The Science Behind The “Carb Flu”

heniko

Most of us who eat a low-carbohydrate diet—Paleo, Primal, Atkins, or otherwise—experience anywhere from a couple days to a couple weeks of low energy as we adjust to it, an experience known informally as the “low carb flu”. And some people never seem to adjust.

Here’s why—and here are some ideas that might help you if you’re having trouble adjusting!

Note that low-carb isn’t an objective of a paleo diet: it’s just the usual consequence of eliminating grains and sugars.

To read more of this article here ... http://www.gnolls.org/1984/the-science-behind-the-low-carb-flu-and-how-to-regain-your-metabolic-flexibility/

MissKim

I had read that before, but it was nice to read again! Awesome article, I wish everyone could read it, and understand it! lol

rachpiper720

So what they're saying is that the world's CO2 problem could be fixed if we all went on a high-fat diet??? Just kidding! Great post! Thanks, and very informative!

mocha76

Great info!! Thanks!

NoExcuseTina

WOW...reading these paragraphs is scary (thanks for sharing):

This is why a “low-fat, high-carb” diet is really a high-fat diet. Unless your “high-carb” diet involves an intravenous glucose drip carefully metered to keep your blood sugar constant, most of the ‘carbohydrates’ (sugars) you eat will be converted either to glycogen or to palmitic acid (again, a saturated fat) before you use them. “Soluble fiber” and other indigestible carbohydrates are fermented into short-chain saturated fats, like butyric acid, in your colon. Fructose, of course, is converted directly to liver glycogen or to palmitic acid. And if you’re losing weight by burning your own fat, keep in mind that human fat has roughly the same composition as lard—approximately 40% saturated!

You might ask yourself if it makes sense that natural selection would select us to store energy in the form of something directly harmful to us. If saturated fat is really so terrible, and polyunsaturated fat is really so healthy, why doesn’t our body store energy as linoleic acid, like grains do?

Betheroo

Very interesting article. With all the links, I have lots of reading to do for the next few days. Thanks for posting.

cupotee

It's a good article, but it has some misleading points.

- Anaerobic respiration and aerobic respiration are not interchangeable "modes" your entire body goes into. The former occurs ONLY in muscle cells in the absence of oxygen (as during a workout). Every other cell in your body undergoes aerobic respiration always.

- Beta oxidation is just long fatty acid chains being cleaved into 2 carbon chains. These 2C chains then are converted into acetyl-CoA before being utilized for energy in the Krebs Cycle/Citric acid cycle. (so the vegans are not talking complete bunk)

- Gluconeogenesis is the production of glucose using other organic compounds, not necessarily fats.