Let’s start posting on a new thread so everyone doesn’t have to scroll all the way down the old one.
I would also like to inform everyone that there will be periods from time to time during which I won’t be replying to posts. This is because my travels sometimes take me into areas where internet connectivity is not available or difficult. I usually get this caught up fairly quickly when I return.
I must say, I am a bit hurt. I posted here weeks ago, saying some very enthusiastic and complementary things about Dr. Jay. A message appeared, saying it was being moderated, and my message has never appeared here. After reading the rules, I speculate that it was banned because I mentioned a book about low-carbohydrate therapy for diabetes. A tiny bit of checking would have shown that the book’s approach is very much in line with what Dr Jay practices, and the author is known to some of Dr Jay’s colleagues like Eric Westman. I will say again, that I think Dr Jay is doing wonderful work, and I wish him success.
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
My profuse apologies. I have been distracted with other duties and have neglected to respond to yours and some other posts over the past couple of weeks. I think you are referring to Dr. Richard K. Bernstein’s book and, yes, I think it is valuable, especially for type 1 diabetics. Thanks for your support and for you patience.
Oh, OK!! Thanks so much!! I was too sensitive, I guess. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Bill
I believe that developed insulin resistance, after our addictions are fully broken and over time, leaves and we can eat normally again with normal cravings and desires. — Our body chemistry returns to normal and our psychological addictions are easily overcome with our new found strength and knowledge.
I wonder if there is any place in North America where anything like the aboriginal diet is still consumed. When I was a child, in about 1954, I live for a while in Point Barrow Alaska, at the time a very isolated inupiat village. A ship came once a year when the ice was out, with western supplies for the store. Mostly, what everyone ate was the old items. It was a place of fantastic abundance…whales, seals, salmon, caribou, geese. Everybody just loved the native foods. This was before snow machines, they hitched up the dogs to go on the seal hunts. Enough of the nostalgia…sadly, even then, western foods had made huge inroads. The US Navy had left thousands of cases of Coca Cola there after the war, and it was everywhere. It just WAS, nobody had to buy it. Hardtack, or “Pilot Biscuits” as they call them in Alaska, were very popular, and of course are complete carb/starch. Everyone liked sugar in their tea, too. I haven’t been back, but I’m told that now its all poptarts, sweet cereals and white bread. And you can be sure that diabetes and obesity are now there too. Would sure be nice if they could toss out that “goosik” stuff. Oh yes, they had oolikan too, though I don’t remember anyone making oil from them. Seal oil was very popular too. I remember a couple of old ladies who got bored while the men were out seal hunting, and walked almost 50km to the nearest other village, to socialize. The only food they took was some dried salmon and a poke of seal oil. Try to do that on sugars. “Eskimo icecream” back then meant snow, with seal oil and some berries, not the current version of crisco and sugar. Well, I am not all that old and so I hope that enough people still remember how it used to be, and how much healthier they were, to try to steer things back to where they should be.
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
Unfortunately, I think the penetration of junk food including refined starch and sugar has been complete. I don’t think there is anyplace in the Arctic where people are not consuming these introduced foods. I do think that consumption of traditional foods is greater than what we see in the lower latitudes and that this may have conferred some protection. Having said that, I expect we will see rising rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease as the effects of the unhealthy eating overtakes these once sturdy people.
Concerning trans fats, I have a hypothesis I am exploring as to why some have proven harmful. Not all tans fats are bad. Conjugated linoleic acid, for example, is quite beneficial. So it cannot be the mere fact there is a trans- configuration of unsaturated bonds rather than a cis- configuration. It seems to me that the problem is that trans fats are unsaturated and are used to substitute for saturated in products that are advertised as having a long shelf life or are used for commercial cooking, for deep frying, etc., which would tend to cause high levels of oxidation. This suggests that the trans fats are used in a way that likely results in high levels of oxidation and rancidity. This also suggests a problem with unsaturated oils for cooking, etc. in general. In other words, the trouble with trans fats is the fact they are unsaturated, not that they are trans. The fact they are trans means they tend to get used in a way that creates greater exposure to rancid unsaturated fat, which would not have been the case with the saturated fats that the trans fats replaced
Dr. Jay, are you aware of any research that goes against this hypothesis?
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
I don’t know of any research that argues that point one way or another. I understand that transfats cause our HDL to drop and LDL to rise. I am not aware that other unsaturated fats cause this to happen. I do find it odd, though, that we make such a big fuss over transfats when it is perfectly well known that a diet high in refined carbs causes HDL to drop and triglycerides to rise, and that they cause a shift to small dense LDL, yet we don’t see any great hue and cry to get these foods out of the food supply. Curious.
An interesting report on physorg.com today. The research found that the small intestine after a high-fat meal sends a class of phospholipid (NAPEs) to the hypothalumus to signal fullness. However, animals fed continual high-fat meals after 35 days began producing less NAPE, suggesting vulnerability to loss of appetite control. This might imply one should vary the fat content of meals, so as not to habituate the system to stop producing NAPEs. Here is an excerpt:—
“Researchers have discovered in studies of rats that one type of lipid produced in the gut rises after eating fatty foods. Those so called N-acylphosphatidylethanolamines or NAPEs enter the bloodstream and go straight to the brain, where they concentrate in a brain region that controls food intake and energy expenditure. …
Now, they show that NAPEs are secreted into circulation from the small intestine in response to ingested fat and that systemic administration of the most abundant circulating NAPE, at doses naturally found in the bloodstream, lowers food consumption in rats without making food unappealing to the animals.
By injecting radiolabeled NAPE into the animals, they found that the lipid enters the brain and is particularly concentrated in the hypothalamus. Infusions of NAPE directly into the brain also led the animals to cut back on calories, supporting the notion that its effects may be mediated through direct interactions with the central nervous system. Curiously, they also found that NAPE left the animals in what is sometimes described as a food coma.
Animals fed a high-fat diet for 35 days lose the normal increases in circulating NAPE after a fatty meal. That suggest that derangements in NAPE secretion associated with chronic high-fat feeding may contribute to diet-induced obesity precipitated by overexposure to triglyceride-rich foods. However, those animals still responded to NAPE treatment.
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
I find the science on appetite signaling mechanisms fascinating. We have to be careful, however, in how research like this is interpreted and translated to the human situation. Let’s not repeat the mistakes like the early cholesterol studies on rabbits, where animals fed a highly unnatural diet for rabbits developed pathologies and then it was assumed that humans fed the same diet would have the same problems. While animal diet studies can be very useful, there are limits to the extent they can be used to understand human physiology. I also think that signaling mechanisms are not the issue. We know the body has intricate feed-back and regulatory systems and it is fun to figure these out and maybe even profitable if you can invent a molecule that can be inserted to achieve some kind of benefit. I tend to be more interested in the bigger picture. In this case, I know that by eating a high fat diet (that would be low in carbs) one would expect to release fat from the adipose tissue because of lower circulating insulin. This would cause appetite to be reduced since there is an internal fuel source offsetting the need to eat. Once the weight loss stops, then one’s appetite would increase concurrently with the need to get those calories from dietary sources once again. Perhaps this would explain why the mice initially had an anorexic signal and that, over time, this signal stopped. I am only speculating here but, overall, when I see research like this I try to reconcile it with what I have observed at the macro level, ie that a high-fat, low-carb diet causes you to lose excess weight and to keep it off over time.
