Rating: 
Summary: Offers valuable information on how to eat properly
Review: For someone who was brought up believing that the way to dietary health and happiness was to avoid red meat, eggs, butter and saturated fats, and to load up on complex carbohydrates and use margarine, Dr. Atkins' ideas are indeed a revolution. In an incisive and extremely confident style, Dr. Atkins sets out what he believes are the components of a healthy diet for those of us past, say, fifty. First, "eat foods low in carbohydrates and high in antioxidants" (p. 277). These would be especially vegetables like kale, carrots, spinach, broccoli, etc. Second, eat natural fats and oils from butter, meat, fish, eggs, nuts and olive oil, and avoid all "trans fats" or highly processed fats in general. In fact, avoid highly processed foods of all kinds. Third, supplement your diet with what he calls "vitanutrients," i.e., vitamins like A, B, C, E etc. and minerals like zinc, calcium, etc., hormones like DHEA and melatonin, etc., and food supplements like ginseng, ginkgo biloba, etc.Atkins himself is a medical doctor who practices alternative and complementary medicine. He is an enterprise himself with his many best-selling books and his Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine. When I first heard about him and his all protein and vegetable diet some years ago, I figured he was the charlatan author of yet another fad diet, and I ignored his books. This one is the first I've actually read, and I must say immediately that he is certainly not a charlatan. He is obviously a man who knows as much about diet as anyone could hope to know. Whether he is entirely correct in his ideas is not something I am incapable of assessing; but I am willing to bet he is mostly right. He has had an enormous experience treating patients, and it is encouraging to note that as a medical doctor he tends to write relatively few prescriptions. He even warns of the harm that can come from the use of commonly prescribed medicines and their side effects. The most important claim he makes about ageing is that it is primarily caused by free radicals and that a diet high in antioxidants can reduce the number of free radicals in our bodies. His central idea about diet is that it is not fats that are the enemy of health for people in the industrialized world (as we have so long been taught) but carbohydrates, especially highly processed ones. This is indeed a revolutionary idea, or at least it was when it was first expressed some years ago. Fat people are not fat because they eat too much fat. They are fat because they eat too many carbohydrates. When you think about it, especially from the point of view of evolutionary biology it suddenly makes enormous sense. What was it in the prehistory that we humans never had enough of to overindulge on? Not meat, and for many cultures, not fat, but carbohydrates. There were no fields of amber grain waiting to be harvested and made into flour and bread. There were no rice patties or acres of potatoes. Humans could fell a mammoth or an elephant seal once in a while and load up on meat and fat until they were sick of it, but there is no way they could have eaten enough wild wheat or barley to get sick of it. The sheer caloric expense of harvesting low-yield natural grains by hand prohibited any overdosing. It wasn't until the rise of agriculture about ten thousand years ago that we ever had enough of a carbohydrate to call it a staple of diet. Consequently, we are to some extent carbohydrate intolerant. This is an idea absent from popular books on nutrition twenty years ago, but a staple of the wisdom today. I like the way Atkins explains how we came to this delusive state of dietary affairs in the first place, and how that delusion is maintained. The culprits are the mainstream medical establishment and the U.S. government working hand in hand to further the interests of vast agribusiness corporations who want to maintain a high public consumption of trans fats and highly refined carbohydrates. When you think about this, it also makes sense. I also like how specific Atkins is. He names the foods and the vitanutrients and gives the amounts. He tells you how to work with your doctor (who, alas, may not be up on all the latest information) to put together a program for your specific needs. If nothing else, by reading this book you'll know how to ask some tough questions about diet and health that your doctor will have to respond to. Agreeable too is the sardonic tone he takes with the medical establishment. For example on page 194 we find, "...Vitamin E enhances immunity. This has been a well-known fact among complementary practitioners for years, but perhaps now the information will trickle down to mainstream medicine, where this sort of knowledge is badly needed." However, although the text is as readable as one would expect a popular book to be, especially with all the unavoidable abbreviations and acronym-filled detail, there is more than a little repetition. Additionally, Atkins and his assisting writer, Sheila Buff, have an annoying (to me) habit of beginning a chapter by telling the reader what they're going to say, saying it, and then telling the reader what they've said. On the other hand, that might be good; and anyway, who am I to second guess someone who has reached as many people with his books as has Dr. Atkins?
