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I don't think anybody can dispute the fact that low-carb diets work in the short term. And studies are mixed as to whether it harms your heart significantly in the long run. But something I would be concerned about: if you're cutting out too many fruits and veggies because of their carb content, you're substantially increasing your risk for about a thousand kinds of cancer.
I don't know much about ketones and whatever else the Atkins diet claims makes you lose weight, but the main reason (not necessarily the only one) that people on low-carb diets lose weight is because they're eating fewer calories than before, and they just don't realize it. If you normally eat 2500 calories a day, and you cut back to 1500 a day, you're going to lose weight -- regardless of whether those 1500 calories come from chocolate, hamburgers, apples or bread. People like low-carb diets because the rules are pretty simple as to what you can and can't eat.
Some of the weight loss in the primary stages of the Atkins diet is water weight, as well -- you cut back on fruits and vegetables, you're not going to get as much water as you normally do and you're going to think you've lost weight when really you're just dehydrated.
There's nothing wrong with cutting back on simple sugars and stuff like that, but I think the possible side effects of the Atkins diet are just not worth it . . . I find it's a lot easier (and it'll probably be a lot healthier in the long run) just to eat healthy and go running a couple days a week.
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