I've been thinking of what you said and what the Bear said and thinking and thinking...based on your results, it does seem that protein contributes to glucose synthesis in the body, that is the only explanation, as far as I can see...unless the Bear wants to chyme in and offer us an alternative explanation which he won't, of course!
Hi Kristelle, Glad I've provided food for thought. I've read most of what is available on the web written by Stanley Owsley "TheBear" and find that much of what he says is also at odds with my personal experience.
But, I also think that excess protein will not automatically convert all to glucose, just convert to enough glucose that is needed by the body at a certain time...no more. If it did convert to more than we needed, then insulin would be produced and lead to fat storage which does not happen on an all-meat diet. Excess protein intake could lead to weight gain and that makes no sense to me.
Why would you think that the body will not convert whatever amount or type of amino acids or protein to glucose if they are present just because BG is already adequate? Our bodies don't stop digesting carbs even when BG is very high. It just releases insulin in response to excessive BG in an effort to try to reduce the level. Why would you think that the digestion of protein would be any different? My guess is that amino acids are released into the blood stream through the digestion process and circulated through the body. If they are not picked up by other tissues to be used for growth or repair, when they reach the liver certain amino acids (probably not all, just specific ones) will be converted to glucose. This would account for the percentage of conversion being far less than 100%
My approach is that the body always treats each element that it is presented with in a consistent way. It may treat each element differently, but if Tryptophan is converted to glucose by the liver then it will always be converted to glucose by the liver. If Glutamine is not converted then it will never be converted. If BG is high and Tryptophan is converted to glucose which causes BG to rise higher then the feedback loop causes insulin to be released to lower BG. In other words I don't believe that the liver checks BG levels and then decides to convert or not convert. This would be consistent with carbohydrate metabolism. The body doesn't check BG to decide whether to metabolize the carbs we eat - it always digests them, converts them to BG and then other systems take over to manage BG levels independent of the digestion or metabolism process.
Is this theory correct? I have no idea, but it is the only one that makes sense to me and fits with my observations.
So, at the moment, I think that protein and fat contribute to glucose, while fatty acids fuel the heart, muscles and some other tissues while the brain mostly runs on ketones (if not almost entirely).
I really have no idea here. In my case I have no evidence that my skeletal muscles are using ketones or fatty acids. Ketones don't drop after exercise so they are either not being used or they are manufactured at a rate that keeps up with the rate at which they are being used. This is not the experience of others like Andrew who sees a variation that tracks with his activity and provides a strong implication that his body is using the ketones to support skeletal muscle activity. This make me suspect that at this time I'm not using ketones-they're being discarded through the urine. I have no way to measure fatty acids at home so I'm completely in the dark here. I do know that BG drops about 10 points after exercise and usually stays down for about 16 hours until I eat my next meal. Exactly what is happening I have no way of knowing, but it is clear that the increased activity is lowering BG. This provides evidence to me that something is using it and the only thing used during the increased activity is skeletal muscles.
I also think that you may be actually eating EXCESS fat and that's why your ketones are moderate/high (not because you aren't keto-adapted). I suspect you are already keto-adapted and that you just don't need that much fat. I also don't think muscles run on ketones, just fatty acids. You were probably doing just fine before and I don't think it was necessary to change anything. Sometimes, we overestimate how much fat is needed...since reducing my fat, I'm already seeing some improvement. I also didn't understand why my ketones were constantly high, now I think I finally figured it out.
Yup, I think you are correct, I was just fine before starting this high fat adventure, however, I like to test the various ideas and theories that are in line with the lifestyle I have chosen to lead. After all, by current standards I was doing fine before going paleo, I was fine when I went raw, and I was fine when I went all raw meat. Yet I've learned a lot from each change and will continue to make changes and correct course as time goes on.
I took Erasmus' advice and diluted my urine by 4 to 1 to see if I could bring my ketones back to a more definitive reading other than "off the charts". The color patches on the Ketostix show that the darkest patch represents 160. Even at 4 to 1 dilution I get level 3 (80) or level 4 (160) which equates to ketone levels of 320 to over 640. I still have more experimentation to do here but the results so far have been interesting.
I also now question just what being "Keto Adapted" actually means. I'm now convinced that it has little to do with spilling ketones into the urine. Hopefully I'll understand more as time goes on and this adventure we call life continues,
Lex