Health Benefits Of Genetically Modified Diet

Improved Essays
Everywhere in America, millions of people are scrambling to find a quick and easy solution to lose weight. This comes as no surprise; according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in November of 2015 found that “In 2011–2014, the prevalence of obesity was just over 36% in adults and 17% in youth.” As a result, trends regarding diet and nutrition have come and gone; most claim that they are healthy, sustainable, and help you lose weight fast. While most dieting trends have been debunked or disproven, some still exist today, all while flying in the face of conventional healthy eating habits. However, after a year of starting the ketogenic diet and only consuming three of the five food groups recommended by experts, …show more content…
The main objective when starting a ketogenic diet is to lower the amount of carbohydrates you eat until your body goes through a process called ketosis. This is when the body changes its main energy source from glucose, which comes from carbohydrates, to fatty acids and glycerol, which come from fats. When I tell people that I eat just a lot of meat with vegetables, their eyes often widen in disbelief as they tell me that eating so much fat makes you fat. On the contrary, a study about the long term effects of the ketogenic diet in the medical journal Experimental and Clinical Cardiology concluded that “The weight and body mass index of the patients decreased significantly (P<0.0001). The level of total cholesterol decreased ... HDL cholesterol levels significantly increased ... LDL cholesterol levels significantly decreased after treatment. The level of triglycerides decreased significantly ... The level of blood glucose significantly decreased. … Administering a ketogenic diet for a relatively longer period of time did not produce any significant side effects in the patients.” These conclusions gave me exactly what I was hoping for …show more content…
The CDC has done a more recent study and amazingly, “The rate of new cases [of diabetes] fell by about a fifth from 2008 to 2014” I’m also thankful for the resources the government has provided to the public to inform us about our health and nutrition. I was surprised to learn that the government advocates a high carb low fat diet as opposed to the balanced diet I once thought it was. It makes me wonder what would happen if it was the other way around. There was also a lack of information or recognition of exercise as an essential part of health on choosemyplate.gov. In the end though, I think it’s really all about moderation, whether that be of carbs, fats, meats, or that ice cream you really like but shouldn’t have too often. Some people don’t eat meat but get a lot of carbs and nutrients from vegetables and that’s also a viable option. Personally I like eating a lot of meat, and all I had to do was replace my grains with fibrous vegetables and I was set; it’s about choosing something for you that makes your day to day life better. I think I’m going to be eating ketogenic for a long time, I won’t be changing that anytime soon. But if my eating habits become unsustainable, I’d probably start with this recommended

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    The Importance Of Dieting

    • 1736 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Staying healthy in America is becoming a serious challenge to most people; cutting down on some fat and going for a weekly physical activities to the gym could make a substantial difference in one’s life. Dieting is so important, considering the amount of carbs and calories the average American consumes each day. In fact, about 1/3 of American adults are overweight or obese, not because they don’t have what they need, but the simple fact that healthy food 10 miles away is less appealing compared to fast food chain just down the block. The simple truth? Dieting is not something Americans enjoy doing on a daily basis.…

    • 1736 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Health Disparities

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The disparity among those that are overweight multiples, causing stress on the body’s organs and puts the individual at a higher risk for more serious and life-threatening health issues (Atkins 2015). Although the complications of obesity are life threatening and have become a nationwide issue, obesity rates have continued to climb with African American women having the highest rates of obesity, that being every 1 in 2 women (Gale, 2015). Additionally, there has been a trend of obesity peaking among middle aged Americans because of the low levels of activity in the average American lifestyle. On top of that, it has been found that among other developed countries in the world, Americans tend to eat a high caloric diet, further contributing to the increase in body fat (Gale, 2015). Moreover, there are factors that one may not be able to control that contribute to an individual’s weight such as genes, metabolism, and the environment that they live in (James 2004).…

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While there are numerous causes associated with obesity, American’s diets should be addressed and focused more. According to Diller (2012), any serious public health campaign to decrease obesity numbers in the U.S. should incorporate improvements in nutritional content of the American diet. Through broad health care reform will the U.S. population’s diet and health successfully be altered (Diller, 2012). Increasing evidence is mounting that the U.S.’ method of regulating food is deeply defective (Mortazavi, 2011). The U.S. is continuing to suffer from an obesity epidemic, with child obesity rates increasing quickly at overwhelming amounts (Mortazavi, 2011).…