Here is an interesting report from physorg.com. This team has discovered that genetic variation leads to significantly different fat-processing metabolism within cells. This implies that nutritional strategies should be optimized at the ethnic and individual level and that wide population-based nutrition studies are next to useless (perhaps worse than useless–misleading).
“The team identified four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in genes coding for well-characterized enzymes of the lipid metabolism. Individuals with different genotypes in these genes have significantly different metabolic capacities with respect to the synthesis of some polyunsaturated fatty acids, the beta-oxidation of short- and medium-chain fatty acids and the breakdown of triglycerides.”
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
I tend to agree. I think different dietary patterns work for different people. What I am most impressed with, however, is how consistently a very low carb diet seems to work for people who have developed insulin resistance. And conversely, how people who are overweight without insulin resistance seem to get about the same results from either low-carb or low-fat diets.
Hello again Dr. Jay.
Just wanted to say that my self-experiment is going well. I wanted to see if the 15lbs I’ve lost going low carb/high fat would remain off now that tennis season is over. As I hoped, in the nearly two months since the end of the tennis season my body has adjusted its caloric demand and my weight has remained the same at 150-153. lbs. I just lead an active life with my work as a massage therapist being my main calorie burning activity. Well, writing letters to the CBC burns quite a few, too!
I thought I’d post a synopsis of Gary Taubes’ book Good Calories, Bad Calories. People are welcome to copy and paste any of it for their own use. I would be happy to receive any feedback.
A Synopsis of
Good Calories, Bad Calories
Fred Cory, RMT
July, 2008
fhcory@eagle.ca
After a hugely successful feature article in the New York Times in 2002, which challenged the conventional wisdom that blames dietary fat as a primary factor in the epidemic rates of chronic disease such as heart disease, obesity, and Type II diabetes, Gary Taubes,* an award winning science journalist, was commissioned to write a more extensive work.
Good Calories, Bad Calories (2007 Knopf books) is the result of a five year exploration of the modern history of diet and health theory and the dietary etiology of these and other chronic, degenerative “diseases of western civilization”. It is estimated that 75% of health care costs go to treating chronic disease and Taubes makes a compelling case that dietary fat, far from being the culprit, is significant part of the solution. If Taubes’ conclusions based on data that is fastidiously cited in over 60 pages bibliography and 44 pages of notes are sound, then conventional medicine has been operating under a fundamental and colossal error and the advice that we have been given for 40 years to avoid these diseases is fundamentally flawed. Obviously, this would be a huge embarrassment to both the medical establishment, government, and the pharmaceutical industry. GCBC has been praised as “easily the most important book on diet and health to be published in the last 100 years.” – Richard Rhodes (Pulitzer Prize winner for non-fiction/history)
I first heard of Taubes when he was a featured guest on CBC radio’s popular science program “Quirks and Quarks”. His book is also a definitive reference in the present diabetes and obesity study “My Big, Fat Diet” in Alert Bay, BC where the Namgis First Nation community has been challenged to give up junk food for one year and return to their traditional high fat, high protein, high cholesterol primarily seafood diet. Incidentally, the Namgis have no word for “obesity” in their native language. This study is being chronicled by the CBC documentary program “The Lens” and has a website link at CBC.ca. Some of the early results of the study are nothing short of amazing. Under medical supervision many of the participants, many being morbidly obese, were allowed to discontinue their diabetes medication even after a matter of days after switching to their new/old traditional high fat diet. And those who are sticking with it are seeing their obesity problems safely and steadily melting away.
Taubes drops the gauntlet, as it were, and offers a simple proposition to the medical establishment in the form of two, simple and relatively very inexpensive clinical studies that could resolve the entire issue. But, because the medical, pharmaceutical, and food industries are so invested in both professional pride and profit to the dietary fat/heart disease hypothesis there has been little interest in taking him up on his offer. The other reason of course, is that a colossal error could be exposed that might well be very embarrassing for some but would be sweet vindication for others.
Another theme that threads through GCBC is a reminder of how vulnerable scientific enquiry itself is to corruption by the motives, status, and pre-conceived ideas of the scientist and the private interests of those who fund him. The book is peppered with pithy, cautionary quotes from the giants of science and philosophy as far back as Aristotle and advocates for those in the scientific community who over the years dared to speak out against “academic totalitarianism”. For many, professional marginalization and for some, even persecution was the price for going against the conventional wisdom. Taubes makes a deliciously ironic analogy that present day scientific authorities are not unlike the irreproachable cardinals and bishops of Rome in the Renaissance. In effect, today’s “scientific clerics” have robed themselves in their own beliefs and dogma and beware anyone who dares to challenge their authority. The oppressed becomes the oppressor…
GCBC also brings great comfort and renewed inspiration to the millions of people who put their trust in the conventional advice and yet struggle unsuccessfully to achieve their goals regarding weight-loss and heart-healthy living. It is nothing short of tragic that the millions of failed attempts at weight-loss are not because of weak will-power and sloth but more on decades of bad public health policy, a multi-billion dollar low-fat food industry, and of course the persuasive power of “Big Pharma” and the array of drugs they aggressively peddle to lower cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. The colossal failure of this flawed dietary fat hypothesis has brought our precious Canadian publicly funded health care system to the brink of collapse. Though great strides have been made in treating chronic illness, the numbers of people getting ill steadily increase. Practice makes perfect…
Taubes lists “ten inescapable conclusions based on the existing knowledge” in the epilogue of GCBC. The implications of some of these conclusions are astounding:
• “Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization.
• The problem is the carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis––the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body. The more easily digestible and refined the carbohydrate, the greater the effect on our health, weight, and well-being.
• Sugars––sucrose and high fructose corn syrup specifically––are particularly harmful, probably because the combination of fructose and glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels while overloading the liver with carbohydrates
• Through their direct effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates, starches, and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart disease and diabetes. They are the most likely dietary causes of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.
• Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating, and not sedentary behavior.
• Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter, any more than it causes a child to grow taller. Expending more energy than we consume does not lead to long-term weight loss; it leads to hunger.
• Fattening and obesity are caused by an imbalance––a disequilibrium–in the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue and fat metabolism. Fat synthesis and storage exceed the mobilization of fat from the adipose tissue and its subsequent oxidation. We become leaner when the hormone regulation of the fat tissue reverses this balance.
• Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are elevated–either chronically or after a meal––we accumulate fat in our fat tissue. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue and use it for fuel.
