Healthy Food

introduction

types

usesUnited States. If we continue to adhere to these nutritional practices that are partly responsible for our overweight society, obesity will surpass tobacco as the number 1 cause of preventable diseases in the country. Because sedentary lifestyles, lack of exercise, and stress also contribute to this problem, people want a quick fix to weight loss. So they naturally turn to fad diets or pills, instead of a lifestyle change, which means behavior modification. Many people feel they do not have the time and the energy to spend on changing dietary pattern; therefore the Atkins Diet is very attracting. Food is limited and everything is spelled out in a brief book. Quantity of food is not an issue; one just eats until they get full.

Eating the same foods in unlimited quantities day after day is not normal. The human body needs essential vitamins and minerals, from all different kinds of foods in order to be healthy diet. The Atkins diet simply does not provide approaite ingredients for a healthy diet ("The Atkins Diet and Diabetes").

The Atkins, good group distribution stands in contradistinction to that recommended by the USDA. The USDA recommends a diet that consists of 55-65 percent carbohydrate, 20-30 percent fat, and 10-15 percent protein. The Atkins diet completely disrupts this bction against possible complications such as dehydration, hypotension, and osteoporosis (Smith 56).

Carbohydrates are the primary source of glucose, with 300 grams of carbohydrates recommended daily. With fewer carbohydrates consumed, the body starts breaking lean body mass protein to make glucose. Glocuse is the body's main source of energy, and its made available to cells and organs by the actions of insulin. Insulin is simply a hormone-manufactured ad released into the blood by the pancreas. The insulin floats around the blood and eventually attaches to receptors on the cells. When the insulin is attached, glucose joins and is offered to the cell to be broken down into energy. This process eventually leads to an excess of circulating glucose and the high blood sugar levels that are often seen in Diabetics. In the long run the body cannot handle all the glucose (Goldberg 62).

Excess protein consumption is another major concern especially as it might affect the lover and kidney. Both of these organs are responsible for handling the protein. In the long run is that too large of a protein load will overwork them and lead to liver or kidney failure. Some experts have also raised the concern of increased homocysteine levels as a result of the increased animal protein consumption.

Homocysteine is an Amino acid that has drawn a lot of attention lately, as it's been connected