

Another big player was the morons at Keto Foods in New Jersey. They put out 110 different low carb products and have already stopped making 75 of them. After Christmas that number may be up to 110 products they stop making. The chief executive actually admitted, “We’re in terrible financial condition right now.” Give the man an A for honesty.

Intelligent people eat brown rice, whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, whole grain breakfast cereals, oatmeal, corn, all the various beans, and other nutritious natural foods instead of taking “carbs” out of their life. Anyone who uses the word “carbs” is telling you their intelligence level. Twinkies® and oatmeal are both “carbs”, but have almost nothing in common. Chocolate bars and corn on the cob are both “carbs” but have almost nothing in common. The words “carbs” and carbohydrates” are basically meaningless since they refer to any food with carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The accurate term “whole grains” is verboten of course.

A study by NDP marketing group found that popularity of the ketogenic diet had fallen more than half just from February to November of 2004. In fact, they found “virtually none” of the people they surveyed cut back on “carbohydrate foods” as Atkins recommended. Have you noticed that the dollar stores and liquidation stores (like Big Lots) are full of keto foods now? The retail stores just can’t sell them anymore. The companies that make this foolishness are either losing money or going out of business.

What does the average person mean when they say “carbs”? They really mean donuts, cookies, cakes, pies, white bread, white rice, white flour, white pasta, sugar, and desserts in general. Of course these things should be completely taken out of your diet. Americans eat almost no whole grains with the exception of maybe oatmeal for breakfast. Restaurants serve almost no whole grains, especially those grease pits we call fast food restaurants. It’s very hard to find whole grain products in the grocery stores and only small sections are devoted to natural foods.

Always remember the word ketogenic comes from “ketosis” which is a disease state where excessive ketones (like acetone- which is a paint thinner) are in your blood. Anyone who bases their diet on a disease state is prima facie nuts in the first place.

Americans already eat about 42% of their calories from mostly saturated fats. This is the main reason we generally have the highest disease rates in the world. The healthiest way to eat is to get less than 20% of your calories from fats and from vegetable sources. Low fat equals long life.