- Biology Today Health Searching For The Magic Weight Loss Bullet Eat A Variety Of Foods Watch Your Weight And Exercise 1 (77.72 KiB) Viewed 31 times
- Biology Today Health Searching For The Magic Weight Loss Bullet Eat A Variety Of Foods Watch Your Weight And Exercise 2 (77.72 KiB) Viewed 31 times
- Biology Today Health Searching For The Magic Weight Loss Bullet Eat A Variety Of Foods Watch Your Weight And Exercise 3 (107 KiB) Viewed 31 times
The Atkins Diet. This diet is just the opposite of the Pritikin diet, because it is a low-carbohydrate (low-carb) diet. It is based on the assumption that if we eat more protein and fat, our bodies lose weight by burning stored body fat. The Atkins Diet is thought by many to be a serious threat to homeostasis. It puts a strain on the body to maintain the blood glucose level, the breakdown of fat lowers blood pH, and the excretion of nitrogen from protein breakdown stresses the kidneys. The Zone Diet and the South Beach Diet. As a reaction to the Atkins Diet, these diets recommend only "healthy" fats and permit low-sugar carbs. The Caveman, or Paleo, Diet. The Caveman Diet mimics the diets of humans prior to agricultural pursuits. It promotes the consumption of meats, fish, fruits, and vegetables with an almost complete elimination of carbohydrates in the diet. The nutritional aspects of this diet are still being examined. According to a professor at Brigham Young University, the cure for endless dieting and the key to reaching a healthy weight are to listen to your body. Using a hunger scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being starving and 10 being very overfull, keep around 3 to 5 and you will eat less. Unfortunately, such sensible advice doesn't seem to have caught on yet. Prescription Drugs Because obesity is officially classified as a disease, the pharmaceu- tical industry is actively developing products to assist with weight loss. Despite lawsuits against the manufacturers of the prescription continue to enter clinical trials. Not all are successful. For example, rimonabant (Acomplia) was supposed to block pleasure receptors in the brain, but due to suspected neurological complications it never reached the market in the United States. Another class of drugs, called sibutramine (Meridia), was withdrawn after it was associated with an increased rate of strokes and cardiovascular problems. Burning Calories Exercise should be part of any weight-loss effort. Despite cuts in funding for physical education programs, many schools are devel- oping programs to increase students' physical activity in an effort to combat childhood obesity. However, about 75% of U.S. teens fail to participate in the amount of exercise needed for good health. Re- search suggests that a minimum of 10,000 steps per day is necessary for weight maintenance and good health. That number of steps per day is roughly equivalent to the recommended 30 minutes of daily exercise. Most people find that they need to increase the amount of walking to reach the goal of 10,000 steps a day. There are a number of easy ways to add steps to your routine. Park a little farther away from your office or the store. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, or go for a walk after a meal. If your goal is to lose weight, 12,000 to 15,000 steps a day have been shown to promote weight loss. Questions to Consider 1. What aspects of our society encourage the popularity of magic bullets for weight loss? 2. Why do you think that so many of the weight-loss drugs are