Leangains Truth about Alcohol & Fat Loss - Why differentiate between carbs? page 2

[Lawbat]

Really appreciated this thread. Have generally adjusted my eating, but truthfully, I don't understand the details of the glycogen stuff, or really, the reasons why primal works. Have the book, and the Robb Wolfe one. Guess I should re-read.

Really appreciate the clarifying that carbs are not all the same.
30 grams from an apple and 30 grams from a Guinness obviously shouldn't be equivalent, but I couldn't articulate why.

[ChocoTaco369]

30 grams from an apple and 30 grams from a Guinness obviously shouldn't be equivalent, but I couldn't articulate why.

An apple is a mix of fructose and glucose. Apples are actually one of the higher fructose-containing fruits (which is why they don't raise blood sugar much vs say, a mango or pineapple), so they're actually poor for muscle glycogen replenishing. They're more effective at replenishing liver glycogen. I include one with each of my two meal on carb refeed days to get my liver going, but anymore would overwhelm it and that's not what I'm going for.

Ironically, beer would be better because it's complex carbs from wheat, so it's all glucose. The problem? Well, there's alcohol in it, so it's going to ruin your metabolism, so that's out! Oh, and the whole gluten thing if you're anti-gluten

Brown rice and whole wheat pasta are actually pretty effective for carb cycling. I just avoid them because of the high levels of phytic acid in brown rice and gluten in the wheat...even though I don't appear to be all that sensitive to either of them. I can tell you my pet, dust and mold allergies have disappeared along with my mild eczema I used to have since going primal, so although I don't seem to have any issues digesting grains, the toxin buildup over years was obviously causing mild autoimmune issues that could have turned into something serious over decades. My skin is much clearer, too, but I suspect a lot of that is from removing most dairy. I used to go through a lot of skim milk and now I do almond milk only.

[pyrosis]

It's true, each molecule of glucose only provides a few ATP when burned anaerobically with glycolysis. It provides much more when burned aerobically all the way through the Krebs cycle and the electron transport chain. However, the oxygen is not a limiting factor in glycolysis, so this is the metabolic system dominant when you exercise beyond your lactate threshold. Ask a professional half-marathoner if it gives out quickly - they can race at those speeds for over an hour. It just needs to be trained in order to be effective.

Anyway, I was thinking about the notion that you need carbohydrate to lift heavy. I don't think this is NECESSARILY true - if you are doing a one rep max lift, the dominant energy system is going to be ATP and creatine phosphate, both of which can be recharged aerobically if you give yourself sufficient rest before your next effort. I don't have any practical experience in attempting this though, as I have never attempted VLC in any form.

[NextSteps]

The problem? Well, there's alcohol in it, so it's going to ruin your metabolism, so that's out!

Ouch. This thread is great but telling my husband I won't have a glass of wine (which he collects) at dinner, especially since he's been diagnosed diabetic II and this is one of his only indulgences, is almost like saying I'm eliminating sex for health reasons.

First, from the thread I think I'm hearing that my body will burn alcohol first and store other macros I consume at the same time as fat in the interim. I get the burning alcohol first thing but I'm unclear about how a system that shuts down all other metabolism until the alcohol is consumed stores fat. A couple of hours after dinner with wine we see our blood sugars at day-long lows. so the shutting down fits, but a glass of wine, or any alcohol, 'ruining' my metabolism as well as making me fatter than the same calories consumed as fat or carbs in the same context? This is harder for me to grasp.

I'd love to hear more thoughts about this. I know that red wine is viewed as a 'sensible indulgence' according to the Primal Blueprint.