Archive for the ‘- Carbohydrates’ Category
The ketogenic diet can be good for the brain >> Read why
Question: Hi, I was wondering if and how enzymes supplements that break down fat and protein impact the efficiency of a ketogenic diet? At first I thought they might be a good supplement for me to aid in the weight loss, but now I’m not sure.
Answer: Different enzymes digest different foods, so, you are right, on a low-carb diet you need different enzymes than on a high-carb diet.
Here is what major enzymes do:
- Protease – Breaks protein
- Amylase – Breaks carbohydrates
- Lipase – Breaks fat
The enzymes are found in saliva, the stomach, pancreas, and intestines. Digestive enzymes break down food into its basic components, which are then absorbed and used for body needs.
Do we have enough enzymes of our own?
The main reason we don’t is the processed food prevailing on or tables. Modern food processing techniques and cooking destroy much if not most of the enzymes naturally present in food. Poor digestion leads to poor nutrition and can cause a weakening of the immune system. Dr. Atkins developed the “Basic Enzymes Formula” containing more protease (helps digest proteins) and lipase (helps digest fats) enzymes and fewer amylase enzymes than standard enzyme formulas.
Here are the components:
- Atkins Proprietary Enzyme Blend 840 mg
- Proteolytic (Protein) Enzymes 378 mg
- Protease (50000 HUT)
- Protease ll (28500 PC)
- Bromelain (180000 PU)
- Protease lll (150000 PU)
- Protease lV ( 15 SAPU)
- Lipolytic (Fat splitting) Enzymes 378 mg
- Lipase l (1400 FCCLU)
- Lipase ll (600 FCLU)
- Amylolytic (preventing carb absorption) Enzymes 84 mg
- Amylase l (1100 DU) Amylase (5 GA)
Message: A low-carb plan is your ideal “celebrity diet” if you don’t mind:
1. living on meat, fish, eggs, and cheese
2. cutting back on white bread, potato, rice, pasta, and pizza
3. snacking mostly on nuts
Many if not most of the stars limit pasta, bread and refined carbohydrates to quickly shape up for movies: Ben Affleck was known to stick with his low carb foods while losing weight for his role in Pearl Harbor. Many musicians and pop stars also enjoy low carb diets that help them to prepare for concerts and tours and maintain energy levels while slimming down.
If you decide to choose this way of eating, you’ll join the Friends’ star Jennifer Aniston, Ellen DeGeneres, Natalie Maines, Bill Clinton, George Michael, Ben Affleck, and Renee Zellweger who keep their plates packed with “good” fats and lean protein while cutting down on “bad” carbohydrates and “bad” animal fat. Simpson has said she likes the lifestyle approach of the South Beach, while Jennifer Aniston prefers the 40:30:30 ratio of the Zone Diet. But how do you know if this celebrity’s choice is right for you? Here’s a tip.
Message: With seemingly endless amount of diets in the world, it all boils down to only three principal types of them: limiting calories, fats, or carbohydrates. Which one is best for you?
- Limiting calories is a very beneficial approach, health benefits-wise. It also requires self-discipline, so the best results are achieved with programs offering planning, support, and psychological services, online or offline.
- Limiting fats works well for physically very active people, not obese, and spending high amounts energy including calories from food carbohydrates.
- For obese people and those with insulin resistance, the best way of eating is limiting carbohydrate total intake and/or the kind of carbs in their foods (complex versus simple, fast absorbing versus slowly absorbing).
Reading:
Thirty Percent Less Calories = Thirty Percent Better Memory
Dietary Restriction and Life Span
Can Adults Benefit from Calorie Restriction?
Beware of Western Diet!
Two energy sources: carbohydrates vs fatty acids
Carbohydrate-Biased Control of Energy Metabolism: The Darker Side of the Selfish Brain.
Age gracefully
Message: It is shown that the Western environment pushes calories into our bodies through the sweet-addiction gateway
“There is evidence that the brain favors consumption of carbohydrates (CHO) rather than fats, this preference resulting in glycolysis-based energy metabolism domination. This metabolic mode, typical for consumers of the “Western diet” (Cordain et al., 2005; Seneff et al., 2011), is characterized by over-generation of reactive oxygen species and advanced glycation products both of which are implicated in many of the neurodegenerative diseases (Tessier, 2010; Vicente Miranda and Outeiro, 2010; Auburger and Kurz, 2011). However, it is not CHO but fat that is often held responsible for metabolic pathologies.”
