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MOLECULES, DIETS AND OBESITY III

© Juan C. Mendible

This is the last article of this series. In the first one I gave you the basic biochemical principles of how the human body stores and uses energy. In the second one I discussed scientific evidence that indicates that you get fat by eating more than what your body uses, that is, eating more than is necessary. In this article I will tell you about diets and dieting. I will also give you some tips, based on my own experience that will probably help you lose that extra weight that is bothering you.

Before starting a diet

You must always keep in mind the following principles:

a.) Your body needs carbohydrates and fats as energy sources to allow the cells in your body to properly carry out their jobs. You need proteins mainly to replenish those that are used up by your cells.

b.) All excess of any of these three elements can be stored as fat in your adipose tissue (fat tissue).

c.) Carbohydrates, in the form of glucose, are absolutely necessary for the storage of fat. This tells you that the less glucose you eat, the less fat you will store.

d.) Your fat reserves are burned up ONLY through the stimulus of several hormones, the most important ones being glucagon and adrenaline. These hormones start to do their job about three hours after you have eaten. This means that the longer the periods between meals, the more fat you use. Adrenaline is also released under stress situations and when you are exercising.

e.) Your body must keep a constant blood level of glucose. The human body cannot make glucose out fat. This means that if you do not eat carbohydrates, your body will use the proteins from your diet and/or from your body to make it. It is important for you to know that your body does not store proteins; that is, all of those proteins are there to carry out a specific function. Thus, if you have a 100% carbohydrate-free diet, your body will have to use proteins to make sugar. Since it is very difficult to keep a diet with a content of protein high enough to cover your glucose needs, you will end up digesting some of your own tissue proteins, which is detrimental to your body.