Dec 26, 2016
By now most of you know that weight gain and obesity are far more related to complex reactions in the body rather than to calorie or fat intake, and that our weight and body composition do not so much depend on the dietary ingredients themselves, but much rather on the hormonal and biochemical reactions these metabolically different food categories (fat, carbohydrate, protein) elicit in the human body.
Excess insulin, excess blood sugar, excess cortisol and excess free radicals are the four main elements that promote ever-worsening hormonal regulation of and communication between cells, damaging our entire metabolism and ultimately leading to weight gain, accelerated aging and the development of chronic diseases.
The chief hormonal culprit in promoting excess body fat is Insulin.
Insulin is a large polypeptide hormone secreted by the beta-cells of the pancreas, and its production is directly stimulated by blood sugar (glucose). Insulin is needed to allow glucose from food to enter cells in the body and in the brain. There, glucose is broken down to produce the energy needed for the cells to work properly. Insulin is the chief hormone the body uses to lower excessively high blood sugar.
So we do need Insulin! Too low, and we would end up with Type 1 Diabetes. But too high, and we end up with weight gain, Type 2 Diabetes and other chronic diseases.
Ideally, our fasting insulin should be lower than 5.
Overweight people tend to have higher baseline levels of insulin, which puts them automatically in fat-storage mode. On the contrary to most other hormones, such as thyroid, DHEA, testosterone and growth hormone, etc. which decrease with age, insulin levels often increase with age.
Insulin inhibits lipolysis (the breakdown of stored body fat for use as organ/muscle fuel), stimulates fatty acid synthesis (from both sugars and fats) and decreases the hepatic concentration of carnitine (carnitine ‘shuttles’ fatty acids into mitochondria) in most cells for use as ATP energy fuel.
Insulin stimulates the fat cells to take up fat and sugar from the blood and store it as body fat, especially in the middle of the body, within the abdomen and around the vital organs. It causes sodium retention with consequent water retention and consequent hypertension (high blood pressure). It stimulates the liver to convert sugar and dietary fats into triglycerides, the form of fat that circulates in the blood and is stored in fat cells. It promotes atherosclerotic plaque formation, with studies showing that insulin-injecting diabetics typically develop atherosclerosis 10 – 20 years earlier than non-insulin-injecting diabetics.
High insulin can ultimately lead to the so-called ‘Syndrome X’, which involves the clustering of hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, hypertension, hyper-triglyceridemia, glucose intolerance, obesity, low HDL cholesterol and heart disease.
As Western people age, they tend to develop the condition of insulin resistance, wherein the target cells of insulin – especially the muscle cells – become more and more resistant to ‘hearing the message’ of insulin. This in turn lessens the blood sugar-lowering effect of insulin, and as the body tries to compensate, the pancreas produces higher and higher insulin levels.
Ultimately, even smaller amounts of sugar will lead to even higher blood sugar and insulin levels.
This condition is called glucose intolerance.
The onset of glucose intolerance may be due to frequent snacking on high-energy, carbohydrate-rich foods which prevent insulin levels from returning to normal fasting levels and are keeping insulin circulating in the blood for most of the day.
If levels are chronically higher, cells must become somewhat insulin resistant. Why?
Because most cells can burn either fat or glucose for fuel, but the brain (under non-fasting conditions) can only burn glucose and typically needs 400 – 500 calories/day of glucose – about one half the normal total circulating blood sugar. The brain doesn’t need insulin to absorb glucose, giving it a competitive edge over the other 40-100kg of tissue – unless insulin levels are frequently high.
Thus in order to safeguard the brain’s minute-by-minute blood glucose delivery, other cells must develop insulin resistance when insulin levels are frequently or chronically high, so that they don’t ‘snatch’ all the blood glucose from the hungry brain.
The primary hormone that should raise blood sugar to adequately feed the brain is glucagon.
