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The Obesity Code and Radical Acceptance

Roseygirl1
Roseygirl1 Posts: 196 Member
edited November 2024 in Social Groups
Ok, so I just finished the book THE OBESITY CODE, and some things kind of hit me hard. Here are some of the things I concluded that I find sobering in my situation.

1. I have insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome from years of disorder, which include overweight, a high carb diet, sugar, repeated low fat dieting, stress and illness (cortisol) and poor sleep.
2. The fact that this is a chronic condition means it is unlikely I will be able to drop weight quickly the way I did when I was younger.
3. Stress is an important factor to address.
4. When to eat (fasting) is as important as what to eat (non-insulin stimulating meals)

So what hit home to me is that I need to think of my journey as one of healing as much, if not more than, one of weight loss.

So what actions and attitudes will foster long-term patient and persistent attempts to heal this metabolic problem?

1. Radical acceptance and graceful action: I have chronic stress from having two adult children with special needs, plus aging parents I care for, blah blah blah. It just is. So I need to think every morning about the things *I* need to keep my equilibrium and equanimity so that I can nurture a healthier internal state for my precious body. Things I KNOW help me: outdoor walks, dance classes, massage (heavenly!) and meditation. Excessive preoccupation with food and effortful dieting are stressful. So approaching a lowcab/high fat diet with some degree of grace and ease is necessary.
2. Choosing foods that do not stimulate harmful excessive insulin release. (More fiber, moderate protein, good fats)
3. Spending less time eating (intermittent fasting).
4. Building muscle and (given my high stress state) taking care with high intensity exercise, itself a stressor.
5. Being very patient with weight loss at this point in time.
6. I need to work on better sleep.

It was kind of discouraging, but the bottom line is reading it made me disconnect the behaviors I need to cultivate from the results that I seek. In other words, I can't get too focused on the scale, since the changes are going to be slow and THIS time, I have to run the race like a tortoise, not a hare.

Thoughtful comments are appreciated.

Rosey





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Replies

  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
    Sounds like a great book, I'll have to check it out. It sounds like you've found a new path in life to start venturing down! Keep educating yourself on the topics you mentioned, I find it helps fuel my journey when I hit rough spots. Best of luck!
  • Sarahb29
    Sarahb29 Posts: 952 Member
    edited September 2016
    Wow, sounds wonderful. Can the metabolic disorder created from being overweight for so long be cured, or is this truly a disability that we all have to live with and manage now? I am pre-diabetic so I'm now wondering since we've proven LCHF and Keto both cure T2 diabeties, what about the damage done to our metabolism? Is that permanent?
  • Cyndi146
    Cyndi146 Posts: 411 Member
    I love this. I'm really trying to focus on healing rather than weightloss too. I have set a few "weight" goals for myself. One was for my birthday this week and I didn't hit it. I'm not down though which is huge for me. Being overweight for most of my life has made the scale such an idol. This week I reminded myself that I'm in this for the long haul and that my health is improving daily. Maybe I'll grab a copy of this book. Thank you for your post.
  • supergal3
    supergal3 Posts: 523 Member
    Thanks for your post @Roseygirl1. Whenever I purchase a lchf book, I like to view the author(s) lecturing about their topics as well. Hearing it in their own words reinforces what I have just finished reading. I agree with above who said to watch his lectures on YouTube or dietdoctor.com. I think you will gain even more insight. Good luck with your journey back to health.
  • Sarahb29
    Sarahb29 Posts: 952 Member
    Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
    Sarahb29 wrote: »
    Wow, sounds wonderful. Can the metabolic disorder created from being overweight for so long be cured, or is this truly a disability that we all have to live with and manage now? I am pre-diabetic so I'm now wondering since we've proven LCHF and Keto both cure T2 diabeties, what about the damage done to our metabolism? Is that permanent?

    Here's something to chew on...

    It seems that becoming overweight is actually CAUSED by the metabolic disorder. Not the other way around.
    So, cure the metabolic disorder and the weight will naturally normalize.

    This is why focusing on health instead of simply losing weight is much more effective. It's not the weight that is the problem. It's the metabolic disorder that is the problem. The weight is nothing more than a symptom.

