Claudia R Haus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Her coach is a sports medicine
>undergrad and has a masters in nutrition.  She says you need at least 30%
>carbohydrates to avoid pulling protein out of your muscles.  Does anyone
>know if this is true?

Here's something recently written:

Newsgroup: alt.med.fibromyalgia
Subject: Re: Atkins Diet/Zone diet input
From: [log in to unmask] (Dean Esmay)
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 15:04:54 GMT

On Sat, 18 Apr 1998 10:36:38 -0700, Michael Baugh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>The body NEEDS CARBOHYDRATES. The body does NOT need to be on a
>HIGH PROTEIN diet. In fact, if you exceed the amount of protein your
>body needs, it will metabolize it for its caloric content, treating it
>as though it were a carb.

The two sentences in this paragraph contradict each other.  In the first
sentence this paragraph says the body "needs" carbohydrates, and in the
other it says excess protein will be metabolized and treated as a
carbohydrate.  Ask yourself this: if the body can metabolize protein and
treat it as a carbohydrate, what exactly do you need a carbohydrate for?

Carbohydrates are used for one purpose only in the body: to make glucose.
Carbohydrate has no other use to the body; it is used to make glucose, and
that's it.  But protein can also be used for this purpose.  This does not
mean carbohydrates are worthless, or that everyone everywhere should stop
eating all carbohydrates.  But it is very possible to exaggerate their
importance.

It is already a matter of demonstrated fact that the body can go for
extended periods without any significant carbohydrate intake without ill
effect.  Studies published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association and many others have already demonstrated this.  The eskimos go
months on end eating nothing but meat--i.e. without carbs.  They are a
hearty, healthy, robust people with a very low incidence of cancer and
heart disease--when they stick to their traditional all-meat diet, that is.

I do not wish to attack anyone who prefers a high-carb diet and does well
on it.  But the claim that the body "needs" carbohydrate is an
exaggeration.  Carbs are useful in some contexts for some things, but your
body will not fall apart without them.

 -=-

"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows."
Epictetus (50-138 A.D.)