Why do some people do poorly on very Low Carb diet? page

[Omni]

Interested and been looking at this for a while.

One of the things I stumbled across is the connection between blood glucose levels and the thyroid hormone T3, it seems that if blood glucose level falls, then in order to conserve the glucose, the body produces reverse T3 which results in a lowering in T3 levels, which induces a lowering of basal metabolic rate and hence a reduction in glucose consumption, I have seen this refered to as the "Hibernation Response".

Following the line of thinking, a low blood glucose level on a very low carb diet would most likely be due to inadequate gluconeogenesis, and although it is not necesarily the only cause it appears that high leptin levels (leptin resistance) can impact negatively on this.

As leptin resistance often precedes insulin resistance by decades, does this mean that these individuals are pre-pre-pre-diabetic and that leptin levels should be checked before diving into a low carb diet.

Leptin seems to have many fingers in the pie of glucose homeostasis and depending on areas affected including accessing hepatic glycogen, so some individuals can not do any low carb meals at all while others can low carb for a day, but if they go for a week their FT3 levels fall and their metabolism slows down.

The other interesting thing was the link between low T3 and High LDL

Here's some of the links I looked at in order of relevance, sort of:
High LDL on Paleo Revisited: Low Carb & the Thyroid | Perfect Health Diet
Low Carb High Fat Diets and the Thyroid | Perfect Health Diet
The Daily Lipid: The Central Role of Thyroid Hormone in Governing LDL Receptor Activity and the Risk of Heart Disease
What is leptin's relationship with PEPCK? - PaleoHacks.com
The role of leptin in glucose homeostasis - Denroche - 2012 - Journal of Diabetes Investigation - Wiley Online Library
Comparative acute effects of lept... [Cell Biochem Funct. 2005 Nov-Dec] - PubMed - NCBI
Leptin resistance and the response to positive energy balance
Fasting plasma leptin level is a sur... [J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010] - PubMed - NCBI
Central role of cAMP in the inhibiti... [Pol J Pharmacol. 2004 Mar-Apr] - PubMed - NCBI
Melanocortin-independent Effects of Leptin on Hepatic Glucose Fluxes

[WeldingHank]

Interesting thoughts. Something that has been on my mind as well. I was initially a HF/LC "champion so to speak among my friends etc. I lost lots of weight, got my type 2 diabetes under control (my own doctor says reversed) and overall improved my life. But when it came to my workouts (krav maga) I always felt something was lacking. Through some more carful reading, glycogen hit me. What are some of these people doing for activity? If you do heavilly glycotic exercise (crossfit,martial arts, HEAVY lifting) while trying to low-carb, your gonna have a bad time.

For myself, I don't do keto as often (kinda happens by accident now) and eat way more starch (sweet potatoes, potatoes, plantains) and my actions @ krav have gotten much more explosive and quick. I have come to think that keto is just the gateway to retrain a broken metabolism,
then slowly re-introduce carbohydrate depending on activity.


Everyone just needs to experiment.

[Leida]

Interesting. I was thinking it might have something to do with thyroid, and was eating seaweed like daily, and it still did not help
There is also the good old 'stuck in the fight or flight' mode hypothesis, when there is too much cortisol, and carb/sweet cravings are physiological need to deal with the omnipresent stress.

[noodletoy]

i have been eating vlc over 3 years. just had bloodwork done in february. my non-fasting glucose was 70 and all my thyroid numbers read great. b/p, etc. all good. i feel good too, so disagree with your position. however, i do realize everybody is different.

eta: plenty of on-line info that long-term ketogenic diets can be beneficial too, but others can use their own google-fu.

[Leida]

Noodletoy, did you ever do poorly on the VLC though? As in had lived in the 'under water' state, felt lethargic, depressed, insatiably hungry, gained weight and stuff? There is absolutely no doubt that the VLC just clicks for a lot of people. The question is why not for everybody and what causes severe problems.

[noodletoy]

leida, not really. i had some normal-lady-type issues beginning about 2 years ago, but that was age-related. (i'm 49 now and peri-menopause came on like the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse.)

i know you've struggled finding a good way to eat, so i'm sorry i'm not more help, but i suspect so very much of it has to do with how damaged our bodies are from years of sad eating. even if we thought we were eating healthfully, according to cw, we now know we were not.

[WeldingHank]

i have been eating vlc over 3 years. just had bloodwork done in february. my non-fasting glucose was 70 and all my thyroid numbers read great. b/p, etc. all good. i feel good too, so disagree with your position. however, i do realize everybody is different.

eta: plenty of on-line info that long-term ketogenic diets can be beneficial too, but others can use their own google-fu.

Question for you, what are your activities like? Clicking off crossfit met-cons? Or low and slow steady state? It makes a difference.

[noodletoy]

it absolutely makes a difference and i never said it doesn't. my job involves walking 6-10 miles each day, plus heavy lifting. wine cases weigh about 40 pounds and some days i will move 50 or more. i also live in a walkable city and so rarely use my car for errands and getting about.

my exercise is slow and steady with some sprinting, and i am starting to lift more + do more body-weight exercises. my body has had lots of wear and tear over the years -- first, in the 80s doing lots of high-impact cardio and now after years of slaving away in restaurants. it's all manifesting badly now in my 40s.

those who need more fast-burst no doubt require more carbs than do i.

[Leida]

I am glad it works for you, but , yes, your case does not apply as an example here. You are one of those people who do well on the VLC, beginning to end.

[noodletoy]

lol, i'm sorry? i think my example is simply a counter-point to the argument of the op. we're out there, ya know?