• By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately cause obesity. The fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be.
• By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity.”
To summarize ? low-fat diets often fail because:
• EATING LESS AND EXERCISING MORE LEADS TO HUNGER. BECAUSE WE ARE TOLD TO AVOID DIETARY FAT WE THEN GET SHORT-TERM SATIETY FROM CARBOHYDRATE.
• CARBOHYDRATE, ESPECIALLY IN REFINED FORM, ELEVATES INSULIN.
• STORED FAT WILL NOT BE USED FOR FUEL AS LONG AS INSULIN LEVEL IS ELEVATED.
In practice the data would suggest that we:
• Drastically reduce consumption of bread, pasta, rice and eat grain-based foods only their whole-grain form.
• Sweets should only be consumed as a rare, special treat if at all (high cocoa chocolate is less harmful)
• Avoid all “diet” “fat-free” “sugar free” and “junk” foods and beverages because they do not satiate and indeed make us hungrier. They are also acidifying and adversely affect the body’s acid/alkaline balance.
• Freely consume high fat foods such as eggs, high-fat yogurt, all meats and sea-foods, nuts, dairy (butter, cheeses, and milk).
• Freely consume low starch vegetables and fruits preferably in raw form. Avoid fruit juice.
• Alcohol always in moderation.
I urge anyone who is interested in this topic to buy Taubes’ book and enjoy it in its entirety and then lend it to your family doctor.
Be well. Fred Cory, RMT. fhcory@eagle.ca
Also, there is a fascinating 2hr.webcast lecture by Taubes’ on obesity. http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?webcastid=21216 Also check out “My Big, Fat Diet” http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/bigfatdiet/ as mentioned above. The site has clips of the TV documentary, a blog hosted by the head physician, and is a web resource site on the current medical study. (This would be an excellent classroom project). And here
is a site that gives some information about statin drugs and their side-effects.
http://www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/statin.html
*Gary Taubes, author of Bad Science and Nobel Dreams, is a correspondent for Science magazine. The only print journalist to have won three Science in Society Journalism awards, given by the National Association of Science Writers, he has contributed articles to The Best American Science Writing 2002 and The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2000 and 2003. He lives with his wife and son in New York City.
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
Quite a tribute to Gary Taubes! I think he deserves it. He was in Vancouver recently speaking at a conference I organized and we spent some time together. I was humbled by his dedication and perseverance. He kind of stumbled into this and now that he has seen the potential for good, he finds himself driven to keep pushing the message. I highly recommend his book.
A report out on research into sugar addiction at Princeton University. Looks like our observation that resistant to low-carb seems energized by carbohydrate addiction may be spot on.
“Hoebel has shown that rats eating large amounts of sugar when hungry, a phenomenon he describes as sugar-bingeing, undergo neurochemical changes in the brain that appear to mimic those produced by substances of abuse, including cocaine, morphine and nicotine. Sugar induces behavioral changes, too. “In certain models, sugar-bingeing causes long-lasting effects in the brain and increases the inclination to take other drugs of abuse, such as alcohol,” Hoebel said. … Hungry rats that binge on sugar provoke a surge of dopamine in their brains. After a month, the structure of the brains of these rats adapts to increased dopamine levels, showing fewer of a certain type of dopamine receptor than they used to have and more opioid receptors. These dopamine and opioid systems are involved in motivation and reward, systems that control wanting and liking something. Similar changes also are seen in the brains of rats on cocaine and heroin.
In experiments, the researchers have been able to induce signs of withdrawal in the lab animals by taking away their sugar supply. The rats’ brain levels of dopamine dropped and, as a result, they exhibited anxiety as a sign of withdrawal. The rats’ teeth chattered, and the creatures were unwilling to venture forth into the open arm of their maze, preferring to stay in a tunnel area. Normally rats like to explore their environment, but the rats in sugar withdrawal were too anxious to explore.”
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
Now I know why, when I first stopped eating carbs, my teeth chattered and I was afraid to leave the house! Kidding aside, I have often reflected on the fact that my experience in the initial period after discontinuing carbs seemed to me to be very much like a drug withdrawal. In fact, when counseling people who are starting a low-carb diet I warn them that this may be their initial experience. The evidence from this study dovetails nicely with other bits of evidence which also suggest there is an addictive effect associated with carb consumption. In one of those studies, overweight women were manipulated to lower mood and then offered a choice of drinks, one of which had a high sugar content. The beverages were disguised so that the sugary one could not be identified. They found that the women consistently selected the sugar drink to elevate their mood. I also attended a presentation at a conference in which we were shown brain scans on people who had stopped eating carbs and people withdrawing from addictive drugs. They were virtually identical. I think this is useful information for people who want to cut carbs and reinforces my belief that cold-turkey is the best option.
two comments…
I think we should stop calling this a diet, it’s a lifestyle. It’s my ‘no sugar, no flour, no potato’ lifestyle. (45 pounds off since Mar)
And, second, one of the biggest values of this lifestyle for me is mental clarity. When I slip into the carbs, I also slip into lethargy, mood swings, depression and the problem is that it takes a while to notice. A day or two back without carbs and the head clears.
Dr Jay’s Reply:
I tend to agree. Especially for those who have developed insulin resistance, it appears that avoidance of carbs can ease the signs and symptoms but that the underlying problem is not fixed. This means that a resumption of carb-eating will cause the problems to return. In those cases it should be viewed as a food intolerance, ie you have developed an intolerance to carbohydrates. It’s like lactose intolerance, you are fine as long as you don’t eat lactose.
Your point on mental clarity is important. I hear this from a lot of people.
Dr. Jay,
It looks as though Ms. Beck had the comments removed from this weeks column–maybe because of us. I found it disingenuous that she implied fat and sugar caused dopamine responses the week after I referred to the work at Princeton linking just sugar addiction-related changes to dopamine receptors.
On another matter, I note the following research from Yale on the unreliability of Framington risk indicators, based on CT scans of coronary plaque. I have seen the “Track your Plaque” group website, which advocates people getting CT scans to measure coronary plaque and claim some success in reducing coronary plaque through diet changes. They are very big on reducing saturated fats. I wonder if this is based on empirical experience through diet modification and CT scans on the same person over time, and if so, how much control is there to distinguish the contribution of saturated fats (if any) as compared to other changes in the diet for that person?
Ever-probing, as always.
Cheers
Murray Braithwaite
ScienceDaily (Jan. 16, 2009) — The Framingham and National Cholesterol Education Program tools, NCEP, do not accurately predict coronary heart disease, according to a study performed at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT.
The study included 1,653 patients who had no history of coronary heart disease; although 738 patients were taking statins (cholesterol lowering drugs like Lipitor) because of increased risk of developing coronary heart disease. All 1,653 patients underwent a coronary CT angiogram and doctors compared their risk of coronary heart disease, determined by the Framingham and NCEP risk assessment tools, to the amount of plaque actually found in their arteries as a result of the scan.
