Metabolism
Metabolism is much more important than many people realize. High quality energy production in your cells can fuel your metabolism to support the following:
1. The energy of doing: This includes all activities from walking, running and dancing to talking, singing and thinking. The cell has to put out energy to support whatever you do. Did you know that your brain uses more energy than any other organ in your body? And did you know that the fuel your brain requires to function is sugar (glucose or fructose)? Sugar equals high energy! This is one of the reasons the Contra Diet recommends eating almost triple the amount of recommended carbs in relation to protein and fat, unlike low carb diets that promote higher levels of protein and fat. It is time for you to rethink the role of sugar in your diet!
2. The energy of relaxation: The cell needs to relax to recover from an output of energy and this recovery is called repolarization. This needs to be happening moment to moment in a constant cycle. The heartbeat is a perfect example. First, the heart beats systolically during depolarization and then there is a diastolic beat during repolarization. Over time if the repolarization phase becomes weaker, you may develop an irregular heartbeat. In a worst case scenario, this might lead to heart failure.
A good metabolic rate will allow your cells to recover by relaxing. But if you are not making enough thyroid hormone and your cells are not able to produce steady fuel from good oxidative metabolism, adrenaline will need to kick in to keep them going. For example, if you have to do what feels like a million things in a short period of time like pick up the car, pick up the kids, pick up the dog, go to an appointment, make dinner, and so on, you may be in adrenaline overdrive and unable to relax. This isn’t stress that is just in your mind. It is affecting repolarization of all your cells. You may appear to have lots of energy but excessive use of adrenaline can ultimately lower your metabolism and is not good for you.
3. The energy to support structure: This means that your cells are able to renew, regenerate, heal and grow. Proteins are the necessary building blocks for this process but sugar enables your cells to have the energy to repair and grow. One of Dr. Ray Peat’s core contributions to our understanding of metabolism is that ENERGY AND STRUCTURE ARE INTERDEPENDENT AT EVERY LEVEL.
This article delves into the physiology that explains why the Contra Diet recommends specific foods in specific ratios. It also incorporates the four cornerstones of the diet that are listed on the homepage of the website: calcium, fructose, stable fats and antifungal and antibacterial fibers. We will illuminate the chemical processes in the cells that, in turn, produce the energy that creates the foundation for a strong metabolism. This is the path to living a healthy vibrant life.
As part of this process we will also investigate serious factors that can block a strong metabolism such as certain fats, low calcium diets and constipation. These things can lead to a myriad of imbalances creating fatigue, chronic illness and disease. Having steady, strong energy levels and healthy cell structure are vital keys to health. They are not separate but rather, they are interdependent.
Our body’s energy is measured in ATP molecules (adenosine triphosphate). ATP captures chemical energy derived from the breakdown of food molecules that have combined with oxygen molecules and releases it to fuel other cellular processes. You want your body to make lots of ATP molecules because the more you have, the more you can make, creating an upward spiral of energy.
When oxygen and glucose chemically combine in your cells, they produce carbon dioxide and ATP molecules faster than fats can. This fast, efficient production of ATP molecules is called oxidative metabolism. This is why the Contra Diet recommends eating two to three times more of the recommended carbs than proteins or fats. We are not recommending eating high fructose corn syrup or a ton of starch. We recommend eating naturally sweetened foods that contain fructose sugar such as fruit, fruit juice, honey, maple syrup and even a little white sugar. With the exception of white sugar, these foods also supply your body with essential vitamins and minerals. White sugar, however, does provide good fuel through the fructose and sucrose sugars that it contains. We have been led to believe that sugar is bad for us but if we eat the simple sugars like fructose and sucrose found in the right foods, we will be supplying our cells with the raw materials for the fastest production of energy. Simple sugars provide us with the foundation for steady energy, a strong metabolism, repolarization of cells, cell growth and cell regeneration.
Fats are a secondary source of fuel and fat burning very much affects your metabolism. It is important to understand that you cannot burn fat and sugar at the same time. (This is described in the Randle Cycle.) Ideally, you want to burn carbs when you are actively living your life. However, during the night levels of fat burning may increase in your muscles and liver when you are at rest as well as during times of the time when you are resting. If you start eating approximately more than 30% fat in your diet, you may be pushing yourself into excessive fat burning. This can lower your metabolic rate because, as stated above, fats cannot produce energy as fast as carbs can. Sugar equals fast energy production promoting a strong metabolism.
