Biomolecules and Human Health

[Sean Nash]

Post your reflection from our last two class sessions... our breakdown & discussion of carbohydrates, the connection to diet plans, the role & behaviors of the various classes of carbohydrates in human health, etc... What stuck out to you as particularly interesting or important? What did you or we learn from those things? How did your new learning fit into the individual chalk talk you did to begin the unit? Did we address any misconceptions you had even as late as last week?

Try to describe the change in your understanding and why. Also- find another outside resource to add to our thread here. Link to it or embed it directly, and explain how this item also extends your understanding of this topic.

Also, think about it... October 26th and this was really the first time we played with a version of "direct instruction" of any sort. What are your thoughts? Why do you suppose this was the strategy this time?

[Marcy Withrow]

I find the dietary plans very interesting because there are plans out there that are very unhealthy for you. Some have too much fat or too many carbohydrates in their diet. I think the right diet should be a balanced variation of foods. You shouldn’t have too many carbs or too much fat, it should be fairly low, but not outrageously low. You shouldn’t eat one food group, but a little bit of everything. That way you are getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs.

When we talked about how carbs aren’t bad, I agree. But, I also think that too many carbs could end up being harmful. You can’t eat three plates of pasta and plan on not gaining weight. Now, if you are going on a vigorous exercise and you need that energy, then yes, three plates of pasta would be fine. But, if your exercise consists of flipping through channels with your remote, then three plates of pasta could end up being unhealthy. So, not only should you be eating a different variation of food, but you should also exercise. I think that you need both for a healthy lifestyle. If you eat and don’t exercise, then you will gain weight. If you don’t eat, but exercise, then you won’t have the energy to do a good work out. So, they both have to go together. I think diets also depend on your lifestyle. If you have a quick metabolism then you can eat a lot without gaining much. But, if you have a slow metabolism, then it’s hard to eat a lot without gaining weight. Also, if you have diabetes you need to watch what you eat. So, everyone is different. But, I think everyone should have a plan and be aware of their health choices.

I learned that media has an influence on what we consume. With all the “Low Carb” labels and the “ Zero Trans fat” labels, media has a say in what we eat. If the trend is to eat healthy, then everyone wants to follow that trend. I’ve noticed over the years that unhealthy foods have decreased in price while healthier foods have increased. People are becoming more health conscious since the media said that America is becoming obese. The media makes an impact on our decisions. If eating unhealthy looks unacceptable, then we tend to do what seems right. I find all of this pretty interesting. I’ve never thought about the media being that big of an influence. Here is a site that relates to America being obese. This is a resource that shows how the media influences us. The U.S Department of Health and Services has a letter about obesity. Even though this letter was written in 2003, we can still see the same behaviors of the media today. The media can act in positive ways. This letter has some good ideas on how to reduce obesity and it also has some important statistics. Even though the media influences us, sometimes it’s not for the worse, but for the better.

I don’t think I had any misconceptions on my chalk talk. I would have to look at it again to know for sure because I forgot what I wrote exactly. But, I tried not to mention anything that I wasn’t positive about and if I did then I wrote question marks by them. I had a lot of stuff on my chalk talk that we talked about in class. Such as how glucose gives a quick burst of energy while complex carbohydrates give a longer lasting energy.

I liked the chalk talks! It was cool to do one on our own and see what we know personally. I think it’s a good strategy to see where everyone is at. It was neat to see where everyone pulled their resources from. I didn’t know that that many classes at Benton taught about nutrition or that people listened to the media that much. Although, there are tons of commercials. I’m sure I know why Mr. Nash taught in “direct instruction.” We will most likely be having a test over this soon. Not only a test soon, but I guarantee it will be on our test to pass this class and get our credits. So, I kind of like this strategy. I learned a lot of important facts and terms from it that will be necessary to know. It wasn’t the greatest way of learning, but in the end it will be beneficial. It also gave me hand cramps! My hands needed a break after both those classes. But, I do love my notes. I think in the end this will help us big time on our tests.

[Coleman Wade Babcock]

We learned that fat and carbs are actually a vital part of the human diet, but it is important to get just the right amount of all of these and not excess. Also you have to get an equal amount of the other stuff too. Diets like the atkins and south beach are just for money i believe. it is shown that they will help you lose weight but there is no guarantee that you'll keep it off.

I think that with the consumption of carbs is good if you intend to work it off. When you dont work it of they turn into fat and are stored in your body. Thats how people become fat.

