Protein allocation

By definition LC is about dietary carbohydrate restriction. If you are reducing carbohydrates, your proportional intake of protein or fat, or both, will go up. While I don’t think there is anything wrong with a high fat diet, it seems to me that the true advantage of LC may be in how protein is allocated, which appears to contribute to a better body composition.

~ Ned Kock from, http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2011/07/dietary-protein-does-not-become-body.html

Zoinks! This short article is dense. I read each paragraph. Then slowly reread the paragraph, squinting slightly and turning each sentence over in my mind. It feels like there’s at least one actionable-item, (something to start doing, or something to stop doing,) in every paragraph. I’ve spent a lot of time in recent years trying to learn what I can about all the things in this article. It’s a beautiful assembly that backs up the thesis in the first paragraph, (which is quoted entirely above.)

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Causality

Most obesity “experts” assume (erroneously) that the big equal sign between the blue and red terms implies a direction of causality.  In other words, they assume that an increase in fat mass (the blue side gets bigger), was CAUSED by the red number being bigger than the green number.

~ Peter Attia from, https://peterattiamd.com/revisit-the-causality-of-obesity/

Yes, physics always works. Yes, the First Law of Thermodynamics is always true. Yes, “calories in” always equals “calories out”. But that does not explain why we get fat. The equals-sign in the calories-in equals calories-out does not tell you anything about causality.

As with every single thing Peter Attia writes, you should go read this. Twice.

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From the ‘we are space craft run by bacteria’ department…

This work, led by Dr. Patrick Varga-Weisz shows how chemicals produced by bacteria in the gut from the digestion of fruit and vegetables can affect genes in the cells of the gut lining. These molecules, called short chain fatty acids, can move from the bacteria and into our own cells. Inside our cells, they can trigger processes that change gene activity and that ultimately affect how our cells behave.

~ From https://phys.org/news/2018-01-good-bacteria-genes.html

Have you heard of nutrigenomics? (“The study of the effects of foods and food constituents on gene expression.”)

Genetics is completely main stream. Certain genes for eye color, certain genes pre-dispose you to this disease or that cancer. Wizardy one hundred years ago. Totally main-stream today. Next came “the gut biome” (the collection of genes in the bacteria in your gut) and how that DIRECTLY affects you. Some people are not yet up to speed on the gut biome, but most everyone is now on board.

Next up is nutrigenomics. The realization (this is not wacky theory, but now a part of functional medicine) that what you eat LITERALLY alters the expression of your DNA. What you eat, literally alters how your body — your individual cells — activate and use your DNA.

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Two types of food

Once you have your goals firmly in your head, think of a food, any food.

Now ask yourself “Will this food move me closer to my goals or farther away from my goals?”. If you believe it will help you move closer to your goal, then eat it.

If you believe it will actually move you away from your goals, then don’t eat it, or at least eat it moderately and in very small portions.

~ Brad Pilon from, https://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/the-two-types-of-food/

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Can your food make you fit?

(Part 24 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

During the course of our conversation, I told these researchers about my practice and about the success I was having with patients on low-carb diets. I explained how my patients lost weight fairly easily and experienced significant and rapid changes in blood pressure, lipids, fasting insulin and blood sugar levels. They became intrigued since these changes pretty much mirrored those seen over time in caloric-restriction studies on lab animals. It set them to wondering whether humans following low-carb diets would manifest the same enzymatic changes as calorically-restricted animals. They proposed an experiment.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/inflammation/can-your-food-make-you-fit/

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Agriculturalists and hunter-gathers

(Part 20 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

The anthropological record of early man clearly shows health took a nosedive when populations made the switch from hunting and gathering to agriculture. It takes a physical anthropologist about two seconds to look at a skeleton unearthed from an archeological site to tell if the owner of that skeleton was a hunter-gatherer or an agriculturist.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/low-carb-diets/nutrition-and-health-in-agriculturalists-and-hunter-gatherers/

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Dietary protein increases lean mass

(Part 19 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

I know that many female readers will not want to gain extra muscle.  They shouldn’t worry, however, because in the absence of exogenous anabolic steroids women won’t become ‘muscle bound’ or non-feminine appearing.  What generally happens is that the muscle replaces fat within the muscle.  We’ve all seen marbling in beef, which is fat within the muscle tissue.  With the extra protein, new muscle replaces this fat, and the muscle may even become a little smaller in females while at the same time becoming more dense and stronger.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/weight-loss/dietary-protein-increases-lean-mass/

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Low-carb adaptation

(Part 15 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

There is an adaptation period that takes place when starting a low-carb diet. Someone who has been on a high-carb diet–the standard American diet, for example–has to metabolize a lot of sugar. All metabolic processes require enzymes to carry them out. Our DNA codes for these enzymes, but we don’t make them unless we need them. And when we do need them it takes a while for them to get brought up to the necessary levels. So, when we’re on a high-carb diet, we’ve got a lot of sugar-metabolizing enzymes kicking around, ready to metabolize sugar. All the sugar-metabolizing pathways are working efficiently.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/lt-frederick-schwatka-and-low-carb-adaptation/

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Copper and low carb diets

(Part 14 of 25 in series, M. Eades' Blog)

Zinc and copper are absorbed through the same ionic channel, and when there is an overabundance of zinc it gets absorbed instead of the copper. […] Certain elements in their ionic form get absorbed through the same channel. As long as these elements present to the channel in a specific ratio, they get through in that same ratio. If, however, there is an overabundance of one, it occupies the channel, preventing the other from getting through and can create an deficiency of the other despite an adequate intake.

~ Michael Eades from, http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/uncategorized/low-carb-diets-and-copper/

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