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Comparing the Restricted and Non-restricted Carbohydrate Diet

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Comparing the Restricted and Non-restricted Carbohydrate Diet

I compared the physiological, psychological, and physical responses in restricted-carbohydrate diets and non-restricted carbohydrate diets. These comparisons are found in various studies summarized into a comparison article written by Brian D. Butki, Jeffrey Baumstark, and Simon Driver called Effects of a Carbohydrate-Restricted Diet on Affective Responses to Acute Exercise Among Physically Active Participants. Throughout the studies compared in the article, subjects who participated as a restricted or low-carbohydrate dieter consumed meals with 20 grams of carbohydrates per day whereas subjects who participated as a non-restricted carbohydrate dieter were allowed to …show more content…

By following the guidelines of the Atkin’s Diet, the lack of carbohydrates in the diet induces high amounts of ketone bodies. Ketone bodies are the fats that the body is not able to metabolize completely because there are not enough carbohydrates available to aid fat digestion. Therefore in order for the body to maintain proper function, also known as homeostasis, it burns the ketone bodies off as energy, break-down nutrients from other resources, such as the calcium from bones, and limit the amount of energy to parts of the body to maintain homeostasis. These physiological responses seem to occur consistently for dieters on low-carbohydrate diets whereas non-restricted carbohydrate dieters were rarely observed to have any of these types of responses. In fact, studies show that balance meals of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats provided in a non-restricted carbohydrate diet provides the body with sufficient nutrients to generate enough energy to maintain proper bodily function.

For the body to maintain proper bodily function, the body has to supply the brain with enough of carbohydrates, which is its main energy source. However, as studies in the comparison article claim, dieters on a restricted-carbohydrate diet are at risk of not providing enough energy to the brain which may also cause adverse affects to the

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