Our Carrying Capacity

Our kidneys are master filtration systems, processing about 200 quarts of blood each day to remove wastes and excess water.1 Glucose, the result of carbohydrate and some protein digestion, is the simple sugar that enters our blood stream and provides us with energy. In basic physiology, I learned of the Tm, which stands for the maximum capacity of the kidney’s transporters to process “dirty” blood and return “clean” blood to the blood stream. When the body is functioning properly, the kidneys normally reabsorb all of the glucose through these transporters and allow it reenter the blood stream, while removing all of the wastes to be excreted as urine. Although the kidneys are incredibly efficient, there is a limit to the amount that the kidneys can reabsorb. For example, in a person with poorly controlled diabetes, high blood sugar levels can stress the kidney’s transporters, causing them quickly reach and exceed their maximum transporting potential. Like trying to take a drink from a fire hose, not all of the glucose can be reabsorbed and is discarded as waste in the urine with other filtrates. Glucose is like our potential and what we have learned through the course of our lives. Many of the complex ideas, thoughts, lectures, presentations, sermons, and other information that we “digest” get broken down into forms that our minds can actually apply in our everyday lives. In the circulation of our thoughts, these glucose-like cognitions circulate until they can be used to guide us while seeing and doing. Unfortunately, though sometimes in our youth we rebel against it, there is a limit to the amount that we can do. Simply, there is a limit to the amount of potential we will have the time or resources to retain and make use of. Especially under the stress of cramming, intense studying, and heavy workloads, our cognitive glucose gets filtered and we lose some in the sea of forgetfulness. A really interesting thing about the body is that there are systems that function with or without insulin, a hormone that allows some tissues to utilize glucose. These can represent the things that you affect your safety and personal well being. For example, when you touch a flame or hot surface, it burns and you don’t touch it again. So what has the priority in your life? What do you refuse to forget? What keeps you sane? Start here! this is the beginning of finding your passions. Passions are those things you can’t live without. Whether or not you know you need them, they define you.


References:
1. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/Kudiseases/pubs/yourkidneys/