You guys are something else. Has anyone ever read or followed the Federal Food Guidelines ? How about following the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter ?
The UCB Wellness Letter is published to get the truth out because there is so much bad information out there about health and nutritiion. Much of that is the bad information concerning dieting, lossing weight by straving oneself.
Both of them are based on the finding that nobody except really serious atheltes needs any more than 1 gram of protein for each 7 lbs. of body weight. Top athletes need only slightly more.
What does the body do with the extra protein ? If not burned as fuel, the extra is converted to fat. BTW, about fat, the body burns both fat and glucose all the time except when it's starved for oxygen. Fat cannot be converted to glucose. If the body runs low on glucse, it converts the proteins floating around in the blood stream to glucose. When what little is there is consumed, the body then starts breaking down muscle tissue and converting that to glucose.
A couple of more things. There is not one iota of evidence that complex carbs are bad for you. None. The healiest societies on earth are those that base their diets on the whole grains, not on meat and fat like north americans do.
In fact, the body's primary fuel is glucose. Extra glucose in the blood stream is converted to glycogen and is stored in the liver as well as the muscles.
The trouble with glucose and glycogen is that the body can only store a limited quanity of it. About 1200-1400 calories for most of us. So the body needs to burn fat as well to extend one's energy level.
While the body can turn extra glucose into fat, it almost never does. That's because we use so much of it. To get even 50% of your calories from complex carbs like potatoes on a 2400 calorie diet, that would mean you'd have to eat 12 medium size potatoes every day. Ever try that ? I can't. And I've tried. Even if you could, you'd never reach your body's storage capacity because you are consuming what you ate at the last meal too fast.
BYW, it is possible to loose fat, and not the much denser muscle tissue by simply reducing one's fat intake and eating alot more complex carbs. The trouble is that you'd only loose about 2 lbs. a month.
Another point is that most who are down on carbs don't understand the huge difference between the value of complex carbs and the many problems associated with simple carbs, the sugars. Those BTW are advised against in the Federal Food Guidlines.
So have fun with your diets guys. When you get tried of them, try the Federal Food Guidelines. It's made a world of difference for me. E
I knew it had to be coming...
