[Bernie]

If you are not interested in the nutrition debate in the "love handles" thread, you may want to leave.

I got a few e-mails asking about what the hell Bryan and I are arguing about especially with "ketosis" and "Caloric Deficit"- I forgot that there are new people on the board now that missed our original argument.

I'm just gonna try to present the FACTS that these diets are based on- whether or not you agree with the theories that are drawn from these facts is up to you, but it will certainly help you understand the argument better.

As you read this, your body is burning a fuel which is called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. This fuel comes mostly from glucose- which is from carbohydrates, but some also comes from protein and fat. The fuel produces energy which we measure by the term CALORIES. Calories are not fuel- it is a measurement of energy- like "degrees" is to heat. In the old days, we used to measure the energy from food with a "calorimeter" (aka Bomb calorimeter). Basically, you'd weigh a plate of food, light it on fire till it burns completely, and weigh it again. The difference in weight can be computed as how many calories there were (because the "energy" from the food burns away). Eventually, a pattern was noticed where all Carbohydrates had 4 calories per gram, all Proteins also had 4 calories per gram, and all Fats had 9 calories per gram. So basically fat has over 2X as many calories as carbohydrate. This would seem like you'd want to eat lots of fat then because you'd get lots of energy! But that's not right for two reasons. First, your body cannot process the calories (energy) from fat NEARLY as efficiently as from carbohydrate. Secondly, because of the first reason, calories from fat tend to be stored away until needed later.
Calories from carbohydrate however are converted right to glucose and stored right in liver and also directly in the muscles where they can be very efficiently converted into energy by the muscles. This stored glucose is called GLYCOGEN.
Calories from protein are also converted to glycogen, but in efficiency between that of fat and carbs. Proteins are really preferred by your body for their amino acids which build new tissues, cells, and stuff.

As you read this then, you body is burning glucose from the carbs, but also a little fat as well. In some people they burn more fat, and others burn less fat. Also some people just plain burn more total calories in a day than others even at rest. This is just differences in METABOLISM. Basically, however most humans need about 2000 calories of energy a day, and with all the glucose hanging around and certainly everyone has extra fat hanging around- and when you consider your diet, no matter how sloppy it may be, there's obviously plenty of energy to fill the 2000 calories needed!

The PROBLEMS start when you get extra calories over what your body burns in a day. Even though, like I said carbohydrates are very efficiently converted to glucose and stored as glycogen, you can't just pile up this stuff forever. So if you overeat on carbs to the point where you are way over that 2000 calorie mark, you'll start to store that extra energy away- as FAT! This also happens if you take in too much calories from fat, or protein. So now you're storing fat! That means you'll gain weight and look fat!
Time to take action!
One way to do it is the way I recommend. A combination of Caloric Deficit and Aerobic Exercise. Caloric deficit means you lessen your caloric intake below what you need each day so you can't store your calories away as fat. You can still eat fat or whatever you want, but you have to remember that fat has 9 calories per gram (twice as many as carbs and protein, remember) so it's best to avoid fat so you can eat satisfyingly. Also remember calories from carbs are less likely to be stored as fat in the first place. But now that you have the problem of fat storage eliminated, your body won't just burn away fat. The caloric deficit itself will cause a lot of water weight to be lost, and possibly some more fat loss because some more fat may be slowly used to make glycogen to fill the caloric deficit, but not a lot, and only for a while which is why "crash diets" are so temporary. You gotta concentrate on the fat, that's where the AEROBIC EXERCISE comes in.
Normally, again, your body burns glucose, which is ANaerobic. When you exercise you burn more glucose. When you exercise hard you burn even more. Well, after a point your body says "Hold on- this guy's trying to run me dry! Time to bring in the reserves!" So you switch over to burning mostly FAT (AEROBIC) why? Remember fat has TWICE as much energy as glucose (9calories per gram vs 4 calories per gram). You're still burning carbs too, but you're now really running more off of fat.
This event takes place after about 20 minutes of continuous exercise. It's what gives you your "second wind" or "runner's high" when you run a long time.
It sounds like your body should always be burning fat then but the problem is fat burning is not nearly as responsive or efficient as carbohydrate burning. Burning glucose is like burning gasoline- it's explosive, fast burning stuff but it gets used up very quickly. Burning fat is like burning an oil lamp- it lasts a LOT longer, but it's not nearly as explosive or combustable.
That's why a marathon runner can't just blast full speed 20 miles into a race- he's running off his body fat and doesn't have the explosive energy. He'd make a very bad goaltender at this point because you want to be at peak explosive form for quick movements as a goalie- from carbohydrate fuel! Most athletes actually function anaerobically- they require fast explosive movements but not constantly- like a baseball player sprinting to first, or a football player running a play. So just because you play sports doesn't mean you'll burn fat!! You MUST do the 20 minutes at least of continuous exercise- like running, or stairstepper. This burns the fat, not just for the time you exercise, but even for up to 4 hours after you stop!!! SO even when you rest you'll be burning fat for a while before switching back to regular glucose burning. Again, you body doesn't want to keep burning fat because it's not as efficient. (If you could run a marathon ONLY off your glycogen you'd half the world record! That's why runners "carb pack" so they can run off carbs as much as possible and also so they don't deplete themselves of carbs before the race ends because you still burn some carbs even in aerobic mode!) Also, if you only burned fat all the time, you also create harmful byproducts called KETONES which if must be removed, and also after a point, burning mostly off fat will really sink you into a "blah" because your energy is not as efficient, especially since not only does your body prefer glucose fuel, but you brain MUST have it to be healthy!
This is obviously simplified, even though confusing, but the major points are shown.