Results showed that 21% of the patients who were thought to need statin drugs before the scan (because of the Framingham and NCEP assessment tools) did not require them; “26% of the patients who were already taking statins (because of the risk factor assessment tools) had no detectable plaque at all,” said Kevin M. Johnson, MD, lead author of the study.
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
I think the case for saturated fat and heart disease is very weak. Saturated fat causes HDL (good cholesterol) to go up. There was a study at Harvard a couple of years ago which showed that, in post-menopausal women, those who ate the most saturated fat had the least progression of arterial plaque. In Jeff Volek’s most recent study on low-carb vs low-fat diets, he showed that people who ate triple the amount of saturated fat but very few carbs had better lipids than those who ate the supposedly healthy heart association diet which was low in saturated fat. Personally, I eat as much as I can while significantly cutting carbs and my lipids are fine, along with everything else.
Oops. Jumped to a conclusion. The comment links have been restored. Must have been a Globe & Mail website glitch.
Thanks, Dr. Jay for the considered response on saturated fats. Personally, I love artisan cheeses and my body really feels satisfied and good after eating really fine cheese (as a meal especially), more so than any other food. My wife and I ate an entire Vacherin Mont D’Or for lunch one dayduring the Christmas holidays, and it was divine! I would really like to know that the saturated fats are okay. Nonetheless, years of conditioning that saturated fats are bad, and my general sceptical nature (on every side of any question), keep me looking for reliable evidence on either side of the question of saturated fats. The fact I eat a lot of cheese shows where I feel the evidence points so far.
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
We have been so indoctrinated on the evils of fat that it is still hard to shake that off, even in the face of good evidence. I remember when I started eating low carb and was indulging in all the fatty foods that I had previously avoided. I was eating a lot of fatty meats, butter, cream, cheese and eggs and doing very well in terms of weight loss and blood sugar and blood pressure control. After several months of this, I decided to get my lipids checked and I remember feeling at the time that now the party would be over, that I would have to face the music and figure out how to continue to eat low carb and low fat at the same time. Then, of course, my lipid results came back and they were excellent. Since then, I have taken comfort, not only in my own test results, but in the accumulated scientific literature that is consistently telling us that it is the carbs, not the fats, that are at the root of our problems of obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. As I said earlier, I now eat as much wholesome fat, including saturated fat, as I can. The only ones I avoid are transfats and the vegetable oils that are high in omega-6.
With respect to the cheese, it occurs to me that when you scratch the surface of any ancient diet you find at its core a central fat. On the west coast it was oolichan grease, on the prairies it was buffalo fat, in the north, caribou, moose and bear fat, and among the Inuit, whale fat. I think that cheeses may have played an equivalent role in the ancient diets of Europe. In either case, I hope you continue to enjoy them in good health!
Hi Dr. Jay
I am having a real hard time since xmas.Had daughter and kids visiting and of course lots of carbs in the house. I gained 8 lbs and cant seem to take it back off.
I am back on strictly carbs but have stayed the same since indulging and I gave away all the stuff i shouldn’t have. I have bacon and eggs (1 egg, 2 whites) usually at 10 am as i am retired and don,t get up early and then a meal of protein and veggies in the evening, mainstays are cauliflower, onions, zucchini, cabbage, then another snack of cheese or meat. I am sedentary and use 6 gms of carbs with cream in my coffee (4 cups a day) and 4 carbs for salad dressing on my raw cauli. Can you see any place i could improve? I feel i am wasting time cause i would like to get my surgery done next summer but have to lose at least 50 lbs before the anethesiologist will do it. What is the thing with net carbs? I am insulin resistant and have passed it on to all my 7 kids as they all have weight issues. Another thing i have been doing is drinking herb tea and one can of diet pepsi which i water down half and half. I also very seldom feel hungry, just eat cause i know i have to to get my metabolism working (i think?).
Sorry to be so long winded. Thanks for any advice.
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
It is not uncommon for people who have successfully lost weight on a low-carb diet and who have then regained weight by eating carbs again to have difficulty the second time around. This is a phenomenon I have discussed with my colleagues who have many years of experience treating people with low-carb diets and nobody has a good explanation for why this happens. By the sounds of it, your lapse was not a huge one so I would encourage you to stay the course. When you say you have 6 gms of carbs with your, I am assuming that is what is contained in the cream. If not, that would be a good place to cut some more carb. A little artificial sweetener or stevia would is always better than any type of sugar, refined or natural. If you have profound insulin resistance, the threshold below which your insulin needs to fall to facilitate the burning of fat may be quite low. I know mine is. I had started to eat too many nuts and that relatively small amount of carbs was enough to cause me some weight gain so I recently cut them out of my diet entirely. Also, the carbs in your salad dressing makes me wonder whether you are using a commercial preparation that has added sugar, as many do. The other hazard there, of course, is that they also tend to use the omega-6 rich vegetable oils, too. You may want to look for alternatives like perhaps making your own dip using olive oil and no sugar.
When you say you eat one egg and two whites, my suggestion would be to go ahead and enjoy two whole eggs. When you are eating low-carb your system can handle lots of fat, including saturated fat, without causing a cholesterol problem. I eat at least two eggs every day and three-egg omelettes when I am skiing, which is most weekends.
Don’t be discouraged, you are on the right track!
Dr. Jay, I have found that since going fairly low carb (no cereal grains or other starchy food, limited fruits other than berries, only occasionally a spoonful of dessert or other sweets) that I have experienced reversal of greying of my hair. Perhaps this is merely post hoc ergo propter hoc and something else explains it. No less stress in my life; perhaps just an effect of greater caloric restriction. Do you have any experience or information in this regard. Of all the reasons to lower carbohydrate consumption, this one has had the most effective emotional appeal for my wife.
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
I find your observation fascinating. I would speculate that the reduced oxidative stress and anti-inflammatory effect of a low-carb diet may be the explanation. If we could show that it reversed baldness, too, we would make a fortune!
Dear Dr Jay,
I started this ‘diet ‘ only yesterday. I was wondering if there is a list anywhere of all of the types of protein one can eat, (and ideas for different proteins which are “Allowed”, and a list of all the fats (may one have ANY type of fat, and as much as one wants in a day?)
Also is one allowed fruit at all?
I am so excited for this to work !
Thank you so much!
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
I don’t know of such a list of protein foods. Basically, I advise people that there is no limit on meats, poultry or seafoods. People tend not to overeat protein unless they are consciously doing so while avoiding both carbs and fat. This is not a good way to go. In terms of fat, again there is no limit in terms of quantity. You should avoid the vegetable oils that contain too much omega-6, however. The best one is olive oil, followed by high-oleic safflower and canola. Eat the fats that come with the meat and seafood and all the butter and cream that you want. Whether or not to eat fruit will depend on how profound is your insulin resistance. If you must eat fruit, the dark berries are good as they are low in sugar and rich in other good things.
