24 hour Lowcarb Chatroom 
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24 hour Lowcarb Chatroom
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1. What is a low carbohydrate Diet?
The Lowcarb Diet is a ketogenic diet whose best known proponent is
Dr. Robert C. Atkins. On a ketogenic diet one eats foods that allow the body to
achieve a state known as
ketosis-lipolysis. (the process of dissolving fat)When fat is used up
metabolically, it breaks down into glycerol and free fatty acids, which in turn
break down into pairings of two-carbon compounds called "ketone bodies",
leaving a newer fatty acid, shorter in chain length by the loss of the carbon
fragment that has entered the metabolic pool to be used as fuel.
2. Isn't Ketosis bad for your body?
The Benign Dietary Ketosis achieved with The Lowcarb Diet is not
the same thing as ketosis-acidosis which is dangerous to out of control diabetics
or someone suffering as a result of prolonged starvation. There is no dangerous
levels of acidosis when ketosis occurs as a normal concomitant of this diet.
"Doctors who fear ketosis in a weight reducing program such as this one have
had no experience with the ketosis induced by a carbohydrate-free diet."
(see Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution pg. 12)
3. What can I eat on The Lowcarb Diet?
Whatever you want. [avoid sugar, white flour and processed foods]
On this diet, your rate of weight loss is generally proportional to your exclusion
of carbohydrates. The level of carbohydrates you consume can be measured
and controlled. Thus, you can attach numerical quantities to the carbohydrate
food you eat and decide (based on your CCL) just how much of any macronutrient
you wish to consume.
4. What is your CCL?
The CCL is that number of grams of carbohydrate below which you can lose
weight. You determine your CCL you measure every gram of carbohydrate you
consume and record it. During the Induction phase[14 days] of the diet, the
daily total of carbohydrate should be essentially zero. NO MORE THAN 20 grams
of carbohydrate each day is recommended in New Diet Revolution. After the 14 days
of induction are up, you increase your total daily carb intake by 5 grams and measure the
results on your ketone test strips. You maintain this new 'level' of carb intake for about a week.
If you register ketones present, you add another 5 grams of carbohydrate to your total daily
intake for 10/day during the second week. You continue this process until no ketones
register on the test strip, and your weight loss stops. You then reduce your carb intake by
5 grams and test for ketones that week. The level at which ketones begin to show is your
critical carbohydrate level. This CCL will be different for each person.
5. What do I need to do The Lowcarb Diet successfully?
I recommend a copy of "Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution". A small food scale.
And a book listing name brand foods with their carbohydrate measurements.
My favorite carbohydrate counter is
The Corinne T. Netzer Encyclopedia of Food Values by Corinne T. Netzer
6. How do I Know This Diet Is For Me?
Are you overweight despite the fact that you don't eat that much?
Do you have an inexplicable obsession with food? Do you have a single
food or beverage you feel you could not do without? Do you
feel a sense of unfulfillment when you eat a normal meal? Do you have
a craving for such foods as sweets, pastas and breads? YES? Then you
may have a metabolic problem, manifested either by a relative
inability to lose weight or maintain weight loss or by a hunger or
inability to achieve and maintain satiety. Or, you may have glucose
intolerance, commonly known as hypoglycemia. Or, you may be one of
those identified as a carbohydrate 'addict'.
7. What Is a Carbohydrate Addict?
Carbohydrate addicts are not addicts in the true sense of the
word as we would describe someone addicted to heroin, cocaine or
cigarettes. A carbohydrate addict is most probably someone who has
an individual food intolerance or food allergy to carbohydrate laden foods.
8. What About Insulin?
Insulin is a hormone. It is one of the most powerful and
efficient substances that the body uses to control the use,
distribution and storage of energy. Our bodies are energy machines,
never resting, always metabolically active. And, glucose is the
predominant source of fuel used to power the system. From the
carbohydrates we eat our bodies absorb simple sugars, all of which
either are, or quickly become glucose. From fats we absorb glycerol
and fatty acids, and from protein we absorb amino acids, the building
blocks of proteins.
9. Insulin...the fat producing hormone.
If your blood sugar levels go sharply up, as they do soon after
you eat carbohydrates, insulin rushes forth and converts a portion of
that glucose to glycogen, a starch stored in the muscles and liver and
readily available for energy use. If all the glycogen storage areas
are full, insulin will convert the excess glucose into triglyceride,
which we carry around on our bodies as adipose tissue, FAT.
10. Hyperinsulinism
To have your insulin levels high and yet be resistant to the
effects of insulin is hyperinsulinism. Insulin does not need to
enter the cells to exert its effects. It exerts its action on
receptors on the cell surface. This generates a signal transmitted
to the cell which triggers various anabolic (constructive metabolism)
pathways and inhibits catabolic (destructive metabolism) processes.
The glucose balancing act takes place automatically and our blood
sugar stays in a fairly narrow, normal range between 65 and 110 mg.
per 100 cc of blood. Diabetes results from a lack of insulin
activity. Insulin dependent diabetes (IDDM) occurs when insulin does
not process glucose, and the glucose levels escalate while the body
searches for fuel. First fat stores and then muscle tissues. IDDM
results from a degeneration of pancreatic cells which produce insulin.
Non-insulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM) occurs when the insulin
receptors are blocked. Carbohydrates trigger the release of insulin,
but the body is incapable of using it. The body responds by
releasing more insulin. There is very little glucose being
transferred to the cells for energy. Consequently, more and more
glucose is stored as fat. The body has become a fat-producing
machine. The lack of glucose transfer to the cells for energy
accounts for that tired feeling many overweight individuals
experience. High insulin levels and overweight are almost
synonymous. In severe cases, over a long period of time,
the insulin receptors may wear out, the pancreas then becomes
exhausted and a high insulin NIDDM becomes insulin dependent.
11. What Is Carbohydrate Induced Metabolic Disorder?.
Persistent bouts of daily fatigue. Overweight. Shakiness and
hunger often traveling in company with depression, irritability, and
poor mental function. Hypoglycemia, low blood sugar, the ironical
consequence of consuming too much sugar. Just a touch of glucose
will send insulin pouring forth, dropping blood sugar levels to an
abnormal low. You become tired, irritable, and HUNGRY. Thus, what
you thought was compulsive behavior, a lack of willpower, is really a
glucose triggered metabolic problem.
12. Sad Results of High Insulin Levels.
Insulin increases salt and water retention. A recipe for
hypertension (high blood pressure) and continued overweight. Insulin
aggravates hypertension by increasing the responsiveness of arteries
to the effects of adrenaline. Insulin affects the body's supply of
neurotransmitters and can cause sleep disorders. Insulin provokes the
liver into producing more LDL cholesterol. And since high insulin and
obesity travel together, it may be why overweight is such a major risk
factor for a heart attack.
13. How Can I Lose Weight?
Well, if you have read this far, then you probably are one of the
affected individuals we've been describing. If so, your pancreas
faced with your abuse of simple and refined carbohydrate, has become
so efficient at secreting insulin, that just a touch of blood sugar
will release a flood. And, mediated by high insulin levels, your body
has become intent on saving fat. And you are acutely aware of the
difficulty to lose weight because of the constant sensation of hunger
that can be satiated only by constant overeating. To lose weight,
you're going to need a low-carbohydrate diet. You may also need
exercise and nutritional supplementation to correct your imbalanced
body.
14. How Is It Done?
You will make an end run around insulin. One needs glucose for
fuel, but one does not need to get it from one's diet. We will turn
off the insulin spigot. And the weight loss will come from KETOSIS-
LIPOLYSIS.
15. LC Retreat Modified Rules of Induction
