Atkins Diet

[Stryc-9]

BFA, I'm interested in the mechanism by which fat is stored w/o insulin as the driver. There are people who ascribe magical properties to keto and claim to be able to eat ungodly amounts of calories without weight gain because insulin is suppressed.

Who says this? Simply put, they're lying....there is nothing at all magical about ketosis. As mentioned above, an excess of calories (regardless of the macronutrient breakdown) will be stored by the body. Insulin is ALWAYS present in the blood plasma of a non-diabetic - and even a person running a ketogenic diet has stabilized blood glucose levels (precisely because insulin is still present). Circulating insulin is merely LOWER in a ketonic person - it is not absent altogether. If it were...you'd find yourself in ketoacidosis (a condition that involves highly elevated blood glucose levels, and an extreme breakdown of muscle tissue). People who claim that ketogenic diets are dangerous generally confuse ketosis in a healthy person with ketoacidosis in an insulin deficient type 1 diabetic.

Incidentally - in the absence of CHO's in the diet, the body will maintain basic essential blood glucose levels through a process known as gluconeogensis (which is essentially the conversion of certain amino acids into glucose). This is the reason why too much protein on a ketogenic diet will effectively prevent ketosis.

 

[overhead]

If excess calories are not stored as fat then what happens to them? You eat a surplus of any *type* of calorie and you will put on some fat. What I have found is that I can eat more calories on a low carb diet without putting on as much fat, which maybe related to the low insulin levels, but I am not sure.

 

[overhead]

And, if you are interested in atleast maintaining lean mass, you should do a CKD

 

[westsnoop]

Thanks Stryc-9 for a concise and clear answer. Sending you some karma!

 

[Vicious cycle]

http://atkins.com/

And you don't even need to buy the book, everything that is in the book in on this site. Worked great for me. Best of luck.

-VC-

 

[PwB]

Acylation Stimulation Protein (ASP) = Fat storage without insulin.

Fat activates it's own storage without insulin, due to it. The old model was that insulin activates lipoprotein lipase (LPL) which dissassembles chylomicrons to store the fatty acids. The discovery of ASP makes this simplistic model
obsolete.

AND It takes only miniscule amounts of insulin to activate fat cell storage and inhibit mobilization. Protein raises insulin more than enough to do this.

It all comes down to calorie balance in the end, granted the diet is sensible (adaquete protein and EFA's). People get shredded all the time, even naturals, w/ carbs every meal. I still prefer low carbs, but in the end it all comes down to calories. Eat too much and you'll get fat/won't lose fat when trying to cut, w/ high carbs or zero carbs.