Glucagon, also secreted by the pancreas, is Insulin’s hormonal partner in regulating and fine-tuning blood sugar levels. Glucagon levels are largely determined by the amount of incoming dietary protein, just as insulin levels are strongly related to the amount of incoming carbohydrate. Glucose stimulates insulin production and inhibits glucagon production.
Just as insulin lowers high blood sugar, glucagon raises low blood sugar – especially important when we skip meals, exercise severely, fast, etc.
But insulin can inhibit glucagon release – especially at high concentrations.
So then the body goes to “Plan B”: the release of cortisol.
Cortisol, our stress hormone, comes to the brain’s rescue in two ways. It increases gluconeogenesis – breaking down proteins from skin, muscle and organ tissue and converting them to glucose in the liver. But cortisol also causes a moderate decrease in the rate of glucose utilization by cells everywhere in the body, causing insulin resistance!
Thus excess insulin, cortisol and blood sugar are all interlocking and mutually enhancing. And not only does cortisol cannibalize precious body protein to make blood sugar, it also weakens the immune system, contributes to obesity and damages hippocampal neurons, the very ones lost in Alzheimer’s disease!
Cortisol will also be secreted to raise blood sugar in those who frequently skip meals, are fasting, or are under severe stress.
Severe, chronic stress is a threat to the body, not only because it increases cortisol production but also because the body needs to ‘steal’ pregnenolone, the scarce precursor of steroid hormones, to make its cortisol and pregnenolone might then not be available anymore for the production of other ‘good hormones’ such as testosterone.
As noted earlier, cortisol is extremely fat-storage promoting and is the chief culprit of muscle catabolism (breakdown), directly opposing testosterone’s anabolic muscle-building action.
The problem doesn’t end there, however. In both men and women, testosterone may be converted to estrogen through an aromatase enzyme. And the aromatase enzyme exists and functions primarily in body fat! Furthermore, estrogen is itself a powerful pro-fat hormone.
Indeed, insulin, estrogen and cortisol are the three primary pro-fat hormones of the human body.
The Anti-Insulin, Anti-Cortisol Program
1. Seriously reduce, or better yet, eliminate all processed, refined, junk food, high sugar (sucrose, fructose, glucose), high white flour “foods”: bread, pastries, cake, pie, candy, ice cream, crackers, cereal, corn/potato chips, snack bars, waffles/pancakes, soft drinks and doughnuts.
2. Increase your glucagon production with lean protein: low-fat (ideally grass-fed, organic) beef, lamb, chicken, turkey, fish etc.
3. Reduce carbohydrate-intake to 75-150 grams/day. These carbohydrates should be mainly vegetables, with small amounts of brown rice, millet, beans, almonds, pumpkin seeds and other unrefined, high-fiber natural foods.
Even though all carbohydrates have some tendency to stimulate insulin release, some are worse than others. Experts have reported that when human volunteers were given drinks or meals calculated to contain 50 grams of carbohydrates, “… glucose and insulin responses were 35-65% lower when starch was the carbohydrate source than when either glucose or sucrose [white sugar] was the carbohydrate source….”
Natural unrefined starches (especially vegetables) cause less hyperinsulin responses than sugar-rich foods such as candy, cake, pie, doughnuts, soft drinks, sports drinks, etc., as well as natural sugar foods such as dates, figs, dried pineapple, etc.
4. Take 40-60 minute brisk walks, 4-6 days/week, ideally barefoot on natural grounds, such as grass or sand on the beach. Going barefoot allows you to “ground” with the Earth and absorb negative electrons from the Earth through the soles of your feet – with a potent antioxidant effect, combating free radicals. Avoid walking in highly polluted areas.
5. Reduce stress in your life. Learn to say no, turn off your phone, meditate, read a good book, go for yoga or do whatever helps you to relax.
6. Take supplements to optimize your biochemistry – Vitamins C, B3, B6, B12, NADH, Alpha Lipoic Acid, CoQ10, Iodine, Magnesium, Manganese, Zinc, CLA, GLA, EPA, Chromium, 5-HTP, cinnamon, etc.
Stay fit and healthy!