Well, I haven't finished the book yet, but this part should be helpful for protein intake.
The Downward Spiral
As various tissues proceed to become insulin resistant, the liver—the first organ to lose insulin sensitivity and proper insulin signaling—becomes prone, as a consequence, to overproduce blood sugar from glycogen, which raises blood sugar levels even further. Eventually, other tissues lose sensitivity, also. Your fat cells are the last tissues to become insulin resistant. Your brain is unable to effectively hear leptin’s messages, and your hypothalamus keeps sending you the signal to eat more, even when your fat stores are full. Your metabolism seeks to conserve fat in its state of perceived famine. Weight loss seems impossible. When your fat cells are finally no longer able to respond to insulin, there’s no place for the sugar to go. It builds up in your bloodstream, and you become diabetic, even if your insulin levels are still very high. If it goes on long enough, you may even burn out your pancreas’s ability to produce insulin anymore at all. Other tissues unfortunate enough to lack the capacity for insulin resistance become chronically bombarded with excess tissue-damaging insulin and glucose. Among these, nerve cells are extremely vulnerable and become readily damaged by glycation, eventually developing neuropathy. Brain cells similarly are extremely vulnerable here, and deteriorate, rapidly glycate, and oxidize, creating cognitive and memory problems and setting the stage for Alzheimer’s disease. The arterial endothelium gets increasingly damaged and scarred by the effects of insulin and the oxidation of glucose.
Surges of insulin and leptin stimulate sympathetic (fight-or-flight) nervous system activity, causing the body to rapidly lose magnesium and the vessels to constrict, raising blood pressure and impairing cerebral and all vascular circulation. Vulnerable constricted blood vessels, clogged with glycated and oxidized plaques, and smaller vessels that supply the eyes and kidneys begin to become compromised, impairing blood supplies there. Vision and the function of organs such as the kidneys may become impaired or seriously damaged. Hearing loss with advanced age is now being understood as a frequent outcome of advanced glycation of the auditory nerves (Gopinath et al. 2010). Men with impaired peripheral circulation start seeking Viagra prescriptions . . . In the end, you can be left blind and deaf, wind up on dialysis, and have your limbs amputated. The risk of heart attack, all degenerative diseases, autoimmune disease, and cancer is substantially elevated. It is not a pretty picture, and it is epidemic. Hint: Osteoporosis Isn’t Necessarily about Low Calcium Levels Again, a person predisposed to burning sugar as his or her primary source of fuel, particularly if that person is a diabetic, will have the tendency to more efficiently convert protein to sugar. Bones are largely composed of protein and collagen, which give them their strength and flexibility.
Calcium gives bone their hardness. Hardness without the strength and flexibility afforded by a protein matrix leads essentially to weak, brittle bones. If a “sugar burner” should attempt to starve himself, go too long without eating, or overly restrict calories, then his body will tend to convert its own protein stores from muscle and even bone to sugar to burn for fuel. It’s easier for your body to make sugar from protein than fat. This effect is also at play while you are asleep at night, when your blood sugar level lowers because you can’t eat. This leads to a breakdown of vital tissues at night to support your sugar habit. These low blood sugar levels, particularly in the presence of stressed-out adrenal fatigue and depressed cortisol levels, also commonly stimulate nighttime catabolic (tissue breakdown) adrenaline releases as the body desperately seeks to stimulate elevations in blood sugar levels. This leads to nighttime waking forms of insomnia and even to middle-of-the-night cravings in some people. Under extremes of stress, this can even result in muscle wasting, significant bone loss, immune system dysfunction, and possibly even organ damage. The same process, by the way, can result in a person who looks scrawny or emaciated all the time, seems nervous, and has trouble gaining weight. The result of dysglycemia isn’t always obesity. Food sensitivity issues— particularly gluten sensitivity—can also drive these catabolic blood sugar level highs and lows or even trigger autoantibody production that targets the breakdown of virtually any tissue—including bone and even the brain. Appropriate testing for food sensitivities should be sought by anyone who has experienced bone loss or degeneration (see www.cyrexlabs.com or www.enterolab.com).
The loss of lean tissue mass in this way, however, can contribute further to obesity and chronic fatigue in many people as the majority of mitochondria, our cells’ own little energy-producing, fat-burning factories, are largely in our muscles. Inflammation generated by excesses of omega-6 fatty acid, glycation, the effects of insulin and leptin, or anything else readily destroys mitochondria. Carbohydrate consumption promotes inflammation. The less muscle and the fewer mitochondria you have, the less is your ability to burn fat and produce energy. With fewer and fewer mitochondria, you are sapped of your vital energy and can’t lose weight. It is a vicious cycle. Even if you’re thin, you’re flabby. Gluten sensitivity, too, is a major contributor to the incidence of osteoporosis. According to studies in both The Lancet and the British Medical Journal, the prevalence of celiac disease with osteoporosis is so high that it has been recommended that all people with osteoporosis be tested for celiac disease. An article in Clinical Rheumatology stated, “Diffuse musculoskeletal pain, muscle weakness, and even osteoporosis may be the only symptoms of wheat allergies (gluten) and are completely relieved or reversed on a gluten free diet” (Kozanoglu et al. 2005). The Solution? First, eliminate the sugar, starchy carbohydrates, and gluten from your diet; this includes bread, pasta, grains, hidden sources of gluten, rice, beans, potatoes, and all sweets and sweeteners.
Limit the amount of fruit, and stick mostly to berries when you do eat fruit (berries are lower in sugar, higher in fiber, and much richer in antioxidants than other sources of fruit). Second, consume just enough dietary protein to meet your immediate daily needs for rebuilding and regeneration from high-quality, nutrient-dense sources of complete protein, such as grass-fed meat, wild-caught fish, and pastured eggs. This may be as little as 44 to 56 g per day for most adult people (the approximate RDA), which translates to six or seven ounces (just a few) of meat, eggs, or fish—preferably in divided amounts. (See the protein content of foods chart in appendix C, at the back of this book.) Another method of calculation would be to shoot for 0.8 g of actual protein per kilogram of ideal body weight per day. Extremely large or active individuals—short of being an Olympic athlete or a professional bodybuilder—or individuals in a particularly nutritionally depleted state may need 10 g or so more (all relative to lean-body composition and one’s activity level). That’s really about all. Elite athletes and bodybuilders may need closer to 1.5 g of actual protein per kilogram of body weight to meet their daily needs. Amounts in excess of this will likely suppress ketosis, however (Phinney 2004).
Pregnant women, children, and teens, however, should not have their protein intake overly restricted. High-protein diets are not advisable or necessary to be healthy and slim and can lead to numerous problems. The trick is in maximizing the quality of the food source, the digestibility of the protein (or quality of your digestion), and what you combine it with so that you can make the best use of this precious commodity. This is not about inducing starvation in any way. In fact, if you go about it correctly, you should never be hungry. It’s about improving the efficiency with which you use the quality, nutrient-dense foods in your diet. Digestion takes more energy to perform than any other daily human activity. Eating more of optimally sufficient amounts of complete protein— particularly when not overly cooked or combined with starches—actually greatly helps improve the digestion and assimilation of your food, and you will expend much less energy doing so, so you will have more energy to do other things! In fact, you may be utterly shocked to discover how much energy it is possible for you to have.
mod note: edited for readability from scan
. I have a big breakfast with probably 50-75 g of protein and then I don't eat until I am hungry again, which turns out to be dinner where I have another 50-75 g of protein.
