[log in to unmask] wrote:

>Kristina > My fasting glucose is 99 despite a fairly low carb intake and
>almost no fruit. 
>
>Same exact number with me under the same conditions.  So the theory is
>that if you go zero carb, you'll drop your fasting glucose down to more
>healthy levels.  But that didn't happen for me, even with zero carbs. 
>That was a huge surprise.  How could it be high if I'm eating zero
>carbs?  The answer is that I was eating high amounts of protein which
>upon ingestion my body simply converted to glucose via gluconeogenesis.
>
>That's why I believe you need to go zero carbs (less than 2% of calories
>per day), moderate protein (76-108 grams a day is I think your zone),
>and unlimited quality fat in order to budge that fasting glucose
>number.  If you're northern European, at least, you spent the majority
>of the year that way in nature.
>
>Jim
>  
>
Not long ago, there was a long and rather intense discussion at one of 
the more comprehensive low-carb sites concerning the zero carb, all-meat 
diet.  It went on for over 250 pages.  The link is 
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=287013 if anyone's 
interested.  The reason for the intensity was mainly the style, I guess 
you could say, of the original poster.  This individual, who calls 
himself "Bear", was formerly the sound man and LSD chemist for the 
Grateful Dead.  He is now 71 and claims that he has eaten only meat for 
47 years.  His fasting blood glucose is, he says, 99, and has been that 
for a long time.  Although he somewhat dogmatically declared that value 
to be ideal for him, I (and others) indicated that I was not impressed 
by that reading.  A personal goal of mine is to get my fasting BG down 
to the low 80s.  The reason is that this appears to be the level at 
which insulin production is at baseline.  That is, in a non-diabetic, 
there is always some insulin production going on, but when BG goes above 
about 83, insulin production increases.  So, it makes sense to me to 
minimize non-essential insulin exposure.  Obviously, insulin is needed 
after a meal, to assimilate that meal, but ideally it should return to 
baseline three hours or so later.  If BG is not dropping back down to 
the low 80s then this isn't happening, and that seems to me a clear sign 
of IR.

Anyway, I find it interesting that Kristina and Jim get the same BG 
results with zero carbs or close to it.  And I'll be very interested to 
see whether limiting protein and increasing fat results in a drop in 
fasting BG.

Todd Moody
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