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Q. What's the difference between your Anabolic Diet and your Metabolic Diet?

Q. How can I decrease catabolic activity in my body?

Q. Can I lose bodyfat in the right areas?

Q. Will the Metabolic Diet mean that I sacrifice body tone?

Q. Can I use the Metabolic Diet as a weight maintenance program?

Q. I heard that if you eat carbohydrates along with protein, it impairs the digestion of protein. My trainer told me I should alternate a carbohydrate meal with a protein meal. What do you think?

Q. I started a new training and nutrition program a month ago, and I'm seeing some results. I stopped eating fried foods, I cut back on bread and pasta, and no longer eat cheeseburgers, but I still like to have a couple of beers at night after I get home from work. Is there any harm in just having two or three beers every night?

Q. How important is it that I drink plenty of water when I'm dieting. Almost everyone I talk to says that drinking water is important but they don't tell me why. Is it because water fills you up so you're not hungry?

Q. Are there fewer plateaus with the Metabolic Diet?

Q. Can I increase endurance with The Metabolic Diet?

Q. What is the Metabolic Advantage?

Q. How easy is the "Metabolic Shift"?

Q. Does the Metabolic Diet help with the mood swings often associated with weight loss?

Q. What is the difference between the Atkin's diet and the Metabolic Diet?

Q. You mention that we should see a doctor and get some blood tests done. Why and what's involved?

Q. How important is exercise with any diet?

Q. Can diabetics take advantage of the Metabolic Diet?

Q. Will this program give me more energy?

Q. How much protein should I be taking for major muscle growth?

Q. If I want to gain mass and muscle for ice hockey how protein and calories should I intake per day as well as carbs?

Q. Thanks for all of the information that you've written. It's all has helped me a lot in my training for the triathlons I compete in. I've been on the Metabolic Diet for about 6 months now and my endurance has almost doubled. I had no idea it was so good for endurance events.
I had a question about glutamine, what is the best way to take the powder with water, fruit juices? I have heard that it's ingested quicker when it's taken with soda (cola)

Q. Ketosis occurs when liver glycogen is depleted and continues with a daily carbohydrate intake of zero to 100 grams. Thanks to the "Metabolic Diet," we know that at around 30 grams, ketones stop appearing in the urine. At one daily carb intake, do they stop appearing in the breath? How many carbs a day should one consume to avoid "Atkins breath."

Q. Mauro - I've got a question regarding the Metabolic Diet. I'm a 15 year old male soph. in high school in California. I play sports year round, baseball, basketball, and football, and lift weights using in-season lifting programs, so I am very active. I weigh around 230 pounds and I have a large frame. Recently, I lost about 30 lbs. in about 3 months during basketball season. I did this pretty much with a low fat and high carb diet, with a lot of chicken salad in between, and an extreme amount of running. I want to lose about 25 more pounds, and get to around 205 to enhance my athletic performance. My question is whether or not I should try and use the same diet as I did during basketball over the coming summer months, or whether or not I should try the Metabolic Diet (I've read all the info. and studies)?

Q. Hi Mauro, We met last week. You noticed that I had a slight tremor in my hands and suggested that there was some nutrition enhancements that could help or eliminate the tremor. I thought I would follow up with you on the subject. Do you have a recommendation?

Q. I have problems when I use really low carbs. I get tired and feel washed out. What should I do to prevent this? I really like the low carb diet as I look better on it with lower body fat and more muscle but I need some help. Also I had some tests done that showed a low folic acid. What can I do about this?

Q. My husband and I have just started the Metabolic Diet and are currently finishing up our first two weeks' anabolic phase. So far it's been working very well. We stopped using meal replacement shakes because they all have too many carbs and we'd prefer to get our allotment from fresh vegetables and a bit of fruit.
We used to like the high protein bars as a convenient snack, but notice that all of them have glycerine. Most people consider glycerine a carb, although we understand it works both as a carb and as a lipid. What we're trying to find out is how a person calculates the glycerine calories (or grams) when trying to limit carb intake. Could you shed some light on this?

Q. Hi Doc. I've got a few questions. First what's the best way to workout on the Metabolic Diet? How about for gaining mass - ie days of carbing, days just after, or a regular split.
Also, can you tell me if Udo's Oil would be alright for the diet. It contains a tiny amount of MCT's, which the Metabolic Diet says not to use. What amount would be too much?

