Jason, I agree w/ you on the Atkins. I never saw anyone on that for long periods.

However, paleo is a much more sustainable diet, granted it's only become more popular in the last few years. It's a huge component of the crossfit community. The problem w/ the Atkins is that there was no restrictions on processed foods, sugars and alcohol. BTW I don't follow paleo completely, but I do adhere more to the spirit.

If you're interested, my obsessive blogging friends write a lot about it.

http://www.fitbomb.com/p/why-i-eat-paleo.html

And his wife shows that eating this way can actually be tasty as opposed to restrictive.

http://nomnompaleo.com/

The purpose of Atkins was to lose weight. Paleo aims to have you eat better by eliminating processed foods. Will you lose weigh eating paleo? Not on it's own but you may lose weight and you'll definitely feel better.