On Thu, 2 Sep 1999, Joe Brzoza wrote: > I'm no expert but it is my understanding that you would only burn muscle if > you in a state of low blood sugar for a long period of time. It seems that > in order to burn fat you must have some carbo's to tag along, hence the > necessary blood sugar level. It's not necessary to eat solid foods for this > to work, a sports drink or diluted juice will do just fine. I've been hoping one of the others would take this up. It takes a bit of time for the right enzymes to be produced in quantity, but after that, metabolism of fat is quite efficient. Many people fast completely for 2-3 weeks at a time with no ill effects (I myself have gone for a week or more on zero calorie intake without any particular discomfort). The body will not burn its own muscle to any significant extent, especially if the muscles stay in use, until available fat resources are depleted. I assume that liver glycogen is depleted early in a fast, but is restored at a safe but lower level as the body switches over to fat metabolism. > For endurance events many athletes use a diluted carbo drink that allows > them to burn fat for fuel rather than just precious glycogen, which is > basically the fuel stored in the muscle. I believe it is a matter of differences in timing of metabolic processes. The body would "rather" use available nutrients in the blood stream, especially carbs, first. Fats are burned by a much less direct process. If it has its fat-burning systems up and running, it can then use blood lipids, but if not (which is usual), it must resort to using the liver's glycogen stores to put more carbs into the blood stream. I would think it very unusual for any athlete to permit his/her blood to be depleted of glucose significantly. Elaine Harmon - eilidh_at_dc.seflin.org - eharmon_at_cs.miami.edu *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Sep 04 1999 - 03:59:26 PDT
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