Tag Archives: energy balance

Non sequiter dietary fats

Posted on November 1, 2016 | 18 comments

Tl;dr: SFA and DHA

Essential fatty acids?  Well, there’s really only one, DHA, and we really only need a gram or two.  In other words, our entire requirement for dietary fat can be met by about 2% of total calories (plus a few extra grams to accommodate fat-soluble vitamins) (plus DHA is never the sole fat in a food, so you’d be getting a few more grams of other fats, too).  But still, a very low fat diet!  But impractical and probably not very palatable or healthy.

On average, dietary fat comprises about a third of calories, roughly equally divided between SFA, MUFA, and PUFA (slightly less PUFA).

Major sources of SFA are pizza and desserts – no wonder SFA gets a bad rap!

 

cheese-crust-pizza

 

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, coconut, diet, Dietary fat, fat, Fish, TPMC, Trans fat

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Autophagy

Posted on October 26, 2016 | 51 comments

Caloric restriction (CR) activates autophagy.  Intermittent fasting (IF) is basically kind-of-like the opposite of CR.  I’m not knocking IF.  The animal studies of autophagy, based on “chronic nutrition depletion,” more accurately reflect CR which results in decreased body weight or metabolic rate.   IF generally includes refeeds, resulting in weight maintenance.  Also, in the few human studies on it, weight loss (CR) but not fasting (IF) has been shown to induce autophagy.

If you’re actually losing weight over the long-term with an IF protocol, and thus are CR by definition, then I suspect you may be autophaging, too (yeah yeah, I know, that’s not really how autophagy works, but you get the picture).

Disclaimer: I’m relatively autophagy-agnostic; not really confident racing to maximize it is a great thing based on Human Studies.

Book: Autophagy in Health and Disease

 

autophagy-image

 

Exhibit A: autophagy in skeletal muscle

Tl;dr: “a little exercise is a better than a lot of fasting”

A1) Physical exercise increases autophagic signaling through ULK1 in human skeletal muscle (Moller et al., 2015)

The protocol: participants either fasted for 36 hours or received a glucose infusion before and during exercise (cycling at 50% max for an hour).

“In the present study, we demonstrate that short-term aerobic exercise activates autophagic signaling through ULK1 in human skeletal muscle, independently of nutrient background.”

They really should’ve stressed that the deck was stacked to show fasting activated autophagy… 36 hours of fasting is pretty long but it had no effect.

 

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51 Comments

Posted in Advanced nutrition, circadian, endurance, Exercise, insulin, liver, muscle

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Discordant insulin sensitivity on a high protein diet

Posted on October 14, 2016 | 39 comments

So, we have another “high protein” weight loss study (Smith et al., 2016).  Or really, a “low (0.8 g/kg) vs. moderate (1.2 g/kg) protein weight loss study.”  In brief, it took ’em about 6 months to lose 10% of their starting body weight, then were given 4 weeks of weight stability before “after” measurements were taken.

Important: this was not a contest to see who would lose more weight; they kept going and adjusting food intake until both groups lost 10%.  Not really ad lib, but otherwise a good study design imo.  The intervention was relatively weak (eg, protein 0.8 vs. 1.2 g/kg), but on the plus side, that’s realistic and very “do-able.”  If you’re interested in super-high protein diets (3-4 g/kg), check out research by Jose Antonio.

 




 

Big yet not unexpected finding: the low protein group lost about twice as much muscle than the normal protein group.

 

fat-free-mass

 

The isocaloric normal protein group lost more fat and less muscle than the low protein group.

But then everyone freaked out because the low protein group experienced a significant improvement in muscle/liver insulin sensitivity whereas the normal protein group didn’t:

 

glucose-rate-of-disappearance

 

-The headlines were hilarious, like, “high protein makes weight loss not work anymore.”

-Then some critics jumped the shark and blamed it on “liquid calories,” because whey protein shakes are totes non-Paleo, and #JERF.

-TBH, I found more interesting the changes in adipose insulin sensitivity…

The normal protein group had the most insulin sensitive adipose of all groups… yet they lost more fat mass despite eating just as much or even slightly more than the other groups.