    So how do you go about curing this disorder then? Or is it cured when people start exercising and eating better with a goal to lose weight, but inadvertently cure this disorder which in turn causes weight loss? I don't know much about metabolic disorders so I am lost on this subject.
  • suzqtme
    suzqtme Posts: 322 Member
    Dr. Fung's book is what got me started on LCHF and IF. His meta-analysis of studies on exercise, calorie restriction, starvation, SAD, LCHF, blood sugar, IR, cortisol, etc., gave me the 180 I needed to stop blaming myself and looking at what I needed to do to heal my body. He explains things in such basic language that my DH, who has no medical background, could understand it. His sense of humor cracked me up a few times while reading it, too.

    Someone posted a link to a study that challenges 12 points of modern medicine about why LCHF should be used rather than the current ADA recommendations for diet that was quite interesting, but I can't find the link. Hopefully that person will see this and post it again. :)

    There is also another article that was posted about a study that showed the Islets of Langerhans become filled with fat as the liver becomes fatty and continues to make fat, transporting it to other organs. This seems to be the point where a person goes from IR and high insulin to diabetes. Where do I hide these links, lol. Perhaps that person who posted it might see this and post the link again. :o

    Anyway, I just can relate so much to this entire situation, and it makes me angry that I let myself be bullied out of eating low carb 15 years ago and regained 80 pounds plus as a result. Oops, calming thoughts, ooommmm, ooommm. Can't let the cortisol spike. >:) Bad, bad cortisol!
  • Sarahb29
    Sarahb29 Posts: 952 Member
    Great explanation, thanks @Sunny_Bunny_ !
  • redimock
    redimock Posts: 258 Member
    Roseygirl1 wrote: »
    Excessive preoccupation with food and effortful dieting are stressful. So approaching a lowcab/high fat diet with some degree of grace and ease is necessary.

    I love your whole post, but especially this sentiment! I have trouble forgiving myself when I splurge on something silly like more peanut butter than I'd ordinarily eat, and I know that I need to get over that. I'm "keto for life", and there will be extra peanut butter or cashews or what have you in my future.

    I also love your attitude towards this whole journey. We are healing ourselves and setting ourselves up to avoid many of the major diseases of modern society. And we get to eat bacon while we do it :smiley:

    I read the book too, and it inspired me to incorporate IF as well. The video that @Foamroller shared is great too.

    If you haven't already read them, you might enjoy Gary Taubes' books - Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories. The sentiment in Why We Get Fat - "We don't gain weight because we overeat, we overeat because we are gaining weight," was HUGE for me. It made me cry. Reading a nutrition book. Crazy. :blush:

  • kolsonsmamaw1
    kolsonsmamaw1 Posts: 13 Member
    I've really enjoyed these posts. Thanks everybody for your part. I have done very well so far with this WOE but my goal like others have said is to get my health back. I'm not looking to reach a certain weight loss goal by a certain time. I am right now having a huge problem walking, sleeping, or even sitting comfortably because of the inflammation in my body. This is the first time since starting On July 5th that I've had such a severe flair up. It would be worth every sacrifice to be strong one day. The weight loss will come and that's gonna bring great relief to my pain but as I'm pressing on I gotta figure out what I need to do to put out this fire that is all consuming me.
  • FIT_Goat
    FIT_Goat Posts: 4,227 Member
    There's a lot I like from what you posted about the book. I especially like the focus on healing over weight loss, as the weight loss will follow the healing.
  • Aquawave
    Aquawave Posts: 260 Member
    Roseygirl1 wrote: »
    Wow, I'm pretty happy right now! I just did my first blood sugar monitoring, and my 2 hour post-dinner blood sugar was 98! This on a day when my total calories were about 1200, net carbs 20, and pretty much a 4 hour eating window. AND I'M NOT HUNGRY!!!!! This is a fabulous start and very encouraging. Thank you everybody for all the great suggestions!

    Rosey

    Awesome!!!!
  • Foamroller
    Foamroller Posts: 1,041 Member
    edited September 2016
    Roseygirl1 wrote: »
    Wow, I'm pretty happy right now! I just did my first blood sugar monitoring, and my 2 hour post-dinner blood sugar was 98! This on a day when my total calories were about 1200, net carbs 20, and pretty much a 4 hour eating window. AND I'M NOT HUNGRY!!!!! This is a fabulous start and very encouraging. Thank you everybody for all the great suggestions!

    Rosey

    Congrats! I'm so happy for your success and hopefully you'll be able to push back prediabetes!

    Re lack of hunger: I've seen several places recently claims that BHB ketones are appetite supressing (Keto and cancer researcher Dom D'Agostino) Well...fasting elevates ketones! I know it sounds counterintuitive: The less frequently I eat, the less perceived hunger. But if BHB really surpresses appetite, then the lack of hunger makes sense. I don't know when or at which levels this occurs, though.

