Dear Mark: Does Eating a Low Carb Diet Cause Insulin Resistance? Despite all the success you might have had with the Primal way of life, doubts can still nag at you. Maybe it’s something you read, or something someone said to you, or a disapproving glance or offhand comment from a person you otherwise respect, but it’s pretty common when you’re doing something, like giving up grains, avoiding processed food, or eating animal fat, that challenges deeply- and- widely held beliefs about health and wellness. It doesn’t really even matter that you’re losing weight or seem to be thriving; you may still have questions. That’s healthy and smart, and it’s totally natural. A question I’ve been getting of late is the effect of reducing carb intake on insulin sensitivity. It’s often bandied about that going low carb is good for folks with insulin resistance, but it’s also said that low carb can worsen insulin resistance. Are both true and, if so, how do they all jibe together? That’s what the reader was wondering with this week’s question: Hi Mark,I’ve been Primal for a few months now and love it. Lowering my carbs and upping my animal fat helped me lose weight and gain tons of energy (not too shabby for a middle- aged guy!). However, I’m a little worried. I’ve heard that low carb diets can increase insulin resistance. Even though I’ve done well and feel great, should I be worried about insulin resistance? Do I need to increase my carb intake? I always thought low carb Primal was supposed to improve insulin function. Vince. Going Primal usually does improve insulin sensitivity, both directly and in a roundabout way. It improves directly because you lose weight, you reduce your intake of inflammatory foods, you lower systemic inflammation (by getting some sun, smart exercise, omega- 3s, and reducing or dealing with stress), and you eat a wide variety of plants, animals, and herbs with anti- inflammatory and/or insulin- sensitizing effects. It improves indirectly because you are removing the thing that exacerbates the condition – large amounts of carbohydrates – and thus avoiding the negative effects. You might still be insulin resistant, but since you aren’t cramming your face with carbs anymore, you don’t notice it. And sure enough, the weight loss studies indicate that during weight loss, very low carb diets improve insulin sensitivity: However, going very low carb – to around or below 1. Physiological insulin resistance is an adaptation, a normal biological reaction to a lack of dietary glucose. As I’ve said in the past, the brain must have glucose. It can use ketones and lactate quite effectively, thus reducing the glucose requirement, but at the end of the day it still requires a portion of glucose. Now, in a low- glucose state, where the body senses that dietary glucose might not be coming anytime soon, peripheral insulin resistance is triggered. This prevents the muscles from taking up “precious” glucose that the brain requires. The brain’s sensitivity to insulin is preserved, allowing it to grab what glucose it needs from the paltry – but sufficient – levels available to it. It appears that weight loss is the deciding factor, and since low carb diets tend to be more effective at inducing weight loss in subjects, they also tend to be better at reducing insulin resistance in insulin- resistant, overweight people. Once you’re lean and weight stable, though, very low carb diets (less than 1. This is normal and totally necessary in the context of a very low carb diet. If we didn’t become insulin resistant while eating very low carb, our brain wouldn’t be able to get the glucose it needed to keep us alive. Okay, but what about dietary amino acids? If our tissues are insulin resistant on very low carb, and insulin also promotes muscle protein synthesis, doesn’t that mean the amino acids from the protein we eat have a harder time getting into our muscles? You might think that, but that’s not how it plays out in the real world. In actual clinical trials, low carb diets are consistently linked with preservation of lean mass during weight loss. People on low carb diets lose more fat and less lean mass. Muscle glycogen stores may be depleted, but if you want to fill those back up, you can do so quite effectively post workout, even when you’re low carb and otherwise physiologically insulin resistant. A bout of weight lifting, sprints, or even just regular walking can improve your ability to tolerate and handle glucose by making you more insulin- sensitive. This holds true even for the otherwise insulin- resistant. In the end, insulin resistance on very low carb appears to be a physiological adaptation to spare glucose for the brain and prevent your muscles from gobbling it up. I see no reason to think it’s a pathological problem, especially given the droves of success stories on this site and others from people who have lost weight, torn up prescriptions, boggled the minds of doctors, and reclaimed their once- failing health through a low- carb Primal way of eating and living. Details about the diet of the Australian wombat, including the Bare-nosed wombat, the Southern hairy-nosed wombat, and the Northern hairy-nosed wombat. Impacts of livestock on soil fall into two broad categories: firstly the physical impact of the animal on soil as it moves around and