 

adipose-insulin-sensitivity

 

Does this mean they’re doomed to regain the weight?  I don’t think so, as high dietary protein is one of the strongest predictors of weight loss success long-term.

HERESY!  the low protein group had: 1) lower basal insulin than the normal protein group; 2) lower adipose insulin sensitivity; 3) ate less (NS); yet lost less fat mass.

 




 

In other words, the normal protein group had higher basal insulin, more insulin sensitive adipose tissue, and slightly higher food intake (NS).  According to the insulin model, they should’ve lost less fat mass than the low protein group, but they didn’t.

Is this another chink in the armor of the insulin model?

The truth seems to be: people lose weight on both LC and LF diets by giving up junk food.  On LC, this is accomplished by giving up carbs; on LF, this is accomplished by switching to better carbs.  Some people adhere better to one diet or the other.  Maybe insulin sensitivity has something to do with it.

Insulin from high protein: not bad?
Insulin from good carbs: not bad?
Junk food: no bueno.
So maybe just maybe it’s not just ze insulin…

 




 

Back to the protein…

This was not sorcery; it’s been seen before in a variety of different paradigms: dietary protein has a profound impact on nutrient partitioning.

Yes, even when it’s liquid calorie insulinogenic whey protein isolate bro-shakes.

Yes, even when it’s not crazy-high levels of protein…  seriously, 1.2 g/kg is not “high”

 

+ + +  +   +     +     +        +             +                     +

Past blog posts on [the non-sorcery of] dietary protein:

Holiday feasts, the freshman 15, and damage control

Dietary protein, ketosis, and appetite control.

Nutrient Partitioning: …a *very* high protein diet.

Protein “requirements,” carbs, and nutrient partitioning

Cyclical ketosis, glycogen depletion, and nutrient partitioning

Meal frequency, intermittent fasting, and dietary protein

Muscle growth sans carbs

+ + +  +   +     +     +        +             +                     +

For full access to all articles and much more (or if you just like what I do and want to support it), become a Patron! It’s three bucks a month and there are many other options. Sign up soon because there are only a limited number of spots left at the $3 level. It’s ad-free and you can cancel if it sucks ????

Also, I’m open to suggestions, so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me directly at drlagakos@gmail.com.

Affiliate discounts: if you’re still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers, Carbonshade  is offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. TrueDark is running a pretty big sale HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS.

calories proper

 

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39 Comments

Posted in Advanced nutrition, chocolate, clamp, diet, Dopamine, fat, insulin, muscle, Protein, TPMC

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Keto myths & facts

Posted on October 8, 2016 | 53 comments

:::begin rant:::

Trigger warning?  Maybe.

Disclaimer: I’m pro-LC (P<0.05), but not anti-LF because LF works better than LC for some people.  And with the exception of things like keto for neurological issues, I think macros take a back seat to many other factors.

Myths: carbs cause insulin resistance (IR), diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.  Carbs are intrinsically pathogenic.  If a healthy person eats carbs, eventually they’ll get sick.

And the only prescription is more keto.

cowbell

And of course all of this could’ve been prevented if they keto’d from the get-go.

Proponents of these myths are referring to regular food carbs, not limited to things like Oreo Coolattas (which would be more acceptable, imo).  Taubes, Lustig, Attia, and many others have backed away from their anti-carb positions, yet the new brigade proceeds and has even upped the ante to include starvation.  Because “LC = effortless fasting?”

Does this sound sane?

“No carbs ever,
no food often…
otherwise diabetes.”

oreo-coolatta

no one in their right mind would say lentils & beans cause diabetes

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53 Comments

Posted in Advanced nutrition, circadian, diabetes, diet, Dietary fat, empty calories, Energy balance, Exercise, fat, fiber, Fish, Fructose, gluten, Grains, insulin, Ketosis, melatonin, mortality, muscle, Protein, sleep, smoking, strength, Sugar, Sun, TPMC

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Ketones, carbs, and physical performance.