Source: Carbohydrate-biased control of energy metabolism: the darker side of the selfish brain
>> Read why: click here (it’s not too technical).
Why is fat so tasty?
Most animals, including humans, prefer high-fat food to low-fat food. Fatty foods are very palatable though the fatty acids, which make these foods fatty, are tasteless. On the other hand, sweet, sour, salty, or bitter foods are recognized by the corresponding receptors of the taste buds. The receptors then send information to the brain areas responsible for positive or negative sensations called hedonic or aversive. But how the tasteless fatty acids manage to make fatty foods so tasty?
Recently, it was suggested that long-chain fatty acids attaching to their specific transporter in the tongue. These long-chain fatty acids are recognized on the tongue, and then neuropeptides and neurotransmitters such as the famous “reward chemical” beta-endorphin is released in the brain.
Source: J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2007 Feb;53(1):1-4.
Message: Avoid meals that are high in both fats and carbs
Most animals, including humans, prefer high-fat food to low-fat food. Fatty foods are very palatable though the fatty acids, which make these foods fatty, are tasteless. On the other hand, sweet, sour, salty, or bitter foods are recognized by the corresponding receptors of the taste buds. The receptors then send information to the brain areas responsible for positive or negative sensations called hedonic or aversive. But how the tasteless fatty acids manage to make fatty foods so tasty?
Recently, it was suggested that long-chain fatty acids can attache to their specific spots on the tongue and be recognized by specific transporters; the brain receives the signal and releases (along with many neuropeptides and neurotransmitters) the famous “reward chemical” beta-endorphin (1)
Another story is, what metabolic consequences these process have comparing with well known effects of the sweet taste of carbohydrates. Turns out that without carbs, fat fails to be fattening. This is exactly what happens on the ketogenic diet having well known neuro-protective and metabo-protective effects (2).
Sources
- J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2007 Feb;53(1):1-4.
- Frontiers in Neuroenergetics, 2011, 3:8.
Intermittent fasting is popular today. One of the aspects of this calorie restriction techniques is periodic ketosis, which is proved to be neuroprotective. Another aspect is periodic interruption of glycolysis, which is also good for the brain. However, the Hellers were first to empirically formulate the idea and make it very dieter-friendly: Rachael F. Heller, Richard F. Heller. The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet: The Lifelong Solution to Yo-Yo Dieting. Signet (1993)
<– Carbohydrate Addict Diet Food Pyramid
This diet is for you if you have:
• forceful hunger
• craving for carbohydrate-rich foods
• need for starches
• desire for snack foods, junk food, or sweets?
Do you have problems:
• staying away from food between meals
• staying away from snacks at night
• stopping a meal containing starches and sweets
• eating tasty food while not being hungry
• staying alert after a large meal
• staying alert early afternoon
• keeping your weight off after losing weight due to dieting
Do you tend to overeat these foods:
• Breads
• Bagels
• Cakes
• Cereal
• Chocolate
• Cookies
• Crackers
• fruit
• juice
• ice cream
• potatoes
• pasta
• rice
• popcorn
• sodas?
Do you indulge in:
• sugar substitutes
• alcohol
• monosodium glutamate?
If you answered “yes” to at least one of the questions in each category, the CAD might be right for you.
The diet prescribes two meals, called Complementary Meals, which limit carbohydrate generally same way most low carb diets do. Most people choose breakfast and lunch for their complementary meals. The diet allows one Reward Meal not limiting carbohydrate content but limiting this meal’s duration to strictly one hour. It is believed that with this meal planning you body is tricked into releasing less insulin. Thus, it better controls blood sugar levels and therefore stores less fat.
The diet starts with the Entry Plan. You eat two complementary meals and a reward meal, no snacks, for a week, then you weigh. Your plan for the next week will depend on your weight loss and your weight loss goal. For instance, if you loss was around 2 pounds, you go to the Plan A, which is essentially same plan, but you are allowed to have a low carb snack.
If after following the Entry Plan for a week you lost 0.5 lb. To 2 lb., you go to the Plan B, which is in fact staying on the Entry Plan for one more week.
If you didn’t lose any weight on Entry Plan, you go to the Plan C and this is an interesting part. All you do differently comparing with the Entry Plan, is eating two big salads made of leafy green vegetables before both of your two daily complementary meals.
