Low carb/high cortisol

[Lisa Wagner]

Emma,

What does a diet of high protein, healthy fats but very low carbs do to a person's cortisol levels? I ran accross an article that by not eating any carbs at all (like complex carbs ) can cause you cortisol levels to get really high. How true is this?

[dressagerulz23]

that is very interesting... because i have a VERY high carb diet (which i just started about the middle of september, after returning home)... i have NOT kept track of my macronutrient intake, but i would estimate my diet is 10-15% fat, 10-15% protein, and 70-80% carbs...

you can't go by me, cuz my condition is very unique, but also weird... over the summer, my diet was PERFECT (in terms of me getting the AT LEAST the minimum # of servings from the five food groups)... and my condition incapaciated me.

right now, my diet is basically sugar and protein, and would be considered "quite lacking in nutrients". i've probably had the minimum # of (DAILY) servings from the fruit and vegetable group since september. i wouldn't recommend this to anyone because, like i said, i'm going through at lot of weird **** right now... i can't explain why i have so much more energy. all i know is i was bed ridden over the summer, and i am running about 25-30 miles/week right now, and lifting weights 3x/week.

anyways, my cortisol level (at the end of summer) was 90.6 ug/24hrs on my bloodwork, (and the Normal range on the paper was 4.0 - 50.0 ug/24hrs)

[nathan101085]

Cortisol is released in conjunction with glucagon i belive... It is responsible for breaking down proteins and convertnig them into glucose it is also responsible for cleaning up the excess fatty acids in the blood when lots of adreniline is released and stores them mostly UG in the midsection. Its not a very good thing to have around for a long time because of a numebr of neg affects, like the breakdown of muscle ect.. this is why i dont advise a protein intake of much more than 30 percent becaus chances are you'll just be using cortisol to turn a lot of that into the glucose you could have consumed through carbs. for more on cortisol
http://stress.about.com/cs/cortisol/a/aa012901.htm

[Lisa Wagner]

That's what I thought. Do ephedra free thermogenics such as Lean system 7 have an great impact on cortisol? My doctor beleives my adrenal glands are exhausted and because I don't consume alot of caffeine and I am not stressed, the only thing I can think of is that my protein is too high and my carbs are too low and that I am constantly converting protein to glucose, which in turn would stress the adrenals, right? Right now my diet is 50p/30/c/20f, if I change this to 40/40/20, would this be better. 50 % carbs would be too high for me because I tend to get hypoglycemic from alot of carbs.

Thanks
Lisa

[BuffedWildCat]

I guess it depends on the person. I know there are many people out there that seem to do fine with a 50% protein diet. Myself, I'm on a 40%P/30%C/30%F diet and it works well for me.

[nathan101085]

Actually you dont NEED stress already there for cortisol to be used..it is used automatically its simply the chemical resposible to actually go in and break down the proteins for glucose its always employed to some level or another. High stress levels however outside of working out definantly affect it but they are certaintly not a prerequisite for it because lower carbs are still not lower carb bodies you require glucose as a chemical to perform the functions of every day life as long as you are not ketogenic it is used in greater amounts during a workout. Therefore when combined with working out cortisol levels can beceoms really high on lowered amounts of carbnohydrate. The only reason that its easier to lose weight on a high protein diet is that your body is forced into creating glucose the creation of which takes energy creating a higehr caloric defeciet naturally but belive it or not you are giving up some calories that could be used to make more msucle especcially if your not eating enough already. A high protein diet wont make you "feel different" in most cases but having a higher amount of cortisol for a long period of time like being on a long term high protein diet (I would say over 30% of cals) can be detremental. The point is your gonna use glucose wether from protein or carbs so why not just eat carbs and save the strain on your body for when your working out instead of on a calorie to calorie basis as it has to create glucose. Now for short term weight loss a higher protein regime would be in order due to these very reasons but note, short term. Carbs dont make you fat it is 100% possible to maintain on carbs and I would say a lot eaiser on the body. I belive that a good ratio to try and follow would be something like 40-50carbs depending on activity level then about 20-30 fats and 25-30 protein. Remember your not turning 40% of your diet into muscle much if that does become glucose.. even at 30% some still becomes glucose but just not such a large amount. So try maybe 45% carb keep them evenly spaced and low GI (like carbs at every meal so you never LOAD on carbs to get your totals in and dont belive the carbs before bed for a minute, its a myth) then maybe about 25% fats (keep them healthy fats omega 3' ect.. Did someone say salmon?) and then 30% proteins, these also try and spread out as evenly as you can. I think that if you eat like this you will find more energy to workout with and be more alert in general.

[BuffedWildCat]

That's the idea for me, to make my body burn extra calories by having to break the protein down. This way I can eat more so I don't have to freaking starve all the time just to hold at 16% body fat. Eating 45% carbohydrates would not allow me to stay as lean as I am or at least if I did do that then I would have to drop my calories down lower and end up being hungry all the time, not gonna do it.

[nathan101085]

how many cals do you eat