Posted on August 25, 2016 | 18 comments

Or more specifically, ketone monoesters and carbs.  Literally, this study was a high-dose ketone monoester supp sans caloric or carb restriction.  I know, weird right?

 

Ketone ester

 

Non sequiter nutrition notes, #context, etc.:

1) ketone esters =/= ketone salts.  Ketone salts are either sodium or potassium-dominant.  Ketone esters are essentially salt-free.  Possibly helpful background reading here.

2) nutritional ketosis =/= starvation ketosis =/= ketone supp ketosis.  Because #context.

Starvation ketosis, but not nutritional ketosis, is muscle-sparing.  Ketone supps sans carb restriction might be.

3) the theory of ketone supps for sport is: 1) ketones are an energetically favorable fuel; and 2) they’ll spare glycogen, theoretically allowing prolonged duration of moderate-to-high intensity performance.  Adding in carbs will likely further this.

4) I have no studies to support this, but the idea of ketone supps in the #context of high carb doesn’t sit will with me.  Seems like high levels of both substrates = mitochondrial overload and oxidative stress.  Maybe.

5) there’s a gradient of fuel use during exercise:

-explosive power: creatine, anaerobic

-high intensity: glycogen, anaerobic

-low intensity: fatty acid oxidation, aerobic

But it’s a gradient with a lot of overlap, and ketoadaptation further blurs the lines.

 

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18 Comments

Posted in Advanced nutrition, Dietary fat, endurance, Energy balance, Exercise, fat, insulin, Ketosis, muscle, Protein, TPMC

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Gypped by GIP

Posted on July 25, 2016 | 6 comments

Dr. Johnson’s recent paper is nothing short of a monster.  They did a TON of experiments.  Here, I only want to focus on one aspect.

The insulin-obesity hypothesis in a nutshell (very oversimplified): more insulin = more fat mass and vice versa.

I know I know, it was mice fed standard rodent chow, but also included models relevant to human biology like reduced insulin and caloric restriction, which may reflect certain aspects of ketogenic diets and intermittent fasting… and some of the results actually do reflect what happens to humans.  Some.

 

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6 Comments

Posted in Advanced nutrition, diet, empty calories, Energy balance, insulin, Ketosis, Leptin, TPMC

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Keto-Crossfit

Posted on July 15, 2016 | 11 comments

Study: a handful of average-bodied Crossfitters in their mid-30’s were recruited and told to either: 1) keep doing what they’re doing; or 2) go full keto.  Crossfit 4x/week.   Strength testing before and after 6 weeks (Gregory et al., 2017).

I’ll start with the best part: KETOADAPTATION IS A REAL TRUE THING THAT WORKS (P<0.05).  Otherwise, this group’s performance would’ve plummeted.  It is known.

The performance test was time to complete a 500-meter row, 40 body weight squats, 30 abdominal mat sit-ups, 20 hand release pushups, and 10 pull-ups.

Tl;dr: both groups knocked about a half a minute off their time!

The key here is duration: 6 weeks of ketogenic dieting is adequate to restore performance back to baseline.  <3 weeks is not.

 

performance

 

Here’s the downside (sort of):

 

body comp

Basically, the keto group dropped carbs and failed to compensate by upping other calories.  I know I know, spontaneous ad lib appetite reduction, but this is a study on PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE.

 




 

And in further support of “muscle growth sans carbs,” keto dieters upped protein by 15% and this still wasn’t enough to compensate for the reduction in carbs/insulin: they still lost a bit of lean mass (NS).  Imagine if they hadn’t increased the brotein? yikes

 

food

 

so basically, they lost body fat because CICO and retained lean mass because exercise and protein haha jk

 

