The Key Into Ketogenic Diets :: Health Fat Weight Loss Dieting Essays

The Key Into Ketogenic Diets Come on now...we have all done it. You know the feeling. You are walking down an aisle in the supermarket craving â€Å"bad†. Instead of going for the Oreo cookies you feel are loaded with fat, you opt for the Snackwells Fat Free Devils Food Cake Cookies and feel like you are a saint for making the least harmful choice. You feel great...that is until you get home, open the package, eat one cookie, then two...then in a matter of minutes the whole box has been consumed. But you think, its not that bad...no fat!!!! But, what about everything else in that box In the last couple of decades, dieting trends have astronomically increased. The average dieter has trained his or her ears and eyes to react to the word ‘fat’. Low fat, reduced fat, fat free- these are all words that until recently have set alarms off ringing in the typical dieter’s head. Recently, new vocabulary, such as ketogenic, ketosis, and low carbohydrate have stepped into the dieter’s world and questioned, or rather challenged, the ‘fat’ free method of dieting. So, after you have devoured the entire box of ‘fat’ free cookies perhaps you will ask yourself....WHAT ABOUT THE CARBOHYDRATES Ketogenics...Low-Carbohydrate...Ketosis...what does all this mean? Ketogenic diets, often called low-carbohydrate (low carb is slang), seem to be the latest diet trend. There are many different forms, all varying in different degrees. Ketogenic diets focus primarily on the limited intake of carbohydrates in the food pyramid. In order to clearly understand ketogenic diets, one must start with the basics-what are ketones and where are ketones found and produced What are ketones Ketose is any sugar that contains a ketone group. Ketone bodies are the normal physiological defenses in starvation. Ketone bodies are normal products of lipid and pyruvate and found within the liver. When an impaired or absent carbohydrate intake occurs, the body increases its production of ketone bodies and metabolizes them as an energy source. Ketogenesis, which is the production of ketone bodies occurs in ketogenic diets, resulting in a ketotic state( Miller-Keane 1997). So, â€Å"when the requirement for glucose cannot be met by other means, the tissues of the body rely increasingly on ketone bodies as an energy source† (Volpe 1983).