secondly the chemical and. I could be wrong, and time will tell, I suppose, but I doubt it. Besides, there are far more pressing potentially negative influences on insulin sensitivity that we can be addressing, like: Sedentary lifestyles. And I’m not just talking about strength training and high- intensity sprints; simple, basic low- level physical activity, like walking on a daily basis, can have a powerful effect on insulin resistance. Unchecked and out- of- control appetites. Weight gain and an excess of energy (that the mitochondria can’t handle for whatever reason) are potent causes of insulin resistance. Environmental pollutants and toxins like BPA and various fungicides can have negative effects on insulin sensitivity. To sum up, I don’t think you need to worry about insulin resistance as long as you’re still losing weight – which you appear to be doing – since weight loss exerts a powerful effect on insulin sensitivity. However, once you’re lean, or have stalled without changing anything, moving back toward the 1. Primal carb gram range will keep your insulin receptors “honest” without causing weight gain (and it may even jumpstart weight loss again). Lifting heavy things, sprinting every once in awhile (in a manner suitable for your physical limitations), and doing lots of slow moving will also keep you insulin- sensitive, particularly after the physical activity. Thanks for reading, folks, and I hope I cleared this up for you without raising too many more questions. Let me know your experience in the comment section. Subscribe to the Newsletter. If you'd like to add. TO THE PALEOLITHIC DIETEarth. Videos > INTRODUCTION. TO THE PALEOLITHIC DIETINTRODUCTION. TO THE PALEOLITHIC DIETby Dr. Ben Balzer, family physician. There are races of people who are all slim. They all have straight teeth and perfect. Arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, depression. These people are the. They share a secret that is. Their secret is their diet- a diet that has changed. Theirs is the diet that man evolved on, the diet that. It has some major differences to the diet of. You are in for a few big surprises. It. is also referred to as the . More romantic souls like to think of it. Within 1. 5. minutes from now you will grasp the major elements. At the technical level. Paleolithic Diet Theory has a depth and breadth that is unmatched by all other. Paleolithic Diet Theory presents a fully integrated, holistic. All major dietary components are covered- . Members of Diet Center weight loss programs get access to articles that provide info on nutrition, exercise, dieting, and more. Over 400 articles. Become a member today. Is grazing good for you? America's snack habit might be what’s expanding our waistlines, but there is a way to have your snack and stay healthy, too. Tortoise Trust Web - Feeding your Tortoise. FEEDING TORTOISES. A wild Gopherus polyphemus (Florida gopher tortoise) browses upon. A ranch is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or. This is for the simple reason that it is the only diet that. Have. you ever wondered why almost everybody feels the need to take vitamin. There are very real reasons for this that you will soon. Now, come with me, I. One big obstacle to getting more calories from the environment is the. Grains, beans and potatoes are full of. There. is no doubt about that- please don. This breakthrough was the discovery that cooking these. Grain based. foods also include products such as flour, bread, noodles and pasta. These foods. entered the menu of New Stone Age (Neolithic) man, and Paleolithic diet buffs. Neolithic foods. The cooking of grains, beans and potatoes. Other. advantages were soon obvious with these foods. We could more easily store food for winter, and for. Food storage also enabled surpluses to. This in turn set us on the course to modern day civilization. Man soon improved. Instead of being able to eat only a fraction. This in turn increases. Then followed the harnessing of dairy products, which allow man to obtain. Dairy products are interesting as they combine a variety. Whist cows. milk is ideal for calves, there are several very important differences between. For example, the brain of a calf is only a tiny fraction of. Not surprisingly, cows milk. Paleolithic Diet buffs refer to the new. Neolithic foods and the old as Paleolithic Diet foods. In simple terms. we see Neolithic as bad and Paleolithic as good. Since then, some other. Grains, Beans and Potatoes (GBP) share the. I will talk about. Insufficient cooking can lead to sickness such as acute. More detail on. these issues follows in subsequent pages. The essentials of the Paleolithic Diet are: Eat none of the following. Do not eat peanuts (a bean) or cashews (a family of their. Try to increase your intake of. There is a huge surge in your. There is a huge decrease in your toxin intake. For weight loss you will. If you reduce too quickly then you may fell unwell. If you. work, you will often find it easier to take your lunch to work. Remember, there are many dietary myths that will need to be. Particularly, please read the section on fats several times. It is. very important to ensure that you have an adequate intake of these. The low fat. diet craze of the 9. There is now a. realization that the low fat diet theory of the 9. Even