On The First Law of Thermodynamics

From the British Medical Journal

Author: Barry Groves, Independent Researcher OX7 6LP

Weight loss on a low-carb diet has two components:

1. Reducing carb (and protein if necessary) intake so that the body no longer has a ready supply of glucose.

2. Increasing fat intake to supply an alternative energy supply.

The aim is to get the body to burn fats -- and crucially for weight loss, this includes body fats. The body will only do this in two circumstances:

1. Starvation (including low-calorie dieting)

2. When glucose is restricted by other means and fats are the only fuel supply available (low-carb, high-fat diets).

But what about the Laws of Thermodynamics?

The laws of thermodynamics, so often quoted by 'experts' (I have another word for them: 'ignorants') in support of the 'calories in = calories out' hypothesis, is a complete red herring as it takes no account of the way the body deals with different nutrients.

One major flaw in their argument is that the body does not use all the food we eat to provide energy. The primary function of dietary proteins, for example, is body cell manufacture and repair: making skin, blood, hair, and finger- and toe-nails, enzymes, etc. The amount of protein needed for this purpose is generally accepted to be about one gram per kilogram of lean body weight. As meats contain approximately 23 grams of protein per 100 grams, a person weighing, say, 70 kg (154 lbs) needs to eat about 300 g (11 oz) of meat, or its equivalent, every day just to supply his basic protein needs. Even eating this volume of lean chicken would provide some 465 kcals. These calories are not used to supply energy, they contribute nothing to the body's calorie needs and so must be deducted if you are counting calories.

Much of the fat we eat is also used to provide materials used by the body in processes other than the production of energy: the manufacture of body cell membranes, bile acids, hormones, the essential fatty acids for the brain and nervous system, and so on. All these must be deducted as well. Thus trying to determine, from food intake and energy expenditure alone, how much excess energy your body will store as fat will give a completely wrong answer. However, these other factors cannot be measured. Calorie counting, which is the foundation of practically every modern slimming diet, is both totally misleading and a complete waste of time.

There are also other anomolies: A figure often used is that one kilogram of body fat represents about 3500 calories. But according to the United States Department Of Health, Education and Welfare:

'On a high-fat diet, 4703 to 8471 excess calories were required for each kilogram of added weight. On a low carbohydrate VLCD [very low calorie diet], replacing fat calories with 8g/day of equivalent carbohydrate calories reduced weight loss by 1.68kg, corresponding to 3300 calories of carbohydrate/kilogram, possibly 2500 calories per kilogram for carbohydrate alone.'(Department of HEW Publication: NIH 75-708, Government Printing Office, 165-86.)

Are they are saying that it takes 4,703 to 8,471 excess calories of fat to add a kilogram of weight, yet it takes only 2,500 to 3,300 calories of carbohydrate to add the same amount? If so 'a calorie is a calorie is a calorie' is not so meaningful after all: a carbohydrate calorie is obviously much more fattening than a fat calorie. So do calories count? Well, perhaps -- but some don't count half as much as others.

Actually, excess fats aren't stored in the body. Any unused fat calories are excreted in urine and faeces. (Endocrinology 1962; 70: 579. Experientia 1963; 19: 319. Metabolism 1964; 13: 87-97. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1964; 115:424. Nature 1964; 201: 924)

There is an emerging scientific consensus that weight control is a highly complex topic and the old ideas that overweight people are lazy gluttons are now realised to be as absurd and insulting as the overweight have always thought they were.

By the way, ketones are derived from fats in food which has been bought and paid for. They are a valuable source of energy for cells that usually use glucose. It makes no sense to create in the body a situation where they are flushed down the lavatory.

Source: British Medical Journal

Ketosis-Lipolysis is not Ketoacidosis

There is a difference between starvation, prolonged fasting and controlled carbohydrate eating. There are similar metabolic mechanisms at work, but the differences are key to understanding the safety and efficacy of controlled carbohydrate diets.

Read full article: lowcarb.org

Ketosis & Ketone Test Strips

EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT KETOSIS ...

1. What are ketones?
2. How will ketosis help me to lose weight?
3. But, isn't ketosis dangerous?
4. How do the ketone test strips work, and where do I get them?
5. I'm following Induction strictly; why won't my strips turn purple?
6. Will I lose weight faster if the strips show dark purple all the time?
7. Does caffeine affect ketosis?
8. Will drinking alcohol affect ketosis?