Alas, no regression of balding.
Dr. Jay, another couple of mouse studies where they are fed high-fat diets. Today’s is reported in Science Daily News, “Excessive Dietary Fat Caused 300 Percent Increase in Metastasizing Tumor Cells In Animal Models.” (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090225172639.htm)
“Excessive” fat increased the activity of cancer tumours and promoted their spread. Interestingly, linoleic acid (omega-6) was implicated but oleic acid (olive oil, avocado) was not.
“The researchers used the imaging and cell-counting tools to document that linoleic acid, which is predominant in polyunsaturated fats, caused increasing membrane phase separation, whereas oleic acid, found in monounsaturated fats, did not. Increased membrane phase separation could improve the opportunity of circulating tumor cells to adhere to blood vessel walls and escape to organs far from the original tumor site. The new findings support earlier evidence from other research that consuming high amounts of polyunsaturated fat may increase the risk of cancer spreading.”
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
Thanks for the links. I agree that the omega-6 rich oils should be avoided. We appear to be getting far too much omega-6 in the standard American diet. This is why I recommend using only olive oil, canola oil or high-oleic safflower oil (if you can find it). The net effect of excessive omega-6 appears to be pro-inflammatory which would be consistent with higher cancer morbidity as was seen in this study. It’s ironic that the push to use vegetable oils to avoid cardiovascular disease not only appears to have been useless for that purpose but also appears to have made cancer morbidity worse. Simple, wholesome natural foods are the best. We seem to get into trouble when we stray from the basics.
Dear Dr Jay,
Sorry another question – is one allowed cheese at all on this diet?
Thank you !
Dr. Jay’s Reply:
Yes, cheese is allowed. Make sure it is real cheese, not the processed stuff. Harder cheeses tend to be lower in carb although I have a weakness for the soft, creamy french varieties!
Dr. Jay
It has taken me over two and a half years to find my way to and then finally focus on Keytosis, with it’s what’s and why’s and how’s of and how ketosis or keytones pertains to our health and what it is and what it means and what this says.
Mine is a “no forced exercise” diet — None!
I’m listening to Jimmy Moore’s Podcast interview today while I’m writing you.
He and his guest today are pro exercise and pro supplement and pro vitamines. — I am neither and none.
Water and food is what I believe in. — Natures perfect plan!
This Keytosis, or rather keytones being expelled in our urine thing, I believe, is simply a byproduct of our bodies sensing we are too fat and then removing this excess fat in order to optimize our health so we can run and fight and breed and feed and raise our families and young. — The keytones show up in our urine during this excess fat burning and fat rendering process.
Simple but important and the fact that this only occurs when we remove the excess carbohydrates from our diets, as in your “Traditional Diet” that I believe so much in and the fact that this process quits immediately if we add sugar or starch back into our diet.
There are a lot of rabbit trails out there, — I just wanted to complement you on and your position in all this and your so very vital leadership in a healthy way to eat and live.
I have been in a long stall but I got this thing going again. — Thanks for your time and patience.
Tom
http://thebunnellfarm.blogspot.com/2009/03/261-on-day-294-wednesday-march-18-of-my.html
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/acetylcoa/acoajm.htm
Dr. Jay
I’m thinking this might interest you.
What is the reason coffee is so bad? I have 1 cup a day. Is that too much? If it is, is an occasional coffee OK?
And mayonaise made from olive oil…is that alright to use?
Dr Jay’s Reply:
Sorry for the delay in replying.
Caffeine is supposed to give you a little insulin surge which can interfere with releasing fat from you adipocytes. If you are happy with your weight loss you shouldn’t worry about it. If you are stuck and not losing weight as expected, then it might be something to consider.
As long as the mayo isn’t made from high omega-6 vegetable oils and doesn’t contain a lot of sugar, I would include it in your diet. Olive oil is great, of course but it is hard to find mayo made exclusively with olive oil. Probably the best you are going to find is a mix of olive and canola which is okay.
Taanshi, hello, Dr. Jay,
My name is Heather. I am a Metis woman married to a First Nations man living in a small Aboriginal community the Parkland region of Manitoba. The vast majority of our people are obese (including my husband) and suffer terribly from a variety of chronic diseases, including, of course, diabetes.
Our community is about about 70% Metis and 30% First Nations. We live next to a reserve and there is another Aboriginal community (about 70% Metis and 30% First Nations) on the other side of it as well. The total population of our three communities is about 2,500.
I was very interested to listen to your CBC radio interview and how health/diet research could have an impact on access to traditional foods (hunting, fishing, gathering, etc.). The traditional land use of our three communities overlaps greatly and so do our socio-ecnomic and health problems. (We are intermarried, so this is no surprise!). I am sure that many individual community members and all our communities would benefit greatly by going on the the type of eating plan you are suggesting.
I would like to know what kind of support might be available to Aboriginal individuals and communities wanting to try what you seem to be advocating? I am very much interested in community development and may be taking a CDO position in our community.
Kihchi-marsii por ton travaai! Thanks so much for your work! (Michif as spoken in Manitoba)
Eekoshi pitamaa. That’s it for now.
Heather
Dr Jay’s Reply:
I think there are lots of people out there who can benefit from this dietary approach with a little bit of information and minimal ongoing support. I say this because I know people who have done it. I am interested in setting up an approach that can deliver this. I am thinking that it could work using telemedicine technologies like video conferences and web conferences. I would be interested in exploring this further. I expect that if a community wanted to do this, there would need to be a “champion” in that community to organize things, preferably someone working in the health sector.
Taanshi kihtwaam, Dr. Jay,
I have been thinking about how it would be possible to make eating a healthy traditional (or quasi-traditional) diet affordable in our community. Since many Aboriginal people have low incomes, they eat a lot of refined carbohydrates (bannock, bread, potatoes, noodles, etc.) as “fillers” and poor quality oil and margerine for fats. This is the case in my community. Of course, those that are employed and have decent-paying jobs could potentially purchase all the healthy food they need. However, what can be done to help the others? Food security is a huge issue in our rural community and many other rural and inner-city communties around the country….
I guess part of the answer is if possible to go back to hunting and fishing and gathering foods for ourselves. (When the land we use and the traditional foods we eat are not contaminated, that is!) However, hunting and harvesting is not possible for all people–even those living in rural and remote locations. (Pollution, lack of hunting equipment, disabilities, age, etc.) I guess that is where we have to think about what IS possible. We need to think about the possiblity of raising our own meats and eggs in an environmentally sustainable manner and/ or figure out ways to purchase locally-produced meats and eggs that are healthful and raised in a sustainable manner at reasonable prices. For most of us, growing at least some of our own vegetables is possible if only in planters. What we can’t grow ourselves, we need to figure out how to get locally if possible and then find a way to preserve them (freezing?) on limited budgets. (We need more chest freezer purchase programs such as that run by the Bayline Round Table in Northern Manitoba!).