From health class i learned that carbs were good for you and they gave you energy. I also learned that fat was just stored energy.

[Shandis Cruz]

Like my other classmates our discussion over diets stuck out to me most. I think the reason this really stood out is because its an issue that gets discussed everywhere. Think about it, you can't flip through the channels without seeing a new and improved weightloss plan or supplement, it's absolutely crazy!

On the topic of supplements I learned that they're not always the "best" for you. I actually tend to think about this quite often; I'm someone who absolutely hates to take any type of medicine or supplement, but the truth of the matter is, I am a vitiman popper. Like Mrs. Nash, I have low Iron levels and am Anemic, so I take an Iron supplement. Being the skeptic that I sometimes tend to be, I researched Iron rich foods and try to eat as much of them instead. :) All in all I'm not saying that its "bad" to take any vitiman supplement or anything of that nature, I'm just saying that I think its better to get the nutrients from its natural source.

Reflecting on the past few days of class I have learned much more than our inital chalk- talk showed. Before, everything I had on my paper really reflected on dieting and excersizing, alot of it dealing with those who are athletic. I reflected this way because that was what really stood out to me when we went over some of it in Health and Biology class, because why wouldn't I want to pay closer attention to what would be directly affecting me? When we learned about it this time around everything seemed much more interesting, I was able to understand how it all tied in together, I was no long paying attention to only one side of the topic. All of that really led me to understand that the misconceptions that the media has on these issues are blown way out of proportion.

Through the past few classes I have really came to understand the balances and make-up of carbs and sugars in particular. Before, courtsey of the media, I viewed both of them as horrible, fatty foods that I should probably only eat a few times per week. The media has created all of these marketing strategies to keeps us away from products such as these, claiming that if you consume them, "they'll go straight to your hips," boy were they smart they just caught the attention of about half the worlds population with that little remark! The fact of the matter is that these products aren't as terrible as they seem, unfortunately, like everything else in this wonderful world of ours, they have just been blown way out of proportion.

[Marcy Withrow]

I agree with taking dieting pills and doing crazy diets, they don't seem healthy! How can a pill give you everything you need? It doesn't seem right, when you can eat food that has flavor and you don't have to swallow it down in one gulp with water. I hate taking pills, that would be my last choice for losing weight.

The media does make things way out of proportion. If only the media made an influence more positive than negative. I like your web link too! It talks about the good carbs and bad carbs, then the ugly. It seems like a good resource for those who are uneducated about carbohydrates (:

[Blayr Bolton]

My learning process through this specific unit of study is actually rather ironic because in a round-about I'm learning about or discussing these topics in three different classes. In DC Biology I'm being taught all of these new concepts step by step, in BMP freshmen biology I'm observing Mrs. Nash teach these concepts, and in Genetics I'm barely touching base with some of these concepts. This would seem to be quite the advantage for me, but it can become confusing at times. I think I've came a long way from the chalk talk and previous ideas I had about these topics though.

Carbohydrates as a whole appeared to be particularly relevant to me because of the several misconceptions that are created. On my chalk talk I do recall being one of the students that wrote down that if you don't exercise after eating carbohydrates then they would be stored as fats. Wrong. I learned right away that wasn't true through our discussion. The funny thing is, I had actually learned that just a day before in my BMP hour with Mrs. Nash, but I didn't ever make the connection until now. They were discussing intake of Carbs, Proteins, and Fats and I saw the importance of Carbs in someone's diet through her teaching.

I am starting to realize more and more the affects that TV propaganda has on my life, as well as everyone around me. I've obviously heard of the South Beach and Atkins diet, but even when they appear on a commercial I will most likely change or ignore the channel because I'm disinterested in what's being said. Hearing Mr. Nash read what kind of information actually is relayed through the advertisements is pretty intriguing though. The worst part about it is if the person who is buying into some of the false pretenses given in these commercials would have paid attention in one of their health or biology classes, then they wouldn't even have the chance to be tricked. "Knowledge is power."

