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The next macro to come under fire was carbohydrates (carbs). I’ve seen this trend start in my teens and has come back around in a slightly different form in my forties. Originally, thanks to Dr. Atkins (among others), and most Americans' desire for a magic pill, the primary energy source for every human body on the planet was now the bad guy. “Tricking” your body into believing that it was starving, by depriving it of its energy source, thus forcing it to burn fat for energy (a process called ketosis) became a thing. This was the complete opposite of the fat-free bacon idea. In these diets one eats all of the fatty bacon in the world and one still loses weight. It doesn’t make as much natural sense as a low-fat diet, but eating fatty foods sounds good to lots of folks. Recently, diets like Paleo and Keto (named for ketosis) are the reappearance of Dr. Atkins’ ghost, come back to haunt us. The problem is that despite the short- term effectiveness of these diets, they hold dangerous potential for long-term cardiovascular damage and increased risks for dieters with underlying liver or kidney issues. They are also, typically, unsustainable in everyday life. In a recent study of low-fat vs. low-carb diets by the National Institute of Health (NIH), which was peer- reviewed and highly regarded for meticulous execution, the results were surprising. I’ll skip the details (Google it if you’re interested), but the results were that both diets had similar results and the net weight loss from both was a bit depressing. Both diets kind of work short-term, but long-term, not so much. Finally, we get back to protein. Nobody has ever suggested that there be a low-protein diet. In fact (remember my father’s diet), it turns out that protein may, in fact, be the mightiest macro of them all to not only look better, but to feel better too. Protein has a lot of functions in the body. First and foremost, protein is considered the building block for cellular repair and maintenance. Your body is made of mostly water and protein. Hormones are made from protein, enzymes are protein and proteins are even used to transport molecules throughout the body (e.g. hemoglobin is a protein that transports oxygen). Continued on next page. “It turns out that protein may, in fact, be the mightiest macro of them all to not only look better, but to feel better too.” Nutrition Quarterly · 2020 – Volume 2 19 The Good Life