These nutrients make up 50 percent of many diets, according to the Atkins Diet Web site. The diet works off the idea that a person who wants to lose weight must drastically reduce this 50 percent, but that's not healthy, Harris said. First, our body requires certain nutrients and uses these nutrients from food. The high-protein diet suggestions are in contrast with most health groups in the country, that recommend 55 to 60 percent of calories as carbohydrate and about 10 to 15 percent as protein. The letter included, the false promises are also caught up short for being based on anecdotes and unpublished testimony rather than hard proof.
Carbohydrates are detrimental because they secrete a hormone, insulin.
Insulin is a crucial hormone that helps transfer sugar from the bloodstream to the body's cells, where it's used to fuel all of our activities. This important element is being decreased through high-protein diets. Aside from high-protein diets, weird food combinations can alert a person that the diet may not be the best way to achieve a healthy lifestyle. Diets promoting weird food combinations or avoiding certain food groups should set off warning bells, Harris said. Diets that emphasize foods high in protein, which are often also high in cholesterol and fat, are harmful to the heart.