Then there are the teas and fats to think about…. I know that I can harvest much of what locally for teas. However, I do not have much practical knowledge about when to drink what….
As for the fats, I am thinking that the “healthy spread” recipe (that you mentioned elsewhere on your blog) 2 parts butter to 1 part olive oil to 1 part canola oil may workout to being the same or cheaper than a “good quality” margerine…. I will try it out and inform you of the results.
I also if there is a way to ensure that we get enough salt and magnesium from our diets without having to take supplements? (Of course, salt is cheap and magnesium is pretty cheap as well!)
Dr. Jay, have you heard about the Northern Healthy Food Initiative in northern Manitoba? There are quite a few folks involved in Community Development, food security issues, environmentally sustainable agriculture as well as Indian Bands, Aboriginal and Northern Affairs communities, Public Health Agency of Canada, and Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Mantioba that are involved in it. It is gaining a lot of attention for its work.
Recently, there was a Norther Grocers Forum in Thompson hosted by some of the groups involved in the Northern Healthy Food Initiative. One of the issues that came up was the price of milk vs alcohol. The provincial government subsidizes the transportation of alcohol to many northern towns and cities but not milk. This became a huge issue. Considering , that so many Aboriginal people are lactose intolerant and that lactose is a carbohydrate that may need to be eliminated from many people’s diets, I am thinking we need to think of alternative ways to ensure people ( especially children and expectant mothers) get enough calcium. Those of us near lakes with sucker fish (mullet) could potentially get a lot of it from “grind fish” (ground with the “Y” bones in) or mullet canned like salmon. However, this may not work for most people–especially those in the cities….
The more I think about going back to a traditional diet, the more I realize how truly complex the issue really is! That in order to be truly healthy we need access to a healthy land base and to have the resources required to hunt/fish/harvest and grow healthy food. At the same time, I refuse to get overwhelmed! I will start where I am–with myself and my own family and go from there. We will again go out to gather seagull eggs and hunt geese this spring. This summer we will have a larger garden than last, freeze more vegetables and gather more medicines for tea, etc. We hunt and fish and almost exclusively eat wild meat and fish. (I will try canning mullet this year as well!) Let’s see where this lead us….
Eekoshi pitamaa! That is it for now!
Heather
PS: I really think you might find some excellent supporters at organizations such as Manitoba Food Charter and Heifer International Canada and others involved in the Northern Healthy Food Initiative. I will send on some of the documents and links I have collected on your work!
Dr Jay’s Reply:
Thank you for sharing your ideas. My apologies for taking so long to reply.
I am interested in developing links with any groups who are looking at traditional diet, diabetes, food security and related issues. I am also interested in research collaborations in those areas.
The return to traditional foods is a good idea but not always practical for everyone. One of the main things I have learned in my research is that you can approximate the traditional diet and still benefit greatly if you have problems like obesity, metabolic syndrome or type 2 diabetes. The main thing is to restrict the carbohydrates, especially refined carbs and sugar, all forms of sugar, and get comfortable with eating fat for energy. Just those simple changes can have a dramatic effect. Of course, it would be even better if one did this using traditional foods.
Hello Dr. Jay,
Can you tell me where I can find a copy of the diet? Also, are whey protein drinks OK on the diet? I’ve been working with a nutritionist to lose weight and she recommended the high protein shakes. She is also recommending nuts and seeds. Is it Ok to have a lower fat diet using your plan? My gallbladder was removed a few years ago and I sometimes have trouble digesting certain things. I’m not sure if it is related to fat, but there are many foods which upset my stomach. Also, which fats are the omega 6 ones that you keep referring to? I love avocados. Thanks for all of the posts and your answers. I found them quite helpful! Alison
Dr Jay’s’ Reply:
There is no printed copy of the diet I can offer yet. I am planning to write the book soon, though. In the meantime, I suggest people look at the Atkins diet. The diet I use is similar to the Induction Phase of Atkins. Although Atkins recommends 2 weeks on Induction, I have stayed on this diet for almost seven years now.
If the protein shakes are carb free and do not contain fats high in omega-6, they won’t be a problem. Have a close look at the label for ingredients and see how many grams of carb are on the nutrition chart and what kinds of fats are used.
The omega-6 oils are basically all the vegetable oils except olive, canola and high-oleic safflower (I think this one is available only in the US at the moment). Avocados are good.
It would be hard to eat this diet without increasing your fat intake at some point. While you are losing weight on the diet, you are burning off your stored fat. Once the weight loss stops you need to replace those fat calories by adding fat to your diet. I would suggest trying this starting with olive oil and then adding in other fats slowly to see what you can tolerate. I think you may find your stomach problems will be manageable. Too many nuts and seeds can be a problem because they do contain carbs. I used to eat nuts but find I do better without them. It will depend on your level of tolerance to carbs which I think is determined by how much insulin resistance you developed before starting the diet.
I hope it all works out for you.
can you use mayonaise during the induction period? I use Hellman’s olive oil mayo
Dr Jay’s Reply:
Yes. I like Hellman’s because it is made with canola and olive oils. Remember to avoid the other vegetable oils as they are too high in omega-6.
Dr. Jay
Sensory overload is what I believe to be at the core of carbohydrate addiction and it’s symptoms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPDTEuotHe0
O J Simpson was in sensory overload when he killed his wife and he was in it again when he burst into that room in his most recent conviction in Los Vegas.
O. J. has been a stimulant addict for many decades. Amphetamines and cocaine by the gallon at his house, not to mention caffeine and sugar and carbohydrates.
The Inca high priests considered caffeine in the form of chocolate to be a link to paradise. — There senses were enhanced.
They also hybrid corn and potatoes.
These are extreme examples to be sure but to open the conversation regarding autism and stimuli and our senses and carbohydrates and our minds and emotions is the second facet after diabetes and heart disease and blood pressure regarding carbohydrates.
Sensory overload effects our thyroid glands and our hormones dramatically.
The mental aspects of carbohydrate addiction are profound and far reaching.
Thanks for allowing me to express myself.
Tom
Hi Dr. Jay, hope all is well.
I came across this interesting report today of research showing that mice differ from human in the proteins involved in glucose transport into muscle cells. I am not sure what this means for interpreting glucose metabolism on mice, but thought you might find it interesting. “See Researchers discover new glucose-regulating protein linked with diabetes” May 28th, 2009 http://www.physorg.com/news162739002.html
Here is the discovery in a nutshell, from the report:
In humans, muscles play a key role in clearing glucose from the bloodstream, Brodsky explained. In normal function, this is controlled by insulin, which stimulates the muscle cells to import glucose by means of a system known as the GLUT4 glucose transporter.
Normally, she said, GLUT4 is stored inside both human and mouse muscles in a special compartment that releases it upon insulin stimulation. Fat cells also form a GLUT4 compartment and take up glucose in response to insulin. In type 2 diabetes, however, the muscle and fat cells fail to respond appropriately to the insulin and the GLUT4 compartment is abnormal. This process was thought to be identical across mammal species.
