An argument essay arguing in support of the ketogenic diet, a low-carb, high-fat diet. Formatted according to MLA style. 1165 words with a works cited page that has five sources.
Kezia Happy
Fitch
English 1301.046
30 March 2018
The Ketogenic Diet
Does an apple a day really keep the doctor away? Everyone is told to avoid fats and eat plenty of grains, fruits, and other things that contain carbohydrates because these foods are supposedly “healthy.” However, eating a diet that is high in carbohydrates and low in fat can be very harmful to a person. In fact, since the USDA published their food pyramid in 1992, the percentage of Americans who were diagnosed with diabetes more than tripled (Centers for Disease). Completely contrary to this popular advice, the ketogenic diet cuts out carbohydrates almost completely and relies instead on the consumption of fats as the main source of energy. The ketogenic diet is beneficial because it prevents heart attacks, obesity, and diabetes.
Insulin is very dangerous if there is too much in a person’s system. Insulin is produced when a person consumes large portions of carbohydrates. When a person eats carbohydrates, it is broken down into glucose. The glucose then enters the person’s bloodstream. The high presence of glucose in blood is toxic. To counteract this, the human body produces insulin.
Heart attacks occur when there is a block in one of the arteries that pump blood to the cells of the heart. The block will cut off the oxygen to the heart, causing cells in the heart to die. Heart attacks often result in death. Blocks in the arteries going back to the cells of the heart are actually caused by too much insulin in a person’s blood. The large amount of insulin in the blood damages a person’s arteries. To heal the damage, cholesterol is placed on the wound, like a scab. With continuous amounts of insulin flowing through the blood, more and more scabs form over the wound. Eventually, with continued damage to the arteries by insulin, there will come a point when the scabs aren’t enough to heal the damaged artery. This causes calcification,
where calcium acts as a scab to heal the wounds. As insulin continues to damage the artery, more and more calcium builds up in the artery. Soon enough, there will be so much calcium that
the artery will begin to be blocked. If the artery that becomes blocked is one of the arteries that brings blood back to the heart, a heart attack is very likely in that person if insulin production has
not stopped (Cummins and Gerber). The ketogenic diet effectively prevents heart attacks because, again, insulin is not heavily produced. The only insulin that is produced is to process the 20 grams of carbohydrates allowed in the diet.
Heart attacks occur often among Americans today. The number of people who have died due to heart attacks is very large and will grow larger if these people are kept in the dark on the dangers of the diet that most doctors in America promote. The diet that is widely accepted and encouraged promotes eating carbohydrates and shuns fats and oils. This diet causes heavy insulin production, which also leads to obesity.
Obesity is when a person’s weight is higher that what is considered normal weight, accounting for height. Today, it is often heard that eating a “healthy, balanced diet” with appropriate exercise is how to avoid obesity. Yet, the number of Americans suffering from obesity is only rising. “According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2013–2014…More than 2 in 3 adults were considered to be overweight or have obesity” (“Overweight”). The actual cause of obesity is surprisingly the exact same thing doctors consider healthy—carbohydrates. When insulin is released to counteract the glucose from the carbohydrates, the insulin sends a signal to the cells to store energy as fat. Genetic evidence has even been found that insulin production leads to obesity (Astley et al.).
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