Low carbohydrate diets are diets that take advantage of the body's biochemistry to work. They do in fact work very well at helping dieters lose weight very quickly. A low carb diet such as Atkins, South Beach or the Zone lower the overall amount of carbohydrates and glucose (sugar) in the body. This causes a biochemical situation called ketosis to take place. If ketosis is maintained for an extended time, there will be significant weight loss.
The human body was designed to store excess calories such as carbohydrates as fat. The body did this because thousands of years ago man likely had to wait long periods of time before finding a meal. During winter months, it was possible that the fat that had been stored helped to keep man from starving. In order for a low carbohydrate diet to work, one must get around this food storage system and years of evolution. To do this, diets that are low in carbohydrates exploit this fat storage system to help burn it off.
When few carbohydrates are consumed along with very little sugar the body will begin to seek out alternative forms of energy supply. This means that once the few carbs that are eat are burned off, the body will then start to break down the excess fat. That excess fat breakdown is one of the reasons that weight loss is usually far more rapid with a low carb diet than any other type of diet. The dieter has fooled the body into burning off its own fat.
A low carb diet works very well. The induction phase that begins the process of ketosis can cause as much as two pounds of weight loss a day in that two week period. It also means that with little or no exercise a dieter can see significant weight loss and inches subtracted from their frame in a short period of time. Even when the dieter eats some fatty foods, the biochemistry of the diet will still have the metabolic processes breaking down existing fat before ingested fat.
If dieters are looking to lose inches and weight quickly they can consider the many low carb diets that are popular today. These diets are so popular because they do work very well. The one hardship on the diet is the loss of sugar (even fruit sugar) or carbohydrates. Some of these low carb diets integrate more of this than others. A low carb diet is a very fast solution to a weight loss dilemma.
To test your knowledge about low carb diets try the low carb diets quiz.
