Excerpt from Sugar Nation

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Sugar Nation: The Hidden Truth Behind America's Deadliest Habit and the Simple Way to Beat It.
Jeff O'Connell

Just thought this was really interesting information (and this tells me fat is the preferred fuel, not carbs. If carbs were the preferred fuel then the human body would have unlimited carb storage, not unlimited fat storage):

Along with possessing an almost magical potency, insulin is ancient; it was found in organisms whose habitat was the cauldron of primitive life-forms known as primordial soup. Insulin allowed our own earliest ancestors to make a huge evolutionary leap. Their bodies could store fuel, which afforded them time for other pursuits. They could erect family structures, tell stories, and build languages now that didn’t have to hunt and scavenge all day for nourishment. Insulin helped make us human.
Insulin helps the body metabolize the sugar in the blood, which is called glucose. This blood sugar can come from the diet, but the liver and kidneys can also produce it. What isn’t needed for energy can also be stored in muscle tissue and the liver. This stored from is called glycogen. But because storage space is limited, at a certain point, the liver begins turning excess glucose into triglycerides, which very often become body fat. The human body has evolved such that it possesses a very low capacity to store carbs but a very high capacity to store fat. This phenomenon is evident in buffet lines across the heartland.
“That’s in a relatively healthy person,” says Jeff S. Volek, Ph.D., R.D., associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Connecticut. “Even before glycogen levels fill up, people with insulin resistance dispose of carbohydrates by converting the majority to fat.” That’s one reason why the heavy will still become heavier, even if they pass on the second helpings.
Nearly every cell in the body can take up and use glucose as fuel, and blood travels everywhere in the body, making it the ideal transporter of glucose to far-flung destinations. But how does the glucose know where to go? A messenger hormone called insulin escorts it. Certain tissues in the body attract insulin; their surface is lined with welcoming receptors. Receptors are proteins, but think of them more as magnets. Most of these insulin receptors are located in muscle tissue, a function of muscle’s large size and metabolic activity.
The system is designed to work so that after you eat a meal, the pancreas releases insulin in an amount proportional to whatever the glucose load happens to be. Insulin arrives at receptors and is recognized as such, and cells know what to do in response: absorb glucose from the bloodstream. So your blood glucose never shoots too high. As this process unfolds, a feedback loop signals the pancreas to produce less insulin, to keep the messengers home. So your blood glucose never falls too low, either. The normal blood sugar response to a meal is a slow rise flowed by a reasonable drop.
Insulin resistance occurs when insulin tries but fails to bind with receptors, and glucose is left stranded. Instead of taking five units of insulin to produce a certain amount of energy from glucose, it’s now taking your body, say, twenty. All the pancreas knows is that insulin isn’t doing its job, so it keeps secreting more and more, to little avail.
This creates an energy crisis for each cell, not to mention your entire body. To use a crude analogy: Imagine oil tankers sailing from port to port loaded with oil (glucose) that needs to be loaded onto small boats (insulin) for transport to shore. But once the oil has been loaded onto the smaller vessels, these boats bounce off the docks, unable to land. Thus the raw material never makes it to shore, and the factories in town sit idle. The crude oil can’t be delivered. Productivity halts.
Unfortunately the lifestyle choices causing insulin resistance – not exercising, indulging a sweet tooth, and eating too much in general [MY NOTE: I believe the overeating stems from the constant up and down blood sugars. When the insulin can’t push the glucose into the resistant cells it will convert it to fat and send it to storage. So you end up starved on a cellular level and your body signals hunger after only a couple of hours – and it’s looking for more carbs] – trigger a feedback loop. Particularly if you don’t exercise, those excess carbs will cause blood sugar to spike and then crash, at which point the body bellies up for another round of sugar.
