Why Breakfast is Called as Breakfast?

In this video I have explained why breakfast is called as breakfast. Before I explained the reason why breakfast is called as breakfast I have explained some of the definitions like absorptive state (post postprandial state), post absorptive state and fasting state. 

Fatty Acid Synthesis - A Question and Brief Review

Blood Glucose Regulation under Fasting Condition - A Question and Brief Review

Why regular consumption of carbohydrate rich diet makes you fatty????!!!

Most of us do care about how we look physically, we do and try every thing that we can (although some do it religiously and some once in a while) to be physically fit and look good!!! Ideally optimum balanced diet and regular exercise will maintain the normal weight but some times it becomes difficult to follow this.There may various reasons for this but most important and most common reason for not keeping up with regular exercise is that inherently we are lazy!! 

Despite being too lazy one can still maintain the normal body weight by just watching what they eat!! Eating too much of carbs will make one put on weight like a chicken and look like a hippo!! Why eating too much of carbs makes us fatty!!! its because of the following biochemical reasons!!

When we take too much of carbs, our blood glucose will shoot up and will lead to increased release of insulin. Insulin is an anabolic hormone and it will make all that is possible to conserve this glucose in the form of glycogen and fat in our body. The intention behind this is good!! The reason that insulin will help to store excess glucose as glycogen and fat is to create reserve energy in case when person gets into fasting and starvation.

This idea of storing when available plenty was well suited for our ancestors from hunter-gatherer era. In this era when the availability of food is plenty (of-course for those who are more fortunate compared to the people in third world countries where they suffer from malnutrition (read under nutrition). More fortunate person is the one who look like hippo when they don't really care how much they eat and what they eat!!

Insulin released in response to high glucose will keep all the necessary enzymes active so that glucose is converted to glycogen. When the glycogen stores are full, it will convert glucose to acetyl CoA which will be converted to fatty acids. This process occurs predominantly in the liver and the fatty acids are transported to other tissues including adipose tissue. Glucose can also be converted to acetyl CoA and converted to fatty acids in the adipose tissue. 

So excess carbs beyond the body energy needs are converted to fatty acids and these fatty acids in the liver and adipose tissue will be converted to triacylglycerol (TAG) and predominately stored in adipose tissue beneath the skin (white adipose tissue). Continuous accumulation of this TAG in adipose tissue without any utilization (because person is too lazy to burn!!) will lead to obesity. This is the reason why when a person consumes high carbs without much activity will look like a hippo!!

So idea is to limit the carbs in the diet and being conscious about what we eat. Following a simple rule of diet, high protein low carb low fat with lot of vegetables and fruits will keep our weight in check!!!  Hope this helps you to shed that extra pound and make you look good and fit!! 

Thank you for your time and you are most welcome to leave your concise criticism and comments!!

WHY HIGH PROTEIN LOW CARB LOW FAT DIET HELPS TO LOSE WEIGHT!!!

In my previous blog I have discussed about why long term fasting or starving is a unhealthy way of losing weight. In this blog I would like to discuss why HIGH PROTEIN LOW CARB LOW FAT DIET is a healthy way of losing weight!!

When a person follows HIGH PROTEIN LOW CARB LOW FAT DIET, low carbohydrate content in the diet will not provide sufficient glucose needed by the cells specially for red blood cells and neurons. These cells are heavily dependent on glucose for their metabolic needs. When there is no sufficient glucose available from diet this leads to low blood glucose level which decreases insulin (hypoglycemic hormone) and increases glucagon (hyperglycemic hormone).

Elevated glucagon will try to maintain the normal blood glucose level. Generally glucagon will initially breakdown glycogen stored in the liver to release glucose into blood stream. Since the person on HIGH PROTEIN LOW CARB LOW FAT DIET will have minimal glycogen stores because to maintain sufficient glycogen stores one need to consume carbohydrate rich diet. So when glycogen stores are minimal in a person who follow HIGH PROTEIN LOW CARB LOW FAT DIET so the next source of glucose for glucagon is the protein!!

Generally under prolonged fasting conditions and during starvation glucagon will breakdown skeletal muscle protein and release amino acids. Most of these amino acids will be converted to amino acid alanine and get converted glucose by a process called gluconeogenesis!! Now the point here is when a person is on HIGH PROTEIN LOW CARB LOW FAT DIET the protein required for this gluconeogenesis under the influence of glucagon will be provided by the dietary protein. This will spare skeletal muscle protein being degraded!! So dietary protein is converted glucose by gluconeogenesis in the liver and released into the blood stream which will be used by red blood cells and neurons.

Now how this will help to burn fat from adipose tissue and help to lose weight!! To make one glucose molecule from protein derived amino acid alanine liver cell needs 6 ATPs!! Liver cell will get these ATPs from the electron transport chain which will use reducing equivalents like NADH + H and FADH2. Majority of these NADH+ H and FADH2 will come from fatty acid oxidation.

When a person is on HIGH PROTEIN LOW CARB LOW FAT DIET so there is less fatty acid coming from the diet hence to meet energy needs for gluconeogenesis fatty acids from adipose tissue will be utilized. How adipose tissue will release its fatty acids stored as triglycerides? Note that under low glucose conditions glucagon that is released apart from keeping gluconeogenesis process active will also break adipose tissue (lipolysis) by activating an enzyme called hormone sensitive lipase. This enzyme breaks triglycerides in adipose tissue and release fatty acids.

Fatty acids released from adipose tissue along with the glycerol molecule will be carried to the liver and fatty acids will undergo oxidation to release acetyl CoA and reducing equivalents (NADH and FADH2). Further more acetyl CoA will undergo citric acid cycle to release more NADH and FADH2. These NADH and FADH2 will get into electron transport chain to make ATPs. The ATPs generated here will provide ATPs needed for gluconeogenesis.

In this way HIGH PROTEIN LOW CARB LOW FAT DIET will lead to increased levels of glucagon in the body which will keep gluconeogenesis and lipolysis active. Gluconeogenesis will utilize protein to make glucose and the energy needed to make this glucose by gluconeogenesis is provided by fatty acid breakdown which comes from adipose tissue.

Overall, HIGH PROTEIN LOW CARB LOW FAT DIET will break adipose tissue (white fat beneath the skin) to provide energy needed to generate glucose from dietary proteins while maintaining the skeletal muscle mass. This type of diet supplemented with fruits and vegetables will help to lose weight in a healthy way!!!

I hope this article has helped you to understand scientific reasoning why HIGH PROTEIN LOW CARB LOW FAT DIET supplemented with fruits and vegetables is an healthy way of losing weight!!! If are most welcome to leave your comments or questions.