What prompted this experiment in the first place was Gary Taubes lecture on obesity which can be found here:
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?webcastid=21216During this lecture Taubes talks about what makes us fat. He pointed out that scientists have known for some time that fat can't be stored unless alpha-glycerol-phosphate is available to create the trigliceride that can be stored in fat cells. Alpha-glycerol-phosphate is created when carbohydrates are metabolized in the presence of insulin. Insulin is primarily driven by eating carbs. Pretty much it's
Eating Carbs creates insulin - insulin metabolizes glucose - alpha-G-phospahte is created - liver uses a-g-p to create triglicerides - triglicerides are then moved into fat cells. Bottom line no a-g-p no fat can be stored, at least that's the theory.
Taubes also stated that 58% of protein can be converted to glucose, but didn't say how or when this would happen. If this is true, then too much protein in the diet could cause a rise in insulin thereby creating a-g-p and causing fat storage.
My experience was that when I started eating this way I started with a higher fat content in my meat. Initially my weight dropped to about 150 lbs but then I got lazy and stopped adding the fat to my mix. Over several months my weight increased to 160 and then stabilized at that level.
I decided to test Taubes theory. If he is correct, since I don't eat any carbs my only source for glucose is from protein. If I reduce the protein and raise the fat to bring the calories back up, then less glucose would be produced and I should again lose weight even though calories stay the same. Less protein means less glucose created, hence less a-g-p all leading to less fat.
Still early yet but this seems to be working just as Taubes expected. My average blood glucose had been reduce by about 20 points since I made the change 2 weeks ago. I've lost 2 lbs in 14 days. Ketones went from less than Trace to Moderate which shows that body fat is being consumed. I have no idea how far this will go but intend to stick with it for several months at least and maybe forever.
There is a minimum amount of protein that the body will always need and I can't go below that amount or my health will suffer. This amount is between .8g and 1.4g of protein per KG of lean body weight. for me this is about 85g protein per day. This will produce about 50g of glucose and my final stable weight should be based on this amount.
Part of what was not clear in Taubes lecture, and no one else seemed to know, was if some portion of all protein eaten is converted to glucose or if this only happens in a metabolic emergency. The infamous “Bear” (Stanley Owsley) said this conversion only happened in metabolic emergency. I’m finding that this is not true.
What I'm finding is that all protein eaten is converted to glucose at the rate of about 58%. This was demonstrated to me by the drop in blood glucose levels when I changed my diet from 32% protein to less than 20% protein.
My original protein consumption was about 150g/day. This converted to 87g of glucose and you could see my blood glucose level rise about 25 points over a three hour period and then it would decline to an average resting value over the next 18 hours or so before finally dropping to the original starting level a couple of hours before I ate my next daily meal.
When I cut the protein to 90g/day (I raised fat to keep calories the same) there is 52g glucose created and my blood glucose levels only rise 15 points before dropping back to the average resting value.
What is interesting is that the drop in protein from 150g/day to 90g/day is a 40% drop. The "calculated" drop in glucose manufactured from protein from 87g to 52g is a 40% drop. The measured change in the rise of blood glucose directly after eating a meal from 25 points to 15 points is also a 40% drop - so all these numbers track exactly.
I keep very accurate records and measure my blood glucose every hour when I'm awake and every time I awaken during the night, and yes my fingers are shredded and painful but without doing this you'll never see these relationships.