Your whole metabolism depends upon sugar in every way. If there isn’t enough sugar, your body goes into a stress mode to get glucose levels up. Sugar is so vital that if you run out, your own body tissue like muscle, for example, will need to be converted into sugar to supply fuel.
In this process, when your sugar levels have dropped, cortisol, a stress hormone, rises. Cortisol directs the breaking down of protein in your thymus gland, your muscle tissue and other tissues like your skin and bones. As a very final resort, tissue in vital organs like your heart can be used. (A tragic example of this may have been Karen Carpenter, the famous singer, who battled with anorexia and died of cardiac arrest at the age of 32.)
You may be surprised to learn that SUGAR SPARES PROTEIN. What does this mean? It means that if you have enough sugar from eating plenty of carbs, protein does not need to become a backup fuel and can do its primary job of building and repairing muscle tissue and all body structure. You need a lot of muscle to be healthy and not just strong. Muscle stimulates your metabolism all the time and therefore keeps your energy levels strong. However, without enough protein and sugar, there isn’t any way your body can build healthy muscle tissue.
The attraction of a low carb/high protein diet is that you think you will lose weight, lower insulin, lose fat and look lean and muscular. But when you follow that diet, you will probably not eat enough carbs. As a result, your body may be continually forced to raise cortisol so that protein will be converted into needed sugar. In this conversion your body breaks down muscle mass. You are supposedly building muscle mass on the low carb/high protein diet but at the same time you may be tearing it down to make needed glucose for fuel!
Over time high cortisol will cause your thyroid hormones to drop as a protective mechanism because if they stay high and cortisol is high, you will eat your body alive. Cortisol will be telling your body to convert protein in your tissues into sugar and thyroid hormones will be telling your body to do it at a fast pace.
The lowering of thyroid hormones that will lead to lowered metabolism with less energy production can put your body into more of a survival mode. You could be doing just the opposite of what you had in mind. You’ve gone on a high protein diet to lose weight but in the process you may have lowered your metabolism and thus caused excess weight gain! Caution: Healthy may not mean lean and thin! You want to keep your blood sugar levels steady by eating enough of the recommended carbs so that your adrenaline and cortisol levels remain low and your thyroid hormone levels are strong.
The low carb/high protein diets have been promoted for many years going back to1972 with the publication of Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution, a best seller endorsed by many celebrities. Currently the paleo diet is popular. If you are younger, you may be able to get away with a low carb/high protein diet for a while. This is because you may have more muscles to start with and higher levels of protective hormones like progesterone, DHEA or testosterone that can help keep you strong. So you may have youth on your side but as you age and hormones shift, your needs for more carbs, less protein and less fat can increase. Unfortunately, we have been led to believe that sugar is bad and that fats and high protein are okay, but this does not bear out when we look at the physiology of energy production! Contrary to many scientific beliefs and marketing science, where food companies attempt to influence what you think is healthy and/or acceptable food, the Contra Diet recommends the following ratios:
Carbs: 50-75% Protein: 15-25% Fat: 10-30%
Now let’s look at what blocks energy production and metabolism for anybody and not just those on a low carb/high protein program. Blocks can be linked to any imbalances in the four cornerstones of the Contra Diet: calcium, fructose, stable fats and antifungal/antibacterial fibers.
1. Calcium:
Most calcium should be found in your bones and teeth but some is needed in circulation to assist blood vessel contraction and dilation, muscle function, blood clotting, secretion of hormones and nerve stimulation. Calcium that is in the wrong place can cause tremendous stress to the cells, e.g., when it gets taken from the bones and is deposited into soft tissue like your arteries, kidneys or heart. This can lead to complications like arteriosclerosis, kidney stones and fibrosis of any tissue. Misplaced calcium weakens the cells and can also cause cell damage and stimulate the production of nitric oxide. This can slow down metabolism by interfering with energy production.
When calcium is in the bones and in low levels of circulation, ideally it can enter the cell in the right amount during metabolic oxidation and the production of ATP molecules and CO2. It should then be carried out of the cell and back into circulation where it will be deposited into the bones or teeth. No matter how healthy you are though, you will probably always get some calcium deposits in the tissues but at a low level that your body can handle. However, if you have a low metabolic rate with low energy production, the trouble can start.
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2. Fructose
The importance of fructose was explained in detail at the beginning of this article. Remember this: If you do not have enough glucose, cortisol rises and stimulates the breakdown of protein, particularly in muscle. Many of the amino acids are then converted into sugar. Long term use of protein as a fuel source can lead to lowered metabolism and high cortisol. In turn, this can lead to a breakdown of the thymus gland, muscle tissue and more. If that keeps going, you can begin breaking down the structure of your body.
