Todd Moody wrote:
  > Adding muscle is an anabolic process and losing fat is a catabolic
> process, so it's true that you can't do both at exactly the same time.
> But you can certainly alternate between the two states even in a single
> day.  This is, incidentally, the concept behind Ori Hofmekler's "warrior
> diet" which encourages overeating once a day and undereating (nearly
> nothing) the rest of the day.  The purpose of the one big protein-rich
> meal is to cause an insulin surge, since insulin is an anabolic hormone,
> and to use that to push amino acids into the cells that need them.
> During that time, muscle is being built.  The rest of the time, the body
> switches into catabolic mode, to liberate fat from fat cells for energy,
> and to release stored glycogen.  Working out increases the demand for
> the amino acids, and thus increases protein uptake.  Thus, on this sort
> of plan, the metabolism is anabolic for 4 hours out of 24, and catabolic
> for the other 20.


Todd, I purchased and just read Faigin's book. I don't know if you read
it. But Faigin's approach is to eat protein and low carb every 4 hours
to *prevent* catabolic metabolism. Every 3 or 4 days you have a meal
with unlimited carbs but low protein and fat.

The carbs "should" be starchy not sugary, and the reason is that starch
breaks down into glucose, with preferential uptake by the muscles as
glycogen, while fructose (which sucrose is partly made of I guess) is
preferentially uptaken by the liver as glycogen. The liver shouldn't be
charged with all that glycogen at a carb-up meal or it will prevent you
from going back to "fat burning" mode as quickly as you would otherwise.

Insulin is a two-edged sword according to Faigin. Some insulin helps the
body create IGF-1 which is a powerful hormone that is very desirable,
and has other desirable effects in moderation.

So that's the diet in a nutshell as I read it.

Here's my question with this:

What's so bad about catabolic metabolism?

Faigin seems to link aging with catabolic metabolism. The theory is that
as people age, they lose muscle mass, and their cells become less
effective at taking up nutrients, all of which is a symptom of catabolic
metabolism. By eating every 4 hours (no more than 50 grams of protein or
else too much insulin is triggered and the protein overage is converted
to fat), you are always in anabolic mode (at least when awake).

During these 3 or 4 days of frequent eating, insulin is always being
secreted then, as you are eating frequently. The insulin level would not
be very high because you are eating low carb and would be cushioned with
glucagon. But this seems to ignore some research showing that being
constantly secreting insulin may not be a good idea.

What do you all think?