The Sport Slice

Hey guys, for this post I am going to be discussing the ketogenic diet. What is it, where did the craze come from and what makes our body use these ketones? All are important questions when it comes to the simple ketone.  But what exactly is a ketone? A ketone can be defined as a class of organic compounds characterized by the presence of a carbonyl group in which the carbon atom is covalently bonded to an oxygen atom. The remaining two bonds are to other carbon atoms or hydrocarbon radicals. These ketone bodies are always present in the body. Some examples of ketones are Acetone, Acetoacetate and Beta-Hydroxybutyrate as seen in the image below.  Our liver is responsible for producing ketones and these are readily available during states of prolonged fasting or exercise. To put it easily, Ketones are used by the body as the main fuel source when glucose is not available. For that reason, if we put our body through a state of prolonged fasting, we aren't going to hav...

The Summer months have been a really busy period for me between playing in the Sudirman Cup in May as well as the Lithuanian International at the start of June before coming home and starting work for the remainder of the summer. Apologies for the lack of posts over the last few months, but it was a busy period for me between work, training and studying for deferred exams. But I am back now with a report from the first Irish Badminton tournament of the season: The Mount Pleasant Open.  As of last weekend, the badminton season in Ireland officially kicked off. The Mount Pleasant Open was the first ranking event of the season, where players from across Ireland traveled to the club in Ranelagh to make their mark on the new season. Old faces and new competed to lift the first titles of the season.  The tournament was an extremely competitive affair and was run to the highest standard as usual, so a massive thanks to the tournament officials who ran such an efficient tourn...