"Fad" diets such as the low- carbohydrate diet, meal replacement shakes, and pills designed to speed up the metabolism may have some beneficial qualities. However, it is a respected idea among many professional dietitians that the best ways to maintain good health are to eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and most importantly, be consistent.
According to Bettina Newman, the low carbohydrate diet has been around since the cave men. However, the first known history of the diet was recorded in the 1920s. The diet was used to treat those with intractable epilepsy. Forty years later, Dr. Robert Atkins popularized this "diet revolution" for individual weight loss. In the 1980s and 1990s, many variations surfaced: the Scarsdale Diet, The Zone, Sugar Busters, Protein Power, and the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet. .
Today, the most popular of these is The Atkin's Diet. There are four stages a person will advance through if followed properly. The first, "induction", jump starts the body into a metabolic state known as ketosis, making the body consume its own excess body fat at unimaginable speeds. During this stage, one can eat only 20 grams of carbohydrates a day. The Second Stage is "OWL," or " ongoing weight loss." One will stay at this stage for as many weeks as it takes to reach the goal weight, each week adding 5 additional grams of carbohydrates. The third step is "Pre-Maintenance." This step aids in helping keep off the weight by adding 3 or 4 20-gram snacks a week, so that the final weight loss will be slower. And finally, "lifetime maintenance" helps maintain the goal weight by restricting the caloric intake to 40-100 grams per day. With the "remarkable" short-term results and the lowering of hunger levels, has aided in this diet being known as the "ultimate miracle diet.".
It can be notably argued that the low-carbohydrate diet not only lacks long term results, but is also nutritionally unhealthy.
