By now everyone has heard of the Atkins low carb diets. It seems you can’t go to any restaurant or fast food joint without seeing something about low carbs. Americans are always looking for the fastest way to lose weight and at this point in time, unfortunately it’s the Atkins diet.

Though what does Atkins really do? We know it means counting carbs, but how does it actually affect your body and drop the pounds?

By cutting out carbohydrates like grains, pasta and some vegetables, it switches your body from burning carbohydrates to primarily burning fat. I don’t know about most people, but I don’t like changing my body’s chemistry.

Let’s say it isn’t harmful changing your chemistry, that means a lot less carbs. So by cutting out carbs you get an excess of something else. That excess is mainly protein and by protein I mean meats.

I’m no doctor, but I’m pretty sure that the last thing anyone needs is an abundance of fatty meats. But what do I know?

What I do know is that the American Heart Association does not recommend high protein diets for weight loss. The AHA states that these type of diets restrict healthful foods and important nutrients our bodies need.

These diets can cause a quick drop in weight by eliminating carbohydrates causing a loss of body fluids. However, it also says that most Americans already eat more protein than our bodies need, and most animal products are already high in fat concentration. This may lead to coronary heart disease, diabetes, strokes and even cancer.

But enough of the technical mumbo jumbo. What really pushes my buttons isn’t the diet itself. I could care less if someone eats massive amounts of protein all the time and clogs their arteries.

What really gets me are people who think they don’t have to do any physical activity and will lose all the weight they want. God forbid someone might get off their ass and workout for a little bit.

There have been dozens of diet fads through the years, and the reason they’re called fads is because they don’t work.

If they did work and were healthy for you, then everyone would be thin, which is definitely not the case.

It seems that everyone has forgotten about the only proven way to lose weight. Staying healthy and maintaining the weight comes from a little thing you may have heard of — exercise and a balanced diet.

The AHA states that the best way to lose weight is by a healthy diet that includes a variety of foods, along with regular physical activity.

That means it’s going to take work — just like anything else you do in life — and there is no easy way out. Anything worth doing is worth doing right, and I don’t think Atkins follows that proper format.

Another reason I don’t think the diet works is that the man who invented it couldn’t even make it work for himself. At his time of death last year he weighed over 250 pounds. One would think that person who invented this plan would have made it successful for himself, but he didn’t. If the founder of this diet can’t make it work, who can?

In all honesty I have heard good things about the diet. Just look at Jared from Subway for example. All he ever talks about is their new low carb sandwich. What angers me the most is that people I know who are on it seem to think that all they have to do is count their carbs and the weight will just fall off. I guess if you follow the diet properly it will. But what happens after you get off the diet?

These diets mislead people and give false hope for those who want to lose wait but are too lazy to actually go out and exercise and follow a properly balanced diet.

Maybe I got it all wrong. Maybe the reason people go on these diets is because they see all of these slim celebrities talking about it. What they don’t talk about is the $3,000-an-hour personal trainer to work their million-dollar asses into shape.

I don’t know about most people, but I definitely don’t have that type of money to spend on a personal trainer. I doubt any average American does.

In the end I doubt anything will change. People will keep counting their carbs, in hopes of someday having a thinner self. Then Atkins will go way, only to find the newest diet craze in its place. Though maybe — just maybe — someone might realize these diets don’t work and will follow a properly balanced diet with exercise.

Though who am I kidding? As long as there are lazy people looking for an easy way out there will always be the better and faster way of losing weight, which in the end is what everyone wants.

E-mail comments to Steve at [email protected].