Better than sliced bread

Patrick Davis of the National Bread Leadership Council said that it was unclear whether the fall in bread sales was a temporary blip or indicative of a more permanent change in eating habits. The average American eats 54lbs of bread a year, barely a third of the quantity consumed by the French and Italians. But the Italians and the French are not notably obese, Mr Davis said.

I lived in Italy for over a year. They do eat more bread, but significantly less carbohydrates, especially in the form of sugar. It's hard to find proper cookies and cake over there - after all, who wants a second helping of marzipan? It also doesn't hurt that the normal portions are about one-third the size of American servings.

Finally, you can actually go and get things done by walking to the corner post, or the local farmacia. I think weightlighting is a much better way to burn fat, but Atkins is probably a lot easier for most people.