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Originally Posted by Wifezilla
So sugar is basically "fat glue". Without the glue, the fat doesn't stick around?
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No that is not correct... fat storage is governed by insulin level in the blood
Quote:
Insulin tells the cells to do the following:
Absorb glucose, fatty acids and amino acids
- Stop breaking down: glucose, fatty acids and amino acids
glycogen into glucose
fats into fatty acids and glycerol
proteins into amino acids
- Start building: glycogen from glucose
fats (triglycerides) from glycerol and fatty acids
proteins from amino acids
When you are not eating or eat little carb - i.e. low insulin levels:
1.The first line of defence in maintaining energy is to break down any carbohydrates, or glycogen, into simple glucose molecules -- this process is called glycogenolysis.
2.Next, your body breaks down fats into glycerol and fatty acids in the process of lipolysis.
3.The fatty acids can then be broken down directly to get energy, or can be used to make glucose through a multi-step process called gluconeogenesis. In gluconeogenesis, amino acids can also be used to make glucose.
In the fat cell (fat that is already stored in the cells):
1.lipases work to break down fats into fatty acids and glycerol
2.The resulting glycerol and fatty acids are released into the blood, and travel to the liver through the bloodstream.
3.Once in the liver, the glycerol and fatty acids can be either further broken down or used to make glucose.
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OK point 3 above says that glycerol and fatty acids can be either further broken down or used to make glucose. I guess a very small amount gets converted to glucose, else we’d notice a rise in blood sugar and insulin level.. which in turn would trigger the fat storage… but this doesn’t happen, the body somehow does not convert too much of the stored or eaten fats into glucose to raise the insulin level, it only generates enough glucose enough to maintain the insulin level.
i.e. the body doesn’t say wooooow, my insulin level is sooooo low, I better convert all this fat into sugar so that I’d raise the insulin level (and thank God it doesn’t do that) it only convert a small amount into glucose.
So presumably all the extra fat eaten is turned into energy… which means the body just keeps generating energy and does not stop till insulin level is raised.
JL53563 experiment entailed intake of very high fats (up to 4000 calories) and therefore the body just kept converting the fat into energy… am just wondering what was all this energy used for – I’ve always assumed that energy is produced for:
1.Maintaining life (around 1500-2000 calories)
2. On-demand i.e. when you exercise or if its cold then the body produces the extra energy required,
However, in this case it seems the energy production was produced with no demand (or perhaps the demand was the lack of insulin?)
The theory is that this energy was used up in futile cycling (which is plausible theory) but I was trying to get to a more scientific reasoning, but I guess if Taubes himself thought the only explanation is the futile cycling, I doubt an ignoramus like me would find the answer
however am glad I looked up the whole process, I sort of understand the physiology party of it a lot better now.
P.S: apologies for the waffling, I know you guys probably have been through this discussion many times before