Since your body is dumping glucose into boats that can’t land, it must find another fuel source. An alternative is fat, which can be burned for energy as long as oxygen and mitochondria, the parts of the cells that contain fat-burning enzymes, are present. Luckily, only a few places in the entire body lack oxygen, mitochondria, or both. Red blood cells don’t possess those tiny power plants, so it may no coincidence that glucose floats around in the blood. The lens of the eye and a remote area of the kidneys also depend solely on glucose. But that’s about it.
It should hardly come as a surprise, then, that diabetes consistently attack these parts of the body. The kidneys are one of only two organs capable of producing glucose from noncarb sources such as protein, the liver being the other.
So glucose is essential for life, and it usually comes from carbs. Wouldn’t we cease to function if we didn’t consume enough carbs? Consider: In the early 1900s, a pair of Arctic explorers, Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Rudolph M. Anderson, marveled at not only the carnivorous diets but also the robust health of Eskimos. So upon returning from their expedition, the two men embarked upon a meat-only diet. The resulting macronutrient ration amounted to 75 to 85 percent fat and 1 to 2 percent carbohydrates. Protein made up the balance. At the end of what was a yearlong experiment, they were alive and well, although perhaps a bit grumpy.
To find out how they survived, I spent a day at Dr. Westman’s Duke Clinic on my way back from the ADA conference in New Orleans. As befits someone who grew up in the cheese state of Wisconsin, the good doctor puts patients needing to shed extra pounds, manage diabetes, or both on a low-carb diet. To great effect, I might add. He’s fascinated by which organs actually need glucose – not which ones use it when it’s available. As I trail him into his office, my gaze is drawn to a homemade anatomy-chart-turned-schematic on one wall. The names of bodily organs are computer-printed on pieces of paper. This anatomy chart is proportional rather than representational; each cutout reflects the energy requirement of that organ, rather than its shape or size, I see that the liver sucks up as much glucose as the brain. “Pretty much everything can run on fat,” says the Stanford grad, noting the exceptions mentioned before – red blood cells, retina, and a remote region of the kidneys.
The assumption has been that dietary carbohydrates must provide 130g of glucose per day for the brain and central nervous system to function fully. But Dr. Westman insists that the liver and kidneys could produce more than enough glucose from protein to supply that amount, which explains why those Eskimos, and the explorers who found them, could live on only meat. No, I can’t imagine any sane non-Eskimo wanting to follow the Eskimo Diet, which is a product of their unique habitat. But the wall schematic is illuminating nonetheless. Everyone, from Gatorade and General Mills, to the corn lobby and dietetic organizations, keeps telling us that we need ALL these carbs, and that eating them gives us all this energy.
We’re being implored to eat them for reasons that have little to do with any sort of internal need. I bought into their sales pitch, and I write about this stuff for a living. The truth is, we don’t need all those carbs, and they don’t give us all that energy. In fact we don’t need nearly as many carbs as we are implored to consume by everything from government guidelines to television commercials. “The Western diet is far too high in carbohydrates,” says the IDF’s Raab. The metabolic system of the average human being was designed to run on some debatable fraction of that amount.
The solution to the Type 2 diabetes epidemic isn’t force-feeding the hard-core Atkins approach to everyone who’s either a diabetic or at risk of becoming one – although that approach, if followed, would produce better results than the approach we take now. But the solution isn’t the status quo approach of the diabetes industry, either. The evidence against that is prima facie. Just look at what amounts to an epidemiological study including the entire U.S. population, which makes the conventional wisdom look increasingly unwise.
Part of the solution for America’s obesity and diabetes epidemic is a diet lower in carbs – and less internal insulin production as a result – and a higher intake of protein and healthy fats. This will result in much better glucose control But you won’t hear that recommendation from most diabetes organizations and experts.
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Replies

