lol Claire you're clever!
If anyone suggests that it will do damage to your liver, always ask this question: 'what did cavemen eat?'. The answer is whatever they could hunt, scavenge or forage! Basically that means, meat, fish, eggs, nuts, berries and green vegetation, the very things we are allowed. Ask them why the human race didn't die out of kidney/liver disease when people couldn't go to Tesco for a low fat bagel. Agriculture has only existed for a very small percentage of our time on this planet and yet that small percentage is supposed to override millions of years of human development? There is a growing group who make the choice to live the 'paleo' lifestyle (think slightly more extreme version of Atkins maintenance!).
As for muscle loss a lot of diets will make you lose muscle, even weight watchers and the laughable slimfast. Your body has two fuel systems, glucosis and ketosis. When you're in glucosis that produces insulin which keeps fat in your cells so when your body needs extra energy because you're not eating enough, that insulin stops your body burning your stored fat and it needs to burn something. Conveniently protein can be coverted to glucose to it breaks down muscle as well as fat.
On Atkins, in ketosis, you're eating high fat, there's no way you can't be unless you're eating protein powder out of the tub. That trains your body to burn fat and as there is no insulin (insulin is pure evil to us) your body can easily access your fat reserves and burn those! What it was intended to be used for. There are 8 hormones which help you lose fat and only one which prevents you from losing fat and helps store fat. INSULIN. So those high carbs diets are producing the one hormone we want to avoid at all costs.
