The Missing Element

Sometimes you know you are onto something, but it doesn't seem to work. You try and you fail, try again, fail again - but deep down you're so sure that you are onto something.

We are predisposed to avoid failure, ashamed if we expose our ideas and our failure to realise them to outsiders that they will condemn us. At least that is how things were for me, until I found people who not only shared my expectation but were living it. It's when we share ideas with like minded people that we can overcome the failures and truly succeed.

In my limited success in eating High Fat Low Carb I had missed the important macro nutrient Protein. I guess that is expected, it doesn't feature in the name. But it too must be limited to realise success.

Why was it so overlooked? Well let's face it while we have all heard that Low Carbohydrate could be the answer to weight loss and that fat may not be as bad as we have been lead to believe there is still the looming presence of Protein. The fitness industry has been pushing it so hard you would just never expect that there was a need to limit it, I mean you will not find a gym on the planet that does not stock powders just in case you can't physically chew enough in a day, it's the stuff of growth, it's all important. So it was to my surprise a little that restricting it would be the key to success.

You can't help but go on a Low Carb strategy and intentionally eat lots of protein. After all it's good for you isn't it. And while Atkin said that we should eat fat liberally we've heard that it's evil for so many decades that while we might feel it's ok we're reluctant to allow it to push out the 'Growth/Health Nutrient' protein. Even Atkin himself failed to mention the result of over consuming protein.

So what's the issue? Protein if consumed in large quantities will be converted to carbohydrates creating an insulin response. This stops the ketonic process and kicks you out of ketosis.

I am privileged to have a friend who is not only a type 1 diabetic but also heavily into HFLC. By using this eating strategy he has reduced his insulin intake to a tiny fraction of what he used in the past. And the great thing for my knowledge is that as a diabetic he tests his blood sugar regularly, as an obsessive kind of guy he checks it more than 12 times a day - about every hour. He can confirm that a meal high in protein will after some time begin to raise his blood sugar. Not by some tiny amount either but a significantly alarming amount and it sustains for quite some time - meaning that the ketosis state also stops for a significant amount of time.

So, how much becomes the question once again. The recommendation from those who are the current experts is 0.7-1.0g per pound of lean mass. Interesting that this is what the fitness profession also tells us - I've heard it a million times. As they are always pushing ways to increase protein then one just assumes that this is a LOT of protein. Well it turns out that it is MUCH less than I had assumed.

My lean mass is about 75kg. This means that i should consume 115-165g of protein. If we take the middle ground then let's say 150g is the upper limit we should aim for, then this is only 50g per meal.

A small steak of 150g (6 oz) contains 49g of protein. This is not the large steak you might see in a steak joint - a 1lb steak is three times this size, or more importantly, my limit for the entire day. Suddenly we need to watch our protein intake and throw all those shakes in the bin.

We must also assume that if we consume our entire allowance in one sitting we will in fact push our system to the point where we are kicked out of the all important ketosis setting. Therefore we need to be mindful of our intake at every meal.

Now I may not have all the facts here, it's still grey and many people will disagree with all aspects of this anyway. Never mind, i will be purchasing a ketone monitor shortly and experimenting on this very subject because i want to be very sure how much steak i can eat in one sitting!