There’s also the Plan D, for the most stubborn body weight, where you add one more salad, before your Reward Meal. This planning goes on every new week.
From the book:
Reprinted with permission
Among those shared with me their weight loss results while on Atkins diet, 347 dieters reported effects beyond weight loss (or its absence):
- Hunger disappearance or appetite decrease – 178
- Diabetes improvement – 169
- Mood improvement, energy level increase – 158
- Absence of cravings – 149
- Physicians approval for the diet – 129
- Joint and muscle improvement – 125
- Headache disappearance – 121
- Exercise improvement – 115
- Muscle gain decrease – 112
- Fungal/yeast infection disappearance – 111
- Heartburn, bloating disappearance – 110
- Thyroid condition improvement – 119
Reported negative results:
- Cravings for high-carb foods increase – 16
- Inability to exercise – 15
- Low-carb foods dissatisfaction – 14
Mood/energy
This particular effect is perhaps the most controversial because it is against the observations, including those conducted in controlled clinical settings, that carbohydrate-rich meals improve mood and energy levels. Apparently, the positive influence reported by the dieters, were due to Atkins diet long-term effects, because during first several days on the diet there were effects consistent with clinical observations on short-term effects of direct intra-gastric infusions of nutrients:
“Hedonic tone was greater and tension lower after the saline and sucrose infusions than after the lipid infusion. From 3 to 3.5 h after ingestion, subjects felt significantly more sleepy after the lipid infusion than they did at these times after the saline infusion, and significantly more dreamy after the lipid infusion than they did after the sucrose infusion. (Physiology & Behavior. 63(4):621-8, 1998)
Another article reporting the influence of nutrients on mood, stress that there were acute and not long term effects:
“Mood improved (a decline in fatigue/dysphoria) following the low-fat/high carb breakfast compared to medium-fat/ medium-carbohydrate or high-fat/low-carbohydrate meals.” (“Acute effects on mood and cognitive performance of breakfasts differing in fat and carbohydrate content. “Appetite. 27(2):151-64, 1996)
The short-term positive effects of high-carb meals can be used, for example, for alleviating the PMS syndrome:
“The experimental carbohydrate intervention significantly decreased self-reported depression, anger, confusion, and carbohydrate craving 90-180 minutes after intake. Memory word recognition was also improved significantly.” (Obstetrics & Gynecology. 86(4 Pt 1):520-8, 1995)
It is interesting that not all of the clinical studies came to the above conclusion. Study conducted by University of Sheffield, demonstrated that meals, particularly when rich in fat, significantly reduced pain perception in healthy human subjects.( Physiology & Behavior. 65(4-5):643-8, 1999)
Carbohydrate craving obese patients do not improve their mood states through ingestion of a carbohydrate-rich snack. (International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders. 21(10):860-4, 1997)
There were no differences in mood between the groups receiving high-carb drink or water during performance of the military tasks. (Aviation Space & Environmental Medicine. 68(5):384-91, 1997)
The ingestion of sucrose failed to have any substantial effect on mood (Physiology & Behavior. 58(3):421-7, 1995)
“The carbohydrate-supplemented group had a greater total energy intake and carbohydrate intake. No significant differences between carbohydrate were observed in remaining psychological, physiological, or performance-related variables.” (International Journal of Sport Nutrition. 5(2):125-35, 1995)
These are rather typical messages:
- I feel great and my energy level has increased. I don’t feel sluggish anymore.
- No more mood swings, brain fog, confusion, or depression.
- I feel healthier, more energy (can keep up with the kids, yeah!) and smarter.
- I have a much higher energy level as well as a much more pleasant disposition.
- I have lots of energy and a lot more self esteem.
- I am sleeping like a teenager, and I had sleep apnea before starting the diet.
- I sleep better and I have more energy than my 16 year old daughter
- I’m so infused with energy that I climb the stairs at work without huffing and puffing.
- My energy had increased! Muscle tone had improved even though I wasn’t going to the gym.
- When I am eating according to program I feel so much better, sleep better and have more energy
- After the first 3 days the increase in energy was unbelievable, the mental fog and Monday morning blues were gone.
- I have more energy, not so tired anymore, and feel like I’m in control of my appetite.
- I have had a sense of inner peace that I simply can’t explain.
- My mood swings have lifted and I’m a much happier person overall.
