Nor was [Atkins] particularly generous to his imitators. While he always gave credit to an article from the Journal of the American Medical Association for setting him on the low-carb path, he in turn spawned a number of similar diet designers who strove mightily to carve out their own niches. Atkins did not seem to welcome the "Protein Power" couple, Barry Sears of "The Zone," the "Sugar Buster" docs from New Orleans, or Suzanne Somers -- whom his agent referred to as "yesterday's bimbo." (Somers, however, credited Atkins in her latest low-carb cookbook, and kindly noted that his heart attack last year was related to an infection and not to the diet.) He seemed to regard the others as straying from the true path that he had charted.

The medical profession -- wedded to a low-fat, calorie-counting mantra -- has still not entirely embraced a regime that emphasizes meat, eggs and cheese and disdains bread, fruit and carrots. The high level of fat allowed by Atkins has been thought to be bad for your heart, and the high level of protein bad for your kidneys. Eating so few carbohydrates will cause the body to cannibalize itself, to eat muscle and not fat, say the critics, and ketosis -- the state in which your body is burning fat for fuel -- could cause brain damage. But the medical profession has also been unable to prevent the American people from turning into a nation of blimps, so its credibility is not necessarily the greatest on this subject.