Admittedly, it was cool to see the body comp changes, but we know fat loss eventually plateaus and people start eating maintenance calories again (maybe a bit more if Ebbeling can be believed).  And this is where they remain for the rest of their lives (hopefully).  So at 6 weeks, they were still losing weight, nowhere near where they’re going to be for the rest of their lives, but THAT’s where I’d like to see performance testing (ie, at a stable body weight).  Don’t get me wrong, I hate myself in advance for making this critique: the researchers should’ve pushed more calories in the keto dieters bc this is a confounder in a study on PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE…  but this doesn’t really matter in the big scheme of things because Blackburn’s group did that and showed the results were the same haha

 

 

On another note, I don’t think people should expect an additional performance boost from being more ketoadapted (or more fat-adapted or whatever), primarily because whether the study is 3 weeks or 6, performance never really gets better than baseline in experienced athletes.  With more advanced training techniques, sure (and I think this is common), but not more keto- or fat-adaptation.

For full access to all articles and much more (or if you just like what I do and want to support it), become a Patron! It’s three bucks a month and there are many other options. Sign up soon because there are only a limited number of spots left at the $3 level. It’s ad-free and you can cancel if it sucks ????

Also, I’m open to suggestions, so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me directly at drlagakos@gmail.com.

Affiliate discounts: if you’re still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers, Carbonshade  is offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. TrueDark is running a pretty big sale HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS.

 

calories proper

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, diet, Dietary fat, Energy balance, Ketosis, muscle, Protein, TPMC

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Insulin resistance and obesity

Posted on June 25, 2016 | 32 comments

Some people believe insulin resistance (IR) causes obesity, and they are not pleased when I say this is actually a controversial topic in the field…

“Bill isn’t toeing the company line.  Again.”

So I asked a simple question: if IR causes obesity, how?

 

 

The Common Response: 1) IR -> 2) hyperinsulinemia -> 3) more insulin = more fat mass.

However, this is flawed.

Easiest rebuttal (somewhat of a strawman, but whatevs): Barbara Corkey and her group has done a lot of work showing that insulin hypersecretion (caused by dietary additives, preservatives, weird chemicals, etc.) may actually precede & causes IR… not enough insulin hypersecretion to induce hypoglycemia, just enough to induce IR.

So that basically breaks the 1st step in the Common Response, but doesn’t really disprove the possibility that IR still causes obesity (or can cause obesity).

In any case, check out Corkey’s 2011 Banting Lecture.  Highly recommended, a lot of food for thought.

 

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32 Comments

Posted in Advanced nutrition, angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, chronopharmacology, circadian, diabetes, diet, Dietary fat, Dopamine, insulin, Leptin, Protein, TPMC

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Hey CICO, I’m playing by your rules.

Posted on June 15, 2016 | 6 comments

Brief background: the notorious Ebbeling study of 2012 showed an apparent metabolic advantage of a ketogenic diet.  After losing some weight, participants were assigned to low fat (LF), low GI, or ketogenic diets.  As expected, energy expenditure (EE) declined in all groups after weight loss.

 

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, diet, Dietary fat, empty calories, Energy balance, fat, fiber, insulin, Ketosis, microbe, microbiome, microbiota, muscle, TPMC

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Dopamine and breakfast

Posted on June 5, 2016 | 39 comments

T.S. Wiley wrote a lot about the protein-rich breakfast; here’s my understanding of her take on it.

N.B. I highly recommend her book, Lights out: sleep, sugar, and survival.

Quotes are mainly taken from the text. I’ve tracked down some of the cites; the rest are in the back of the book, albeit somewhat unorganized :/

Part 1. We naturally have a cortisol spike first thing in the morning, known as the Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR).  This peak, which can be screwed up by artificial light at night or a big evening dinner, helps support morning light-induced dopamine.

CAR

Dopamine is great, but may induce impulsivity if it’s unfettered.

Enter: the protein-rich breakfast. It provides tryptophan and a bit of insulin to promote serotonin synthesis (eg, Manjarrez-Gutierrez et al., 1999).

Not enough serotonin to make you crazy, just enough to balance the dopamine = impulse control.

~ circadian balance achieved ~

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, chronopharmacology, circadian, diet, Dopamine, fat, Fish, insulin, Leptin, melatonin, Protein, sex, sleep, Sun, TPMC, Vitamin D

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