The Real Meal Revolution: The Radical, Sustainable Approach to Healthy Eating

by Tim Noakes

But avoiding carbohydrate has no short- or long-term effects on humans, other than the (usually beneficial) effect of weight loss, especially in those who are the most overweight. However humans cannot survive without a constant supply of glucose as glucose is an important fuel for the brain and certain other organs in fed (but not starved) humans. But this glucose can be produced by the liver from fat and protein and does not need to be ingested as carbohydrate in our diets. We call this process gluconeogenesis meaning the production of ‘new glucose’ (that is, glucose that is not ingested but produced from fat and protein). The amount of glucose we need to produce each day by gluconeogenesis is kept small by our great human capacity to use fats as the preferred fuel for almost all our body’s energy needs.