Fat can be used as a secondary fuel source but excessive use of it can also lead to a lowering of your metabolic rate. This is because per unit of oxygen, fat does not produce the same amount of energy as sugar. Sugar equals HIGHER energy!
3. Stable fat versus pufas (polyunsaturated fats)
To understand how pufas can block oxidative metabolism, you need to know a little about the three phases of energy production that are involved: glycolysis (when glucose is the fuel) or beta oxidation (when fatty acids are the fuel), the Kreb cycle and the electron transport chain. (This is a very basic explanation. If you would like a deeper understanding of the science, we suggest reading some of Ray Peat’s online articles and newsletters and listening to his interviews.)
Cells are the smallest building blocks of your body and your body is made of trillions of cells! They are filled with a semi-fluid called cytoplasm that acts as a matrix. Organelles are like little compartments with different cellular functions that sit in the matrix of the cytoplasm. They are similar to organs in your body that have different functions, e.g., the nucleus is an organelle that contains your DNA. The mitochondria, often referred to as the powerhouses of the cell, are organelles where ATP molecules of energy are chemically produced. Oxygen must be present and the food source can be either glucose or fatty acids. First, let’s look at how glucose is converted into ATP molecules. (Glucose can produce many more ATP molecules than fatty acids because it has a significantly higher number of oxygen atoms.)
Glycolysis is the first phase of oxidative energy production where glucose is converted into pyruvate in the cytoplasm of the cell. An enzyme called pyruvate dehydrogenase then transports the pyruvate into the mitochondria of the cell where it is converted into Acetyl coenzyme A.
The second phase involves the Kreb cycle where acetyl coenzyme A is converted into electrons.
The third phase occurs in the electron transport chain where the electrons combine with oxygen and produce ATPs in abundance and carbon dioxide.
Pufas can block the pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme that is needed for the pyruvate to get into the mitochondria. If sugar cannot get into the mitochondria, it will not be oxidized. Instead, lower amounts of energy will be produced through glycolytic metabolism, otherwise known as fermentation, and the end product will be lactic acid. After the lactic acid leaves the cell, if there is too much of it in circulation it can cause serious problems in the heart and with blood flow to your organs. Eventually, it is taken up by the liver where it is reconverted into sugar.
Now let’s look at how fat converts to ATP molecules. Fatty acids are first broken down to become Acetyl Coenzyme A in a process called beta oxidation. Then they follow the same path as carbs. They go through the Kreb cycle and the electron transport chain to ultimately produce ATP molecules and CO2. However, because a fat molecule is larger than a carb molecule and because it has significantly fewer oxygen atoms than a carb molecule, ATP molecules are produced more slowly. This results in a lower metabolism and lower production of CO2, which is not just a waste product.
To summarize, pufas can block pyruvate dehydrogenase from getting glucose into the mitochondria. Even if you are eating plenty of the right carbs, you still may run into a problem with a compromised metabolism. If glucose cannot get into the mitochondria, you will end up producing a lot of lactic acid and less energy. To supply your body with enough energy, you may have to burn fat, your secondary choice of fuel. You may think you are going to lower your fat, but you are going to lower your metabolism. This is why the Contra Diet is based on the importance of eating sugar and avoiding pufas.
Pufas can also block thyroid hormone production and transport by inhibiting the thyroid hormones from binding to protein carriers. This in turn can lower metabolism because thyroid hormones control and regulate metabolism.
4. Antifungal and antibacterial fiber:
Good metabolism begins in the digestive tract where carbs are converted into sugars like fructose and glucose, proteins are converted into amino acids and fats are converted into fatty acids. The movement of food through your digestive tract is called peristalsis. If peristalsis is too slow, your food can rot in your intestines. It is interesting that this is more common with foods like undercooked vegetables, grains and legumes than with fruit or meat. Bacteria will come to feast on the rotting food and release bacterial toxins into your digestive tract, e.g., endotoxin. If you have a lot of endotoxin it will, in turn, slow down peristalsis creating a vicious cycle.
The right kind of fiber can enable the digestive tract to absorb toxins that come from excess bacteria. It can carry the toxins out of your body through your stools instead of letting them get into circulation and into the cells where they could block cell function and metabolism. Ideal sources are root vegetables (especially raw carrots), cooked mushrooms, canned bamboo shoots and cooked oat bran cereal. Be sure to check out our recipes in the cookbook.