Jim Swayze wrote:

>I did not realize that fatty acids and ketones could cause insulin to be
>secreted. Thanks for that.
>
This is why insulin-dependent diabetics can go into ketoacidosis and die
if they don't get their insulin injection.  The ketones just build up in
the blood, along with the fatty acids, making the blood more and more
acidic, until the condition is fatal.

>"Carbohydrates seem to trigger no off switch. That's why people who binge
>always do so on carbohydrates. No one binges on steak or eggs or pork
>chops; they always binge on cookies and candies and other carbohydrate
>junk foods. "
>
>In other words, it's damn near impossible to binge on fat and protein.
>Which is why I asked whether nuts are sufficiently high in carbs to induce
>binging.  Almond butter certainly does it for me, as I'm sure nuts do for
>others.
>
>
Well, the Eades' statement is one of those claims that I think is true
most of the time, but by no means all of the time.  Much depends on what
you count as a binge.  Would eating, say, 1,500 kcal of a single food at
one sitting qualify as a binge?  I have surely done that with a nice
fatty slab of prime rib.  I think I can also binge on certain delicious
fatty sausages.  I can do a nice job on a slab of brie, too.  Macadamias
are quite low in carbs, and higher in fat than just about any nut.  A
cup of them is over 800 kcal, and it's *easy* to eat a cup of macadamias.

>So it still seems to me that calories are irrelevant on low carb.
>

I'm a True Believer as far as lowcarb is concerned, in that I believe
that carb reduction is the single most important diet modification that
most people can make.  In particular, I think carb reduction brings
about a state where where a true caloric deficit is easier to achieve
(by greatly increasing the amount of energy that is "wasted" in the
metabolic process), and enables one to get the maximum benefit from it,
by favoring fat loss over LBM loss.  That said, I believe it is still
possible to reach a situation, on a low-carb diet, where weight loss is
stalled and the only way forward is to reduce calories.  In fact, I
believe the Eades also concede this point.

Todd Moody
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