It sounds an awful lot like the overweight meat-lover’s dream: a diet plan that promises weight loss without giving up fats and protein. It’s the Atkins Diet, and it’s all about killing the carbs.

The Atkins Diet was born in 1972 when cardiologist Dr. Robert C. Atkins published his Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. It and subsequent follow-up books claimed to offer a diet that would allow you to lose weight without being hungry, simply through trimming carbohydrates out of your diet. Dr. Atkins also claimed that the diet would lead to better heart health, improved memory function and help in a host of other health-related areas.

First, the science behind it. By eating fewer carbohydrates, your body goes into a state called ketosis, where it begins to burn its own fat as fuel. Normally your body would burn off the carbs first, but you’re bringing in so few of those with the diet, there’s nothing there to burn. So, you burn fat, and in the process, you feel less hungry and eat less.

There are few limits on the amounts of food you can eat, and dieters will be pleased to find that foods such as meat, eggs, cheese and butter – usually first under the dieting plan ax – are all acceptable.

What you cannot eat much of is carbohydrates, particularly in the first two weeks of the diet (drastically cutting back on the carbs will kick you into the ketosis state mentioned above). After the first two weeks, your carb intake can increase a bit, but foods such as refined sugar, white bread, white wheat pasta, white rice, white potatoes and milk are off your grazing list for life.

Does the Atkins Diet work? Experts mostly agree that it does help you lose weight, but many worry about the long-term affects of restricting carbohydrates and concentrating heavily on fat and protein intake. Loss of bone, heart disease, stroke and cancer are all things that you may be at a higher risk from with this type of diet. At the very least you should get a good vitamin supplement to fill in for the fruits and vegetables that are now off your table.

And as with all diets, consult your doctor before starting the Atkins Diet, and keep him or her in the loop for as long as you’re on it.

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