Will you lose weight?
Yes, you will lose weight. Just like if you starved your body of protein, fluids, all vegetables, all dairy, forms of calcium or any other of your body's major building blocks or energy sources. This is nothing new. Vegetarians have known this for years. Cut meat completely out of your diet and you will lose weight. In fact, like the low-carb advocates, vegetarians preach that everyone should follow their diet and the world would magically be a better place; Blah, blah, blah.

Questions that are ignored:
The important questions that everyone are forgetting to ask are these: Are you losing the right kind of weight? Are you doing any harm to your body? When you remove carbs from your diet the first thing that happens is you start to lose a lot of water weight; which is why when people start the diet they complain that they have to go to the bathroom all the time. Cool, so you are removing that pesky water weight, after all what good is it anyway? Shall we mention the word dehydration? If you have not doubled or tripled you fluid intake when you start the diet (I do mean 16 - 24 glasses of water a day), you can expect to exhibit signs of dehydration. These include headaches, body aches, sore joints, muscle aches, constipation, loss of energy and sometimes dizziness. But don't worry, the makers of the diets have thought of this, they suggest that you increase your intake of fiber, sports drinks and caffeine. That way you will help to mask the symptoms of dehydration.

What else happens when you stop eating/drinking carbs? Well you have to look at the food that contain carbs that are on the bad list. You cannot consume many fruits or fruit drinks (because they contain those pesky carbs), a lot of vegetables, anything but skim milk, grains such as rice & wheat, many dairy products, and of course most forms of processed or non-processed sugar. You know, many of the basic building blocks of your body that are needed on a day to day basis. Obviously if you are overweight you must have too many building blocks in your body as it is right? Well, here is the problem. The human body stores excess energy in the form of fat. Fat cells become larger as you start to store more fat. The idea behind the diet is that if you stop consuming carbs, you will deny your body a source of energy, so it will be forced to burn fat instead. Great idea. And it works well in the short term, this is why normal diets work since you decrease your food intake and the amount of fat that you eat, and increase your exercise level. With low carb diets you are not just decreasing the amount of energy that you bring in, you are starving your body of it. That should make you burn fat faster right? Not necessarily. After all, there is energy stored in your body in more places than just your fat reserves, an it is energy that is more easily accessible. It comes in the form of lean muscle tissue. That's right lean muscle burns easier and longer than fat does. So if your body is starving for carbs where do you think it is more likely to pull the energy from? The muscle tissue of course. If you are not regularly exercising, you are not telling your body that it needs to keep the muscle tissue, so it is going to shed it first. Keep in mind that muscle tissue weighs more than fat, so you will see weight loss as your body burns it away.

But what about all of the other nutrients and minerals that you stop consuming because they are part of a carbohydrate rich food source? Shouldn't your body give your you some indication that there is a problem? It sure does, you will start to lose bone density, get body aches as the muscle and connector tissues start to break down, lose energy and you can start finding it harder to concentrate. But, all of the diets have a fix for that, they suggest that you replace the missing building blocks with vitamin and mineral supplements. Calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamin A, B, C, E and several variations of each class. Basically everything that you would get if you ate normal meals on a regular basis.

Will a low carb diet kill you?
No, well; You have no more chance of dying from low carb diet than you do from any other fad diet. Let's face it. Dr. Atkins lived a healthy life for years on his diet plan. It took an icy sidewalk and a major head injury to do him in. BUT there is something to be understood by the previous sentence. Once you start a low carb life-style, you can never stop it. Because if you start back on carbs your body will crave them, and since it is used to being carb starved, it will try to convert new carbs to fat more rapidly out of fear that it will become depleted again. The Atkins diet is up front about the fact they are suggesting life changes. Of course no one ever reads the first chapter of a diet book, they jump straight to the plan, so they might miss that little bit of information.

Do I have a diet plan that will work for you?
Sorry, No. I am lucky, I have genetics on my side. Sure there is more to it than that. I work out regularly (3 - 5 times a week), I walk around 3 - 5 miles a day, I only eat when I am hungry, I only eat until I am no longer hungry (even if it means leaving food on my plate) except at Thanksgiving where I eat like a pig, I do not eat too much of any food group so I have a somewhat balanced intake of fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy products, and I only have snacks during the day when I am really hungry. Basically it works for me. If I had the end all for everyone then I would be rich and spend all of my time promoting my fad diet book. The bottom line is, we Americans eat way too much; And some people are more prone to put on weight than others. This is what I meant by I have genetics on my side. Of course it is hard for me to put on muscle mass and keep it on. That is the trade-off.

So you have decided to take the low carb plunge. If you are not planning to maintain an exercise plan or replace the missing vitamins and minerals you should be aware of the following known health risks of the diet:

• Heart Disease
• Poor Blood Sugar Management
• Dehydration and all of it's effects on the body
• Reduced renal (kidney) functions
• Stroke
• Body aches
• Bone Loss (osteoporosis)
• Insomnia
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Mood Swings
• Joint Pains
• Muscle Cramps
• Liver Inflammation
• Cholesterol swings
• Constipation
• Bad Breath

Don't forget to check out the "Eat Your Carbs" and "You Don't Eat Carbs.. How Cute" on-line stores; so you can tell the world that you eat your carbs and you are proud of it!

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