The change in my understand of Carbohydrates wasn't entirely changed, I think it was just taken to a new level. Before our learning experience, I knew that Carbodhydrates consisted of things like starches and sugars and was the energy source for our body. What I didn't know was how Carbohyrdrates could be broken down. I have always learned about Carbs in a word-type way; as in, I'm always told in words what Carbs do for me and how they affect my life. Now, I was told in pictures and diagrams exactly what Carbs do and how they are broken down. I'm not sure what other students think, but in my opinion those are two completely different strategies in teaching. http://www.pamf.org/health/toyourhealth/carbs.html < This thread just goes to show how the diagrams we were shown in class can still be translated into words. ;)

The "direct instruction" this time was awfully different than what I've been used to. But, only because it was in this class. I receive direct instruction from nearly all of my teachers on a daily basis, but the previous approaches we've been taking on educational experiences has been entirely different in DC Bio. Not that that's a bad thing; it was just a bit of a shock switching roles. I've really enjoyed the strategies and techniques we've been doing to really grasp certain concepts earlier in the year, but I think for Carbohydrates this was the type of approach that had to be taken. I'm not sure I could have fully understood what I need to know if it was taught in any other way. In the long run, I think it was a lot easier seeing exactly what we were being taught this time around rather than teaching ourselves. I think it was just the topic (Carbohydrates) that needed to be done this way though.

[Hunter Ewart]

From the chalk talk i discoverd that i had a lot of misconceptions about what is actually good for you as far as what to eat and what not to eat diet. I guess to say that everything is good in moderation. Who knew you actually needed them to survive. What i thought was really interesting was is how long some of those deit companies have been around. i guess the word has always wanted to be a little smallerhttp://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=61. This is a cite kind of helpped to clear somethings up.

[Kerstyn Bolton]

I really thought that everything we talked about was important. I most likely learned this stuff in 9th grade Biology, but if I did I don't remember any of it. I also never realized how glucose, fructose, galactose, sucrose and lactose affect a lot of what we do as living humans. For example, glucose gives you a quick burst of energy and one of them is effective for people with diabetes. Almost all of the chemical shapes were the exact same, except there was either more or less of them, which I had never realized or been taught.

We also talked about carbohydrates, which is really confusing for me. Carbohydrates and calories strike me as being completely different when talking about the "dietary" definitions and their meanings in science. After reading the diet plan articles I started to realized that carbohydrates do relate to it's scientific definition. They serve as storage and a transport of energy, which made much more sense when relating them to a runners diet (eating carbs). I also never knew they were effective in plants, as their part of the structural components of cellulose in plants. All of these things were new to me and they needed to be discussed more because I was almost starting from scratch.

I believe by "chalk talk" you mean whenever everyone discussed their ideas before learning anything and I wasn't there for this class period. Although I think this would have been extremely helpful for me because I was lost when we first started discussing "Structure and Function" in class. I would've liked to see what everyone else thought as well as what I would've said. I personally think this method is very helpful because it helps us as students to specifically see what we're learning and what we have had misconceptions about.

I've always enjoyed the various types of learning we do in this class. From the poster discussions, chalk talk, articles, and labs it makes everything more interesting and I feel as if I'm learning more because I'm actually involved and interested in what's going on. In classrooms that are repetitive there's nothing to look forward to because each day we know what's going to happen. So, the various types of lessons are the most effective. Our last 2 class periods of talking were beneficial because we got deep down into the specifics of biochemistry.

There were some misconceptions on behalf. There was just a lot to learn in this unit so I really couldn't keep everything straight in 2 classrooms. I'm not sure if this is necessary, but if I was asked to draw the structure of these sugars I know that I couldn't do it because I'm not accustomed to their basic structure. I also don't believe I would be able to tell you the chemical compounds of the "oses" or be able to distinguish them between each other.

The thing I enjoyed the most out of our learning was the symbiosis idea because it caught my attention the most. The ideas of commensilism, parasitism and mutualism were very interesting because I'd never learned them before. We last talked about the lipids and fatty acids and these weren't too complicated. The structure was fairly simple and easy to comprehend. I wish we would've discussed the other parts of lipids more though, such as: oils, waxes and steroids.


Overall, this learning was a bit confusing but it was beneficial. There was just a lot of information to intake in the time period of two class periods. But I did feel like I learned quite a bit after this lesson, especially considering I hadn't really known any of it.

[Taylor Woodruff]

Thing topic that stood out the most to me was of course the discussion on the "low-carb" dieting and how many misconceptions we have about it. Everybody thinks that carbohydrates are bad for you and make you fat...but in reality if you were to be on the "low-carb" diet it may work for short term, but you will most likely gain most of your weight back in the long run.

