Alcohol
Replies
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I agree. If I was going to go into a coma, it would have been this weekend. Had a few social events - including a friend's bridal shower - and had quite a bit to drink while still on 20g/day. I actually felt fine and I even tested with the strips (just got them in the mail this week) and I was still in ketosis even while digesting the alcohol...so I really don't know how it works as far as the danger. I don't drink every day - usually just the weekend so I'm not going to fuss too much over it.0
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hi, don't mean to hijack the thread. I'm responding to the questions directed to me in the original post on this thread. This is a discussion on the biology of drinking alcohol:
First, alcohol poisoning is what causes the brain to swell and for you to go into a coma, because it is not getting any fuel. Hence mentioning that coma is a factor to consider if you plan on drinking allot.
If you have glycogen stores in the bloodstream you brain will have fuel in the case of drinking alcohol. It takes the glycogen floating in the bloodstream to feed the brain in this situation. Remember, if you are drinking alcohol, your liver ceases to produce glycogen and ketones to feed the brain while it is busy detoxing your blood from the alcohol you just consumed!
Think about this. If you claim to be a low carber or in ketosis due to a ketogetic diet that means you not only do not have glycogen / glucose floating around on reserve, you have none in your muscle stores.
In order to have enough glycogen replenished so that it is floating in your blood stream for your brain to grab as fuel you have to eat enough carbs. Your body will naturally replenish the muscle glycogen stores first so I estimate at least 60 g of carbohydrates before drinking to make sure that you have glycogen / glucose in the bloodstream for your brain fuel. I'm not an organic chemist or a doctor, just a cpt who studies nutrition and understands cytotechnology and ketogetic/ketogenesis/gylcemic index diets.
for some people it may take more or less to completely restore enough glycogen stores completely throughout the body to the point that that extra 1 teaspoon of it is present in the blood. Then you are out of ketosis from a low carb. diet because your glycogen stores are now refueled. bummer.
So, drinking alcohol while on a low carb diet is not only a great way to annoy the living daylights out of your body, but a fabulous way to
shut down your liver
pickle your organs in alcohol
become insulin resistant
add empty calories to your "diet"
confuse your immune system
increase estrogen/reduce testosterone production
Drop blood sugar levels below normal (the heart and the brain suck up that one teaspoon of glycogen in the bloodstream really fast, and since you have alcohol in you you can't currently make more!)
depletes your body of essential minerals and amino acids
http://www.acde.org/common/alcohol.htm
hope that answers your questions about why it's important to carb load prior to that one drink.0 -
hi, don't mean to hijack the thread. I'm responding to the questions directed to me in the original post on this thread. This is a discussion on the biology of drinking alcohol:
First, alcohol poisoning is what causes the brain to swell and for you to go into a coma, because it is not getting any fuel. Hence mentioning that coma is a factor to consider if you plan on drinking allot.
If you have glycogen stores in the bloodstream you brain will have fuel in the case of drinking alcohol. It takes the glycogen floating in the bloodstream to feed the brain in this situation. Remember, if you are drinking alcohol, your liver ceases to produce glycogen and ketones to feed the brain while it is busy detoxing your blood from the alcohol you just consumed!
Think about this. If you claim to be a low carber or in ketosis due to a ketogetic diet that means you not only do not have glycogen / glucose floating around on reserve, you have none in your muscle stores.
In order to have enough glycogen replenished so that it is floating in your blood stream for your brain to grab as fuel you have to eat enough carbs. Your body will naturally replenish the muscle glycogen stores first so I estimate at least 60 g of carbohydrates before drinking to make sure that you have glycogen / glucose in the bloodstream for your brain fuel. I'm not an organic chemist or a doctor, just a cpt who studies nutrition and understands cytotechnology and ketogetic/ketogenesis/gylcemic index diets.
for some people it may take more or less to completely restore enough glycogen stores completely throughout the body to the point that that extra 1 teaspoon of it is present in the blood. Then you are out of ketosis from a low carb. diet because your glycogen stores are now refueled. bummer.
So, drinking alcohol while on a low carb diet is not only a great way to annoy the living daylights out of your body, but a fabulous way to
shut down your liver
pickle your organs in alcohol
become insulin resistant
add empty calories to your "diet"
confuse your immune system
increase estrogen/reduce testosterone production
Drop blood sugar levels below normal (the heart and the brain suck up that one teaspoon of glycogen in the bloodstream really fast, and since you have alcohol in you you can't currently make more!)
depletes your body of essential minerals and amino acids
http://www.acde.org/common/alcohol.htm
hope that answers your questions about why it's important to carb load prior to that one drink.
Thanks for the heads up0 -
And dont forget behind the numbers in your libations comes impaired judgement once the drinking is over and the snacking begins. so i plan and log my cocktails and when i've had my quota, i switch to non-alcholic beverages. i try very hard to
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Micholob Ultra beer has 2.5 carbs per beer...just saying.
Please remember as another member and Dr Atkins has said...if you drink alcohol your body will burn alcohol for fuel, not fat...you are not burning fat, don't know about you but I want to be burning fat every minute of the day...
This doesn't stop weight loss, just postpones it.0 -
From experience, when you are in ketosis and you indulge too much in the alcohol, your body gets tipsy from the alcohol AND you also become hypoglycemic. As noted, your liver is busy processing the alcohol and is not creating glycogen or ketones. Thus, your body has to depend on glucose in your blood stream. If you are in ketosis, your blood sugar is very low (compared to a normal person), so you enter a state of hypoglycemia while drinking. This, in effect, doubles your drunken state since very low blood sugar has a similar effect on the brain.
On New Year's eve I had what I would consider (from past lives) not all that much wine and everybody suddenly got very worried about me. I was acting like I was drunk to the point of needing to quit drinking and go to sleep even though I'd only had 3 glasses of wine. Solved problem by loading up a bunch of carbs and protein, and within 30 minutes I was okay again as my blood sugar levels went back up.
Way back when, in the Army as a young guy, I knew you had to carb up to drink. Many soldiers eat a low carb diet, and we all knew that on Friday afternoon you needed to pump a bunch of carbs in your body so you could go out and drink. Forgot that lesson, ooooops.
So, I would say you are probably not gonna go in to a coma as long as you aren't under 20g net carbs and consuming way too much alcohol. BUT you could find yourself suddenly way more "drunk" than you should be at that point. The problem is solved by eating some carbs and protein (I had chips, guacamole and chicken wings). But that will definitely knock you out of ketosis and you will need some time to undo the damage. :-)
As to what to drink. Vodka is 60 cal per oz, no carbs in it and club soda is zero cals, just some fizz and sodium. Diet sodas are awful due to all the processed fake sugar crud in them and you really should avoid that stuff if you are doing paleo/primal type lifestyle. Technically I shouldn't drink alcohol either, but that is the one thing I chose to keep.
Anyhow, I shouldn't go down thoseside paths. Best choices for drinking are vodka and club soda with a splash of lime or lemon juice ... 60 cals, some sodium and a tiny bit of fructose. Alternatively, as someone else noted, red wine is 4g of carbs in 8 oz (a very big pour of wine, about 1/3 the bottle). Plus red wine is quite heart healthy. A glass of red wine or a single vodka & soda will not knock you out of ketosis. It may slow the weight loss a bit, but not horribly so. On Saturday 3-4 drinks won't kill you, but I would highly recommend some aerobic exercise to burn the calories.
Oh, and if you are eliminating grains, gluten and phytates from your lifestyle, then drinking beer is a bad, bad choice. Even the lite stuff.
My two cents worth on the topic.0