The current research identified a protein in both human muscle and fat cells, called CHC22, which appears to control the formation of the GLUT4 storage compartments.
The team determined that this protein is a specialized form of a ubiquitous housekeeping protein called clathrin, which Brodsky has studied since the 1980s and is known to be instrumental in moving proteins between cellular compartments. CHC22 was observed to be associated with the abnormal GLUT4 compartments in muscles from diabetic patients which, for some reason, do not mobilize to the muscle cell surface when stimulated by insulin.
Notably, she said, while mice also have an insulin-responsive GLUT4 compartment, they lack the CHC22 protein. As a result, this work has implications for developing better models for the study of type 2 diabetes.
Murray
Dr. Jay, — I just found out that there is no lactose in clarified butter. I am making some right now.
Hi Dr. Jay
I am still on the low carb and managing to stay true to it. I have gone off a few times but always get right back to it.My diet was 2 eggs /bacon and protien and vegies for dinner with a snack of cheese in the afternoon. i have two cups of coffe with cream . my carbs have been at 20.
So my Doc. suggested I count calories too.so have done that for a week and it sure cuts down what i eat. I cut out the bacon. I am still waiting for surgery on my gall bladder(two years now).so the bad news is that I haven’t lost for the last three months.Do you have ant advise for me?
getting discouraged because I still weigh 320 lbs.
and the Dr. wants me down another 50 lbs before Nov. when we try for a surgery date.
Hi again Dr. Jay
I seem to have loged in twice sorry about that. I should tell you that I don’t excercise very much. and I do eat butter and I cut back on the eggs to one a day. Also use crystal lite andherb tea and allow one soda a day. I also cut out chewing gum.
I think I am addicted to starches as if they are in the house i can’t leave alone so don’t even buy anymore.
Big business is paying attention:
“You searched for carbs kraft cracker barrel
1 results were found
Kraft Recipes ( 0 )
Member Recipes (0)
Articles (1)
Videos (0)
Additional Results
Carbohydrates & Diabetes
Carbohydrates are the foods that raise your blood sugar. Eating carbohydrates requires planning because of their effect on blood sugar control. This is the key to managing diabetes. ”
Of course their cheese is low-carb.
Dr Jay’s Reply:
Thanks for pointing that out. Funny how they completely miss the obvious!
Dr. Jay,
There was a report on physorg.com today about an Oxford study on rats fed a high-fat diet. They were on a low-fat diet (7.5% fat) and then swittched to a high-fat (55%). In 9 days they experienced a 30% decline in aerobic capacity and cognitive decline. It was noted that they were not fed low-carb. The report claimed carbohydrate burning is much more efficient.
It strikes me as odd. My experience, for one, has been different. Second, 9 days is a short time to adjust from extreme low-fat to high-fat. Third, it makes little sense that mammals would store energy as fat primarily, but then be supposedly inefficient at burning fat for energy. Makes no sense.
Wondered what you thought of the study.
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/rapidpdf/fj.09-139691v1.pdf
Cheers
Murray
Dr Jay’s Reply:
I’ll have to dig up the study. However, even without seeing it, I can offer some suggestions. The hypothesis that I work from these days is that we are not meant to burn glucose and that we appear to prefer glucose not because we like it but because we don’t like it. When you fill your gut with carbohydrates you create a metabolic emergency. Your body must rapidly dispose of the glucose while maintaining a normal blood sugar. Part of this involves pushing the glucose into cells so it can be burned instead of the preferred fuel which is fat. Insulin does this and also performs a fuel partitioning function which involves pushing fat out of the way so it doesn’t interfere with the burning off of the glucose. So, in these rats, if they are being fed sufficient glucose to cause this fuel partitioning to occur will have a compound problem if the diet is also high in fat. The storage of excess fat in these circumstances can be pathological with ectopic fat accumulating in unusual places. If, on the other hand, the rats were not fed carbs, they would be efficiently burning off the fat that they are eating and an increase in the fat would not be the same kind of problem.
This is my theory anyway. Although it is orthogonal to the consensus that glucose is the preferred fuel, I haven’t seen anything yet that convinces me I’m wrong.
They were “bogged” down with sugar and fat!
Pull the sugar and they will go into withdrawal for several weeks or months and still give “false positives and false negatives”.
Feed them only fat and meat and low low carb and over time they will improve immensely, just like humans.
Dr. Jay,
Thank you for your considered response. I, too, have been operating under the provisional hypothesis that fat is the preferred fuel and glucose burning is a defensive response to avoid and mitigate the damage of excessive glucose. This fits all sorts of observations, including the apparent metabolic preference to store fat for energy, as opposed to glucose (of which the maximum storage is only around 2000 calories).
What puzzles me, though, is the apparent need to have blood sugar in the range of 4 to 5 mmol/L. It seems some glucose is required–perhaps just enough to keep stored glucose/glycogen around 2000 calories and no more.
It also puzzles me at what level of carbohydrate consumption the fuel partitioning you mention would take place. Although I avoid starchy foods and added sugar, I do get carbs from berries, nuts, dairy and modest consumption of pulses. The vegetables I eat have carbs, but they are all low glycemic and it seems the carb levels in ones like leafy greens, mushrooms, celery and bell peppers would not be metabolically significant. I do not want to eat so many carbs that I fall in the “great middle” of the Grand Canyon, as Dr. Finney put it in his response to the NY Times article on this study. [See comment #403: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/fatty-foods-affect-memory-and-exercise/?apage=17#comments%5D
My operating hypothesis has been that so long as I keep blood sugar from exceeding 6.0 mmol/L post-meal (and regularly walk after most meals), then my glucose level would stay low enough to avoid fuel partitioning. Am I plainly misguided here?
Dr Jay’s Reply:
Any increase in blood sugar will cause a surge of insulin and will lead to fuel partitioning as long as those conditions last. If you exercise, you will burn off the carbs more quickly. If you eat complex carbs that are digested and absorbed more slowly you will have more time to burn them off. I think it is in people who are eating more calories than they can burn and if a significant proportion of those are carbs where the real problems occur. They would be constantly storing fat and, because of excess calories, unable to burn it all off when the glucose and insulin levels drop between meals. When people like this also develop insulin resistance, these effects are magnified due to the increased secretion of insulin. A vicious circle of insulin resistance, increased insulin and more fuel partitioning puts them in a state of constant hunger and excess calorie (and carb) consumption leading to chronic fat storage.
There are some tissues that need glucose, hence the fact that even with no carbs in your diet, your blood sugar should remain within a normal range. The tissues that absolutely need glucose don’t have mitochondria and also don’t require insulin in order to access the glucose in the blood. It crosses their cell membranes using another transporter system. This is why glucose has to stay at certain levels in the blood so that it can be accessed by these tissues in amounts that meet their energy needs. These tissues include parts of neurons, red blood cells, the lens of the eye, sperm and a part of the kidney. Fortunately, in the absence of carbs in the diet, your liver is perfectly capable of meeting these needs. Interestingly, the kidney doesn’t completely trust the liver so it retains some capability to manufacture glucose for its own needs.
