Around this Thanksgiving, my 14-year old cat disappeared suddenly. There was no evidence of foul play, so I assumed that somebody had found her and taken her in.
Then almost a month later, on Christmas Eve, she shows up — except much skinnier and more frail than before.
I could tell by the smell that she had been trapped under a nearby house, and probably had no food and little water. Despite this, she managed to survive even with some very cold nights.
She had very little body fat to begin with, so her only source of life during that month was her own muscle.
When the body goes into “starvation mode,” it first breaks down a substance contained in muscle called glycogen. We humans store only enough glycogen to keep us going for about 24-hours.
Once the glycogen is broken down, converted to glucose (blood sugar), and used up, the body turns to its fat stores and begins to break those down.
A byproduct of this fat-burning is ketones, which smell like ripe fruit, but provide the brain a very efficient fuel source. Ketones are your body’s “alternative energy source” when glucose is not available.
If you have any experience with cancer, hear this: Cancer sells cannot live off ketones. They can only survive on glucose. So, if you want to literally starve cancer cells to death, just get your body converted over from glucose to ketones.
Also get this: When you eat too many carbohydrates, it raises your glucose levels through the roof. Cancer cells love this, because it means more food for them. But your immune system hates it, and it severely weakened by this blood-sugar (glucose) spike. (Now THERE’S a reason to go low-carb.)
Now, if your body is in fat-burning mode, but is not getting enough protein, it will break down your muscle tissue to get it. The obvious thing to do then would be to eat a lot of protein.
But here’s another benefit of eating lots of protein: It puts an end to the low-carb vs. low-fat debate.
When you eat lots and lots of protein, your body sends a signal to your brain, “You can STOP eating now!” Protein acts as a very powerful trigger to turn OFF hunger.
If you don’t believe me, grab five eggs, cook and eat them.
Now tell me if you’re still hungry.
Some of you will say, “Yeah, I’m still hungry.” And I would respond, “No, you just think you are.”
“Huh?”
If you’re still ‘hungry’ after eating five eggs, that’s a sure sign that your ‘hunger’ is really a craving, i.e. an addiction.
“Addiction?”
Yes, an addiction to carbohydrates. Friend, a carb addiction is more deadly than being addicted to cigarettes or alcohol. It may take longer to kill you, but kill you it will.
Don’t believe me? Then tell me what the #1 killer disease is in America.
Say it with me.. Heart Disease.
Yup, heart disease is the result of a high-carb diet. But that’s for another article.
Now, if you’re a low-fat junkie, you wouldn’t dare eat five eggs. All that cholesterol you know.
Here’s the low-fat, high-protein test: Grab a pound of soybeans and eat them. Soy is low fat but very high in protein (not to mention fiber and plenty of other good stuff.)
You won’t be hungry after eating a pound of soy. Or even a quarter of a pound (4 ounces). The protein quenches your hunger and fast.
So whether you’re into low-fat, low-carb, or low-nothing, make sure you are a high-protein man or woman. You’ll be stronger, healthier, and leaner because of it.