    So your experience mirror my own. BUT, for those who struggle limiting meals or snacking (I'm looking at you late night snack monster): in the transition in training the body that you will no longer feed it like a pet, aka when it's used to...There is some growling for 10 mins or so or an acid sting in the tummy. This is the point in time I usually drink some pickle juice ;)

    Btw I do not think everyone should do IF. It's a tool for those of us who have insulin resistance, are diabetic, fighting off cancer or have autoimmune issues. It's just a tool in the toolbox and if someone achieves results without IF, then good for them!

    Edit: expanded a bit.
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,913 Member
    edited September 2016
    *Very* insightful post! And yes, you absolutely need to be mindful of self-care, too, in your healing process.
  • janettles
    janettles Posts: 69 Member
    edited September 2016
    Thank you for starting this thread, Roseygirl1. I appreciated your and others' thoughtful comments to the point of purchasing the Kindle version of Obesity Code and reading it, hoping to find a new approach to the obesity problem. However, I found the book mostly unhelpful and incredibly discouraging. If you are discouraged as well, I want to offer my take on a few of his thoughts:

    Helpful

    -- “However, moderate consumption of red wine does not raise insulin or impair insulin sensitivity, and therefore may be enjoyed. 16 Up to two glasses a day is not associated with major weight gain17 and may improve insulin sensitivity. 18 The alcohol itself, even from beer, seems to have minimal effects on insulin secretion or insulin resistance. It is sometimes said that you get fat from the foods you eat with the alcohol rather than from the alcohol itself. There may be some truth to that, although the evidence is sparse.”

    -- His drawing attention to Cortisol and stress as possible causes of weight gain. That would explain my unexplained weight gain in the first 6 months of 2010.

    Unhelpful

    -- He mentions that he grew up in the 1970s. I have no idea how he got the idea that snacking began in that decade.
    “LET’S TURN BACK the clock to the U.S. in the 1960s. Food shortages from the war are a thing of the past. Obesity is not yet a major issue. Why not? After all, they ate Oreo cookies, KitKats, white bread and pasta. They ate sugar, although not quite as much. They also ate three meals per day, with no snacks in between.”
    I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. We did plenty of snacking. My kindergarten served a snack of Oreos and milk every single day. Every day of my 12 years of grade school and upon my arrival home from school, my mother would have milk or lemonade or sweet iced tea ready, along with cookies or other dessert-type snack. We were not unusual.

    -- Throughout the book, he implies that his 2-pronged approach to dieting will solve the problem of the plateau. However, at location 4145 (about 65% of the way through the book), he says:
    “You’ll probably eventually experience a weight-loss plateau. Changing either your fasting or dietary regimen, or both, may help. Some patients increase fasting from twenty-four-hour periods to thirty-six-hour periods, or try a forty-eight-hour fast. Some may try eating only once a day, every day. Others may try a continuous fast for an entire week. Changing the fasting protocol is often what’s required to break through a plateau.”
    This is the same type of advice that other authors give for breaking through a plateau, “Changing either your fasting or dietary regimen, or both…” Where is his breakthrough?

    -- He states that, “all foods raise insulin to some degree” and “If all foods raise insulin, then the only way for us to lower it is to completely abstain from food.” I am willing to consider Intermittent Fasting, but in my mind he has not supported his case. I find the book Protein Power by the Eades to be a more carefully and scientifically supported book. In Protein Power, the Eades state, “Fat doesn’t do anything; as far as insulin is concerned, fat doesn’t exist.” Dr. Atkins, too, uses what he calls the “fat fast” to break a plateau… eat only fat for a while because fat doesn’t raise insulin levels.

    -- I found his statement regarding plateaus to be incredibly discouraging, “… All diets… by six to twelve months, weight loss plateaus, followed by a relentless regain, despite continued dietary compliance.” I had to pull out my copy of the book Thin for Life by Fletcher to restore my belief that I can lose weight and keep it off.

