I wanted to spend some time and take a look into the some popular diets that the American people have bought into.  It’s weird to me that we buy into diet fads just like we buy into clothing fads or bracelet fads.  The American people love fads, and the Atkins Diet is one of the biggest diets fads out there.  So here is a little background of what the Atkins Diet is all about.

The Atkins Diet in short, has you eliminate pretty much all carbohydrates for the first part of the plan.  So that means no pasta, no vegetables, no bread, no fruit, and no juice.  Later on in the program you start to introduce carbohydrates back into your diet.  The theory of the Atkins Diet, is that by dramatically reducing carbohydrates, which your body usually burns first, it will skip burning carbohydrates and go straight to burning fat, resulting in weight loss.

So does the Atkins Diet work?  Yes, it actually does work.  But if the Atkins Diet works, why is there so much controversy over it?  Let me tell you why I do not like the Atkins Diet.  The Atkins Diet is great for short-term weight loss, but bad for a lifetime of health.  By eliminating foods with carbohydrates, you are limiting yourself to all the wonderful nutrients that help your body.  With the Atkins Diet you pretty much only eat foods with protein, which includes steak, chicken, eggs, bacon, and turkey, and even though this sounds great, they are also high in saturated fat.  So even though you might lose 20 to 30 pounds, you will actually be doing damage to yourself in the long run.

Another thing that bugs me about the Atkins Diet and all popular diets is that the diets are focused on overweight people, who are already lazy and not physically active.  Even though you might lose a whole bunch of weight doing the Atkins Diet, most people never learn how to overcome their laziness, and since the Atkins Diet is almost impossible to maintain longterm, most people gain their weight back and sometimes even more weight then when they started.

Your body craves fruits, vegetables, vitamins, and nutrients, so it is not smart to deprive your body of those needs.  Obviously there are health benefits to losing weight, which the Atkins Diet can help with.  But even though you will get some benefits to losing weight, it does not meanyou will be a healthy person, or have a healthy life.