Deal with the devil  

I knew the Atkins diet was popular, but I didn't really imagine it changing our collective eating habits to this extent:

When the Atkins diet began to take off rapidly in America last year it moved markets, especially for beef, says Charles Levitt, a senior livestock analyst with Alaron Futures and Options, a Chicago trading company. Further afield, as the diet has suddenly become all the rage with blubbery Brits, in recent weeks egg sales in Britain have grown by an unexpected 3%. “If not Atkins, then we are not sure what else has caused it,” says Peter Challands, marketing director of Deans Foods, the country's biggest egg-producer.