So been at uni today.. & the uni girls trying to put me off doing atkins because of the bad damage it causes to your liver, the loss of muscle mass due to ketosis, and how when i eventually eat carbs again im just going to pile it all back on and more..

Anybody want to shed some light on the liver/muscle mass arguement?

 

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I'm sure Jim, Michael, J2 or anyone more cleverer than me will be able to point you in the right direction soon matey. Eating more proteins though makes building muscle easier.

 

ketosis does burn off fat not muscle eating protein builds muscle!! simple

 

yeah have heard all the horror stories. dont you think eating pies, pasties chips and doughnuts damages the liver too LOL

 

Yeah very true. Just having a bad couple of days.. & them trying to put horror stories into me isnt helping.. Hmmph!

 

lol Claire you're clever!

If anyone suggests that it will do damage to your liver, always ask this question: 'what did cavemen eat?'. The answer is whatever they could hunt, scavenge or forage! Basically that means, meat, fish, eggs, nuts, berries and green vegetation, the very things we are allowed. Ask them why the human race didn't die out of kidney/liver disease when people couldn't go to Tesco for a low fat bagel. Agriculture has only existed for a very small percentage of our time on this planet and yet that small percentage is supposed to override millions of years of human development? There is a growing group who make the choice to live the 'paleo' lifestyle (think slightly more extreme version of Atkins maintenance!).

As for muscle loss a lot of diets will make you lose muscle, even weight watchers and the laughable slimfast. Your body has two fuel systems, glucosis and ketosis. When you're in glucosis that produces insulin which keeps fat in your cells so when your body needs extra energy because you're not eating enough, that insulin stops your body burning your stored fat and it needs to burn something. Conveniently protein can be coverted to glucose to it breaks down muscle as well as fat.

On Atkins, in ketosis, you're eating high fat, there's no way you can't be unless you're eating protein powder out of the tub. That trains your body to burn fat and as there is no insulin (insulin is pure evil to us) your body can easily access your fat reserves and burn those! What it was intended to be used for. There are 8 hormones which help you lose fat and only one which prevents you from losing fat and helps store fat. INSULIN. So those high carbs diets are producing the one hormone we want to avoid at all costs.

 

Thankyou J2BLUE If i remember any of that i will make it my counter arguement next time they bug me! I didnt read this untill after I had a jaffa cake :O Just one, i was weak

 

Just to back up what James has said.....

If you look at the time that the human race has existed in terms of a single year, we have only been eating grains for a day and a half. In real terms that means we've been here for millions of years and eating grains (rice, pasta, bread) for ten thousand years. In that ten thousand years there has been nothing in our evolution that has changed to require us to eat grains.
And as for potatoes......well I seem to remember that those arrived with Sir Francis Drake when Elizabeth 1 was on the throne so that's only a couple of hundred years ago! Clearly we managed fine before that!
The Atkins style of diet(especially when you get to maintenance) is a natural way for human beings to eat.

 

Oh you are all marvellous people (and Professors in disguise ) - and I pmsl'ed IYSWIM at this comment James!

 

Good points! Another thing I like to say that I forgot to mention is there are essential fats and essential amino acids (protein) yet there is no such thing as an essential carb.

 

I agree, it's basically the cave man diet.

Paleolithic diet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

To be fair, early man had half the life expectancy we do, and a far more physically exerting lifestyle. It's hard to say for definite whether their diet was good for them or not, it was just what they had. Although there is evidence to suggest that learning to cook food particularly meat and get it's full nutrient value is the reason we evolved larger brains than animals which eat raw meat.

Anyway, I think the 'there are no essential carbs' line is a good one. When you tell people all carbs are digested as sugar it can shock them too.

 

Good point rose but we have many more advantages than them. We have insulated home with central heating, clean water supply, ovens, modern medicine, specialist doctors and much much more which would have extended their life by many years.

If we could just combine all those luxuries with a healthy 'paleo' diet we could all live even longer!

Great point about the cooking though. I remember reading the discovery of fire was the point in history where we started to evolve very quickly.

 

Blush!

All the arguments you'll ever need are in the Gary Taubes video J2 posted. A bit slow to start but once you get into it he explains all the science about how the body absorbs/releases fat and it gets really interesting.

Definitely worth a watch.

 

Claire, not normally a rabid feminist, but seriously - naming all the boys, and none of the girls???

Well, not that I'm an expert or anything, but - wot they said.