A few CRAZY notes on my experience with Low Carb Diets

[pimpsticky]

This could go in the "FATLOSS" section, but there's some other things going on here too, so I chose "NUTRITION".

Let me first state that what I’m about to say is not fact, nor is it based in science. It is merely based on my personal experience/observation and it’s open to debate, discussion, opinion or anything else you may feel appropriate to add.

I have done several forms of the low carb diets, with some degree of success. Most recently, I have adopted a hybrid of a few different low carb diets, and it’s working quite well. However, through my dieting I have noticed a few things that inhibit or completely stall my weight loss.

1) Coffee – I assume it’s the caffeine, but when I drink 1 mug (18oz each) of coffee (4 creams, no sweetener) or more, regardless of my level of Ketosis, I do not loose weight on this diet.

2) Diet Soft Drinks –If I drink more than 1 diet soda per day, I do not loose weight. And actually, it inhibits my body’s ability to enter Ketosis. Not sure why, but I suspect it’s a combination of the caffeine, artificial sweetener and citric acid.

3) Artificial Sweeteners – Any of them… If I consume more than 3 single serving packets a day, I don’t loose weight. I used to crave sweet things so this diet was tough. Not anymore! Except for my PWO whey shake, I’ve completely eliminated all sweet tasting things. I found that after not eating any artificial sweeteners or drinking any diet sodas, 30 days into the diet, I didn’t miss, or even crave them anymore. In fact, if I taste a diet soda now, find the taste to be disgustingly sweet since I’ve desensitized my taste buds.

4) High Fat Meats (Pork, Prime Rib, etc) – Regardless of my level of Ketosis, eat too much of this and I don’t loose weight


Now, on the bright side. I’ve found some things that actually help me loose weight …

SPICY FOOD! That’s right, if I add Habenero, Tabasco, crushed red pepper or jalepeno, (just to name a few); I loose weight faster than normal

RED WINE! If I have a few beers, when I piss on the Ketostix in the morning, my level of Ketosis is negligible. However, if I drink red wine I’m fine. Actually, I can drink as much red wine as I want, regardless of what the carb count is. Several occasions I consumed 2 bottles of red wine in an evening; and despite my wretched hangover in the morning, I still pissed purple on the Ketostix… and my weight loss for that week remained consistent! Too bad a decent bottle of red costs so much $$.

Anyway, everybody is different and I’m not saying you will be affected the same way…

If you have any ideas on what’s going on here… I’d love to read them.

[ronaldace]

Hi,

This is certainly interesting... I didn't know that spicy foods helped in "Fat Loss"... Thanks for the update...

[_Wolf_]

Well, if spicy foods help with fatloss, my Chicken Curry back home is gonna do miracles for me hopefully!

[pimpsticky]

I found that spicy foods allow me to eat more carbs than normally allowed... and still loose weight on this diet.

For instance, I love hot wings. Well, there's a great wing joint called Buffalo Wild Wings and they've got about a dozen different sauces. Two of my favorites are loaded with sugar... the Terriaki and the Thai. However, I can eat as much of them as I want. If you read the nutritional info on the sauce bottles (they sell them for carryout), you'll see they are loaded with carbs. Yet they don't screw my levels of Ketosis... in fact, they seem to help. Now I don't just eat these... I also throw in "Spicy Garlic" and "Hot".

The compound that makes spicy food "hot" is called Capsaicin. Here's one of the many articles to be found that support what I'm talking about:

Effects of Capsaicin on Lipid Metabolism in Rats Fed a High Fat Diet1
Teruo Kawada, Koh-Ichiro Hagihara and Kazuo Iwai Laboratory of Nutritional Chemistry, Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606, Japan


Effects of capsaicin, a pungent principle of hot red pepper, were studied in experiments using male rats fed a diet containing 30% lard. Capsaicin was supplemented at 0.014% of the diet. The level of serum triglyceride was lower when capsaicin was present in the diet than when it was not. Levels of serum cholesterol and pre-ß-lipoprotein were not affected by the supplementation of capsaicin. The perirenal adipose tissue weight was lower when capsaicin was present in the diet than when it was not. Hepatic enzyme activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and adipose lipoprotein lipase were lower in rats fed the 30% lard diet than in those fed a nonpurified diet. Activities of these two enzymes were higher when capsaicin was added to the diet than when it was not. Hepatic acetyl-CoA carboxylase, ß-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, and adipose hormone-sensitive lipase activities were not affected by capsaicin feeding. Lipid absorption was not affected by the supplementation of capsaicin. The perirenal adipose tissue weight and serum triglyceride were decreased as the level of capsaicin in the diet increased up to 0.021%. These results suggest that capsaicin stimulates lipid mobilization from adipose tissue and lowers the perirenal adipose tissue weight and serum triglyceride concentration in lard-fed rats.

