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Low carb, low protein, hi fat


mccoy

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I've been reading Dr Ron rosedale and listening to some of his podcasts. While by no means I agree with all he says, (above all the alleged cons of fruit), his reasonings on mTOR would suggest a good insight on this metabolic pathway.

 

his belief is that mTOR is the main metabolic masterswitch which collects signals from other metabolic sensors. mTOR is upregulated among other things by dietary protein and glucose. It is neutral to fats.

 

The downregulation of mTOR according to Dr Rosedale is what mediates the benefits of caloric restriction.

 

Hence, by whatever means we can inhibit mTOR, we can obtain the advantages of CR.

 

His suggested diet: Low carb, low protein, hi fat, downregulates two powerful signals (glucose and AAs) with teh consequent inhibition of mTOR. The fat provides an adequate energy substratum and mTOR is unsensitive to it.

 

Bottom line, by such a diet we can reap the benefits of CR without really practicing CR.

 

Of course, there is always a restriction, a double restriction to tell the truth. Also, in my brief stint of such a diet, even though I kept eating some fruit, I found I could not eat so many fats so I probably was eating less calories as well hence I was unknowingly practicing CR and this may be a confounding factor.

 

Unfortunately he doesn't cite articles, nor I believe clinical trials with rats would be helpful considering the hi fat diet he proposes.  His credentials though are pretty much unquestionable.

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One really needs to put some evidence to support such radical arguments. On the other hand if we look at the history, Okinawan's lived long on a very high carb, low fat and low protein diet. Crete diet was also low in protein but the rest of the calories is evenly split between carbs and fats. However, one may argue that if it's only the protein that needs to be low, then low protein ketogenic diet may also work in theory. they need put some solid evidence to table though.

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I expect for many if not most people the best strategy is to keep protein low and play with the balance of carbs and fat and go with whatever gives them the best mix of health bio markers such as reasonable blood glucose, low blood pressure, low inflammation, low triglycerides and reasonable cholesterol.  If for example someone has impaired fat metabolism such that their lipid profile goes to hell on a high fat diet but is ok on a low fat diet then I would think minimizing carbs to minimize mTOR is counter productive.

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