LOS ANGELES—Promises of a slim slender figure in just a few weeks, whilst feasting on unlimited portions of red meats, cheeses and other fatty animal foods, is a godsend to most diet obsessed individuals who struggle to beat the bulge whilst keeping their hands off the steak knife. But does a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, commonly known as the Atkins diet, really work? And if so, at what cost to our health?

Protein is first and foremost a cell builder. It is essential in the process of repairing and building new muscle cells vital for growth and is found naturally in milk, cheese, nuts, eggs, meat and fish. High protein foods derived from animal fats are naturally high in cholesterol and saturated fats, and as part of a balanced diet this is no problem as the body receives adequate energy levels and has the ability to break down and utilize its components accordingly. However when the carbohydrates, with its complex starches and fibers, are lost from the diet and replaced with significantly higher than normal levels of protein, and with it the fats from the animal products, the body is more at risk. Effectively, the Atkins diet works, perhaps disturbingly so, because an entire food group is removed from the diet. Furthermore, on a low-carb diet the body does not receive enough calories and so is forced to burn fat. It produces keytones as a by-product which can cause nausea, stomach cramps, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and bad breath amongst other complaints. Keytones also curb the appetite so effectively that people following the Atkins diet will be less hungry; therefore, less food portions are eaten than those on a normal diet.   

The press surrounding the book "Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution" has not always been plain sailing and has become increasingly rocky in recent years. According to the American Kidney Fund (AKF) and researchers at the University of Connecticut, high protein diets are known to place enormous amounts of strain on the kidneys, which can lead to chronic kidney disease and eventual kidney failure.

Everyone from the American Heart Association, to the American Cancer Society and the American College of Sports Medicine seem to oppose the Atkins diet. It contradicts all of what the health professionals stand for, with unhealthy fatty foods replacing natural food such as fresh fruit, vegetables and cereals. The lack of a balanced and varied diet is responsible for a nation struggling to cope with increased cases of cholesterol, heart disease, cancer and kidney problems.

It seems that we are often blinkered into believing what the diet fad wants us to believe, for a quick fix in getting thin in an image-obsessed society that will stop at nothing to create an ideal diet that, let’s face it, will never exist. Fatty, sugary and salty foods are always going to litter our shelves and call out for cravings to tempt us from the fruit bowl, and none of these will ever aid us in losing weight in a healthy way. Balance is key. We must learn to listen to our bodies, and feed them according to our individual physical needs. For centuries food was part of the survival mechanism and yet now we live in a nation obsessed with getting thin regardless of the cost to our health. It’s high time we all woke up and ate normally again, without labeling our foods into the category that Atkins fed off. Money maker it may be, healthy and sustainable it definitely isn’t.