Top Ten Diet Fallacies--Diet Fallacy #5: Carbs Are Your Enemy--How To Shrivel Your Muscles, Sap Energy, Stunt Growth, Deplete Sex Drive, Accelerate Aging, Get Sick Faster
Want to shrivel your muscles, stunt your growth, get sick faster, accelerate aging, deplete your sex drive and sap your energy? “You will, if you don't eat enough carbs,” says Warrior Diet author Ori Hofmekler http://www.dragondoor.com/b17.html.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) June 13, 2005 -- We are currently scapegoating carbs
as the culprit for the ongoing obesity epidemic - and for the diseases we
associate with obesity.
Fashionable diet gurus have us believing that
carbs are not essential nutrients and therefore should be severely restricted or
even spared.
Low-carb diet advocates argue that the hormone insulin
promotes fat gain and should therefore be tightly controlled by chronically
restricting carbs. Given the current popularity of low carb diets, it seems as
if carbs are indeed the enemy. But are they?
Nothing could be further
from the truth...
Let's examine the assumption that carbs are not
essential nutrients. This assumption literally fails to recognize the two most
critical biological functions of carbs (besides being a fuel):
1) The
activation of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP)
2) The finalization of
growth hormone (GH) and insulin like growth factor (IGF1) actions, as well as
the enhancement of androgenic actions.
The pentose phosphate pathway
(PPP) is a critical process that is responsible for the synthesis of DNA, RNA
and all energy molecules including ATP and NADPH, needed for all metabolic
functions in particular, recuperation (healing of tissues) immunity and growth.
In addition, PPP is a precursor for another metabolic pathway - the
uronic acid pathway - responsible for steroid hormones transport, production of
proteoglycans (essential for connective tissue and cellular signaling) synthesis
of spingolipids (lipids that are necessary for neural protection) and over all
detoxification. The pentose phosphate pathway, which occurs mostly in the liver,
is derived from glucose (i.e. carb metabolism).
Now, here is the
problem...
In times of a desperate need for energy, such as during
prolonged starvation or due to chronic severe restriction of carbs, the PPP
would shut down its main function and instead switch into sheer energy
production. It is likely that energy demand is a top priority for the body and
therefore, in times of a desperate need for energy; the body would suppress
certain important metabolic function (such as the PPP) to accelerate immediate
energy production. Note that 30% of glucose oxidation in the liver can occur via
the PPP.
One may argue that glucose can be synthesized from fat or
protein. Yes, but not enough!
Since the synthesis of glucose from fat or
protein (gluconeogensis) is actually a very limited metabolic process that
occurs mostly in the liver, any severe restriction of carbs, in particular for
active individuals, may adversely suppress the PPP critical functions; due to
insufficient glucose supply during an increased energy demand.
The PPP
actions also decrease with age, a fact that may contribute to the decline in
steroid hormone production and the typical muscle waste associated with
aging.
In other words, dietary carbs are essential for the full
activation of the PPP and its critical functions.
Severe chronic carb
restriction (below 70g-100g for an active individual) may lead to an adverse
suppression of PPP, with an overall decline in sex hormones, compromised
immunity, impaired growth and accelerated aging.
As noted, besides
playing a vital role in the activation of the PPP actions, dietary carbs also
help finalize the actions of the most anabolic agents including growth hormone,
IGF1 and the sex steroid hormones.
Studies at Stanford University in CA
and Helsinki University in Finland revealed that insulin is a potent promoter of
IGF1 and the sex hormones action. Researchers found that insulin helps finalize
the anabolic actions of GH, IGHF1 and androgens by down regulating certain
proteins that suppress both IGF1 and androgens action, in particular in the
muscle tissue, (i.e. IGHFBP-1 and SHBP, respectively).
A recent study at
the University of Texas, indeed, proved that post exercise carb supplementation
together with essential amino acids profoundly stimulates net muscle protein
synthesis.
Interestingly, simple carbs had a more profound effect on
enhancing anabolic actions after exercise than complex carbs. Nonetheless, as a
general rule, our body is better adapted to utilize complex carbs than simple
carbs. Again, it is when you eat that makes what you eat matter.
In
conclusion:
Dietary carbs biological functions go far beyond just sheer
energy production. Chronic carb restrictions may lead in the long run to total
metabolic decline with severe consequences for survival (i.e. capacity to
regenerate tissues and procreate.)
Ignorance, not Carbs, is our true
enemy.
For more articles by Ori Hofmekler on the Top Ten Diet Fallacies
visit http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode2/Nutrition and read
Ori Hofmekler's The Warrior Diet. http://www.dragondoor.com/b17.html
For more information
on the Warrior Diet Fat Loss Program and Controlled Fatigue Training (CFT)
certification seminars and workshops log onto www.warriordiet.com or call
818-992-1994 (866) WAR-DIET
Copyright ©2004 Ori Hofmekler All Rights
Reserved
To arrange interviews or receive review copies contact John Du
Cane at 651-487-3828.
The Warrior Diet is available online at www.dragondoor.com or by
calling 1-800-899-5111.
Dragon Door Publications, Inc is the leading
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb250542.htm