On 19/07/2017 at 5:40 PM, swansont said:

There's only one comment on the diet itself, and diet advice is not medical advice.

Given the impact of diet on health and the lunancy of some diets, it probably ought to be considered medical advice.

32 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

There were no fat prisoners in Belsen; no matter how positive  their mental attitudes were.

There weren't any healthy ones either.

54 minutes ago, Area54 said:

Given the impact of diet on health and the lunancy of some diets, it probably ought to be considered medical advice.

That may be. But still, a medical degree is not required to dispense the advice.

Right or wrong, there is a divide between "kills you quickly" and "kills you slowly" that we have put in place.

On 7/21/2017 at 2:18 PM, MigL said:

Forget the specialty diets that tell you 'cut out all carbs' or 'cut out all fats'.

 

The human body is an adaptive machine. If you go without fats ( for example ) for any length of time, the body will actually start 'cannibalizing' muscle mass, or protein, in order to store fat deposits for 'lean' times. This is an evolutionary mechanism.

 

 

Cannibalization of muscle mass only happens once a significant starvation level is reached (outside of small metabolic fluxes). In fact, the the starvation response is a metabolic adaptation characterized by two goals a) keep blood glucose levels stable and b) minimize protein loss. 

Outside starvation, which includes the mentioned specialty diets, the body is happily converting the respective food source into whatever is required simply by redirecting metabolic flows. During carbohydrate starvation, for example glycolysis is curtailed, whilst gluconeogenesis is increased. The way these diets actually work is predominantly by limiting calorie intake as one has the tendency to eat more equivalent calories when the food contains carbohydrates. The alternate theories regarding whether the conversion to a ketone metabolism actually works on weight loss is much less supported. 

 

11 minutes ago, CharonY said:

Cannibalization of muscle mass only happens once a significant starvation level is reached (outside of small metabolic fluxes). In fact, the the starvation response is a metabolic adaptation characterized by two goals a) keep blood glucose levels stable and b) minimize protein loss. 

Outside starvation, which includes the mentioned specialty diets, the body is happily converting the respective food source into whatever is required simply by redirecting metabolic flows. During carbohydrate starvation, for example glycolysis is curtailed, whilst gluconeogenesis is increased. The way these diets actually work is predominantly by limiting calorie intake as one has the tendency to eat more equivalent calories when the food contains carbohydrates. The alternate theories regarding whether the conversion to a ketone metabolism actually works on weight loss is much less supported. 

 

Do you think the best way is just a proportional restriction in both fats and carbs.and whatever the protein level is for healthy maintenance i.e. not restricting the first two so much that the protein is used as energy?

Edited August 28, 20178 yr by StringJunky

AFAIK the use of nutrient source in itself has limited, if any influence on weight gain or loss. Rather, eating things that keep you full longer (which typically is a property of low-carb food) is more relevant. Metabolic adjustments are probably more relevant to other areas of health (such as blood glucose levels).