The Atkins diet under the knife

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It's the diet that sounds too good to be true - you can eat bacon and eggs, juicy steaks and sumptuous roasts all cooked in slabs of butter. For the Mirabito family, following the controversial Atkins diet has had amazing results.

By following the low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet, the family say the kilos have simply melted away.

Between Colette, her husband Joseph and son John, 16, they have lost 73kg in a little more than a year.

"I don't think of it as a diet. I just think of it as a life plan that's working for me," Mr Mirabito said.

"It's the only diet that works for me and I love it because I can stick to it," Mrs Mirabito said.

"I eat plenty of steak, chicken, heaps of cheese and cream, lots of fatty foods - it doesn't matter, I still lose weight," John said.

Ian McMillan also has had amazing results - he lost 24kg in just four months.

"It's changed my life greatly, both with work, social," he said.

"I'm sure everyone can associate if you've gone through a major weight loss - it just feels great."

After years of being knocked by heart specialists, the Atkins diet has been shown to have some surprising results, according to a study by the American Heart Association (AHA).

Funded by Atkins and conducted by Duke University, the study followed 120 volunteers for six months.

Half the volunteers followed the AHA's recommended low-fat diet and the rest followed the Atkins eating plan.

Those on the Atkins diet lost 14kg, compared to a loss of 9kg for those on the AHA's diet.

In terms of heart health the results were even more startling.

Triglycerides (unhealthy fat in the blood) dropped by 49 per cent for those on the Atkins diet, compared with just 17 per cent on the AHA's diet.

On the Atkins plan HDL, the good cholesterol, went up by 11 per cent while there was no change on the AHA's diet.

"My cholesterol was always normal and it stayed normal," Mrs Mirabito said.

"My triglycerides were very high and they've halved and they're well within normal range now."

It's good news for carnivores everywhere but how do you sell such a decadent diet to the world's fattest country?

NBC's current affairs program Dateline put their own reporter Josh Mankowitz to the test.

Within two weeks he had lost 5kg and in one year he shed 21kg.

But Doctor Rick Kausman says high-fat, high-protein diets in the long term are a waste of time and can be detrimental to your health.

"Irrespective of what carbs do to people's bodies, that's not the reason why people are becoming over their most healthy weight," he said.

"The world research shows that any sort of weight-loss dieting doesn't help people to achieve and maintain their weight and for a number of people it can increase the risks of a range of other medical problems."

But after 30 years of battling the bulge, the Atkins plan is the Mirabito family's dream.

Fat is no longer their enemy but their friend.

"I've tried most of the low-fat diets and the Weight Watchers and the other ones that come up in the magazines and a lot of the time I plain can't stick to them. But even the ones I do stick to, I'm just not losing the weight on," Mrs Mirabito said.

"We're proud of what we've achieved and hopefully we can also help other people."

For more information about Dr Kausman's weight-management plans visit www.ifnotdieting.comDr Atkins' book, Dr Atkins' New Diet Revolution, is available from bookshops. For more information visit http://atkinscenter.com''Disclaimer
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