I don't know how many of you are familiar with Dr. Michael Eades' (author of Protein Power) opinion on fat. Just as a summary, he believes that so long as insulin is kept extremely low, it is impossible for you to gain fat. This is not to say that you will always lose weight on low-carb. You still need a calorie deficit. If you eat past your calorie requirements, you can't LOSE weight, he concedes, BUT: if you're eating too MANY calories, you're body will simply burn off the extra calories naturally with futile cycles and a raised metabolism.

You can read his whole summary here:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/...alories-part-2/


But on the opposite side of the spectrum comes this chemical called Acetylation stimulating protein. This little bugger supposedly does not need insulin to increase our body fat. Here is a link to an example research paper on this chemical:

http://www.jpp.krakow.pl/journal/ar..._s4_article.pdf

and heres a quote from this link:

"ASP constitutes of a protein of the C3 complementsystem and is responsible for glucose and lipids metabolism in an insulin independent mechanism. During the process of fat cell formation, ASP synthesis gradually increases (13, 14). In vitro chylomicrons stimulate ASP synthesis in the human adipocyte (15). Mas³owska et al. (8) have proven that insulin enhances ASP synthesis. Both insulin and ASP suppress fatty tissue lipolysis (16). ASP increases triglyceride synthesis and storage in the fat cell and it also decreases fatty acids secretion from adipocytes (17, 18). In vitro studies revealed that ASP significantly stimulates glucose uptake in adipocyte (15 19). In humans, an increased ASP secretion was found after a fatty meal, while the ASP concentrations remained unchanged after an oral administration of glucose."

What do you guys think?

Here is the thing. The only way to lower insulin enough for this to be true, is to not eat carb AND not eat any proteins either, ONLY fats. But of course wihout any proteins you will eventually die.

Incidentally, one of the fastest way to lose weight is to do a fat fast. But this also results in the loss of lean mass too.

I knew I'd read something on his blog about his opinion--it's in the comments at this link:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/...olic-advantage/


His answer:

From my experience I can tell that I can eat all the fat I want and will not gain weight, as long as I stay away from carbs and alcohol. Protein raises insulin but at the same time it raises glucagon which seems to block the effects of insulin.

Anthony Colpo has consistently beaten the hell out of Eades on this issue, but Eades is too arrogant, self centered, and egotistical to admit he's wrong. Instead, he tends to duck it and ignore it, and even obfuscate to avoid admitting he's wrong. I've had a few interactions with Eades myself that were less than enlightening. Simply put, he will never, under any circumstances, admit he's wrong unless there's some angle to it, ie, he benefits from it somehow. Otherwise, he'll resort to the most absurd ruses to worm his way out of things and protect his giant ego. I've lost all respect for him, and no longer consider him a credible source for information, because I've seen him allow his ego to warp his judgment way too many times.

BTW, how can anyone consistently read his blog, with his unconscious but quite manifest snobbery, and not wretch in disgust?

Funny, I've heard this argument phrased exactly opposite.

Well, true, but AC is better? Ugh, I think not.

By whom? Eades? I've looked at both arguments, and Colpo's is better. Eades shamelessly cherry picks, which I have no patience for, especially considering his status in the dieting community. And he has to know he's doing it, on one level or another, which makes him dishonest.




Colpo doesn't pretend. Oh, make no mistake, he's almost as unbearable as Eades, but Colpo is what he is, and is upfront about it. Eades isn't. I'll take honest abrasiveness over unctuous snobbery and egotism any day of the week, twice on Sundays.

I don't read either of them these days, because Colpo talks to muscleheads and my days of being a musclehead are over, while Eades has proven himself unreliable, and his snobbery is too offputting to make anything useful he might say outweigh the pain of reading him. But. If I saw two arguments, one from Colpo and one from Eades, and had no chance to review them myself, I'd go with Colpo because he has been, consistently, honest (even when I disagree with him), and Eades has not.

I don't want to get into an argument over who has the most unpleasant online personality. Neither would win Mr. Congeniality, that's for sure.

Personality aside, Eades isn't the only blogger in the low carb/paleo community with the ability to conflate theory with fact. Sometimes I think that ability is a prerequisite for being a paleo blogger. Since they all do it, and because he's not the only, um, big personality in that world, I've gone back to his blog and have been pleasantly surprised at the generous amount of information there available for free, the quality of his writing (he has a rare ability to explain complicated science in plain language that the nonscientist can understand), and how closely he mirrors Taubes' ideas on insulin while arriving there independently (Protein Power predates GCBC by about 10 years).

Taubes spends a lot of time on LPL in his new book but doesn't mention ASP at all. This leads me to believe he too thinks it's still in the theoretical stage.

On one site Taubes said something along the lines of "we know in rats ASP can [...] but no one is that terribly interested in rats."

I can't find the link now, but...

Tom Naughton does a pretty good job of explaining why rat studies aren't very good for explaining weight loss in humans:
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index....-i-smell-a-rat/

I'd forgotten that one Had me laughing out loud.
Remember human evolved with gall bladders that store bile whose function is to release it to quench the effects of fat consumption. Rats didn't evolve gall bladders because their DNA didn't evolve to expect them to consume large amounts of fat.

Another good reason low fat makes no sense. I may be a data point of one, but I know I'm not alone in doing well with high fat and low carb. That's not theoretical!

In my opinion Mary Enig is THE expert on fat. And she has convincing arguments why a big portion of energy intake should be fat. Saturated fat. And I am on Dr Eades side. Don't forget he is a real doctor and has treated thousands of overweighted people. If anything counts I think it is experience. And he certainly practises what he preaches. Art DeVany has a very scientific approach to eating and lifestyle; he is also in the low carb camp.

Eating low carb is about so much more than weightmanagement. Ketones are wonderfull and trigger a whole lot of healthy processes, like stimulating gluthatione, CMA, and sirt1. So if you want to live long and healthy stay away from carbs. Glucose speeds up your aging. Some experts even claim that longevity is controlled by insulin. The more insulin, the shorter your lifespan. Maybe the last verdict on this isn't out yet, but I am convinced (and not an expert ;-) )