Hello Mark.  You might get mistaken for a troll by some others, but your
questions are not too emotionally loaded and diplomatically (mostly)
phrased so I'm going to treat you like a real person who is asking an
honest question or three.  Unfortunately you've chosen a subject that
will push a LOT of buttons here, so expect some smartass replies.  Some
are just a.sholes, but most are just a little oversensitve.

maradcliff@aolNOSPASM.com  burbled across the ether:

Seems so.  But it's still doable, especially if you allow yourself dairy
and seafood.  If you don't, you can still get protien from soy, quarn,
tofu, etc.  Therea are a couple of vegitarian lowcarb pages in the FAQ.

Actually, I am not intending to use the diet, and

Read the Atkins website for the basic information on what the diet
entails.  Please read PAST the induction phase to get the whole picture.

I also suggest checking out several of the other lowcarb plans.

I also wonder if

No.

Anyone that seems to promote one

He promoted real food.  Fresh food.  Meats, dairy, VEGETABLES and FRUIT,
and most importantly (the media always focuses on the the protien
instead) quality fats.  The only thing he had a bias against was high
starch and sugars and overly processed foods.

I found a biography of him

Perhaps he didn't have any.  In any case I'm sure the PCRM (Physician's
Committee for Responsible Medicine --please read up about these scum
here: http://www.activistcash.com/) would have found any "dirt" or
anything that could be twisted into "dirt" and published it by now.

Argument from authority.  Just because they are doctors doesn't make
every word they utter holy writ.  Most doctors have less nutrtional
education than your average 13 year old.  Most have been brainwashed by
the lowfat meme anyway.  And it is a meme.  There is no real science
proving that lowfat does anything like the claims made for it.  Even
after 30 years of trying.  If you care to read the actual publication of
data on lowfat as compared to the SUMMARY (which is what usually gets
quoted in the media) you'll start seeing a major discrepancy between
what the data says and what the researchers 'conclude' from it.

Please go here and read real medical studies done in real research
institutions run by real scientists.
http://www.lowcarbresearch.org/lcr/results.asp

They state that there is usually

Weight loss is weight loss.  That is always a good thing.

If you go back to eating the way that got you fat, you'll get fat again.
This is true of any diet.  This is why Atkins (or any other lowcarb
plan) is not a diet.  It is a permanent change in the way you approach
food.

and the side

Pure lies.  No more dangerous than lowfat or lowcal, and in my opinion
far less dangerous.

Read the literature.  Don't rely on the media, nor especially
nutritionists or dieticians, damn few of which have actually read any of
the lowcarb plans or use the brains they were born with.

Two good books on the subject are Laura Richard's "The Secret to Low
Carb Success" http://www.lowcarbsuccess.net/ which gives an overview of
the various plans, and Lyle McDonald's "The Ketogenic Diet"
http://www.thinkmuscle.com/articles/mcdonald/bio.htm which delves into
the science behind lowcarb-- and I do mean delve.  Then there is also
the asdlc FAQ http://www.grossweb.com/asdlc/faq.htm.

Good for you.  So do we ASDLCers.   ;)

You don't. Just try eating less and exercising more until you adopt a
sensible way of eating.

High protein, low carb.  Emphasize high-protien foods, reduce fruit
consumption, emphasize salad greens, avoid bread and pasta.  No ice
cream, no pies, no cookies, no cakes. Cut the sugar from your diet.

My boyfriend is a "pescetarian" - he eats fish and seafood but is
otherwise vegetarian. That makes things much easier, because I can always
make some sort of fish/seafood meals.

When he's on his own, though, he doesn't cook much besides eggs (and he
won't eat canned fish), so his protein comes mostly from eggs, dairy,
nuts, and soy products (unfortunately, not tofu, but those highly
processed fake meats - vegetarian sausage, burgers, etc.) I'll eat those
once in a while, but I have serious doubts about how healthy they, so I
don't eat them often.

We never did "Atkins" specifically, and neither of us had enough weight
to lose to ever restrict our carbs drastically - we usually tried to get
at least 60g per day, so there was plenty of room there for us to include
some  beans, lentils, grains, etc.

To do REALLY low carb would not be easy for a vegetarian, and even harder
for a vegan. The challenge, of course, is be getting enough protein
without going over the carb "limit", since vegetable forms of protein are
going to have more carbs than animal forms. Additional calories could
always be provided by vegetable fats.

Like most diets, you can choose to eat wisely or poorly. And like most
diets, if you "go off it" and go back to your previous eating habits, the
weight won't stay off. Some people do "low carb" by eating bacon
cheeseburgers without the bun, eating highly processed "low carb"
versions of otherwise high-carb foods, etc. Others do it by eating
vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, lean meats, and other nutritious
"real" food.

Bravo for you. I would imagine that if you did want to lose weight, you'd
probably only need to eliminate the snack foods.

I know plenty of vegetarians who eat an incredibly poor diet - like a bag
of chips and a Diet Coke for breakfast. It seems to me that a vegetarian
who is eating fresh, natural foods and avoiding sugars and processed
foods, is not going to be too likely to have a weight problem. Even if
they're eating a lot of carbs, they would also be getting a lot of fiber.
Of course, eating very high amounts of both carbs and fats can result in
an awful lot of calories, which is why it's probably easier for a
vegetarian to be on a low-fat diet rather than a low-carb diet.

I don't think it matters what kind of a diet you're on (if any), or if
you're vegetarian or not - eating highly processed foods is going to pack
on a lot of calories compared to eating 'real' food. That is just as true
for low-fat diets as low-carb diets. And ultimately, the studies I've
seen is that over time, the most important factor in any weight loss diet
is the amount of calories consumed. Low-fat diets suit some people
better, and low-carb diets suit others better. It's important to make the
lifestyle change that works for you, because it IS a lifestyle change. I
do FAR better and feel much healthier on low-carb - but that's very
likely because when I was doing low-fat, I was attempting to "fill up" on
breads and pastas. Knowing what I know now, if I went back to a "low fat,
high-carb" diet, I would probably be just as successful, since I would
make different choices, and still avoid the bread and pasta - instead,
I'd be eating whole grains, legumes, starchy vegetables, etc. But that's
one of the big advantages of a low-carb diet and why it has become so
popular - it pretty much forces people to stop eating the foods that were
causing the weight gain, controls the cravings caused by wild swings in
their blood sugar, and keeps them more "satisified" with what they eat.
For many people, this makes a permanent change in their way of eating
easier, so they're more likely to stick with it.

You could read the book or the website. :-)
Now, to what I suspect is the crux of your question:

"Almost all other doctors" do not disapprove of this way of eating.
The ones who do don't know what this way of eating is supposed to be:
healthy fats, healthy complex carbs, healthy protein. Pass a typical
day's menus past any doctor and they'd say it is healthy. Of course
there are those who say they are doing Atkins but aren't. If you want
to know what Atkins is, and isn't, read the book.

Well of course he was paid by the beef industry. How else can you explain an
all-meat diet? <rolling eyes>

LCing since 12/01/03-
Me- 265/223/140
& hubby- 310/244/180

Tofu, eggs and cheese (unless you're vegan), nuts, protein powder, green
vegestables, perhaps legumes (after induction. Red lentils have the best
protein content).