if you don. The great glaciers melted, carving. The. seas rose some 4. The plains flourished and savannah, prairie and. Grazing animals spread onto the plains, followed by hunting. Humans. being omnivores, have the ability to eat both plant and animal foods. That is a. major advantage as the number of creatures that can live in a particular habitat. To make a crude example- . If you double the number of banana plants, then you can double. You might instead introduce apple trees and. The number of monkeys would depend entirely on how many. The carrying capacity of the. They have a major advantage in being able to eat both. Humans learnt to cook grains, beans and potatoes and increased. The reason why grains, beans and potatoes. The enzyme. blockers put them into a deep freeze, stopping them from sprouting. The lectins. and other toxins are natural pesticides and can attack bacteria, insects, worms. ANTINUTRIENTS- YOUR KEY TO BAD HEALTH. You probably already know a lot about. Now it's time to meet the. We all know that foods contain a variety of nutrients. These are toxins, as they have toxic effects. They are. normally called . Antinutrients are very real and for over 1. Antinutrients have an incredible range of biological. As you have probably already guessed, the vast majority and highest. Neolithic foods like grains, beans and potatoes. I believe that this is the number one advantage of the diet. Textbooks on antinutrients read like books. Neolithic foods are the most prominent. Professor Irvin. Liener published one of the most famous of these books in 1. In the first. chapter he points out that when we started cooking inedible plants, new toxins. Ironically, he wasn. When an. animal eats an apple, it profits by getting a meal. It swallows the seeds and. With some luck a new apple tree might. In nature as. in finance, it is good business when both parties make profit happily. Consider. what would happen if the animal were greedy and decided to eat the few extra. So, to stop this from happening, the apple seeds. They act as natural pesticides and. Of course, the apple has other defenses- to. Above. all though is the need to stop the seed from being eaten, so that new apple. Now, please consider the humble grain. Once. again as a seed its duty is mission critical- it must perpetuate the life cycle. It is however much closer to the ground, on the tip of a grass. It is within easy reach of any predator strolling by. It contains a good. The grain. is full of energy and in a vulnerable position. It is an attractive meal. Its shell offers little. Therefore, it has been loaded with toxic proteins to discourage. You may be surprised. And yes, I don't recommend al dente pasta (if one must eat. Beans too are full of enzyme blockers and. Potatoes contain enzyme blockers, lectins and another family of toxins. Glycoalkaloids (GA) unlike lectins and enzyme blockers. GA are particularly high in green. Many people have told me that they eat small amounts of raw potato- . These toxins in foods are commonly referred. Let's learn some more about them: Enzyme Blockers: These enzyme blockers are. Most commonly. they block the enzymes that digest protein (proteases), and are called. They can affect the stomach protease enzyme. These small intestine enzymes are made by the. Some. enzyme blockers affect the enzymes that digest starch (amylase) and are called. In human volunteers and in animal. This is because the body can sense that the. Even if the. effect of GBP based foods is only a small increase in pancreatic enzyme. They are effective poisons- rats cannot gain. As far. as their preservative action is concerned, I need only to remind you that the. Egyptian pharaohs were still viable and. Grain eating birds have evolved digestive. Lectins (Haemagglutins)........ They are amongst the most fascinating and stimulating of all. I have no doubt that they play a major role in many. I think of them as . The cells of. our bodies are studded with receptors which are like code pads to ensure. Lectins have the ability to. They also have a knack for bypassing our. They can, for example: -- strip protective mucus off tissues,- -damage the cells lining the small. Some lectins make cells act as if they have been stimulated by insulin. Others cause immune cells to. Others cause cells to present the wrong. HLA's) on their surface, tricking the immune system into thinking that. A disordered immune system. It is not known whether lectins can cause. They. certainly affect colon cells in the test tube. I feel that they are likely. Lectins have many other roles besides. For example in beans, lectins act like a glue to enable. Many important. lectin families are found in animal tissues, but as we are carnivores, we have. It is ironic that the lectins were. I hope that there is. Exorphins: Exorphins are food chemicals that have. They are found in dairy products and wheat. Our body has. its own natural morphine like substances that are called endorphins. Endorphins. work by stimulating a type of nerve cell surface receptor called endorphin. Endorphins are very important in controlling pain and addictive. Exorphins also act on endorphin receptors. It is logical that exorphins may therefore. Bill's Excellent Blog.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
October 2017
Categories |