    Roseygirl1, you invited thoughtful comments, and I am sorry that mine were thoughtful but a bit negative. I am posting my thoughts to help any who may have been discouraged by the book as I was.
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    All foods do raise insulin, but fat is so insignificant it's not much of a stretch to say it "does nothing" and protein can raise insulin significantly in someone with insulin resistance. His main approach is fasting. So it makes absolute sense that he's considering even the tiny insulin responses from fat and potentially higher response from protein. The other plans @janettles is mentioning aren't fasting plans. The idea in those is only significant carb restriction. Fasting is much more than just carb restriction.
    I don't really understand the comparison... this book is just discussing another way. Fasting is known to bring on very dramatic and quick improvement of insulin resistance. I don't believe either of the other books are targeting that exact issue.
  • janettles
    janettles Posts: 69 Member
    edited September 2016
    Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
    All foods do raise insulin, but fat is so insignificant it's not much of a stretch to say it "does nothing" and protein can raise insulin significantly in someone with insulin resistance. His main approach is fasting. So it makes absolute sense that he's considering even the tiny insulin responses from fat and potentially higher response from protein. The other plans @janettles is mentioning aren't fasting plans. The idea in those is only significant carb restriction. Fasting is much more than just carb restriction.
    I don't really understand the comparison... this book is just discussing another way. Fasting is known to bring on very dramatic and quick improvement of insulin resistance. I don't believe either of the other books are targeting that exact issue.
    Hi Sunny_Bunny_. I appreciate your comments. Since Dr Fung bases his views of fasting on his belief that all foods raise insulin, I mentioned the books by Eades and Atkins to support another view of whether all foods raise insulin, not to promote their diets or views of fasting. My best to you.
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    edited September 2016
    janettles wrote: »
    Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
    All foods do raise insulin, but fat is so insignificant it's not much of a stretch to say it "does nothing" and protein can raise insulin significantly in someone with insulin resistance. His main approach is fasting. So it makes absolute sense that he's considering even the tiny insulin responses from fat and potentially higher response from protein. The other plans @janettles is mentioning aren't fasting plans. The idea in those is only significant carb restriction. Fasting is much more than just carb restriction.
    I don't really understand the comparison... this book is just discussing another way. Fasting is known to bring on very dramatic and quick improvement of insulin resistance. I don't believe either of the other books are targeting that exact issue.
    Hi Sunny_Bunny_. I appreciate your comments. Since Dr Fung bases his views of fasting on his belief that all foods raise insulin, I mentioned the books by Eades and Atkins to support another view of whether all foods raise insulin, not to promote their diets or views of fasting. My best to you.

    I know what you're saying. My only point is that the tiny amount that fat produces an insulin response is so insignificant that it doesn't make any difference at all on a carb restricted diet. However, it can matter on a fast.
    So, when the others say it doesn't create an insulin response, it's not that it literally doesn't at all, it's that it's so insignificant that it doesn't matter.
    But fasting is different. You will even see this come up when talking about fat fasting or drinking bulletproof coffee while fasting. Many don't consider those fasts at all and technically they're not. But since only fat is consumed, it mimicks fasting well enough to be beneficial. Then you get debate about weather or not adding cream breaks the fast because of the protein and lactose. Because even in very small amounts, it does matter when it comes to fasting.
  • janettles
    janettles Posts: 69 Member
    Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
    janettles wrote: »
    Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
    All foods do raise insulin, but fat is so insignificant it's not much of a stretch to say it "does nothing" and protein can raise insulin significantly in someone with insulin resistance. His main approach is fasting. So it makes absolute sense that he's considering even the tiny insulin responses from fat and potentially higher response from protein. The other plans @janettles is mentioning aren't fasting plans. The idea in those is only significant carb restriction. Fasting is much more than just carb restriction.
    I don't really understand the comparison... this book is just discussing another way. Fasting is known to bring on very dramatic and quick improvement of insulin resistance. I don't believe either of the other books are targeting that exact issue.
    Hi Sunny_Bunny_. I appreciate your comments. Since Dr Fung bases his views of fasting on his belief that all foods raise insulin, I mentioned the books by Eades and Atkins to support another view of whether all foods raise insulin, not to promote their diets or views of fasting. My best to you.

    I know what you're saying. My only point is that the tiny amount that fat produces an insulin response is so insignificant that it doesn't make any difference at all on a carb restricted diet. However, it can matter on a fast.
    So, when the others say it doesn't create an insulin response, it's not that it literally doesn't at all, it's that it's so insignificant that it doesn't matter.
    But fasting is different. You will even see this come up when talking about fat fasting or drinking bulletproof coffee while fasting. Many don't consider those fasts at all and technically they're not. But since only fat is consumed, it mimicks fasting well enough to be beneficial. Then you get debate about weather or not adding cream breaks the fast because of the protein and lactose. Because even in very small amounts, it does matter when it comes to fasting.
    Thank you for offering these points to consider, Sunny_Bunny_. I also very much appreciate the loving and intelligent tone that Roseygirl1 has set for the consideration of this topic.
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