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Originally Posted by Alice  This is one of the main reasons I don't do the "low carb" thing...meaning close to no carbs as some books recommend. If your liver is always struggling to provide glucose to your body then it is running on thin ice when these critical lows hit. .... |
This is a complete myth, and it is perpetuated by people who really should know better
. It is not necessary to eat
any carbohydrate to keep liver glycogen topped up. There is another biological process, gluconeogenesis, whereby the liver makes glucose out of other ingredients. This supply of glucose is adequate to meet
all our glucose needs.
This is how it has been possible for the eskimos to thrive on a diet of fish and water. There is absolutely no carb in that diet. But these people have had
no problems with lack of energy or hypoglycemia. In spite of the physically demanding environment and a very active lifestyle, people eating this way have had excellent health.
If eating little or no carb resulted in running low on glucose, communities like this would not have survived. It really is as simple as that. And the information that supports this has been around for ages. The eskimo way of eating was explained in detail way back in 1935 by Stefansson.
Stefansson 1 - Eskimos Prove An All Meat Diet Provides Excellent Health..
It is a good read. Living in these conditions presented lots of challenges, but access to carbohydrate certainly wasn't one of them. Stefansson's writings were regarded with suspicion at the time because they disproved a lot of dietary theories. And mainstream thinking is very resistant to myths being exploded. It responded by simply repackaged this myth in a way that retains it's popular appeal. But it really doesn't change anything.
