Sample Letter to the Editor
To the editor:
Recent headlines revealing the ailing health and clinical obesity of pro-meat consumption diet guru Dr. Atkins has come as a shock to many. The Atkins diet had, in recent years, single-handedly restructured the diets of many Americans—shifting them away from eating healthy fruit and vegetables to a more meat-centered menu.
But all those who used Dr. Atkins’ endorsement of a meat-centered diet as free license to ratchet up their consumption of animal protein across the board should now take a second look and wonder why, if the Atkins diet is so sound, did Dr. Atkins himself suffer from such ill health at the time of his death?
No one should be surprised that a high fat, cholesterol-laden diet centered around meat consumption is hardly optimal for human health. Medical doctors have been telling us for years to increase our intake of vegetables and fruit. From the time we were tots, our own mothers have been imploring us to eat our veggies. The reason is simple: a vegetarian diet is the best for our bodies.
Happily, the healthiest diet—one that focuses on high-fiber fruits and veggies—is also the most humane one. Eating more plants is not only better for our health, but it takes a load off the environment as well. Animal agriculture is incredibly taxing and polluting to the environment, especially in recent years, as ‘factory farming’—the concentration of thousands of animals into long, enclosed sheds—has taken over the industry.
Dr. Atkins’ diet wasn’t just bad for his health, it was doing a number on our ecosystems as well. Health-oriented individuals should steer clear of the Atkins diet. It doesn’t do the animals or our planet any good—and it sure didn’t do Mr. Atkins any good either.
Resource websites such as www.vegforlife.org offer nutrition information on the Atkins diet and a vegetarian diet options.
Sincerely,
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