"Dr Paul La Chance and Michelle Fisher at the Department of Food Science at Rutgers University analized many fad diets (including Atkins!!!). They found that all were seriously deficient in vitamins, minerals, and fiber."

These studies used the researchers own objective definition of each FAD diet. Any Atkins book and even cheesey articles on the website say, over and over, to supplement your diet with a multi-vitamin (if not more) and also extra fiber. (usually cylium husks, sp?) You have to realize that the majority of doctors who do any sort of research on "fad" diets have their minds made up before the study. And honestly, most fad diets are completely retarded, but Atkins and the Zone diets have proven to be healthy. (the only way tehy can find the zone diet deficient in vitamins and fiber is if they fed everybody twinkies for their carb sources) It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a diet based on fatty meats, fats, and low carb vegetables is going to be devoid of a lot of vitamins and needs supplementation. (It is to lose weight, and it works for that purpose. Long term studies on the diet have also proven that if done correctly, it can have a lot of health benefits too, although I would never subject myself to it.) they would have taken that into account if they wanted to responsibly represent the Atkins diet, as this is *WHAT IS RECOMMENDED IN THE FUCKING BOOKS*. Nutrition is also one of the areas where most MD's have very little training in. Ask most what they recommend for diet and they'll probably repeat something off a cereal box like a parrot. I know you're zealously critical of Atkins but the guy knew his stuff, did a lot of research, and turned into a very marketable product that has actually helped people...definitely more so than crackpots like Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers.