"Biography" profiles Atkins, the anti-carb doctor

With the season of mandatory gluttony staggering to an end, many Americans are determined to shed a few pounds, and perhaps a few dozen after that.

Multitudes will turn to the teachings of the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins, who maintained that we could eat every cow and pig in the pasture and still lose weight. The trick is to skip the carbohydrates.

Tonight, A & E explores the life of the late doctor in a friendly profile at 10 p.m., on "Biography."

When, in 1970, Vogue magazine published a piece about his low-carb diet, there were a million requests for copies. He turned the article to book length. In 1972, he published "Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution," becoming the patron saint of carnivores — and the scourge of the American Heart Association, which believed his diet would launch at least a million heart attacks.

He responds by pointing out that the real outrage was that "Fruit Loops and Pop Tarts get the American Heart Association's seal of approval."

The program follows his fall from grace and then rejuvenation when he revised his "Diet Revolution" in 1992.

A 2002 study by Duke University found that his diet not only helped people lose weight, it also cut their bad cholesterol levels.

Atkins died in 2003 after falling on ice and hitting his head.

He says near the show's end that humans who follow a sensible diet, such as his own, should easily live 100 years, and perhaps 120.