Showing posts with label Water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Water. Show all posts

Saturday, 26 July 2014

Some thoughts on the essentiality of dietary carbohydrates.

I didn't know that there's a watch strap called Essentiality. I do, now.
From https://svpply.com/item/3229602/Swatch_Skin_Collection_Silver_Essentiality


This is a book-marking post for thoughts I had in https://www.facebook.com/TheFatEmperor/posts/1442430506020812.

"The human body does not need carbohydrates from an external food source, because it is capable of very precisely and correctly assembling its own amounts of glucose that is needed in very small amounts for auxiliary and specialized functions." - Igor Butorski.

1) It's not precise. See How eating sugar & starch can lower your insulin needs.

2) It's not enough to fuel sustained medium-intensity exercise for everybody EDIT: if there's insufficient protein intake. See "Funny turns": What they aren't and what they might be and Everyone is Different.

From Blood Sugar is Stable:-


After liver glycogen has been depleted in starvation or on Nutritional Ketosis (Ketogenic Diets with less than 14% of total energy from Protein), total glucose production from liver & kidneys is ~100g/day.

From It's all in a day's work (as measured in Joules), the body oxidises carbohydrate at a rate exceeding ~4g/hour at exercise intensities exceeding ~25%, on a LCHF diet. This is unsustainable.

EDIT: If protein is consumed, total glucose production increases, up to a maximum of ~400g/day.

3) It's wasteful. Glucose production from protein converts ~50% of the most expensive macronutrient (protein) into the cheapest macronutrient (carbohydrate). It creates expensive urine, as the nitrogen part of amino acids is detoxified by being converted into urea by the liver and then wee'ed out by the kidneys.

4) Using the above argument, the human body does not need saturated fats & monounsaturated fats from an external food source, because it is capable of very precisely and correctly assembling its own amounts of saturated fats & monounsaturated fats (out of carbohydrate) that are needed in very small amounts for auxiliary and specialized functions.

If we consume only Essential Fatty Acids, Essential Amino Acids, Vitamins, Minerals, Fibre/Fiber, Water & Anutrients, there won't be much to eat. Also, there won't be a source of chemical energy to generate heat energy & mechanical energy. That's what dietary carbohydrates & fats are for!

Respiratory Exchange Ratio/Respiratory Quotient (RER/RQ) varies with carbohydrate & fat intake, as the body preferentially oxidises the fuel that's most readily available, when it's working properly. If it's not working properly, due to Insulin Resistance (IR), fix the IR rather than kludge the diet (by eating LCHF) to compensate for it. See Insulin Resistance: Solutions to problems for how to do this.

RER/RQ varies with Exercise Intensity.
Low-intensity exercise results in mostly fats being oxidised.
High-intensity exercise results in mostly carbohydrates being oxidised.
Medium-intensity exercise results in a mixture of fats & carbohydrates being oxidised.

Tuesday, 7 May 2013

PROLONGED MEAT DIETS WITH A STUDY OF KIDNEY FUNCTION AND KETOSIS.

BY WALTER S. MCCLELLAN AND EUGENE F. Du BOIS.
It's the 1 year study on Vilhjalmur Stefansson and K. Andersen at Bellevue Hospital.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
See https://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf The reason why I'm posting this is because of what Stefansson and Andersen drank. I was under the impression that the men drank water only. That was not the case. They drank coffee, black tea, meat broths and water. Black tea is high in tannins, which bind somewhat to haem iron and very strongly to non-haem iron.

Therefore, if you like to eat lots of red meat but you don't like your greens (not even a tablespoonful of spinach), drink strong black tea or eat foods rich in phytates and/or calcium. Vitamin E supplements also help. See Red meat and colon cancer: should we become vegetarians, or can we make meat safer?

Saturday, 23 January 2010

Ghrelin, the other "in"

Having just written about Leptin, it's Ghrelin's turn now. When your stomach is empty, serum ghrelin level is high and when your stomach is full, serum ghrelin level is low. Interestingly, high serum ghrelin has a beneficial effect on the hippocampus (responsible for learning stuff) so do your studying when you're hungry!

As a full stomach reduces serum ghrelin and thus reduces appetite, anything that keeps the stomach full for longer reduces appetite for longer. This is where enterogastrones come in. The most useful one in terms of appetite control is cholecystokinin, the secretion of which is stimulated by proteins & fats. This is one reason why diets high in proteins & fats keep you full for longer. Another useful filler is fibre/fiber, of course. As shown on the BBC programme "The Truth about Food", blending a meal with water or some other low-calorie liquid like soup also slows stomach emptying.

Finally, sleep deprivation raises ghrelin so I must try harder to spend less time on my computer and get some shut-eye.