Are low carb diets effective?

There is a huge difference between no carb diets and low carb diets. The no carb diet is where there is total elimination of all carbohydrates in everyday meals. This means that the person has to rely on fats from animal source foods as the main source of energy. This diet is particularly well suited for people who need to go on ketogenic diets, particularly a small number of epileptic children with difficult-to-cure conditions. People often mistake this kind of diet with the low carb diets. It should be noted here that the unsupervised or uncontrolled use of the no carb diet can lead to a lot of unfavorable and permanent medical conditions.

On the other hand, the Atkins diet is one of the more popular examples of low carb diets. The Atkins diet, in particular, also advocates the substitution of fats and proteins to supplement the loss from carbohydrates in the diet. Some of the basic principles of low carb diets include limiting most processed grain-based and starchy products like breads, breakfast cereals (specifically the sugar frosted ones,) pasta, potatoes and heavy rice meals. Most meat and diary products are allowable in limited portions. But the key to achieving the so-called balance in this kind of diet is to eat more foods like green leafy vegetables and raw fruits because these are high in nutrition but low in carbohydrates.

Again, there are several limitations to low carb diets. For one thing, most people who undergo such diets usually experience constipation due to the lack of fiber inherent in most carbohydrate based products like corn bran, wheat and whole wheat. Some people would need either need to eat more fiber rich foods that are not carbohydrate based like celery, green beans and prunes. In most cases though, there is already a need to add fiber supplements and laxatives to the diet in order to solve the constipation problem.

Another limitation to this kind of diet is the fact that there is an increase in proteins via the consumption of animal based products. High levels of protein in everyday meals have been linked to permanent kidney failures. For people who have had one or more forms of renal diseases (whether past or present) are especially susceptible to kidney failures while undergoing long term low carb diets. This is due to the fact that the increase of proteins means additional work for the organ in question, and since the kidneys are working more than normal "comfortable levels," a breakdown in inevitable.

Lastly, such diets like the Atkins diet has a structured program that the person subscribing to it must rigidly adhere to - and that task alone is quite difficult to do. Most, if not all low carb dieters deviate from the program more than once, and this can wreak havoc in the use of low carb diets. The makers of these diets do not make contingency measures for people who deviate. And for the people who do deviate, they are usually left to their own devices. They often swap portions, alter frequency of intake or even substitute different foods altogether in order to keep up with the program after they "cheated" a little.

The best way to lose unwanted pounds (and fast) is to find a healthy and sensible eating program that is not too rigidly structured, and at the same time affords you a more balanced food list. The Fat Loss For Idiots diet plan gives its subscribers such services without the need to drastically lower carb count or spike up protein consumption.