Q. I have a client who has a problem finishing post-workout shakes and has little appetite for a few hours post workout. Also, a client of mine is experience headaches while training, the only thing different that he is doing is using effervescent creatine. What type of creatine would you recommend. What about liquid creatine?

Q. Dr DiPasquale, I noticed that the dosages of the amino acids in the Power Drink product you make and sell on your web site, is considerably less than what you recommended in your text on Protein and amino acids. For example dosages of 4-5 grams of the aminos were suggested in the book. Which dosage should I go with? Secondly, Dr. Eric Serrano suggests using glutamine at about .35g/kg BW for a real boost in strength and recovery. Would this much glutamine be able to kick me out of the fat burning that occurs while I'm on the Metabolic Diet?

Q. How did you come to writing the Metabolic Diet? How did you come to the conclusion of using a five day low carb and two day high carb regimen for maximizing muscle mass and strength? I used to follow a two week dieting phase followed by a one week eating phase.

Q. We have a 28-year catcher from South America who needs to lose about 20 pounds in the off-season. Can you recommend a diet (I've got your book, so you can direct me to a page or section) and supplements that we can have him purchase before he leaves the country this fall? We would like to keep him away from ephedrine because he will be playing winter baseball.

Q. I just bought your book, the Metabolic Diet. One quick question, please. If I follow it Mon-Fri and carb-up Sat & Sun, which would be the best days to train in order to get the best benefits? We train 3-4 days per week. Sometimes Sat/Sun/Wed, sometimes Sat/Sun/Tue/Thur. We are considering a rolling 5 day schedule of push/pull/rest/leg/rest then repeat: would that work with the diet?

Q. Hi Dr. Di Pasquale, I just got your new book "The Metabolic Diet" and wondered about Urea Nitrogen in the blood. As I understand it excess aminos are converted to ammonia then that is converted to Urea in the blood. On my last blood test I had a high Urea Nitrogen level 25 MG/DL. I was eating about 150-175 grams of protein per day, I weigh 200lb and am 6'2" at about 10% body fat. At Dr Michael Colgan's Sports and nutrition camp this summer Dr. Colgan told me that the high amount of Urea was too much protein that was unused. This could eventually crystallize in the joints. I've cut back on protein but of course to keep my calories up I had to raise carbs. How can you have such a high protein diet like yours without having the high urea problem?

Q. I was hoping you could answer a question I have about dietary fiber. I've read that fiber is technically a carbohydrate, but that it is indigestible. Does this mean that I can subtract the fiber content from the total carb content on the label of a particular food or fiber supplement? I am currently taking Regulate in addition to psyllium husk powder and flaxseed powder and also guar gum powder. There is no other carb content listed on the label other than the dietary fiber content. Does this fiber need to be included as part of my 30 gram weekday carb allowance? I've also been subtracting the dietary fiber listed on the label of the Lo Carb bars ( which taste great by the way) and instead of counting the chocolate bar as 12 grams of carbs, I count it as 8 grams of digestible carbs ( after taking out 4 grams of fiber). Is this alright to do or should I count carbs with the fiber included?

Q. I'm finding your Metabolic Diet fascinating in that it's so different from what everyone else is recommending. I'm glad someone is bucking the status quo about high carb diets. However, what's the basic premise behind low carb diets in general? And how low is low? Also what's the difference between low fat and low carb diets and how do you judge low carbs? I've got so many questions and I'd appreciate it if you could take some time and explain things to me.

Q. I started the Metabolic Diet last week and I'm having problems with constipation. What can I do to regulate my bowels?

Q. I'm in Europe a lot and with the mad cow disease scare, what can I substitute for beef while I'm on the Metabolic Diet.

Q. Dear Dr. Di, I just finished my "2-Week Strict Carb Assessment Phase". My Diet was 1800 calories, 60% fat and 40% protein, with 30 grams of carbs per day. I lost ten pounds exactly(from 210 to 200). 5.4 lbs was leans mass and 4.6 fat. I know in the book you said that I shouldn't lose more than 1.5-2 lbs per week, but I think most of this was loss was water weight. All of my body measurements(i.e.. waist, hips, thigh,chest) went down. My arms stayed the same. Now my question, I know I have to increase calories to slow down my weight loss, and to keep more lean mass next week, but should I increase my fats and protein, or increase carbs? I looked through the book, but I can't find an answer.