Tue, May-17-11, 10:59
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Senior Member
Posts: 227
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Plan: Maintenance
Stats: 208/170.2/170
BF:
Progress: 99%
Location: Louisiana
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This is such an important concept! Protein being burned, in the absence of fat, taking you out of ketosis. Thank you for sharing it with us!
I checked and found this website with information that seems to back up what is happening:
http://www.insulin-pumpers.org/howto/pfandbs-2.html
Quote:
The first step in protein metabolism is to break it into its constituent amino acids. These are absorbed into the blood stream.
The second step is to break down the amino acids into their constituent parts--catabolism, if you want to get technical about it. This removes the nitrogen or amino group from the amino acids. The process is called deamination.
Deamination breaks the amino group down into ammonia and what is termed the carbon skeleton. Ammonia is converted to urea, filtered through the kidneys, and excreted in urine. The carbon skeleton--which is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen--can then by used either for protein synthesis, energy production (ATP), or converted to glucose by gluconeogenesis.
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The article ends with this:
Quote:
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Most authorities believe that the amount of protein converted to glucose is quite small, except under conditions of intense exercise or metablic starvation. Under these conditions amino acids produce the major source of glucose for blood sugar maintenance.
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So when glucose is low, the body has the choice of using ketones (from fat) or making glucose (from protein). This explains why Atkins emphasizes us getting plenty of fat in the diet.
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