Alright, I know that everyone must be ready to fight me on this but hear me out for a second.

I will give you this: I agree that low carb diets work for a VERY short period of time. That's the key. All those low carb diet products out there focus only on the fact that this program does work but they leave out the part about very short time, specifically 2-3 weeks, if even that long. Usually, for most people, they only work for about a week or two. Rarely have I ever heard anyone say, in complete honesty, that low carb diets work for longer than 2 weeks.

The one good thing about low carb diets is that it forces you to cut out foods that you should be avoiding in the first place. Things that are banned in low carb diets are definitely candy, ice cream, chewing gum and high-starch vegetables, which can be eaten very occasionally. Those are always good to avoid based alone on the high starch or carb content in these foods. So that's the one redeeming factor here.

The rest of the story is definitely not so great! For long term efforts, low carb diets do nothing for your weight loss goals. Instead of burning fat and losing weight, your body is doing something that seems totally alien to us but is completely natural in your body's healthy functioning.

For those who (for some reason) stick with low carb diets for the long term, the body will attempt to balance out the acid build up in your blood from all of the protein this diet tells you to eat. There is so much excess protein (everything in moderation, I say) that it can leech calcium from your bones and cause acid build up in your blood. The body's natural reaction is to balance everything out and keep it on an even keel. The medical term for this is osteoporosis! Clearly, this is a bad effect directly influenced from low carb diets.

Even if that is a result that is specifically for women, here's something that will apply to everyone. The human brain uses tons of nutrients in his normal functioning, glucose being one of them. Yes, you've heard of glucose before; it's a simple sugar, which is basically a carb. When you eat a low carb diet, you're basically depleting your body of glucose. So basically, low carb diets can negatively affect your brain's normal functions, something none of the low carb diets advertise.

I'm not completely anti low carb. I definitely think that low carb diets have its place, usually only in the first week of a new nutritional plan. And I don't deny the results that do come from it, both good and bad. But my argument is completely for what is the best way to lose weight and low carb diets used for the long term is absolutely NOT the best way to lose weight; it's not even a good way!

Low carb diets should ONLY be used for your first week of a new nutritional plan. And successful nutritional plan should, must, include a healthy diet balanced between proteins, carbs, fats and fibers and it should also incorporate an exercise regimen. While eating healthy will help you lose weight, exercising will put your results nearly over the top. There is no reason NOT to exercise. Even if you don't start of exercising because of your weight, once you've lost that weight, you absolutely should exercise! To lose weight, you can't get better than a great healthy diet plus effective exercising!