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In my role as webmistress of the Low-Carb Savvy Shopper site </plug>, I've been daily gathering articles related to low-carb diets. It's very funny, but you can immediately spot an article that came from a British publication: It almost always identifies the Atkins diet by which celebrities are on it. Here are some of the latest articles I have from British pubs:

[Glasgow] Daily Record: Celebrities such as Friends star Jennifer Aniston and singer GeriHalliwell have credited it with their dramatic weight loss. And up to seven per cent of British men and 10 per cent of women have tried it.
BBC: 'Twas not always thus. Once the humble spud was favoured by slimmers, but the remarkable rise of the Atkins diet, which is based on limiting carbohydrates in favour of proteins, is definitely down on them.
[Glasgow] Daily Record: A BUTCHER has been swamped with orders after creating an Atkinsfriendly square sausage following the celebrity diet craze.
The Independent: Though Atkins can count among its fans the likes of Catherine Zeta Jones, Brad Pitt and Geri Halliwell, the new research suggests that by far the nation's favourite dietary regime remains the WeightWatchers point plan.
The Publican: With reports claiming three million Brits are adopting the high-protein, high-fat eating programme, food-led pubs have been quick to market dishes as “Atkins-friendly”.
The Guardian: "Is there anyone who isn't on Atkins?" a colleague asked me the other day. It was an understandable question: the philosphy of the low-carb diet - promoted by the late Dr Robert C Atkins (he died earlier this year from a head injury) - is bandied about everywhere. ... Celebrities who once espoused the peaceful, natural ways of vegetarianism now unapologetically shill for the meaty Atkins way.
The Telegraph: So who was this low-carb, high-protein pioneer for what is now a multi-million pound industry that numbers among its devotees such Hollywood stars as Jennifer Aniston, Demi Moore and Renee Zellweger? And how did he discover his diet?
femail.co.uk: Nutrition experts are divided over the diet, popular with celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Nigella Lawson, Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Some say it is medically unsound and a health risk. [Includes photo of Jennifer Anniston]
The Sunday Telegraph: The Atkins diet remains controversial - earlier this month it was claimed that the diet may have been a factor in the death of a 16-year-old girl, Rachel Huskey, in Missouri - but it has been adopted by millions and been credited with maintaining the figures of stars including Jennifer Aniston, of Friends, Minnie Driver and Geri Halliwell.
The Telegraph: Dr Jebb said at the Royal Institution that the Atkins Diet, which counts celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston and Renee Zellweger among its devotees, was a "massive health risk".
The Independent ("Great for Jennifer, bad for Slim-Fast: winners and losers in the Atkins phenomenon"):
Helped by a string of celebrity endorsements by Hollywood actresses such as Jennifer Aniston and Minnie Driver, the diet is now an economic entity equivalent to the GDP of a small African country.

The American press, OTOH, simply covers Atkins because so many Americans follow it. The American stories tend to be driven by the fact that a new low-carb store is opening up in town, or that several restaurants are reporting that more & more customers are pushing the breadbasket away & asking the waitress to "Atkinize" their order.

Question: When you heard about the Atkins diet, was it because of some celebrity, or was it word of mouth from someone real?

Question #2: Who the heck is Geri Halliwell?

For decades Dr. Atkins had promoted a diet that defied common sense. Nevertheless, millions of people believed in his bizarre diet practice, and he was referred to as a diet guru. Ironically his death could now provide proof of just how dangerous that diet really is in promoting heart disease.

Dr. Atkins was operated on by surgeons to remove a blood clot to relieve pressure in his brain, on April 9, 2003, after slipping on an icy sidewalk outside his New York office, however it is interesting to note that blood clots from injuries and operations are common with people who have excessively high cholesterol. It is one of the reasons that doctors check their patients blood before an operation. Determining a safe level of cholesterol prior to an operation is critical in preventing potential blood clots and evaluating the possible success of an operation. The fact that Dr. Atkins developed a blood clot from his injury is evidence that he could have been suffering from extremely high cholesterol.

There was more even evidence to show he had unusually high cholesterol. As recently as April 2002, Dr. Atkins was hospitalized after going into cardiac arrest. He still refused to believe that this heart problem had anything to do with his diet when he stated, "...in no way related to diet."

source http://www.healthyguy.com/atkins/

(this should PO you Atkinsbots)