Flakes, Carbs, And Fat

[k_nitin_r 8]

Today I had Kellogg’s “Special” corn flakes for breakfast. It isn’t the one with the picture of a chicken on the box, but the one with a red ‘K’ and a bowl of corn flakes and wheat. The box also mentions that it is ninety eight percent fat free. Let me take a step back and say that it isn’t really corn flakes but instead it is wheat flakes that looks exactly the same as corn flakes but is instead made of wheat. I don’t know how that makes it healthier, but apparently it is one way to reduce fat content. The next question that comes to mind is that when Kellogg’s claims that the box of wheat flakes is ninety eight percent fat free, the cereal contains primarily carbohydrates and fibre. When you eat more fibre, you get that full feeling without consuming too many calories. Carbohydrates are what give you energy for your body to use in the short term but what you need to realize is that when you consume more carbohydrates that your body is able to use up, your body converts the carbohydrates into fat so even if you are not eating food that is rich in fat, your body converts the carbohydrates into fat. The idea with most diet plans is to make fibre comprise a large portion of your food intake so you do not go hungry and you consume less fat and carbohydrate in the process. It means that the sugar-frosted Kellogg’s cornflakes are a definite no-no when on a dieting plan. A challenge with most diets is to ensure that you are also getting the right amount of protein because if you do not consume enough protein, you would not have much muscle build-up. When you are on a diet, you have a good chance of avoiding fat – that is something you want to do because fat takes longer to burn down that carbohydrate. Think of the case where you light a single thin strand of thread and when you light a bunch of threads spun together. The single thin strand of thread burns with the flame reaching almost instantly at the other end of it whereas when you use a bunch of threads, the flame takes more time to get from one end to the other, in a fashion almost similar to that of a match stick. Taking this analogy and applying this to better our understanding of what differentiates carbohydrates from fats, think of carbohydrates as a single strand of thread and fats as a whole bunch of threads put together. You can also think of fat as a more concentrated form of energy so if you were to consume the same amount of fat in weight as a certain amount of carbohydrate, you would have to work harder to get through all of the calories that you take in the form of fat.When I finished a bowl of Kellogg’s special wheat flakes (I have not heard of anyone refer to a cereal as wheat flakes, but if there are corn flakes and there are bran flakes, there certainly must be a need for the term wheat flakes, unless bran flakes refers to the wheat flakes that I had for breakfast), I did have a feeling of full-ness but at the same time I did notice that I had something that was rather sweet, so I presume the box of Kellogg’s special cereal contained some sugar too. Sugar isn’t fat, but it is a whole lot of carbohydrate that the body can turn into fat and so it is going to take me a whole lot of work to ensure that I do not put on a few extra pounds around the sides.