Hope that helps.
Sorry, I meant to type “Dr. Phinney.” Monday morning. ” I’ve read over abstracts of a few of his published studies. The one that came out in April (Carbohydrate restriction has a more favorable impact on the metabolic syndrome than a low fat diet. Lipids. 2009 Apr;44(4):297-309.) I assume was the one you had mentioned early was forthcoming and would indicate strongly benefits to carbohydrate restriction.
Thanks Dr. Jay, that was indeed helpful.
It seems to me that the daily glucose requirements of those organs could be roughly determined and the total would establish a baseline threshold for a safe dietary consumption level of glucose-producing carbohydrate (sugar and starch). An optimum strategy would then to ensure these carbs are in low glycemic foods and are consumed with some fat to ensure slow ingestion. In theory, this would replenish glucose as it is used by the glucose-burning organs without raising blood sugar enough to trigger insulin.
As well, I note from other research of Dr. Phinney (or at least mentioned by him) shows that above about 75% of maximum heart rate, the muscles start to burn more sugar than fat. The safe threshold, I suppose, could be adjusted to account for the daily amount of exercise above 75% maximum heart rate. One would not want to consume more than would restore glycogen to full storage capacity.
I seek this baseline threshold because there are many foods that I eitehr love or have nutritional value yet contained sugar. Mushrooms, for example, which I love, contain sugar. (We have chanterelles growing wild at our recreational property.) Nuts contain varying amounts of sugar (cashews and pistachios being higher than most). It would be reassuring to know my diet of vegetable, nuts, seeds and dairy–which contain some sugar but not a lot–does not exceed the baseline threshold. For example, I have read that the brain consumes 100-125 grams of glucose per day. If so, then I feel confident I am okay with my salad, which has vegetables that contain sugar (such as celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, red onion), and a modest amount of yoghurt (9 grams of sugar per 175 ml). The higher the baseline threshold, the more flexibility in planning one’s diet.
Further to your hypothesis about sugar burning being a body defence mechanism, I note that a recent study showed that the liver releases sugar into the blood in response to the detection of sugar in the mouth. On our hypothesis, the body goes into immediate red alert, anticipating a rise in blood sugar from digested sugar to trigger insulin and making room in the liver to convert incoming sugar into glycogen. Of course, the counter-hypothesis is that the body senses it is now free to use up more of its precious, preferred fuel, knowing more is coming. A problem with the counter-hypothesis is that why would the body release more fuel without any perceived need for a boost in energy (such as fight or flight response). The defnece mechanism hypothesis seems the stronger fit to the available evidence.
Dr. Jay,
I would like you throughts on a study just reprted on physorg.com. Mice again. This showed mice on low-carb diets to have much greater artery plaque buildup, despite more favourable cholesterol and lipid levels in the blood. The researchers suggest the buildup was caused by a drop in endolethial progenitor cells with the low-carb diet.
From the report, it seemed the protein ratios were really high (above 40%) in the low-carb groups. Perhaps the result is more against high protein than low-carb.
Murray
Link to the physorg.com report on the study: http://www.physorg.com/print170346116.html
Hello Dr. Jay,
We hope all is well with your family as your second baby is coming along.
Ms. Holloway–thank you for the comments on my query about lean people and carb tolerance, in the other string. This does motivate me to try to ration carbs down to a range of 100-150 g daily, half of current mainstream advice for non-diabetics.
Earlier in the posts, there was a de-emphasis on the importance of fibre. However, the eating pattern used in MBFD and those of other health low-carbers includes a lot of green and other low-carb veggies which happen to supply a lot of soluble fibre. This soluble fibre has been correlated with lower absorption of fatty acids from the digestive tract and even good effects once in circulation. In my opinion, the veggies are the important natural antidote to any harmful effects normally associated with fatty red meats and smoked meats such as colorectal cancers. All to say, I think it’s good to tout the low-carb veggies as equally important as the higher fat benefits such as satiety. It might also be one solution to the weight loss plateau faced by some low-carbers: eat a bit less fat, eat more greens.
Helen
I’m reposting this here to be sure that Dr. Jay sees it!
Dr. Jay:
My community is a test market for a new KFC “sandwich,” and a local reporter did a story in which he had his blood lipids tested, ate the sandwich, then was retested. His numbers were: HDL 50 down to 39; LDL 145 up to 155; triglycerides 135 up to 215. He used this data as “proof” that the fat (no transfat,mostly saturated) had caused these horrible changes.
The product was two breaded. fried chicken patties as the outer “holder,” (no bun) sandwiching cheese and the “Colonel’s special sauce. 590 calories, 280 from fat. No mention of carb count or what was in the sauce, or whether the chicken was processed or what kind of cheese.
I am wondering about the accuracy of blood tests immediately following a meal. I am wondering why his blood lipids appear to have reacted in a manner that is the opposite of what has been seen in longer term studies of low-fat vs low-carb. Of course, without knowing the carb count (and I expect that it was high due to the breading and suspect the sauce is full of HFCS), this is not a low-carb food and it is possible the ill-effects were due to the carbs.
I have emailed my questions to the reporter and will report back if I get the answer concerning the sauce, carbs, etc.
In the meantime, I interested in your reaction to this.
The newspaper story cited this statistic: Every point your HDL drops, your heart disease risk goes up 10%. And implied fully that dietary fat is the culprit.
Peggy in Omaha
The people of European ancestry don’t want to view everything they have done from the beginning as wrong. Dead wrong. — So they won’t view and grasp and comprehend the source of this insanity, the stimulants, alcohol, caffeine, sugar and hybrid carbohydrates.
The native people have been forced to assimilate to these European ways and mentality and are also unable to grasp the complexity of this issue.
It is too painful.
We are caught in the middle.
The European ancestry people, ie; white people, are not going to accept these realities anytime soon, if ever.
The Queens way is forever.
Or is it!
They are totally blocked and mindset.
The Indigenous on the other hand, still have a chance if they can face the atrociousness and complexity of this reality, which none of us wants to do.
All tribes, of all nations and all races need to deal with this.
The American Indian can lead the way.
Prior to this, nobody has answered the reason for all of this insanity.
I believe the single biggest mistake people make when they watch this Documentary is that they think, yes this is good for these obese and diabetic and potentially diabetic people and particularly native populations which seem to have a propensity to these illnesses.
When in fact this is for everybody, be they fat or skinny or average or black or white or brown or rich or poor or young or old.
In perfect health or failing health.
Every single person on this planet earth.
It’s health and sanity were talking here.
Our acquired way of eating, which is killing and destroying everyone of us, or traditional eating which is the exact opposite.
Pure health and longevity.
They just don’t understand and can’t believe it.
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