COVERT'S TAKE ON THE LOW CARB CRAZE

We get a lot of questions about The Atkins Diet and Other High Protein / Low Carb Diets. People wonder if Covert's philosophy has changed with all the new hype. The answer is NO. Here is Covert's reply:

Ah! The ghost of dieting has returned! Actually, Dr. Atkins' diet is not new - it's been around for more than 20 years. He just adds a new wrinkle every now and then and writes another book.

The Atkins Diet (and any high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet) works on one basis: calorie restriction. If you eat less than what you burn off in a day you will lose weight. It doesn't matter what combination of fat, carbohydrate, and protein. But what is that lost weight? It's probably not fat. Any time you lose weight fast, you lose mostly water and protein. That protein comes from your muscles - the very muscles you need to burn up the food you eat. You have even less muscle than when you started and less ability to use the calories that you consume. So, you gain weight on even fewer calories than before. Read my book "Smart Exercise" for an in-depth review of this process.