A “basic” scientist proffers an
hypothesis and then attempts to prove it wrong. If by experiment it is unable
to be proven wrong, it can then be offered as “true.” At this point it is open
to other disinterested scientists to prove it “wrong.” If they fail, the
hypothesis gains acceptance and eventually becomes “received wisdom.”
Applied science is the application
of the “knowledge” discovered in basic science. The search for this “truth,” wherever it is to be found, requires
an inquiring mind that is open and skeptical of all such “received wisdom.”
I am just a humble blogger, but I
have noticed that the “Insulin Hypothesis” has gained a degree of acceptance in
the mainstream media. I began to eat Very
Low Carb after my doctor read Gary Taubes’ “What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?” in 2002. In
2008, after reading “Good Calories-Bad Calories” (“The Diet Delusion” in the
UK), I accepted Taubes’s Insulin Hypothesis as “true.” I had totally reversed
my type 2 diabetes, achieved an A1c of 5.0%, and over a period of years lost
170 pounds. “Clinically speaking,” that A1c means that I am now considered
(erroneously) to be “non-diabetic.” I will always
be Carbohydrate Intolerant.
Mainstream
science, though, has yet to get the message. This article, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, describes a study about
a different “received wisdom.” It is
predicated on the premise that losing weight by eating a restricted calorie diet (800kcal/day), over a period of time,
should improve insulin sensitivity; put another way: that the driver of improved
insulin sensitivity is weight loss.
Gabor Erdosi, on his Facebook group
Lower Insulin, was skeptical. He wrote, “The general advice
to improve insulin sensitivity is to lose weight. However, it doesn’t look like
the proper advice when put to the test. In this study, 55% of the participants
turned out to be non-responders, meaning that even after similar weight loss on
an 800 kcal/d diet, and following weight maintenance, their insulin sensitivity
didn’t improve much.”
Erdosi doesn’t need to explain why to his
erudite readers, but, for the uninitiated, I will. It isn’t weight
loss that improves insulin sensitivity; it is lower insulin that
improves insulin sensitivity. The body doesn’t have to resist being besotted with insulin and so is more receptive. Lower
blood insulin, from eating Very Low Carb (VLC), and/or Intermittent Fasting
(IF), also permits the body to access its fat stores and lose weight easily, and also maintain weight loss without hunger.
Eating an 800kcal/day “balanced” diet
does neither of these things.
When you eat a “balanced” (high
carbohydrate) diet – one that includes processed carbs and simple sugars in
every meal – whether you are non-diabetic, pre-diabetic or a diagnosed type 2,
your body will elevate the level of insulin flowing in your blood. Insulin is
both the transporter of glucose and the cellular gatekeeper. It signals
cellular receptors to open to receive the glucose energy. If you have insulin
resistance, the cellular gate is stuck, so your pancreas sends more insulin into your bloodstream. This
begins a vicious cycle.
So, to improve your
insulin sensitivity, you need to lower your blood insulin. If you have less
insulin flowing in your blood, whether
you’re non-diabetic, pre-diabetic or a diagnosed type 2, your body’s
receptor cells will become more
sensitive to the insulin it “sees.” And, if you have less insulin flowing in your blood, your body will also have access
to energy from the food you previously ate, and stored as fat, and you will lose weight.
Thus it’s not lower weight that
improves insulin sensitivity. It’s lower insulin that improves insulin
sensitivity.
But mainstream science continues to ignore the
Insulin Hypothesis because government doesn’t fund the kind of research that
would test it and accept it as “true.” There are too many corrupting
influences. For example, the research cited above was conducted by the Nestlé
Institute of Health Sciences, Lausanne, Switzerland. Nestlé makes the 800kcal meal-replacement product (Modifast; Nutrition et
Santé) used in the study. In U.S. markets, Nestlé sells Optifast, Boost and Carnation, among
many other HIGH-CARB “health science” products.
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