Read full article: Lowcarber.org

Ketosis: Is it safe?

Why do some people say it's dangerous?

On July 7, 2002, the New York Times published "What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?" written by Gary Taubes.

I quote the article: " 'Doctors are scared of ketosis,' says Richard Veech, an N.I.H. [National Institutes of Health] researcher who studied medicine at Harvard and then got his doctorate at Oxford University with the Nobel Laureate Hans Krebs. ''They're always worried about diabetic ketoacidosis. But ketosis is a normal physiologic state."

"Simply put, ketosis is evolution's answer to the thrifty gene. We may have evolved to efficiently store fat for times of famine, says Veech, but we also evolved ketosis to efficiently live off that fat when necessary. Rather than being poison, which is how the press often refers to ketones, they make the body run more efficiently and provide a backup fuel source for the brain. Veech calls ketones ''magic'' and has shown that both the heart and brain run 25 percent more efficiently on ketones than on blood sugar." You can read the full article here.

Being in ketosis means your body has burned a large amount of fat in response to the fact that it didn't have sufficient glucose available for energy needs. Under everyday conditions, the carbohydrates you eat are converted to glucose, which is the body's primary source of energy. Whenever your intake of carbohydrates is limited to a certain range, for a long enough period of time, you'll reach a point where your body draws on its alternate energy system, fat stores, for fuel.

This condition called dietary ketosis, means your body burns fat and turns it into a source of fuel called ketones. Ketones are produced whenever body fat is burned. When you burn a larger amount of fat than is immediately needed for energy, the excess ketones are discarded in the urine.

Dietary ketosis is among the most maligned and misunderstood concepts in nutrition because it is often confused with ketoacidosis, which is a life-threatening condition most often associated with uncontrolled insulin-deficient Type 1 diabetes. In the Type 1 diabetic, the absence of insulin leads to a toxic build-up of blood glucose and an extreme break-down of fat and muscle tissue. This condition doesn't occur in individuals who have even a small amount of insulin, whether from natural production or artificially administered.

Dietary ketosis, however, is a natural adjustment to the body's reduced intake of carbohydrates as the body shifts its primary source of energy from carbohydrates to stored fat. The presence of insulin keeps ketone production in check so that a mild, beneficial ketosis is achieved. Blood glucose levels are stabilized within a normal range and there is no break-down of healthy muscle tissue.

The most sensitive tests of ketosis ("NMR" and "blood ketone level") show that everyone is in some degree of ketosis every day, particularly after not eating overnight and after exercising. Ketosis is the body's survival system. It is not an abnormality nor does it present any medical danger, except to a Type I insulin-dependent diabetic. The body functions naturally and effectively while in a state of dietary ketosis.

Some of the benefits many people experience while in a state of dietary ketosis for intentional weight loss may include rapid weight loss, decreased hunger and cravings, improved mood, increased energy and, as long as protein intake is adequate, protection of lean muscle mass.

Source: http://www.ketosis-ketoacidosis-difference.com/

The Myths and Realities of Ketosis

Critics of low-carb eating often cite the metabolic state of ketosis as reason enough to forget about restricting carbohydrates in your diet. They offer an assortment of reasons that ketosis is dangerous and to be avoided - without acknowledging that almost everyone enters a state of ketosis at some point within a 24 hour period of time...when they sleep!

I'd like to use this edition of the Low-Carb Guru to sort the fact from fiction and provide you with information you can use to make your own decision whether to follow a low-carb plan low enough to trigger ketosis, or low enough to lose while remaining in primary glucose metabolism!

Let's start with what ketosis is. It is a metabolic state where your body "switches" from primarily using glucose for energy to primarily using fat for energy. The fat used for energy will come from both dietary fat sources and body fat. Ketosis is the natural result of limiting carbohydrates in your diet to a low enough level - you're NOT eliminating them - that your body can't meet its energy needs primarily from glucose. This is because all carbohydrates are converted to glucose for energy and if you limit your intake, the body will still need energy (calories) and will find another way to get them - ketosis - fat burning is its source of its primary energy.

But wait, you say, the body needs glucose!

Read full article: countcarbs.com