  • brit49
    brit49 Posts: 461 Member
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    I have cut down on sugar, I try not to have more than 9 grams each meal, snacks I like it to be even less than that. I was reading Jackie Warner's book This Is Why Your Fat. Its a great read, I take a few of her tips. Sugar Nation is a great read too, very interesting post.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    My first test I did with my blood glucose monitor was with whole grain bread. I had a reuben sandwich. Corned Beef, saurkraut, thousand island dressing on two slices of rye bread. My blood sugar shot up to 140mg after one hour and 156mg after two hours.

    I had a handful of white chocolate covered chex mix earlier this week and got those types of numbers. I had about 8oz of a Cinnamon Cookie Cappucino (the powdered/add hot water kind from a convenience store) and my sugars shot up to 137mg.

    The grains - even whole grains - do to my blood sugars exact same thing as actual sugar (almost all carbs turn to glucose when ingested and raise your blood glucose levels).
  • brit49
    brit49 Posts: 461 Member
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    My first test I did with my blood glucose monitor was with whole grain bread. I had a reuben sandwich. Corned Beef, saurkraut, thousand island dressing on two slices of rye bread. My blood sugar shot up to 140mg after one hour and 156mg after two hours.

    I had a handful of white chocolate covered chex mix earlier this week and got those types of numbers. I had about 8oz of a Cinnamon Cookie Cappucino (the powdered/add hot water kind from a convenience store) and my sugars shot up to 137mg.

    The grains - even whole grains - do to my blood sugars exact same thing as actual sugar (almost all carbs turn to glucose when ingested and raise your blood glucose levels).


    Yeh I no I cut down on carbs too, Feel much better and more energy, My daughter who a nurse she not diabetic neither. I'm not but she tested her blood sugar, and it was high after eating just a roll white bread and cheese, she now limit the amount of carbs and try to eat mostly veggies, less of the white stuff. I try and keep it less than 100 it seems to be working, somedays it way less.
  • alabughosh
    alabughosh Posts: 132 Member
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    So what about carbs and sugar that come from fruit and veggies? Since I've been tracking my calories, I've noticed that fruit has A LOT of sugar in it. Does that spike your blood sugar in the same way as grain-based carbs?
  • brit49
    brit49 Posts: 461 Member
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    My mum has diabetes she has to limit carbs and sugar and not eat so much fruit, and it depends on what kind of fruit, tomatoes can spike your sugar Its always best to talk to doctor everyone is different, I just cant have to much carbs, makes me fat and tired but fruit no problem.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,522 Member
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    INSULIN!!!


    oh-noes-everybody-panic.gif
  • hottottie11
    hottottie11 Posts: 907 Member
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    INSULIN!!!


    oh-noes-everybody-panic.gif

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
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    I'm a total meat lover, but you ain't gonna feed 9 billion people on a low-carb diet.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,522 Member
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    I'm a total meat lover, but you ain't gonna feed 9 billion people on a low-carb diet.

    Great point, never really looked at it that way.

    Reason #4567892 I'm glad to be an American, lol.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Yes, it's the carbs fault that Americans are becoming overweight and suffering from myriad health problems. Let's completely ignore the parts of the world where grains and carbs ARE the staple diet, and they have none of the health problems we have here.

    It's not sugar, it's not ZOMG EVIL CARBS, it's simply the fact that Americans eat over 600 calories a day MORE than they did 40 years ago on average. People are moving a lot less (due to the increase in sedentary desk jobs,) and eating a lot more. It's that simple. There is no magic bullet.

    Also, insulin spikes and blood sugar spikes right after eating are NORMAL, it's how the body works. Insulin rises when you eat, which suppresses your appetite, and then steadily falls over the next several hours. It's like your oven, you set your oven for a set temperature, and your oven heats up, spikes above that temperature, falls back down under it, spikes back up over it, etc.

    That's another reason why I disagree with the eating every 2 hours or whatever it is, all that does is keep your insulin and blood glucose levels constantly raised, as you never let them fall.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,522 Member
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    It's not sugar, it's not ZOMG EVIL CARBS, it's simply the fact that Americans eat over 600 calories a day MORE than they did 40 years ago on average. People are moving a lot less (due to the increase in sedentary desk jobs,) and eating a lot more. It's that simple. There is no magic bullet.

