I know some of you reading this may already be raising your defenses because you have lost weight by cutting your carb consumption. Let me first congratulate you on your weight loss, and secondly say that this is not an anti-Atkins or anti-South Beach piece. This article is simply meant to educate readers on reality of carbohydrates, “good” carb choices vs. “bad” carb choices, what they do, why your body needs them, and how to make better nutrition choices than food company marketing efforts want you to.

The first thing to understand is that carbohydrates provide body with its main source of fuel, glucose (blood sugar), which is stored in muscles and liver as glycogen. Any muscle contraction, whether during exercise, getting out of bed, or blinking an eye, is fueled primarily by glycogen. So, for those of you engaging in resistance training, this should immediately point out fact that you need carbs for fuel in order to maximize your efforts in your resistance program. The next fact to understand is that your brain (which burns more calories than any organ in body) and nervous system can only use glucose for energy. This is why, especially in early or induction phases of carb restricted diets, dieters often feel sluggish and less alert than normal. By cutting out carbs, you are cutting off your brain’s main source of fuel.

Everywhere you look – magazine covers, print ads, radio, TV infomercials, internet – headlines like those above, promoting latest weight loss sensation, abound. They are impossible to avoid. Whether it is for latest diet craze, magic pill, or infomercial gadget, we are inundated with a large daily dose of weight-loss-made-easy promises. And these ads obviously work, as American Obesity Association estimates that American consumers spend over $30 billion per year trying to lose weight. Some estimates even put figure higher, at over $50 billion.

Every day, in quest to achieve results claimed in ads, people question which of these diets, supplements, or gadgets really work best. It is a question that can best be answered with another question: If any of these products or diets really worked, why is it that, according to Center for Disease Control, currently 65% of adults in this country are overweight? The truth is, while ads work wonderfully, products do not. Let’s face it, if any of them did what ads claim, nobody would be fat! We would all just pop a pill, or stop eating bagels, or use Suzanne Somers’ latest gizmo for just 7 minutes a day, then run out and buy smaller clothes. Have you ever stopped to wonder why all of “After” pictures in those ads have “Results not typical” stamped on them in really small print?

If these products do not work, why do we spend billions of dollars on them every year? There are a number of reasons, and some of main reasons combine to create a very compelling force which drives people to make emotional spending decisions, when logic would dictate that they should know better.

* Overweight people have often tried dozens of different weight loss programs and some become desperate for a solution. * People want to hear that there is hope. * Very clever marketing, often disguised as science, reaches these people with offer of that hope. * Given that most people do not understand science behind how body works, they are willing to believe that this deceptive marketing actually is based in science, and hope they desire can be theirs for just 3 easy payments of $39.95.

We are a society that wants instant gratification, and with a simple phone call and our credit card number, that weight loss is just a new, exciting miracle pill or best-selling diet book away.

Sadly, only thing consumers are losing is money. Let’s focus on myriad of fad diets out there. Many of you will think I am crazy for saying this, but for vast majority of people looking for long term fat loss, health, and fitness, diets simply do not work. Regardless of which book you run out and buy, in most cases calorie restricted diets, while showing short term weight loss on bathroom scale, in long term will lead to a slower metabolism and greater body fat than dieter started with.

Think about it. We all know someone on a diet. How many of those people are dieting for first time? Probably very few. Who doesn’t know a dieter who can list all of ‘great’ diets he has been on? “Oh, in ’89 I lost 23 pounds on Cambridge Diet, then in ’92 I lost 27 pounds on Scarsdale Diet, in ’95 I lost 30 pounds on that grapefruit diet, I did The Zone in 2000 and lost 16 pounds, then in ’02 I did great and lost 24 pounds on Atkins, but now I think I’m going to do South Beach Diet because I need to lose some weight.”