(09-30) 17:35 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
If you can't decide which diet is for you, you're not alone. Lawmakers in Congress don't agree on what you should be eating, either.
Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., said Tuesday after leading a Senate subcommittee hearing on the government's dietary guidelines that he has been impressed with what he has read about the Atkins Diet, even though he himself isn't on it.
"I like meat. I eat a lot of meat -- beef, pork, poultry," Fitzgerald said. The Atkins Diet is high in meat and low in carbohydrates.
Lawmakers are concerned about the growing number of fat Americans. The government estimates that 64 percent of adults and 13 percent of children are overweight. To address the problem, the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments are updating the nation's benchmarks for good eating habits -- the dietary guidelines and food pyramid -- to encourage people to exercise.
The 13 experts writing the guidelines have said they want to encourage fitness but will avoid endorsing specific diets since they must provide advice that is useful for all Americans.
Still, that isn't stopping some lawmakers from promoting some diets over others.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., praised the Dean Ornish program, which encourages dieters to eat more complex carbohydrates -- fruits and vegetables -- with whole grains, and cut back on meat and cheese.
"Do I endorse it? I do," Specter said of Ornish's diet. "I adopted it more than a year ago." He said it has helped his arteries remain clear of cholesterol.
Ornish, a doctor and professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, testified at Tuesday's hearing with Stuart Trager, a representative of Atkins Nutritionals, which promotes the Atkins Diet.
Except for a brief appearance by Specter, Fitzgerald was the only lawmaker at the hearing held by the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer affairs, which he chairs.
Fitzgerald said he had planned to hold the hearing under the Senate Agriculture subcommittee on nutrition, but did not get any support for it. Staff members advised against it, he said, because the Agriculture Department and the food industry did not want to discuss the drawbacks of the government's dietary guidelines.