    I make it a point not to tell carbophobes that protein is also insulinogenic, because I'm afraid they'll start avoiding that as well.
  • hottottie11
    hottottie11 Posts: 907 Member
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    Yes, it's the carbs fault that Americans are becoming overweight and suffering from myriad health problems. Let's completely ignore the parts of the world where grains and carbs ARE the staple diet, and they have none of the health problems we have here.

    It's not sugar, it's not ZOMG EVIL CARBS, it's simply the fact that Americans eat over 600 calories a day MORE than they did 40 years ago on average. People are moving a lot less (due to the increase in sedentary desk jobs,) and eating a lot more. It's that simple. There is no magic bullet.

    Also, insulin spikes and blood sugar spikes right after eating are NORMAL, it's how the body works. Insulin rises when you eat, which suppresses your appetite, and then steadily falls over the next several hours. It's like your oven, you set your oven for a set temperature, and your oven heats up, spikes above that temperature, falls back down under it, spikes back up over it, etc.

    That's another reason why I disagree with the eating every 2 hours or whatever it is, all that does is keep your insulin and blood glucose levels constantly raised, as you never let them fall.

    I so :heart: you for this. We are fat because we eat more than what we burn...little sugar demons and their pal insulin are not scheming to make you fat. Eat less and move more! What a novel idea!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    It's not sugar, it's not ZOMG EVIL CARBS, it's simply the fact that Americans eat over 600 calories a day MORE than they did 40 years ago on average. People are moving a lot less (due to the increase in sedentary desk jobs,) and eating a lot more. It's that simple. There is no magic bullet.

    I make it a point not to tell carbophobes that protein is also insulinogenic, because I'm afraid they'll start avoiding that as well.

    Eating in general causes an insulin response, even if you eat something that's all fat. Don't tell anyone, though. :laugh:


    Oh, also, to comment on the content of the topic in general, it's interesting to read about the different ways the body can work, but just because the body CAN survive on certain diets, doesn't mean it is ideal.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,522 Member
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    Oh, also, to comment on the content of the topic in general, it's interesting to read about the different ways the body can work, but just because the body CAN survive on certain diets, doesn't mean it is ideal.

    When people start educating themselves about fitness, the often start missing the forest for the trees. For the most part, my Grandma's nutrition advice still holds true.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    So what about carbs and sugar that come from fruit and veggies? Since I've been tracking my calories, I've noticed that fruit has A LOT of sugar in it. Does that spike your blood sugar in the same way as grain-based carbs?

    I get blood sugar spikes from fruit but they don't get quite as high. I made some almond banana pancakes with some blueberries on top and my bg jumped up to 121 but came back down an hour after that - it didn't stay up. Bananas are very high in sugar; blueberries are low-sugar. I stay away from very starchy veggies and fibrous veggies have very, very few carbs. But I have to take a break from the experimenting because my gut get messed up.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    It's not sugar, it's not ZOMG EVIL CARBS, it's simply the fact that Americans eat over 600 calories a day MORE than they did 40 years ago on average. People are moving a lot less (due to the increase in sedentary desk jobs,) and eating a lot more. It's that simple. There is no magic bullet.

    I make it a point not to tell carbophobes that protein is also insulinogenic, because I'm afraid they'll start avoiding that as well.

    Eating in general causes an insulin response, even if you eat something that's all fat. Don't tell anyone, though. :laugh:


    Oh, also, to comment on the content of the topic in general, it's interesting to read about the different ways the body can work, but just because the body CAN survive on certain diets, doesn't mean it is ideal.

    Yes I know this. No I'm not a carbophobe. Yes I know that protein is insulinogenic. Yes, even thinking about eating can cause an insulin response. I know all of this. Insulin response is normal. Excessive insulin production because your body can't handle the sugar levels isn't.

    I have a desk job. I don't do a whole lot of exercise - enough to be fit and happy. I don't track calories. I stay away from grains and sugar and legumes and milk and I eat lots of protein and fat (fat is about 70% of my diet). I am maintaining a weight of 113lbs without even trying. In fact when I hit 110.6 my body decided it didn't like that weight and proceeded to add a couple of pounds no matter what I did. But I gained it in my butt and my boobs, not my belly. My belly has stayed flat.