Rating:
Summary: Atkins seems to have reviewed some of his extreme views
Review: Having read Dr. Atkins "New Diet Revolution" and "Omega Diet" I now feel as if Dr. Atkins is taking back, in a sense, some of his extreme views on things. Sure this is a book about a diet to defy age, but he's certainly showing himself considerably more open to eating fruits (the healthy ones of course) and the idea that not all fats are created equal (Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids concept, touched in extensive detail in the book "Omega Diet"), which happened to be the two things that bothered me the most about the "New Diet Revolution." The book also gives a very detailed account about the role played by all antioxidants (natural and supplements) and vitanutrients needed to defy aging. I have made it my reference book when it comes to eating and living healthily.
Rating:
Summary: Atkins seems to have reviewed some of his extreme views
Review: Having read Dr. Atkins "New Diet Revolution" and "Omega Diet" I now feel as if Dr. Atkins is taking back, in a sense, some of his extreme views on things. Sure this is a book about a diet to defy age, but he's certainly showing himself considerably more open to eating fruits (the healthy ones of course) and the idea that not all fats are created equal (Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids concept, touched in extensive detail in the book "Omega Diet"), which happened to be the two things that bothered me the most about the "New Diet Revolution." The book also gives a very detailed account about the role played by all antioxidants (natural and supplements) and vitanutrients needed to defy aging. I have made it my reference book when it comes to eating and living healthily.
Rating:
Summary: Will get you thinking about your diet!
Review: Heard DR. ATKINS' AGE-DEFYING DIET REVOLUTION,
written by Dr. Robert C. Atkins . . . he is the somewhat
controversial doctor who people seem to either love or
hate--but whose methods work . . . in fact, a friend
recently told me how she lost 60 pounds by following
his advice! I'm not interested in losing any weight, but I am trying
to reduce my cholesterol . . . and I wanted to
find out how Atkins said this could be done, while
eating a diet high in fats . . . also, like all of us, I'd like
to live longer and feel better. Atkins cogently points out that:
* Whatever causes today's heart disease epidemic was not
there eighty or more years ago. Heart attacks are a modern
phenomenon that occurs in Western cultures. * Cleave's Rule of Twenty Years warns that whenever refined
carbohydrates become a major addition to a culture, two
diseases begin to emerge twenty years later: diabetes and
coronary heart disease. * The rule of blood lipid levels most likely to result in a heart attack is the combination of high triglycerides and low
HDL cholesterol. * By restricting carbohydrates, my heart patients almost
always report improvement in symptoms and are able to reduce
or stop medications for heart disease, high blood pressure,
and/or diabetes. In addition, he says trans fats are "the worst" . . . these are
polyunsaturated vegetable oils that have been processed to make
them solid at room temperature--these fats are known as partially hydrogenated oils. Heated polyunsaturated vegatable oils, as you do when you deep-fry foods in corn, safflower, peanut, and other common oils, is another way to produce trans fat. . . . And of course, margarine, even the low-fat kind, is by definition nothing but a stick or tub of trans fat. Overall, Atkins certainly got me thinking about my diet, and that's a good thing . . . I'm not quite ready to adopt all that he proposes; however, I will make it a point to get more protein in my diet.
Rating: 
Summary: It was good but not much new
Review: I felt Dr. Atkins book was good, but didn't find too much new information in it. If you have his first book, you'll be set.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing book summarizes huge vitamin therapy studies
Review: I have been researching anti-aging vitamins and herbal supplements for about 3 years and I've read 14 books on the subject. I subscribe to 3 newsletters and 3 magazines on the topic. This single paperback book summarizes 90% of what I learned and provides specific dosing recommendations. It is a huge time saver for people seeking to reduce the effects of aging on their bodies. Using techniques similar to ones in the book, I lost 50 pounds and kept it off for 5 years and cured my recurrent sinusitis, sore joints, and horrible allergies. This stuff works!
