Atkins or \"Fadkins\" ? 6y Karen E. Bledsoe Biology Department Western Oregon Un
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Atkins or "Fadkins" ? 6y Karen E. Bledsoe Biology Department Western Oregon University, Monmouth,R Part- Macronutrients and Energy Two friends of yours, Janine and Mitchell, join you at lunch. During your conversation, Janine comments on Mitchell's choice of food: a small bowl of cottage cheese, a chicken salad with vinegar and oil dressing. and a glass of ice water. What, are you on some kind of a health kick?" Janine asks, as she plows her way through a cheeseburger and a basket of fries. "First jogging every morning, now rabbit food? Mitchell says. "Someone told me it's really good. And I thought I could lose "It's this new diet Im trying." some weight. From where? Janine asks, looking Mitchell up and down. As you look at your friend, you have to agree with Janine:, lanky Mitchell doesnt look like he has an ounce of spare fat on him. "Wait a minute," Janine says, "You're not on that Fadkins diet, are you? That diet where you eat all protein and no carbs? "Yeah, I am," Mitchell says, defensively. "I hear it's really good. Someone my brother knows lost ten pounds in like a month." "Dont you know those high-protein diets are bad for you?" Janine says, taking another sip of her milkshake. If you eat way too much protein and not enough carbs you can ruin your kidneys forever because of all the nitrogen you have to process breaking down the protein," Janine says. "Havent you heard that in the old days, the mountain men used to get really sick and sometimes die if they had nothing to eat but venison and rabbits and lean meat like that? And there was some high-protein, low-carb, no-fat diet back in the 7os or Sos or something that people were dying from. Besides, if your brain doesnt get carbs well, glucose, anyway-you get really cranky. You have to have enough carbs. Well, yeah," Mitchell says, "that's if you only eat lean protein and nothing else. But this diet lets you have fat, and you burn that for energy so you don't get problems like the mountain men had. See," Mitchell goes on, before Janine can interrupt him, "the thing is, carbs are like easy energy or something, so your body burns carbs when it can get them and leaves your body fat alone. If you cut down on carbs, you train your body to burn fat instead. Once you get your body trained, then you can start eating some carbs again, and you keep your weight down. Janine snorts in laughter. "Train your body to burn fat?! Like it doesnt know how already? Come on! If you're gaining weight, it's because you're taking in more calories than you're burning up. Everyone knows that. A calorie is a calorie. It's just a measure of energy in your food. If you want to lose weight, what you have to do is either cut back on the calories you take in or exercise to burn up calories-or both. But why Arkins or Fadkins?" by Karen E. BledsocExplanation / Answer
Answers Part I
2. Janine is right. The brain works on glucose, the production of neurotransmitters depends on glucose levels, if these are low there won’t be enough connections between neurons and thinking, remembering and learning will become harder. Low sugar levels are associated to poor attention and cognitive function.
3. Janine’s assumption is right again. As we discussed before, carbohydrates are the body’s main energy source, when these are not available the body turns to stored fats and uses them as energy. When the fats are broken down, ketone bodies are produced and these are hard to get rid of; to dispose these ketone bodies from the body large quantities of water are required and leads to body dehydration. Finally, when talking about eating proteins in excess these can harm glomeruli because of proteins’ large size.
4. The definition of a calorie is a measure of energy and, energy is defined as the ability to do work. So, if the label of an energy drink says it’s “calorie free” it is misleading because the calorie is what gives the energy, and, if there are no calories hence, there is no energy.
5. The human body gets its energy from anything that contains calories, like, carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
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