On Wed, 30 Jan 2002, Amadeus Schmidt wrote: > >.. glucose that can't be quickly used or stored as > >glycogen is converted to SFA... > > This and what you wrote in your other post assumes that most of the time > the glycogen stores would be full. > Why so? I think this is a maybe common , but pathological situation. Well, it depends on carbohydrate intake. If Walsh's figures are right, then if one eats about 180g/day of carbs, glycogen reserves will maintain a steady *average*, around which they will fluctuate. If one eats more than that, they will tend to be full most of the time. > Glycogen stores a good for some 4 days of glucose usage (1500 kcal > according to Walsh). They could easily provide for the full time between > any meals, for *full* supply, not only the 25 percent for the brain(etc). According to Walsh, that would be enough for a little over two days (i.e., about 400g of glucose, at 180g/day). Of course, if one consistently eats less than 180g/day of carbs, adaptation will tend to take place, and the demand will begin to fall. > One stopper for glycogen storage usage is certainly the custom of frequent > meals. Glycogen can't be used if insulin is up, and it is up by any meal. > > Secondly, I think the stores fill too quick, because the whole body cells > (that's 75%) often seem to refuse burning glucose That is insulin > resistance. You (and Walsh and Lutz) seem to assume this overnight. > One explanation would be in the cell wall study you have cited: less > permeable cell walls don't permit enough glucose to enter. > (that's an explanation for the contribution of SFA to insulin resistance). Yes, that's very possible. And this would be a reason to attempt to control the SFA load by (a) keeping carbs at or below 180g/day, and (b) favoring leaner meats. > The third, we spoke about before. > Low vitamin levels for the glycogen decreasing functions. > It was B6 and zinc as I recall. > Both tend to be better in supply with a paleo diet - with more natural > items, including more meat, less (unprocessed) grains. Right. And this also underscores the importance of the freshness of the food (for the B complex, not the zinc). Todd Moody [log in to unmask]