The Amazing Liver Poem by simon elf

Allow me to examine a diet rich in meat proteins and fat, and low in carbs, (The Atkins Diet) from the standpoint of the liver.

Proteins are broken down into the subunits of Amino Acids, and pass through the stomach wall into the bloodstream. Likewise, fats break down into Fatty Acids, and pass on through the stomach wall.

A persons body needs about twenty grams daily, of amino acids, to rebuild tissues, such as muscles. The rest must be digested by the liver, and used for energy.
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If a person limits their starch/sugar intake, then the body will have a shortage of glucose, and so the liver has a new task forced on it.

The liver must convert the diet of protein and fat into glucose, to compensate for the shortage.

Interestingly, this may be a reason a high meat diet is effective in weight loss.

The liver cells await the blood flowing by, and respond depending on what has been brought to them.

In this case, lots of amino acids, and lots of fatty acids, and an extreme shortage of glucose.

The liver cells respond to the task, activating their chemistry to turn the excess amino acids and fatty acids into the much needed glucose.

The brain requires a steady supply of glucose to stay conscious with, and the muscles need glucose to make movement.

An important aspect to the success of the high meat diet is the feelings of complete satiation resulting from eating meat.
This may arise from sensing the flood of amino acids in the bloodstream, as well as the liver kicking itself into high gear, may send signals out that it has all the food it can handle. The body can interpret these signals and compute that it is ready for a good nap.

The fact that many 'energy' drinks contain a gram of the amino acid Taurine, is evidence that amino acids send strong signals when they are swishing by in our bloodstream.

Alas, much of the hundreds of grams of protein of the daily high meat diet will go on to be chemically converted into hundreds of grams of glucose, steadily dripped back into our bloodstream for use by our muscles and brain.

This is not without a tax.
If the liver gets overwhelmed by eating too much,
and/or having to detoxify alcohol, from a few too many beers,
then the 'amino' part of the amino acid is not completely turned
into the non-toxic urea, and passed out in the urine.

Instead, the amino acid gets only partially converted into uric acid, which deposits as sharp painful crystals in our joints and flesh.

In comparison, the Japanese diet of turnips sweet potatoes and other bulky vegetables, can produce the same slow trickle of glucose into our bloodstream as the glucose passes slowly from the vegetable mass in our stomach and intestines.

Add in a fish or two, and you have the needed 20 grams of protein for the body to keep itself repaired and running. The liver can take a break, and do some finer aspects of the body's housekeeping, as it is not constantly in chemical overdrive as when it is in the midst of a high meat diet.

One final note:
People who have undergone the stomach band or stomach stapling,
shunting or 'bariatric' surgery, a fair number experience a complete disappearance of type two diabetic symptoms.
Glucose levels return to completely normal in just a few days.

Even before the patient has lost much weight. This remarkable observation suggests that simply by getting the quantity of food intake down, the body returns to normal, and the amazing liver can juggle fats, glucose and proteins from one form to another for the most part, as needed.