If you're going to try the Atkins diet or something similar, it's a good idea to understand how low carb diets work, since this may help you avoid some of the most common mistakes.
It's exactly how low carb diets work that makes many people mistrust or avoid them, because of their possible bad influence on the general health condition of the body.
Among low carb diets, the Atkins diet is probably the most famous, but there are others you may have heard about, such as the Stillman diet, the Zone low carb diet, the high protein, Scarsdale, Hollywood, ketogenic diet - they all refer to the same thing, so basically, when we're looking at how low carb diets work, we'll be looking at all of those.
The principle is very simple: by reducing the carbohydrate intake, the organism is left without its source of energy, and thus it has to turn to using the fat it has accumulated as its main energy source.
There are some parts of the body that cannot use fat as an energy source - especially the brain. Because of that, the organism has to produce ketone bodies that will be used to fuel the brain (hence, the name ketogenic diet), and, in turn, this causes various side effects, starting from a specific type of bad breath (with a smell like nail varnish), to nausea and fatigue. In short, this is how low carb diets work.
What you should do, if you go on such diet, is to avoid all sources of carbohydrates - cereals, bread, pasta, rice and alcohol as well - and to increase your intake of protein (meat, mostly). Also, most such diets will allow a fairly high amount of fat in the alimentation (in the form of fatty milk, cheese and so on).
Like all fad diets, they are not the healthiest choice.
The biggest disadvantage of the low carb diets is that they force your organism to lose water and muscle tissue, instead of fat.
If you're using them for the long term, you'll feel the unpleasant side effects.
Also, if you're looking at the alimentary pyramid (any pyramid of the diet systems available today), you'll see that they recommend cereals and bread - the main sources of carbohydrates - as the base of a healthy alimentation.
Of course, some aliments are healthier than others - the whole cereals being recommended in this case, instead of white bread, popcorn and biscuits, but the idea remains, that these products are in fact important and healthy for you.