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Summary: Thankyou Dr Atkins
Review: I heard stories of people losing lots of weight on this diet, and then one day I started doing some research, on USENET. I expected to find a large group of people complaining that they couldn't lose weight, but instead found people who had been very successful at losing weight. If they can do it, I can do it. I also figured that there were many times in my life that I ate a very bad diet, such as pizza 7 days a week. How could this be any worse than that? The complaints that people had while on the diet were fairly minor. For each bad side effect however, they offered solutions, such as taking calcium supplements and fiber supplements. By following their recommendations, I had no problem on the diet, and was never hungry. I did feel sick sometimes when I broke down and cheated on the diet. When I talk to friends, they go on about how unhealthy the diet is (suddenly everyone's a nutritionist). but in all the research I have done, I have been unable to find any references to any studies that showed it to be unhealthy. Doctors and nutritionists claim it is not healthy, but have no proof! I went straight to the experts on this one. I spoke to people who had tried the diet and succeeded at it. usually people who fail either do it wrong, or give up after a week. It took me about 3 months to lose the weight but it is now gone! Ignore the journalists, and ignore anyone who did the diet for only a week, and ignore doctors who have no experience with it. Get your advice from people that have done the diet for a few months. There are a lot of them out there.
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Summary: The Dr. Atkins Age Defying Diet Revolution
Review: I must say that anyone, who has tried this diet and failed, did so because thay didn't follow it correctly. I have been using the plan from Atkins other book New Diet Rev. and have lost 50 pounds in three and a half months. This new book teaches about healthy herbal supplements that further increase energy and well being. If you are a person who has tried one of the propaganda diets from someone who adheres to what everyone else says, then try this one. At least it comes from a man who is brave enough to go against the establishment, which I must say has failed to help anyone be happy eating lettuce or to lose weight, and show his plan which is backed up by researchable medical facts to the world .
Rating:
Summary: I AM ALIVE BECAUSE OF THIS
Review: I started this program on my own DEC 28 2001, today Feb 5,2003 I am 206 lbs lighter. I was given the ultimatum to loose it or die. I weighed 450lbs I have lupus,congestive heart failure and a pacemake/defibulator in my heart, diabetes,severe sleep apnea,high blood pressure, I was bedridden. I decided to live. On my own instead of having surgery I started the diet, it was easy to follow and I was never hungry. I am now healthy, lupus is in remission, no sign of my diabetes, BP is normal, no trouble sleeping,no more chairs, I sleep in bed-flat with no machine. I look and feel wonderful and haveno trouble maintaining.
Rating: 
Summary: Persuasive Facts not Hype
Review: I've been eating "health foods" and taking nutritional supplements for 40 years due to the advice of my grandmother who had a long and vigorous life and was years ahead of her time. Many well-known scientists, among them Linus Pauling, have written of the devastating health affects caused by diets high in refined flours and sugars. I had never had to watch my weight until about 5 years ago. I started using a low-fat diet and was exercising (I've always been active) like a fiend. I had a horrible time keeping my trim figure, and even though I eventually did lose weight, my body fat was higher than it had ever been. A friend suggested I try the "Sugar Busters" diet, which I did with great results. Then I found this book and was ecstatic to discover a thoughtful and convincing guide that addressed both my interest in nutritional supplements with my desire to eat a healthy diet, and keep off the fat! I recommend this book highly, and will continue to use it as my dietary "bible". As a side-note: take a look at the difference in sugar content between the regular and low-fat versions of many pre-packaged foods. You may be as amazed, and angered as I was to discover that the food processors are making up for the bland taste of low-fat products by cramming them full of sugar.
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