Restoring Protein's Reputation

(Carl Keller) #1

Amy Berger wrote an outstanding article about protein/gluconeogenesis and their role in the ketogenic diet. She uses language that people with casual knowledge about the digestive system can understand without having to Google half the article.

Among other things, she explains why it’s important not to undereat protein and why it’s perfectly natural for BG levels to elevate (not spike) after we eat protein and it’s not something we should fear (unless we have T1D and in some cases, T2D).

If your blood glucose rises after a high-protein meal, it’s not because the amino acids you just ate have “turned into sugar.” It’s the glycogen being released by your liver, under the influence of glucagon. It’s your liver, doing exactly what your liver is supposed to do when you eat protein.

Think I’m out of ketosis
#2

Pretty much everything Amy writes is outstanding :smile: She is a much needed voice of reason in the ketoverse. Plenty of lovely, very clever people out there of course but Amy cuts through like few others.

(Nicole) #3

Absolutely!

#4

I love Amy’s sensible, practical, calm the **** down, people! approach. You could do a lot worse than to read through her archives.

And she’s funny and approachable, and interacts generously with her readers.

(Carl Keller) #5

The more I watch Amy’s videos and the more I read her articles, the more I like her. She’s so genuine, intelligent and relatable. I know she could have been an MD if she wanted to but I’m glad she chose to be a brilliant nutritionist. Her wisdom and advice can help a lot more people than a single MD can.

(Bob M) #6

I particularly like this quote:

Protein takes a long time to digest. There’s a reason it’s so satiating. (People say fat is the most filling and satiating. You’ve probably seen this everywhere: “If you’re hungry, eat more fat!” I have not found this to be true at all . Protein is what fills me up, or maybe protein with fat, but fat, by itself, does nothing for me. Massive amounts of butter don’t fill me up. Massive amounts of mayonnaise don’t fill me up. But a big steak? A big pork chop? I’ll be plenty full after that, even without adding any extra fat to it.)

This is exactly how I feel: fat does not fill me up, whereas protein does. In fact, if I eat enough protein, I literally CANNOT eat any more until the full feeling goes away.

#7

I find that it needs to often be a combination of both protein AND fat that will keep me satiated for the long hours I need to keep my insulin levels low. When I eat lean meat like organs, or am stuck eating something like chicken breast (bleh), then I’m usually hungry sooner than if I ate a fatty cut of meat or added fat to that meat. Protein alone won’t do it for me, it has to have accompanying fat.

(Bob M) #8

The problem with this area: it could also be calories. Say you eat 1,000 calories at 70% fat. If you were to eat 1,000 calories at say 50% fat or even 25% fat (75% protein, possible if eating shrimp, mussels, etc.), what would happen? But what happens if instead you ate only 750 calories at 25% fat/75% protein? That’s easier to do, as low fat protein sources like organs or chicken breast can be easy to under eat. If you calorie matched the 75% fat to be 750 calories, it could be that the 75% protein is more satiating.

The problem is that I’ve never calorie matched it. And without that, it’s impossible to know for sure. I know that higher protein is better than lower protein, but I also think think there’s a calorie issue, too, as I’ll get hungry also if I eat higher protein but lower calorie. I can’t quantify it, though.

(Carl Keller) #9

Clinically speaking, both fat and protein affect leptin levels (the hunger hormone). According to this one study, It seems that beside the amount of fats, type of fatty acids have the key roles on circulating leptin concentration. Energy intake also significantly associated with the hormone. Studies regarding the association between carbohydrate intake and concentration of leptin have been reached to contradictory results. It seems that protein intake can increase the leptin activity.

There’s a lot of conflicting results in this study but basically, it suggests to me that it depends on what types of fat you eat, how many carbs you eat with those fats and whether or not you are a rat. :stuck_out_tongue:

I can’t be quite sure if one is more filling that the other from my n=1. But I hate dry protein and try to get meats with some good marbling and definitely prefer the dark meats in poultry. But definitely, all the added fats kind of impede the fat losing process if you are fat adapted.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4251481/#b17-ARYA-10-266

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #10

Then I’d be very hungry, but at least I’d make Ted Naiman very happy, since I’d be leveraging my protein at his favorite protein/fat ratio (since it works out to equal amounts of fat and protein by weight, it’s dead easy to manage, too). Couldn’t I eat closer to 2000 calories, or until satiety (which is likely to be less, actually, since I still have excess fat I could part with)?

(Running from stupidity) #11

Beat me to it…

#12

I think all newbies should be directed to her youtube channel. The podcasts are great for detail but her vids are nice & quick :slightly_smiling_face:

(Running from stupidity) #13

Agreed.