Like we talked about in class, people tend to listen to the crazy things that the media says and just think that it's automatically right. Like the movie "Mean Girls" is a perfect example of how the blonde chick is going on the "low-carb" or "no-carb" diet because she thinks that it actually works, but Lindsay Lohan's character tricks her into eating a high carb candy bar. Which makes everyone think that carbs are bad.

Even though we discussed in class that carbs are actually good for you if you are smart about them, I still wanted to further research the topic. I learned that there are actually good carbs and bad carbs, you just have to know which is which. Lucky for me, white rice is a good carb and I love that stuff! :) Carbs are also good because they fuel are bodies and give us what we need to do physical activies, and are a good part of a healthy diet!

So, pretty much I learned not to listen to media. All they do is feed our minds with WRONG information to make us believe things that aren't true. So, I learned I'm going to have to be smart about the things I hear, and look things up before taking things too seriously.

[Sean Grinstead]

It makes a big difference to me because i am an athlete and its pretty interesting to know what is going on in your body when you are exercising. the diet plans are dumb because if you leave out something you have to eat more of something else to make up for it and its not good for your body. These diets such as the sone and the Atkins are just a way to get famous and the fact is its just not good for your body to do this. For example The "Atkins" diet eliminates carbohydrates and throws in tons of fatty foods to make up for the carbs. The problem with this is that people that stop doing this usually gain the weight back very rapidly. I Think that the body should have a good balance of both so your body can function the way its supposed to be.
One thing that stuck with me was the very minor difference between cellulose and glucose. I thought it was very interesting to learn how cellulose and glucose look the same on paper (CH2O) but they have a bond that is shaped differently so our enzymes cant digest the cellulose, so we call it dietary fiber, because it cleans out your system.I used to think that your body only burned carbs but now i understnad that the carbs turn into fat so it can be stored for later use.

[Amanda Dixon]

Carbohydrates….

I learned a lot about carbohydrates that I didn’t no or understand before…I basically slacked off the 1st semester of my freshmen biology class (sorry Mr. Myers.)

I learned that carbohydrates are compounds that have carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen and are present in a 1:2:1 ratio.

I also learned that simple sugars or monosaccharide are things such as Glucose, Fructose and Lactose. Enzymes that break these sugars down have the same name but the end in ASE. Lactose is the least sweet sugar. Polysaccharides are complex carb’s such as amalozoe and cellulose. Cellulose is dietary fiber that we do not produce enzymes to break down. It is also the most commonly found carbohydrate.

A polymer is a compound made up of repeated linked units. A monomer is a repeated unit it a polymer.

I always thought carbs were bad but there not!

[james d green]

Okay so i agree with most on the fact of varying your food intake on such carbohydrates and proteins and fats and sugars. Its the saame with say a workout routine, if you do the squat everyday along with bench press your muscles will get used to that motion and eventually flatten out in how much weight your able to do... however if you throw a twist in there like some dumbells instead of a bar your also giving a different workout allowing more strength. That ties in with many diet plans, that give you loads of carbs then maybe throw a lipid or sugar in there. so your body doesn't go into the 'plateau effect'.



I had about 1/1000 of the stuff we learned in this topic on our mini chalk talk. which is kinda cool even though i felt dumb after-wards. Because now if we were to go back and try it again and compare like a 'before and after' visual everyone in our class would be wide eyed at what they may have forgot or simply didn't know.

[Ivory Baldwin]

So its save to say I didnt know a lot, well actually i guess i just dont remember things that i have learned in the past very well . when we did the silient chalk talk all i really knew about was carbohydrates. I knew that runners needed to eat carbs because carbohydrates are energy for your body and runners burn energy fast to they need more carbohydrates for thier body to burn while they are running. I knew that also lipids were fats. The first day of this unit when taking notes i learned a bunch. We use soap when we do laundry beucase with out it the water molucles would stick to each other.
Also I learned things i should have already known like Monosaccharide ( simple sugars ) Which are glucose, fructose, galactose which are all made up of the same stuff (C6H12O6)but they are mad differently. I never knew that glucose gave you a quick energy burst. Glucoes is in foods like grapes, and pastas. Then if Glucos is with Fructose it makes Sucrose ( Table Sugar )
I wasnt in class when we talked about lipids. So i did a little research on the topic. I came up with this little power point that tells you a little about lipids.
Then the other day in class we talked about saturated fat and unsaturated fat, i have heard these words a million times before but i never really knew what they were. Unsaturated fat tends to come more from plants like nuts and vegetables oil. I never really knew which one was better but unsaturated fat is better because its more natural.