By – Charles Washington

The issue that just won’t go away, “too much protein” has taken another turn because a more visible person has adopted the theory. ZIOH (and ZCH) has been pretty clear about our position but Dr. Paul Mabry has invected some new arguments in a recent blog post. Because this is such a divisive issue within ZC communities, it’s important to define and sharpen our definition in the face of competing ideas. There are many things that appear close to ZC but are not the definite article. Hopefully, this post will set this aright for you and as always you’re free to make up your own mind.

http://borntoeatmeat.com/?p=409

So what happened? Dr. Paul began ZC in the normal fashion that most of you do, but he encountered a stall that lasted four months. To him, this was a long time. In my opinion, four months is not that long. In my experience, I’ve seen people stall for months and years only to have weight loss after a period of hormonal healing and all sorts of other non-scale victories.

ZIOH’s position is that Zero Carb is not some weight loss gimmick. ZIOH stands for “zeroing in on HEALTH” not, “zeroing in on weight-loss.” ZC is effective against metabolic syndrome. Weight gain is but one of many symptoms of metabolic syndrome. In case you’re unaware, metabolic syndrome is collection of symptoms that include the biggest killers, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and Alzheimer’s (often referred to as Type 3 Diabetes). In all of these cases, there is insulin running wild in places in the body where it doesn’t belong. It hardens arteries, degrades LDL, damages cells that reproduce more damaged cells, and causes the brain lesions of Alzheimer’s.

From the time that you begin a Zero Carb diet, you are reversing the symptoms of aging. You are reversing metabolic syndrome. You are bringing insulin levels down throughout your body to a level that is healthier than what it was when you started.

When a population’s sugar consumption surpasses 70 pounds of sugar per person, per year, metabolic syndrome enters the population. The wild part is, not everyone gets the same symptoms. Some get fat, some get cancer, some get mental illness, some get heart disease, etc. But it’s very clear that NONE of these symptoms exist before the nutrition transition. In every case, it is brought on by the introduction of Western foods. Without the Western foods, there is no chronic disease.

We’ve never seen obesity among exclusive meat eaters. That is the first important point. If too much protein was somehow a problem, it

would have surely shown up somewhere. Dr. Paul cites a poorly conducted study where the participants are believers in the “thrifty gene hypothesis” which was thoroughly dissected by Taubes in GCBC. We’re not fat because there is not enough food. We’re not dietary hoarders or hibernators who fatten while they hibernate. Indeed, the experts would have us believe that there is too much food, not too little. We’re supposedly fat because we eat too much and move too little. But this “thrifty gene” is supposed to make us store up fat because we’re afraid of famine? Of course that doesn’t work for the thin people. Only 35 percent of the population is currently fat the last time I checked, so…..

The fact that many in our population don’t get fat eating carbohydrate is totally irrelevant when you understand metabolic syndrome. Not everyone gets the same symptom but everyone gets something. Don’t let weight be the sole arbiter of your health. It’s about so much more than that.

If one is Zero Carb (according to our definition), how do we go about “limiting protein”? I eat meat and I drink water. If I were to “limit my protein” that means I take the weight that “I want to weigh” and limit myself to the corresponding amount of protein. I have be careful with things like bacon because egads, it has so much protein. The fact that most successful ZC’ers have beef as a staple and they all testify that beef is what makes them feel optimal, that is not the kind of thing recommended by Dr. Paul. He prefers “hot dogs, sausage, beef bologna and salami and 27% hamburger all contain about 4 grams of protein an ounce. One slice of bologna or salami is generally 1 ounce. Eggs are 6 grams of protein each. Cheese is 6 grams of protein per ounce.”

So, to eat in this manner, you’re going after ZC junk food in small amounts mixed in with some intermittent fasting so that you can be skinny.

My friends, this is NOT ZC. This is merely a cover for a calorie-restricted diet. It borrows off of ZC principles and it even can feature controlled hunger somewhat, but it’s only slightly better than KETO. Weight regulation is the province of your body, not the weight you want to be. Your job is to feed and properly nourish your body. Your body can manage your weight, your pulse rate, your blood pressure, your insulin, etc.

As I wrote above, this is not all about mere weight. Look, if all you’re concerned about is losing weight, then by all means, go on a prune juice diet. Don’t eat anything, just drink prune juice. You’ll make the scale go down. But you WILL negatively affect your metabolism.

Much of this blog post is about fatty liver disease. No one ever got fatty liver from eating meat. That is where carbohydrates came in. So all of that science is completely irrelevant. We agree that fatty liver is bad. But we don’t have to worry about that. We don’t find fatty liver cases outside of the Western diet so that makes it necessarily a “disease of civilization” and carbohydrates are implicated.

Dr. Paul compares his protein intake to that of a nursing infant. Since the poor baby is growing, he feels safe eating less protein than the infant. I’m just going to leave that statement right there…..

Let’s be clear: ZC is about strengthening your body, not weakening it. Take your time losing weight and keep your metabolism raging. Don’t semi-starve yourself and don’t fast. Any benefit of forced intermittent fasting is available to a person who does ZC properly. The wonderful things they observed in animals do NOT apply to human beings. Dr. Eades did all of this research for you over several years. The guy knows from experience. All of us can easily go long periods without eating. The difference is, we’re simply not hungry. When we’re hungry, we must eat.

By eating less meat, I have no doubt that your number on the scale is likely to go down. However, these gains will not last. Eventually you will get hungry and you will need to eat. You cannot have a hard occupation or be a marathon runner eating such paltry amounts of food. You health has to mean more to you than merely trying to be skinny. I understand, I really do. Being overweight is not ideal. But there are many people who weigh more than they would like, who happen to live long, happy, and active lives.

ZC for Life!
ZC 10 years

There are only 2 Zero Carb Groups that have the experience, science and knowledge of people who have been eating this way for 5-10+ years.

You can join ZIOH (Zeroing in on Health) here. (public group)

or ZCH (Zero Carb Health) here.  (private group)