    • 1072 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction Benjamin Franklin stated, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure (Ringwall, n.d).” Although Franklin was referring to fire safety, the excerpt is suitable for health prevention. The objective of a preventive program is to reduce the frequency of a disorder within a population by eliminating the risk of exposure through the accumulation of strategy and regimens. Evidence proposes that effective preventive programs benefit the economy by reducing medical costs and increased morbidity. However, adoption rates of programs pose a threat to achieving such economic advantages.…

    • 1493 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After reading "How safe is the Paleo diet?", I have learned that fad diets are not the way to achieve weight loss. It was interesting to learn that even though the Paleo diet recommends fruit and vegetables to help achieve weight loss, and a lower carbohydrate consumption to lessen the chance of high blood glucose levels, there's no guarantee you will drop pounds. Besides these factors, a study conducted on mice, revealed that an increase in glucose intolerance, insulin, and extreme weight gain were inevitable. Overall, the study showed that eating a large amount of fatty foods is not favorable for your health. I was surprised with this conclusion, simply since society has generally told us that carbohydrates and sugars should be eliminated…

    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Obesity In America Essay

    • 1532 Words
    • 7 Pages

    “According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 65% of the U.S. population is overweight or obese” (Wilder, Cheskin 1). Obese is the usual term for an individual that has accumulated excessive body weight that it becomes harmful to their health. Obesity is growing at a rapid pace among Americans as well as all over the world. Poor diet choices or excessive eating can lead to poor nutritional health and in turn creates health issues that are largely preventable. Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions and is affecting a large portion of American’s, poor diet, and poor nutrition are part of the lifestyle in the 21st century but as time goes on and more Americans are plagued with obesity they become ill and develop diseases that hinder their longevity; to fight this there must be a lifestyle change, a balanced diet and daily exercise.…

    • 1532 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cyclical Ketogenic Diet

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet is not a fad diet anymore. As more and more people see the value of the diet, it is beginning to get the attention it deserves. From treating obesity to working with epilepsy, this diet has many benefits. The good news is that if you are looking for a way to lose weight and still enjoy some of those junk foods, then you have come to the right place.…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A friend of ours told us about the paleo diet and swore up and down that there was a lot of research to back up its success. We saw the endorsements and quite honestly never did any research. The one thing that bothered both of us was the large amount of fat that was in the recipes. Even though you were eliminating carbs, the increase in items like bacon and red meat bothered both of us. Shortly after we began this diet we noticed that neither one of us were feeling…

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What Is The Keto Diet? The ketogenic diet, or keto diet, is a diet plan that is high in fat, low in carbs and moderate in protein. The typical keto diet is made up of 60 to 75 percent fat, 15 to 30 percent protein and 5 to 10 percent carbohydrates. Oily fish, whole eggs, nuts, cheese, peanut butter, asparagus, carrots, spinach, cucumber and garlic are examples of some of the foods that you can eat while they are on the keto diet.…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Low carb diets cause fatigue, they cause headaches, irritability and severe mood swings. You also have a high chance of developing sleep problems on top of everything else. These diets generally result in weight gain after the initial and dramatic induction phase. The only people having success with the low carb diets…

    • 153 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Low Carb Diet Essay

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This can push you to high cholesterol and other troubles associated to a high consumption of saturated fats. Medical guidance is recommended before beginning this kind of diet. Occasionally, weight loss is positive in the early stages, but individuals cannot handle the limitations in the longer term and begin to drift from the diet. One of the difficulties that lots of people have with low carb dieting is the riddance of bread and pasta.…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many do not realize that everyone has been unconsciously consuming genetically modified foods throughout the entire course of one’s life. GMO is an acronym for genetically modified foods. This is described as a food that has been artificially altered in a laboratory with various components that does not occur naturally. Foods are generally modified in these ways to create bigger, better tasting, and long lasting foods. GMOs are found in many common foods that almost every average person consumes day to day.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Benefits Of GMO

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages

    We all have heard some ridiculous stories on the news of government spending gone awry. Spending cuts are made to fund unnecessary programs, meanwhile education and healthcare programs are lacking. This isn’t always the case, sometimes the programs are for our benefit. One program that has government spending backing it, is the research of GMO’s (genetically modified organisms), and the double edged sword this creates for consumers.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the United States, 66% of people have been on a diet and only 20% of them are successful. We are constantly consumed by the ideal image and body type that our society enforces upon us. This “ideal image” is shown to us through TV, magazines, and advertisements that cause men and women to diet in order to attain it. This is not practical because the bodies of the people we look up to in these images are their entire work, and it is unrealistic for the average person to assume that they too can achieve this body type through a simple diet. Dieting has become a fad in our society as people are consistently trying to find the newest ways to lose weight.…

    • 1742 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics