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Can someone recommend a good, detailed, fairly technical book on metabolism?



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I'm in serious learning mode here. I've been struggling a bit and want to learn everything I can about exactly how the metabolism works and how different actions, macronutrients, hormones, etc. affect it. For the layman, I have pretty much only found diet books, which is not at all what I'm looking for. I thought about purchasing a textbook, but am not real excited about spending several hundred dollars on a (current, up-to-date) book that may or may not be what I'm really looking for. Then, of course, there's the option to read some random crap on the internet (because they wouldn't let them put it on the internet if it wasn't true!!!).

I just came out of several weeks of forced semi-starvation between early surgery recovery and then fighting nausea (8 weeks of sub-500 cal/day. For my body, that is a real problem and was causing some really worrisome side effects). A couple weeks ago, we got it figured out and I have been able to eat in my calorie range as prescribed by my nutritionist. Now, I'm left with the aftereffects of weight gain and significant weakness/fatigue, which has felt glacially slow to improve. I immediately gained 10 pounds in about 10 days following beginning to eat "normally" (keeping in mind that "normally" is still 700-1000 cal deficit compared to what I was burning immediately prior to my semi-starvation period). My macronutrient ratios are pretty reasonable. Nothing is out of whack as far as what general guidelines would be. (For example: today I have 30% carb, 29% fat, and 41% Protein, with 78g of Protein so far and I will probably have a piece of lowfat cheese or something before I go to bed) I am not eating low-carb, as I am not confident that reducing carbs any further wouldn't have an adverse affect on my already very low energy level. I wasn't too worried at first, but then I lost 3 pounds over the weekend, gained 2 pounds on Monday, gained another 1/2 pound yesterday. The last thing I read (and who knows if it's credible...) is that this can go on for about 3 weeks, but I'm real close to that 3 week mark and feel like I'm all over the place. I want to read something credible and detailed so that I can work out what's going on, how best to address it, and what I can expect going forward. I haven't managed to come up with the correct search terms to find what I'm looking for without going with some diet book (and we all know how accurate all those things are...) or going full-on $300-something textbook for medical students. I will be discussing this with my surgeon during my next followup in a couple weeks, and am thinking I'll probably make an appointment with my nutritionist as well, but either way, I still want to learn. (and let's face it... I'm a bit of a do-it-yourselfer...)

Thanks for any info that can point me in the right direction!

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Thanks. Yeah, I've seen most of those and have several of them. These are the books geared toward "diet" that I was kind of trying to avoid because every "expert" seems to have a different story or twist. Lots of these have some good information, but I just don't have a lot of trust that any particular one is getting it right. I'm really looking for something more detailed and technical - more focused on what the body does, and less on how to eat. I may just be best served by a medical text on this one. Right now, I'm reading The Metabolic Storm, by Emily Cooper, MD, but I googled her and her practice (which it turned out is local for me) and found some really unfortunate posts about her lack of professionalism, both in interactions with patients and the way she runs her clinic, so I looked up her medical license and found that the state put her on probation for having inappropriate sexual contact with a client. I'm trying to read it with an open mind (it really hasn't challenged much of what I already knew so far), but I'm having a hard time with not assuming that unethical behavior in one area of her life to spill over in other areas, like perhaps her research or her presentation of the facts or her experience.

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Easy.. Click this link: http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&q=metabolism&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=

Google Scholar.. An excellent tool.... Refine your search and boom, you're golden. Alternatively and if you have a very specific enquiry after doing initial research on there, I can have a look at the University library I have access to....

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Easy.. Click this link: http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&q=metabolism&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=

Google Scholar.. An excellent tool.... Refine your search and boom' date=' you're golden. Alternatively and if you have a very specific enquiry after doing initial research on there, I can have a look at the University library I have access to....[/quote']

Ah, Madam -- you beat me to it. I, too, was going to recommend Google Scholar. Excellent resource. The OP may have access to university libraries is he has a library share card. In Texas, we have the TexShare card. Not sure what it would be called in his specific area.

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Easy.. Click this link: http://scholar.googl...dt=1,5&as_sdtp=

Google Scholar.. An excellent tool.... Refine your search and boom, you're golden. Alternatively and if you have a very specific enquiry after doing initial research on there, I can have a look at the University library I have access to....

Bah! Of course! I totally forgot about Google Scholar! Thanks for the reminder, I will definitely log some hours perusing this. I appreciate the help!

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Ah, Madam -- you beat me to it. I, too, was going to recommend Google Scholar. Excellent resource. The OP may have access to university libraries is he has a library share card. In Texas, we have the TexShare card. Not sure what it would be called in his specific area.

