Jeff's Thoughts

• Low Carb Diets Lead to Low Energy……

  16 May, 2013

  Yeah Right…….

  At Studio41 we don’t use the traditional food pyramid (it doesnt work), however nor do we agree with paleo. We have Our own nutritional protocols that work on someones level of insulin sensitivity, For all those technical people out there, this explains nicely why some people can be initially tired on a low refined carb diet…..

  “Fats burn in the carbohydrate flame” – People typically suggest that CHO are necessary if we want to burn fat optimally. To a certain extent, they’re correct.

  The Krebs cycle is something that we use in the body to create ATP (energy). For this to function optimally, the first step in the process is the joining together of Acetyl-CoA to a compound called oxaloacetate. Without adequate oxaloacetate in the cells, acetyl-CoA doesn’t gain access to the Krebs cycle and the Krebs cycle doesn’t run properly – hence low energy. Since oxaloacetate is a by-product of CHO metabolism, without adequate CHO metabolism, oxaloacetate will be in scarce supply, acetyl-CoA will accumulate, and the Krebs cycle will slow down.

  Partly for this reason, many individuals feel more sluggish on a low-CHO diet, especially when they first decrease their CHO intake. They simply aren’t generating enough ATP through the Krebs cycle to meet their energy demands.

  Further, the liver doesn’t have enough stored glucose to ship it out to the brain and RBC’s. Everything from brain function to physical activity slow down to match this new, reduced nutrient and energy availability.

  However, this doesn’t mean that one must follow a high CHO diet, if fat supplies are abundant in the body and fat intake adequate, the body will compensate after 7-14 days to this new intake with an increased production of ketone bodies as well as an increase in Krebs cycle enzymes. As CHO intake drops off and CHO metabolism dwindles, the liver initiates a process that takes the extra acetyl-CoA that’s not being run through the Krebs cycle and converts it into ketone bodies.

  These are then shipped out to tissues such as muscles, the brain etc where they are used for energy. This adaptation is commonly referred to as ‘fat adaptation’.

  The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition – Precision Nutrition

  If you are trying a low carb diet, it is absolutely normal to be initially tired and you have to give it time (2 weeks at least). Your energy does come up but make sure you supplement with a good quality fish oil and increase your fat intake. At studio41 we find that people consume refined carbs without a thought process behind it or even logic. Often it is being disorganised or miseducation that leads to this but after a few months with us here at Studio41 our clients learn what is an adequate amount to be healthy and as lean as they want to be (unfortunately it is often a lot less than what they are consuming currently).

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