Er, i don’t think that’s quite true. Atkins is based on the funda that people tend to pile up on carbs. So cut down carbs. Eat the rest. Dr.Atkins hoped that even if they eat faty foods, since people will eat them in small quantities, they will put down weight. But the popularity of Atkins brought in a truckload of precisely the foods that make one fat-cookies, ice-cream…low-carb but very high fat. Atkins has, imho, in no way contributed towards healthy eating.
As for who is responsible for obesity, i think it’s both. One can’t totally blame fast-food companies for fulfilling a need of consumers. At the same time, popular health literature has penetrated society enough for people to be careful in choosing what they eat.

Prashant - Subway was, I think, the first chain to advertise about the need to choose your diet carefully. Of course, once a while burger is what most of us enjoy.

Anya - Of course, you shouldn’t eat it for every meal but the point was that if eating it everyday for month could almost kill him, think about those ppl who eat it even 3-4 times a week..its clogging your heart slowly until it becomes dangerous like it did for Clinton. Morgan also experienced the addictiveness of fast food..Fast food companies trying to hide the unhealthy aspect of food is like tobacco companies not putting the statutory warning on their products.

Also .. AFAIK .. MAcDonalds has come up with their own documentry (to show how skewed this is) .. wherein theie representative goes on a similar diet .. eating McDs for a whole month .. but selecting her meals carefully .. eating salads and some burgers .. the whole lot. She actually LOST weight in the process.

Ph - Yup! she being a vegan didn’t help either :) but she did help in detoxifying him after his diet.

Nami - I understand the need to restrict oneself from succumbing to such fads. But you have to understand the culture you live in. If McD has been around since you were born and you have been taken to the “happy place” everyweek to play in their sandpit, you tend to associate happiness and their unhealthy food is the last thing on your mind. In their teenage years, all the cool kids hang out at the fast food place and peer pressure is such an important factor here (or anywhere) that you can’t resist.

Of course, to step back and take a conscious look at your diet is something you can always do once you are an adult but I hope its not too late then.

Ash - It takes a while to understand the amazing talents of the American marketing and advertising industry. They can sell ice to an eskimo so fast food and tobacco is no big deal. Slowly but surely, people are moving towards more healthy food, thanks to Atkins and Dr.Phil

Freegans are taking it bit too far. Picking food from the trash surely is gonna have some health issues sometime.

People need to be responsibly and actively involved in taking care of their own health.

By the way, the article on fregans was interesting to say the least. In terms of saving money and recycling, it sounds like a good idea, but the health aspect sounds suspect.