- I felt better, had more energy, no more brain-fog and I did not feel tired and worn out at the end of the day.
According to this review, a simple dietary change towards lower carbohydrate intake and higher fats intake, may be efficiently protective against AD. >> read the article
Veldhors and colleagues at Maastricht University, Netherlands, compared the effects of a high- (HP) and normal-protein (NP) breakfast on satiety and subsequent energy intake at lunch time. Casein was the only source of protein during breakfast to eliminate the influence of different amino acid composition. They reported that:
1. Taste perception, hedonic, and reward properties of the pretest brekfast did not differ for HP and NP.
2. Insulin and glucose was higher after NP in less than 1 hour. Satiety (3 and 4 hours after breakfast) and fullness (less than 1 hour) were higher after HP. Energy intake at lunch did not differ after HP versus NP.
The present study shows that a breakfast with 25% of energy from casein is rated as being more satiating than a breakfast with 10% of energy from casein at 3 and 4 h after breakfast, coinciding with prolonged elevated concentrations of plasma amino acids, but does not reduce subsequent energy intake.
Veldhors and colleagues at Maastricht University, Netherlands, compared the effects of a high- (HP) and normal-protein (NP) breakfast on satiety and subsequent energy intake at lunch time. Casein was the only source of protein during breakfast to eliminate the influence of different amino acid composition. They reported in British Journal of Nutrition (2009, 101, 295–303 ) that:
1. Taste perception, hedonic, and reward properties of the pretest brekfast did not differ for HP and NP.
2. Insulin and glucose was higher after NP in less than 1 hour.
3. Satiety (3 and 4 hours after breakfast) and fullness (less than 1 hour) were higher after HP.
4. Energy intake at lunch did not differ after HP versus NP.
“The present study shows that a breakfast with 25% of energy from casein is rated as being more satiating than a breakfast with 10% of energy from casein at 3 and 4 h after breakfast, coinciding with prolonged elevated concentrations of plasma amino acids, but does not reduce subsequent energy intake,” concluded the authors.
I calculated the ketogenic ratios of the pretest breakfasts. They both turned out to be below the ketogenic threshold, which is 1:2 according to the Wilder & Winter formula: 1:0.418 for NP and 1:0.565 for HP, which means that both breakfasts helped the carbohydrate but not fat metabolism. How the switch to the fat metabolism due to higher ketogenic ratios at breakfast influences metabolic and psychological parameters during the day, is a different story.
“The Atkins Nutritional Approach counts grams of carbohydrates instead of calories… If you are losing weight, there is no need to concern yourself with counting calories. ”
Source: atkins.com
What you sometime read about low carb diets may make you doubtful. For example, here’s an opinion posted by “Health Care Reality Check”:
Q: Can a person eat unlimited calories, and still lose weight, as long as they severely restrict carbohydrates?
A: No, she can not. The basis of ketogenic diets, such as the Atkins Diet, is a severe restriction of carbohydrate calories, which simply causes a net reduction in total calories. Since carbohydrate calories are limited, intake of fat usually increases. This high fat diet causes ketosis (increased blood ketones from fat breakdown), which suppresses hunger, and thus contributes to caloric restriction. — Ellen Coleman, RD, MA, MPH
Is this a correct answer?
Let’s first discuss whether it’s a correct question. Or, rather, is this the real question so frequently asked by dieters. In my experience, this in fact sounds a little bit different but this makes ALL the difference.
This is what real dieters ask:
Q: Can low carb dieters eat all they want, and still lose weight as long as they only eat allowed foods?
A: Yes, they can. The basis of ketogenic diets, such as the Atkins Diet, is a restriction of carbohydrate-containing foods in favor of fat and protein containing foods, which causes the state of ketosis resulting in significant decrease in appetite. Since appetite decreases, most of low carb dieters consume significantly less calories WITHOUT INTENTIONAL CALORIE RESTRICTION.
Is there scientific evidence? There is.
Study #1 by: Bassett Research Institute in Cooperstown, NY and Durham (N.C.) Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Reported: Proceedings of North American Association for the Study of Obesity, Oct. 29, 2000, Long Beach, CA
Who participated:
- 18 obese men and women with 30 or more pounds to lose.
- Average calorie intake before the study: 2,481 calories a day
Method:
Dr. Atkins’ Book, the “New Diet Revolution” used as instruction for the dieters.
