I thought that few people actually believed in this diet, but I guess I’m very wrong. The Atkins diet is becoming popular enough that several major restaurants are now advertising Atkins approved menu items. Over the weekend, I saw TV spots for Subway’s new Atkins approved items and this morning I caught an ad for TGI Friday’s new Atkins approved menu on ESPN.com. And when they say Atkins approved, they mean it… items are endorsed and approved by Atkins Nutritionals, Inc..

I guess it’s easier for these companies to hop onto a fad diet program (especially one which seems so easy to follow… “Eat all the fat you want!”) than to encourage moderation which would, of course, hurt profits. The menu choices for the Atkins items are pretty amusing, too… Subway gets rid of their signature bread (remember those ads about fresh-baked in the restaurant bread?) and turns to wraps instead. TGI Fridays turns instead to, well, common sense by removing the side of French Fries in their approved items. They replaced it with broccoli, though, which means they just lost George H W Bush as a customer. It just makes me wonder why people don’t just cut the french fries out, period (or at least only have em once a week or something) and just eat a moderation of bread?