Zero Carb Keto
More Thoughts on Vitamin C
I have been thinking more about vitamin C, after purchasing some vitamin C test strips and testing my food.
As labeled, the canned grassfed beef that I have been eating actually does contain some vitamin C, even after heating. Not a lot, but some. The turkey livers that I have been buying frozen in plastic tubs have quite a bit more vitamin C even after baking in the toaster oven.
However, I am starting to think that the amount of vitamin C in the beef is probably just fine and I do not need to bother with the turkey liver. I would rather not buy foods in plastic, since I have been trying to be plastic-free!
I think that as long as we do not consume any glucose, and maintain a very low blood sugar and insulin level (which I do), any small amount of vitamin C intake will be effectively recycled within the white blood cells and tissues.
I found this article very interesting and enlightening on the subject:
"When vitamin C levels are low the body makes due by recycling the oxidized version of vitamin C. This redox cycling is performed by the master anti-oxidant glutathione.
As long as enough glutathione is present the vitamin C redox cycle can continue."
"'[G]lucose has a greater affinity for the insulin receptor. This means that the greater the content of circulating blood sugar the less vitamin C will enter the cell...White blood cells have more insulin pumps than any other type of cell and may contain 20 times the amount of vitamin C as other cells....When white blood cells encounter pathogenic bacteria and viruses they must ingest or phagocytize these organisms in order to neutralize them. The phagocytic index measures how effective a particular white blood cell is at destroying viruses, bacteria & cancer cells. Elevated blood sugar impairs this phagocytic index. In fact, a blood sugar of 120 reduces the phagocytic index by 75%."
"Glucose and ascorbic acid also work on the hexose monophosphate (HMP) shunt....Vitamin C activates this important shunt while glucose inhibits it.
"Glutathione helps to recycle vitamin C and it may be more important as a supplement than vitamin C."
So it is interesting to note that with a very low insulin level, and never elevated blood sugar, that will allow for optimum recycling of vitamin C within the body! Which is exactly what should happen when following a zero carb / carnivore diet.
Also, glutathione is an important factor in vitamin C regulation in the body. Glutathione can be found within meats, and also created by our own bodies from some of the amino acids and other nutrients found in highly bioavailable quantities within meats. This article below details some of those nutrients, such as B vitamins, cysteine, glutamine, methionine, selenium, and zinc:
So I think I do not need to bother eating the turkey liver any more. I would rather eat beef liver anyway, since it is healthier than poultry, but I cannot get that without it coming in plastic. I will just go back to eating the canned beef! Plus, I have been starting to have some mild foot cramping the last two days, which makes me think I am getting incorrect balance of electrolytes. I had some gut issues the other day from overloading on the liver. I think my body has had enough!
My body will self-regulate and recycle my vitamin C as needed, so long as I never have any glucose or elevated insulin. And in my last blood test in November, my insulin level was very low. So I think my vitamin C will be just fine for what I need, even if the red blood level of vitamin C shows as zero. It is still circulating within the white blood cells and tissues, especially within the organs such as liver, heart, and lungs. A fluorescence test might actually be more useful to a carnivore / zero carb follower than a red blood cell test, if one ever made it to market:
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