Results:
1. Calorie intake during the most restrictive induction phase (when only 20 g of carbohydrates were allowed) was 1,419 calories a day on average and weight loss was more than 8 pounds on average.
2. Calorie intake during the ongoing weight-loss phase (when carbohydrate intake is being increased gradually, by 5 g a day) dieters ate an average of 1,500 calories a day and lost an additional 3 pounds in two weeks.
3. The calorie reduction was attributed almost completely to carbohydrate abstaining. Intake of fat and protein remained practically the same as before the diet.
4. After 6 months on Atkins diet, 41 overweight people lost an average of 10% of their weight. Most dieters lowered their cholesterol by 5%, but there were a few whose cholesterol increased.
5. 20 out of 41 dieters continued the program, and kept the lost weight off for more than a year.
Study #2 by: Harvard School of Public Health.
Reported: American Association for the Study of Obesity, October 16, 2003
Who participated: 21 overweight volunteers.
- Two groups were randomly assigned to either lowfat or low-carb diets with 1,500 calories for women and 1,800 for men; a third group was also low-carb but got an extra 300 calories a day.
Method:
All the food was prepared at a restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Note that most earlier studies including the above Study #1 simply gave out diet plans.
So in this study, dieters were given dinner and a bedtime snack as well as breakfast and lunch for the next day, which made the setting a carefully controlled one. Foods were mostly fish, chicken, salads, vegetables and unsaturated oils. Red meats and saturated fats were limited (as opposed to traditional Atkins menus.)
All meals looked similar but were cooked to different recipes. The low-carb meals were 5% carbs, 15% protein, 65% fat. The low fat group got 55% carbohydrate, 15% protein, 30% fat.
Results:
1. All dieters lost weight, but those on low carb diet lost more than the low fat group — even while consuming MORE calories:
- Group on lower-cal, low-carb diet lost an average of 23 lbs.
- Group on same-calories low-fat diet lost an average of 17 lbs.
- Group on extra 300 calories, low-carb diet lost an average of 20 lbs.
2. Over the course of the study, the group of low carb dieters who got an extra 300 calories a day consumed extra 25,000 calories. That should have added up to about seven pounds. But for some reason, it did not.
Discussion:
“It doesn’t make sense, does it?” said Barbara Rolls of Pennsylvania State University. “It violates the laws of thermodynamics. No one has ever found any miraculous metabolic effects.”
So it violates the laws of thermodynamics, huh? Not so fast! When it comes to calorie counting, the “calorie is a calorie” concept is very deceiving.
Let’s see what we count when we think we count calories. When you burn a piece of wood in a stove, you can directly measure how much heat energy it produces. Then you can claim that you know how many calories a piece of wood contains, right? Not exactly. You should specify what kind of wood it was, dry or wet, how you burned it, etc. Because if you spent another material to start the burning, you should subtract these calories from the total; if the wood was wet you should take into account the calories that the water evaporation took. So even with a piece of wood, it’s not that simple.
Now look at a piece of food. You know how they tell how many calories it contains? Same way they talk about a piece of wood in a stove. It’s the calorie number that the food would produce by being burnt in a stove.
Then in addition to the wood’s calorie estimation (that takes into account the dryness, etc.), you should add many more circumstances: how hard should one chew it before being able to swallow, how hard one’s enzyme system will have work to digest it, will it influence the hormones in charge of fat storing? What about its effect on the hormones in charge of fat burning?
Which chain of reactions will it trigger, activity-wise or metabolism-wise? Will it make one sleepy, thus conserving the energy? Ot will it make one jumpy, thus wasting the energy?
Study #3 by: Laboratory of Applied Physiology, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
Reported: J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Dec;88(12):5661-7
Method:
Healthy boys, aged 8-11 yr, were examined for resting energy expenditure and the thermic effect of a meal, which were measured for three hours after a same-calorie but high-fat or a high-carb meals.
Results:
There was no changes after high carbohydrate meals but there was an increase in resting energy expenditure after a high-fat meal.
If the researchers in the Study #2 would have measured resting energy expenditure and the thermic effects of the meals, they would probably have registered the same changes. Then everybody would make a sigh of relief: none of the laws of thermodynamics have been violated; yes, the low-carb dieters COULD INDEED eat more calories and lose more weight than the low-fat group while violating no physical laws because — they just burnt more, all the time, even at rest. It’s that simple.
