"Bob" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "TJ" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> > Use wisely I say. The Atkins diet has been very controversial. If you
> are
> > excercising ( Riding) Gage the carbs you use and adjust accordingly. Buy the book. The induction
> > phase of the diet is only a very small portion of the regimen. People use it as a crutch when
> > they need to drop a few
> pounds.
> > Since starting it, I have a blood sugar level that is more consitent. I have lost a bunch of
> > weight. And I ride faster.
> >
> > TJ
> >
>
> Atkins, even in the most restrictive phase, isn't zero carb. What I do is add carbs prior to
> workouts and afterwards, and I really have no problem riding. However, I'm not a 250 mile/week
> person. I exercise 1.25 hours on the bike and 1.5 hours weight lifting for about 3-4 times per
> week; my biking is all hills; my weight lifting (I'm currently only biking due to injuries) is
> hard, fast, with lighter weights. Consistent blood sugar level is the only reason I'm on Atkins.
> With high carb, I had to hang onto something after eating brown rice or pasta and I fell asleep
> every day at 3pm. Now, my blood sugar is rock solid and I feel great, with no lull around 3 pm.
> And, my cholesterol is fine and the numbers have improved (triglycerides are down, HDL up and LDL
> down). I even eat more vegetables now than I did on high carb.
<<snipped from Google's cache of
http://www.nutrition.cornell.edu/nutriquest/ketosis.html >>
To understand how ketosis develops, you first need to understand how the liver converts the food you
eat into fuels and how the body uses these fuels.
How does the liver convert the food you eat into fuels? The protein, complex carbohydrates, and fat
that you eat -- and the protein, carbohydrate, and fat in your body -- can all be used to fuel your
body functions. But first, the liver converts them into chemicals the body's tissues can use as
fuel, as follows:
The liver converts the carbohydrates into a simple sugar, glucose, which can fuel most body
functions. It converts any excess protein you eat, over and above what you need to replace the
proteins in your body, into glucose as well. It converts the fats into chemicals called ketone
bodies. Once these conversions are made, the liver exports the glucose and ketone bodies into the
blood stream for distribution to the tissues for use as fuel.
How do you develop ketosis on a low carbohydrate diet? The amount of ketone bodies you make depends
on how much glucose is available to your system. If you starve yourself, or if you eat a low to no
carbohydrate diet, you will make large amounts of ketone bodies to compensate for the lack of
carbohydrates. As a result, you will start to accumulate these ketone bodies in your blood stream.
This accumulation is called ketosis, and the diet that causes this accumulation is called a
ketogenic diet. Ketosis will give a distinctive taste in your mouth, and a distinct (and not very
pleasant) breath odor -- it smells like a cross between apples and nail polish remover -- because
some of these ketones can be exhaled from your lungs as as gas.
Can all tissues use ketone bodies as fuel? Most tissues can use ketone bodies as fuel, so when
little glucose is available, they switch to using ketone bodies. But there are several tissues of
the body which don't do very well when you have ketosis. These include your brain, the muscles you
use for rapid movement, and your red blood cells.
Ketosis and your brain One tissue that cannot use ketone bodies very well as a fuel is the brain.
The brain needs a certain amount of carbohydrate per day to function properly -- about 150 grams a
day, or the equivalent of about 12 slices of bread, or 3 baked potatoes. The brain's need for
carbohydrate is one of the reasons why the Food Guide Pyramid recommends that you eat 6-11 servings
of the Bread, Cereal, Rice and Pasta Group a day.
If you eat a low carbohydrate diet for a while, or if you starve, you brain can start to use ketones
for about 50% of its fuel needs. But when your brain uses ketones, it cannot function at its best --
thinking and reaction times tend to slow down. People tend not to notice these changes when they are
on a low to no carbohydrate diet, because the brain changes make them slower to react to any
stimulus, including the stimuli that come from self-awareness. So you may not be aware of this
slowing down, but it may make a difference if you use machinery, such as a car, which requires quick
thinking and quick reflexes.
Note that physicians have used ketogenic diets for people with epilepsy. Epilepsy is a kind of
electric storm in the brain. Ketogenic diets slow down all brain functions, so if you are epileptic,
a ketogenic diet will make your brain less likely to react to the trigger that sets off electric
storms in your brain.
Ketosis and your muscles Another tissue that cannot use ketones very well are the muscles that you
need to use for fast movement. For example, the muscles in your hands cannot use ketone bodies very
well, so on a low carbohydrate diet, your fast repeated hand movements will slow down and your
hands' endurance will decrease -- for example you will become slower and more tired when you type
for a long time.
Furthermore, on a low to no carbohydrate diet, the protein you eat, and protein from muscles is
converted to glucose to supply the brain's needs. So if you go on this diet, you may feel tired
because you have lost muscle mass as well.
Water weight loss with ketosis When you begin a low to no carbohydrate diet, you will experience
water weight loss, even when you don't change the total amount of calories that you eat. This
water weight loss is due to the changes in kidney function, including loss of body sodium, that
accompany the need to excrete the excess ketone bodies. As a result you will reach a new, slightly
dehydrated weight.
You will also need to excrete the urea that is produced when you convert protein into fuels and into
glucose. The urea is excreted along with water, so that you will continue to have higher than normal
water loss.
A note about ketosis and diabetes People who have Type I diabetes mellitus can develop ketosis as
well. People who have Type I diabetes mellitus require insulin injections in order to use the
glucose that the liver produces. When they don't have enough insulin in circulation, the body can't
use the glucose, and acts as if there was no glucose in the blood stream. As a result, fat cells
break up the fat they contain into free fatty acids, and send them via the blood stream to the
liver. There the liver converts the fats into ketone bodies.
Because the fat cells release their fats at a very high rate, the production of ketones also occurs
at a very high rate, a rate much greater than the rate at which the body can use the ketones. Under
these circumstances, ketosis can become severe. The ketosis is coupled with dehydration and loss of
sodium and potassium, which occurs because the body tries to excrete the excess glucose via the
urine. The dehydration, ketosis, loss of sodium and potassium, and the development of high blood
acid levels, together lead to a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis. Diabetic ketoacidosis can be
fatal if the person is not treated with insulin. The ketosis you develop with a low to no
carbohydrate diet is a very mild condition when compared with diabetic ketoacidosis.
Why can people lose weight on a low carbohydrate diet? As noted above, when you start a low
carbohydrate diet, you will have some amount of water weight loss. As you continue on the diet, you
may experience a decreased appetite, and these diets lack variety, so you will eat less. As a result
you will lose weight -- in fact any diet where you take in fewer calories than your body needs will
result in weight loss.
