Walk into a Barnes and Noble or Borders and undoubtedly you will run into a table solely devoted to diet and nutrition. Filled with books claiming that you can eat more and lose more or ensure that following simple guidelines will reduce your pant size, there is quite a lot of information to take in. However, many of these diets hold empty promises and lack actual health value.

“Although the low-carbohydrate diet is still a popular fad diet, its use has drastically declined over the past months” said Marilyn DeMuth-Nakamoto, a registered dietician and counselor with the University’s Nutrition Services, a division of University Health Service. “It was a ‘fad’ followed feverishly for a short period of time, but not lasting as a lifestyle.”

Below are four different diet plans promising quick weight loss, and why you should beware of their claims.

The Atkins Diet

The Atkins diet focuses on cutting out carbohydrates from meals and suggests eating foods that are high in protein, according to “Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution” by Robert C. Atkins. In turn, many of these foods have a higher fat content. While OK for short-term weight loss, the Atkins diet can become dangerous if dieters keep up high fat consumption over a long period of time. One study done by Tim Crowe, a reseracher from the Deakin University Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research, came to the conclusion that low-carb dieting is not the correct way to lose weight. “Serious complications such as osteoporosis, kidney damage, cholesterol, cancer, heart rhythm disturbances and sudden death can all be linked to long-term restriction of carbohydrate foods.” Crowe said.

Other problems with this diet, according to Atkins’s book, are symptoms some followers have reported, including the shakes, fatigue, lightheadedness, headache, leg cramps, irritability and cold sweats, all due to sudden carbohydrate withdrawal.

The South Beach Diet

This diet is also based on a low-carb lifestyle, yet not as extreme as the Atkins diet. South Beach is broken down into three phases, beginning with no carbs, and then slowly re-introducing good carbs back into the diet, according to “The South Beach Diet” by Arthur Agatston. The book comes with an easy-to-follow guide, complete with meal plans, recipes and lists stating what is acceptable to eat and what is not in each phase.

This diet does have its good side. While it seems that carbs are now being seen as the most evil food group on the planet, this diet emphasizes that not all carbs are bad; some are good and should be kept in your everyday diet.

However, many meals recommended on this diet are highly involved and hard to keep up with, practically impossible for a busy college student. Additionally, while many have succeeded on this diet, others find it hard to transition through the phases and simply get stuck in the first stage, which cuts out all carbohydrates and can be harmful to your health. This stage does not allow for any fruits, which are an important part of a healthy diet. Following stage one too closely and for too long can lead to disordered eating.

“I was on South Beach for about two and a half months and at first it was easy, but once I stopped, it was really hard to get back into it,” LSA sophomore Elizabeth Hunt said. “The main problem was I had no energy, making it harder to work out, which really is the best way to stay fit.”

The Abs Diet

Consisting of a six-week plan, the Abs Diet promises a flatter stomach through special dieting and exercising. The key to supposed success on this diet is to eat six meals a day, all based on 12 groups of foods (almonds, green vegetables, eggs, lean meats, to name a few), allowing yourself to cheat one meal a week and participating in at-home workouts displayed throughout the book, “The Abs Diet” by David Zinczenko. A downfall of this book is its singular focus toward male readers. Because this is only a six-week plan, there are no significant findings as of yet on long-term effects.

The Zone Diet