    If you are dealing with obesity you are dealing with insulin resistance. You can suffer from years and years of insulin resistance and never develop diabetes. You don't have to be obese to have diabetes or insulin resistance.

    "Insulin sensitivity can vary eightfold between any two individuals, even healthy ones. Biology seldom accommodates a spread so wide. 'As it turns out, only 25 percent of the variability can be attributed to difference in body fat,' Dr. Reaven told me. 'Another 25 percent comes from differences in fitness level. The rest is likely genetic.' So the individual who becomes obese through inactivity AND has a genetic predisposition is likelier than most to become insulin resistant.

    But diabetes is popping more and more in the thin and the young. (1 in 5 diabetics aren't overweight)

    "Insulin-resistant cells can no longer gain access to the energy they need, so they conserve what remains. The body begins telling the brain: Don't do any exercise, and, please, would you eat more? As these people gain weight, the standard approach is to tell them: Get your tail off the sofa and go for a jog! And whatever you do, stop eating! 'This usually fails because their internal signaling is telling them to do the opposite,' says Jay Wortman, M.D., senior medical advisor for the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Cananda. 'It takes a lot of willpower to overcome those signals.'"

    And I think Leptin is what suppresses the appetite (tells your brain you are full), not insulin. And I agree with the eating every 2 hours thing. I don't believe in that but when I eat something containing grains or sugar I get hungry every couple of hours (even though there is still food in my stomach). When I eat protein and fat I stay full for a good 5-6 hours, sometimes longer. I also don't get the shaky feeling if I don't eat all day.

    And I have come across many, many, many people who are overweight or obese and are very active and do not overeat. In fact my dad was very active throughout his entire life. And no he didn't overeat either. It was what he ate. And he is now on dialysis and just had a pacemaker installed.
  • RonSwanson66
    RonSwanson66 Posts: 1,150 Member
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    And I have come across many, many, many people who are overweight or obese and are very active and do not overeat. In fact my dad was very active throughout his entire life. And no he didn't overeat either. It was what he ate.

    You can't create fat from a vacuum. If you are obese, you got there by eating more calories than your bodies needed to maintain. Period.
  • Rilke
    Rilke Posts: 1,201 Member
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    And I have come across many, many, many people who are overweight or obese and are very active and do not overeat. In fact my dad was very active throughout his entire life. And no he didn't overeat either. It was what he ate.

    You can't create fat from a vacuum. If you are obese, you got there by eating more calories than your bodies needed to maintain. Period.

    Oh, Ron Swanson. I don't agree with everything you say, but sometimes I just want nothing more than to take you out to an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet.
  • RonSwanson66
    RonSwanson66 Posts: 1,150 Member
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    And I have come across many, many, many people who are overweight or obese and are very active and do not overeat. In fact my dad was very active throughout his entire life. And no he didn't overeat either. It was what he ate.

    You can't create fat from a vacuum. If you are obese, you got there by eating more calories than your bodies needed to maintain. Period.

    Oh, Ron Swanson. I don't agree with everything you say, but sometimes I just want nothing more than to take you out to an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet.

    :laugh:

    I worry what you just heard was: Give me a lot of bacon and eggs.

    What I said was: Give me all the bacon and eggs you have.
  • CharlieLopez2005
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    I make it a point not to tell carbophobes that protein is also insulinogenic, because I'm afraid they'll start avoiding that as well.

    Our bodies produce insulin in response to protein so that the amino acids it breaks down to (especially the essential amino acids) can be pushed/absorbed into our cells for good use, like repairing muscles. However, unlike carb-rich foods, protein-rich foods also elicit increased levels of the hormone glucagon, which helps keep blood sugars from rising. So, yes, protein and carbs both elicit an insulin response, but protein (at least in the absence or restriction of carb-rich foods) does not raise blood sugar levels due to the interaction with glucagon.

    Now time for my bacon and butter. =)