Interview With Robert Atkins - Part 2.

(From CNN News)

Byline: Larry King

ATKINS: That can't be really because such a high percentage of people, we're talking about 99 percent of people, go on our diet and succeed with it. And this means that just about every blood type is included in the group that succeeds on it.

KING: Warren, Michigan, hello.

CALLER: Yes.

KING: Go ahead.

CALLER: Hi. I wanted to know -- I know you can eat eggs and protein on your diet. Why not any milk?

ATKINS: Well, milk has got lactose in it. Whenever you hear a word with ose, that's a sugar. So there is sugar in milk. And that's...

KING: Skim milk, too?

ATKINS: More so. Skim milk has even more because it doesn't even have cream in it. So cream is about the one thing that the cow puts out that doesn't have carbohydrate.

KING: If you would have -- you don't have cereal, do you?

ATKINS: Well, there are low some carbohydrate cereals now.

KING: You put sweet cream on it?

ATKINS: And I mix it with heavy cream, yes, I do, sir.

KING: It sounds.. ATKINS: Delicious.

KING: It sounds fattening. Oh, it's delicious. What's better than sweet cream, man?

ATKINS: OK. KING: But, you see, if it is that good it can't be good for you, right?

ATKINS: It is pretty good for me.

KING: OK. I'll buy.

ATKINS: Helps my tennis.

KING: Branchville, New Jersey, hello.

CALLER: Hi, Dr. Atkins. I was wondering if you miss eating fresh fruit?

KING: Ah-ha. ATKINS: Ah-ha. Well, I don't because I eat an awful lot of berries. Berries are on my... KING: Bluberries are a good food, right?

ATKINS: Blueberries are excellent. But then, I eat all the berries. Just this morning I had four different kinds of berries and then melon is good and then I'll have a bite of...

KING: So fruits are good?

ATKINS: Fruit is definitely on the maintenance diet. It's on the lifestyle diet.

KING: Williamsburg, Virginia, hello.

CALLER: Hi, Atkins. I'm a Weight Watcher representative and I wondered what you thought about -- do you not believe that denying people normal carbohydrates on a daily basis will eventually make them feel deprived, causing them excess frustration and even causing them to go off their diet completely because they haven't had those normal carbohydrates such as pastas and rice and potatoes and things that people really enjoy?

ATKINS: I think it's just the opposite.

CALLER: What about just eating in moderation?

ATKINS: I think when one looks at the long-term effect of people who have been on Weight Watchers, such a high percentage of those people gain back the weight, the reason being no one wants to be hungry for a lifetime. Where as with our diet, you're never hungry because you're not allowed to be hungry. You just not allowed to keep your quantities that small.

And so it's a better deal for almost…