[pimpsticky]

mmmmm..... chicken curry

[pimpsticky]

How it works
Before getting into the details on how capsaicin helps in burning fat, let's starts with the basics. Metabolism is a key term here. It is defined as the sum of all chemical processes that takes place in the body as they relate to the movement of nutrients in the blood after digestion, resulting in growth, energy, release of wastes, and other bodily functions. Exercise, body temperature, hormone activity, and digestion of certain food can increase the rate of metabolism.
Wanatabe et al. (1987, 1988) have investigated neurophysiological functions of capsaicin and have demonstrated that capsaicin increases energy metabolism by activating sympathetic nervous system. This leads to the release of chemical messengers like noradrenaline and adrenaline that increases the cellular metabolic rate to generate energy from glycogen and fat store. Such effect of capsaicin was again demonstrated in a human study by Yoshioka et al. (1995).

Yoshika et al. (1998) further investigated the effect of red pepper added to high-fat diet and high-carbohydrate meals on energy metabolism and nutrient utilization in Japanese women. Results of the study indicate that red pepper increases diet-induced thermogenesis (i.e. energy generation) and fat oxidation or so-called fat-burning.

Kawada et al. (1986) reported that dietary supplementation of capsaicin in high fat diets lowered fat tissue and blood tryglyceride level in rat due to enhancement of energy metabolism. For instance, it was shown that the activity of liver enzymes involved in breaking down fat increases when capsaicin was added to the diet.

As mentioned before, exercise is another factor that can increase metabolic rate. Study done by Yoshioka et al. (2000) investigated whether additional effect of capsaicin could be produced when one is already having regular exercise. All rats subjects were submitted to a treadmill exercise for a period of time, but some were fed with capsaicin diet and some were not (i.e. so-called control group). The fat deposit weight and blood free-fatty acids level were significantly lower as compared with the control group which were not fed with capsaicin.

Health applications of capsaicin
Another popular clinical use of capsaicin is the topical or external application of capsaicin cream for pain relief. For example, it has been shown to relieve pain associated with cluster headache, arthritis, diabetic neuropathy and postmastectomy (after breast reconstruction).
So how does it work in reducing pain when applied topically? It works by depleting a neurotransmitter called substance P, which has been linked closely with many pain disorders such as those mentioned above. Research also show that it increase the collegenase and certain prostaglandins that reduces both pain and inflammation.

Safety
Capsaicin is generally recognized as safe (GRAS). As a matter of fact, chili can be added liberally in our diet. Externally applied capsacin may produce a burning sensation, however, such effect fades gradually with time and is rarely a major concern for most users who get accustomed to the sensation!
Note: Information provided are based on thorough research done on scientific and reliable sources, however, is not meant to substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professional.

REFERENCES
1. Kawada et al. Effects of capsaicin on lipid metabolism in rats fed a high fat diet. J. Nutr. 1986;116:1272-1278.
2. Wanatabe et al. Enhancement by capsaicin of energy metabolism in rats through secretion of catecholamine from adrenal medulla. Agric. Biol. Chem. 1987;51:75-79.

3. Wanatabe et al. Adrenal sympathetic efferent nerve and catecholamine secretion excitation caused by capsaicin in rats. Am. J. Physiol. 1988;255:E23-E27.

4. 4. Yoshioka et al. Effects of red-pepper diet on the energy metabolism in men. J. Nutr. Sci. Vitaminol. 1995;41:647-656.

5. Yoshika et al. Effect of red pepper added to high-fat and high-carbohydrate meals on energy metabolism and substrate utilization in Japanese women. Br. J. Nutr. 1998;80:503-510.

6. Yoshioka et al. Effects of capsaicin on abdominal fat and serum fatty-acids in exercise-trained rats. Nutr Res. 2000;20(7):1041-1045.