Good call on the library! I think I still have access, and if I don't, I'm sure I can figure out how to access medical journal articles at work (I work in Public Health, in the Environmental Division). I bet someone over in the clinic with have access to the good stuff.

That is so funny that you automatically referred to me as a male. People often think I'm a dude in person. Probably doesn't help that I wear men's clothes a lot... (they fit my size and shape better) I've decided to believe that people mistake me for a dude because I have a commanding presence. :D I'm wearing pink in my profile pic! I never wear pink! I hate pink! My team MADE me wear the pink team jersey! The one race I flipped them the bird and wore black, one of the husbands gave me a ration of crap because he couldn't recognize me to cheer for me. And look! There are boobs! (granted, they are mashed down by an industrial strength sports bra and a reinforced tri-suit, with the team jersey on top, so they might be a little hard to recognize as such...) (I hope my teasing comes across as a good natured sense of humor, because that is exactly how I mean it, and doesn't hurt your feelings at all. I'm certainly not offended by being referred to as a male.)

Thanks for the suggestion!

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OK, I bite, how many husbands do you have?

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Good call on the library! I think I still have access' date=' and if I don't, I'm sure I can figure out how to access medical journal articles at work (I work in Public Health, in the Environmental Division). I bet someone over in the clinic with have access to the good stuff.

That is so funny that you automatically referred to me as a male. People often think I'm a dude in person. Probably doesn't help that I wear men's clothes a lot... (they fit my size and shape better) I've decided to believe that people mistake me for a dude because I have a commanding presence. :D I'm wearing pink in my profile pic! I never wear pink! I hate pink! My team MADE me wear the pink team jersey! The one race I flipped them the bird and wore black, one of the husbands gave me a ration of crap because he couldn't recognize me to cheer for me. And look! There are boobs! (granted, they are mashed down by an industrial strength sports bra and a reinforced tri-suit, with the team jersey on top, so they might be a little hard to recognize as such...) (I hope my teasing comes across as a good natured sense of humor, because that is exactly how I mean it, and doesn't hurt your feelings at all. I'm certainly not offended by being referred to as a male.)

Thanks for the suggestion![/quote']

@Daydra -- Despite your good natured teasing, I'm sorry I referred to you as a male. I was responding to the thread late at night on my tiny phone screen with an even tinier thumbnail photo of you, and I just rushed through a response. After taking off my glasses and looking very closely at this microscopic image of you, you're clearly a lady. :)

I'm very sorry to offend. I used to wear my hair short -- prefer it short, in fact -- but stopped after more than one person called me Sir. Won't happen again. :)

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OK, I bite, how many husbands do you have?

Ha! That did sound weird... I am part of a group of women that train and do triathlons together. It was the husband of a teammate. :-)

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OK, I bite, how many husbands do you have?

Ha! That did sound weird... I am part of a group of women that train and do triathlons together. It was the husband of a teammate. :-)

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@Daydra -- Despite your good natured teasing, I'm sorry I referred to you as a male. I was responding to the thread late at night on my tiny phone screen with an even tinier thumbnail photo of you, and I just rushed through a response. After taking off my glasses and looking very closely at this microscopic image of you, you're clearly a lady. :)

I'm very sorry to offend. I used to wear my hair short -- prefer it short, in fact -- but stopped after more than one person called me Sir. Won't happen again. :)

No worries whatsoever! And no offense taken. Even on a full size computer screen, it's kind of hard to distinguish details in the photos. I often find myself trying to click on the photo to get a full size version, even though I know that doesn't work! I actually enjoyed the opportunity to joke about it, especially since I got to tie in joking about disliking wearing pink, and the ridiculousness of sports bras and tech wear. :D

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@Daydra -- Despite your good natured teasing, I'm sorry I referred to you as a male. I was responding to the thread late at night on my tiny phone screen with an even tinier thumbnail photo of you, and I just rushed through a response. After taking off my glasses and looking very closely at this microscopic image of you, you're clearly a lady. :)

I'm very sorry to offend. I used to wear my hair short -- prefer it short, in fact -- but stopped after more than one person called me Sir. Won't happen again. :)

No worries whatsoever! And no offense taken. Even on a full size computer screen, it's kind of hard to distinguish details in the photos. I often find myself trying to click on the photo to get a full size version, even though I know that doesn't work! I actually enjoyed the opportunity to joke about it, especially since I got to tie in joking about disliking wearing pink, and the ridiculousness of sports bras and tech wear. :D

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