Now, for Ketosis/ketogenics. In the 1970's is when this actually started but it's really gained popularity nowadays. It was not until earlier this year I finally read this information to interpret it. Dr. Robert Atkins was the guy in the 70's who introduced it, and now his new book "The New Diet Revolution" is like wildfire and he's finally become successful of his idea.
Basically, Atkins agrees with everything I said above- you gotta burn the fat. The difference is he has a different way to go about it. You can "force" the body to burn fat by depleting the carbohydrates, and then there's nothing left to burn but-fat! Remember I said your body normally burns glycogen. This is true, but what is also true is if you take away the glycogen, you will indeed burn only fat as Dr Atkins said. How do you do this? By bringing your carbohydrate intake down to near zero! Only eat fats. Your body is forced into fat burning mode then and you should lose weight because you are burning fat all day and night!! The process of burning fats is called "Ketosis" and people in ketosis know it because they get huge increases in "ketones" (fat byproducts) in their blood which is known as "Ketoacidosis". Type I diabetics know of this well- without insulin shots, their disease does not let them use glucose to burn as fuel- so they switch to fat burning (ketosis), one sign of which is that you lose weight without even trying!
Strangely, a diabetic in ketoacidosis sees his doctor at once, while a dieter on the Atkin's jumps with glee at finally reaching this milestone. Supposedly the Ketones in a healthy person get urinated out and the person lives happily this way until reaching desired weight. I am not nearly as informed in this as in normal metabolism, but I suppose once desired weight is achieved the person resumes a normal diet?
Eating carbs in this diet is a definite NO-NO because it will reverse the ketosis prematurely or prevent it from ocurring at all and the person won't lose weight.

(personal note- can you see how someone who only reads only that last sentence of this lengthy post might misconstrue that carbohydrates CAUSE weight gain)

One other note about the Ketogenic Diet- a MAJOR reason for it's awareness now is not from dieting but from seizure control! It has been found that there may be some value in putting SEVERELY seizure disordered children on ketogenic diets. We're talking kids who are so disordered they are mentally retarded because they spend much of their day in seizures and thus are closed off to the world.
I have friends, Robert and Cindy, who's big hearts took them to Cambodia where they adopted 3 children. The two boys, 8 and 9 yrs old are fine except for they are hyperactive pains in the butt who destroy everything in my house when they come over.
The third one, Maria, who is now 4 suffered since her first year with extremely severe seizure disorder. Every medicine and even brainsurgery available has failed and out of desperation they tried the ketogenic diet.
You would not believe it if you saw it! Bacon grease! Butter! Cream! Cheese made from cream! Cream with sugar substitute whipped and frozen to make "ice cream" (no sugar remember!) 4 or 5 times a day!!!
The seizures, Rob and Cindy say, definitely lessened for about a year. I didn't disagree with them even though everytime they came over Maria still has seizures and still doesn't walk or talk yet even after over a year on the diet. And I definitely wouldn't say this is an energetic child. She sleeps a good 15 hours a day. I personally think because of her mental condition it isn't even possible, nor is anyone thinking to see if the high blood ketones and/or lack of glucose might be causing brain damage.

Got off track there, but there's more information than you'll never need.

Bernie