A grammar nazi writes:

Shouldn't that be "Hear, hear!"?. The straight dope agrees with me, at least.

And as for the Atkins thing, any diet that reduces your calorie intake (in whatever form it comes) is bound to result in weight loss.

I dunno, Jay. A diet of pork-chop wrapped duck breasts isn't sounding too bad. Maybe Atkins wasn't the complete crackpot I took him for.

I'd make a comment about how Julia Child said the simplest solution is just to eat small portions, never go back for seconds, and not to snack between meals, but, uhm, after yesterday's orgy of eating, (not to mention the last two weeks) I'm not sure I could even relate her advice with any sort of credibility.

OK, I fixed it, grammarnazi. It's a good thing you're so handsome. I suppose the next time I comfort some poor soul I'm supposed to say "Thear, thear." Ah, English orthography.

Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the south beach diet and the atkins diet? They are both "Low-Carb", correct?

Atkins and SoBe are very similar... SoBe is three phases, not four, and a little less strict about carb intake--primarily be letting you eat more fruit early. It also looks askance at the bacon-and-steak parade of Atkins--bowing more to conventional wisdom than the emerging science that natural fats in the absence of excessive carbs don't seem to pose the heart-health threat people expected. My mom and sister are on SoBe and love it, but I think everyone agrees it's highly derivative of Atkins--the doctor who invented South Beach seems to know it too, as he is defensive and rude when pressed on the similarity.

With all the meat intake, Alzheimer's/human mad cow disease(?) in later life makes you forget that you're fat or on a diet.