CARBS and BIG BELLIES

freerangehuman

The only way I lose weight is a low-carb diet. But I also have hypothyroidism, which is a bummer dealing with when trying to lose weight. The 'calories in-calories out' approach doesn't hold true for me....the types of calories really do matter. And I hold most of my fat in my belly, so naturally, it comes off first.

Topsking2010

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Zeromilediet

What I've read is the magic of eating a low carb diet is low sugar. If I take in fewer carbs, my body doesn't need to release insulin into my bloodstream, which has been proven to restrict fat burning. The theory is, if I eat like a diabetic, I won't turn into one. So far, it's working pretty well, though I am still quite a sugar addict and cheat a lot. That said, my most profound weight loss ever came as a result of eating a vegan diet. In 2001, I shed 7.5 inches on my waist and nearly 40 pounds, a lot of fat. I ultimately gave it up, as I found it very inconvenient and expensive, and I was hungry a lot. It was years before I started counting calories, but I expect I was barely eating 1400 calories a day, which resulted in very fast fat and weight loss. It was very difficult to find enough protein and I had to take supplements, but I felt great and lost weight. Hope this helps!

This is flawed thinking. Eating causes insulin to be released in the blood stream, regardless of food type. Protein causes insulin spikes just as high, and in some cases even higher, than carbs do. Diabetes is not caused by insulin. Insulin dependence/resistance is a symptom of being diabetic, not the cause of it, just like a sneeze is a symptom of a cold. You don't sneeze and then blame the sneeze for giving you the cold, you blame the cold for making you sneeze. Diabetes is caused by a combination of genetics and excess body fat. You can eat low carb/low sugar, all you like, and still end up with diabetes if you are genetically predisposed to it and have other risk factors for it, just like some diabetics can eat high carb and have complete control over their diabetes.

Protein does not cause an insulin spike the same or higher than carbs. It does cause insulin to be released but not to the same degree as carbs.

Insulin is a fat storage hormone. Diabetes is a disease that results from too much insulin in the blood stream. Sometimes it's genetic (Type I) and sometimes acquired (Type II what used to be known as Adult Onset Diabetes but is now just as commonly found in children). An additional set of symptoms is associated with metabolic syndrome. Excess body fat has an impact on the release of hormones including insulin--look it up. Some people can manage a high carbohydrate diet but few people can tolerate excess insulin in their bloodstream for an extended period of time without developing diabetes. Diabetes is not just a disease you will get because of genetics.

tigersword

What I've read is the magic of eating a low carb diet is low sugar. If I take in fewer carbs, my body doesn't need to release insulin into my bloodstream, which has been proven to restrict fat burning. The theory is, if I eat like a diabetic, I won't turn into one. So far, it's working pretty well, though I am still quite a sugar addict and cheat a lot. That said, my most profound weight loss ever came as a result of eating a vegan diet. In 2001, I shed 7.5 inches on my waist and nearly 40 pounds, a lot of fat. I ultimately gave it up, as I found it very inconvenient and expensive, and I was hungry a lot. It was years before I started counting calories, but I expect I was barely eating 1400 calories a day, which resulted in very fast fat and weight loss. It was very difficult to find enough protein and I had to take supplements, but I felt great and lost weight. Hope this helps!

This is flawed thinking. Eating causes insulin to be released in the blood stream, regardless of food type. Protein causes insulin spikes just as high, and in some cases even higher, than carbs do. Diabetes is not caused by insulin. Insulin dependence/resistance is a symptom of being diabetic, not the cause of it, just like a sneeze is a symptom of a cold. You don't sneeze and then blame the sneeze for giving you the cold, you blame the cold for making you sneeze. Diabetes is caused by a combination of genetics and excess body fat. You can eat low carb/low sugar, all you like, and still end up with diabetes if you are genetically predisposed to it and have other risk factors for it, just like some diabetics can eat high carb and have complete control over their diabetes.

Protein does not cause an insulin spike the same or higher than carbs. It does cause insulin to be released but not to the same degree as carbs.

Insulin is a fat storage hormone. Diabetes is a disease that results from too much insulin in the blood stream. Sometimes it's genetic (Type I) and sometimes acquired (Type II what used to be known as Adult Onset Diabetes but is now just as commonly found in children). An additional set of symptoms is associated with metabolic syndrome. Excess body fat has an impact on the release of hormones including insulin--look it up. Some people can manage a high carbohydrate diet but few people can tolerate excess insulin in their bloodstream for an extended period of time without developing diabetes. Diabetes is not just a disease you will get because of genetics.

Insulin does not cause diabetes. Insulin is also a lot more than a fat storage hormone. It's an appetite suppressant, it's a muscle building hormone, it shuttles nutrients from the blood stream to muscles, insulin has close to 100 separate functions in human metabolism. Excess body fat interferes with insulin, which is what causes insulin resistance with Type II, not just having insulin.

And yes protein can spike insulin much higher than carbs, whey protein in particular. Insulin is supposed to spike and recede, that's called normal metabolism.

yarwell

Eating causes insulin to be released in the blood stream, regardless of food type

The insulin response to fats is very low if not negligible - cream for example compared to casein (a protein) below :-

amy1612

Who is this 'Dr Oz' you speak of?

Low carb diets are essentially lower in calories because its harder to get the same amount of calories in a portion of protein than it is in carbs (i.e. a portion of pasta and chicken the same size are not calorifically the same).

Having a less bloated tummy, probably just depends on how your body processes what you eat. Im eating paleo-ish, Ive got IBS and have found it really helpful as the food Ive been eating has really brought down my flare-ups and I dont feel bloated or sickly after eating. Im not eating low carb as I eat a lot of fruit and veg, especially sweet potatos.

Anyway, Im just trying to point out that eating 'low carb' doesnt necessarily mean you'll get a flatter stomach, it might 'feel' flatter, but doesnt mean it is.

tigersword

Eating causes insulin to be released in the blood stream, regardless of food type

The insulin response to fats is very low if not negligible - cream for example compared to casein (a protein) below :-

Fat is not insulinogenic. Eating causes the insulin response, not the fat. Thank you for proving my point.

yarwell

Fat is not insulinogenic. Eating causes the insulin response, not the fat. Thank you for proving my point.

I did not prove it, I did the opposite. There is no insulin response to eating cream in that table, there is to protein. So the insulin response to eating failed to show up ?

Or are you saying that you drink cream not eat it so that's different.

tigersword

Insulin increased a slight amount after one hour, from 39 to 49. . That's the general response due to eating. Cream contains no protein or carbs , so there was no continuous release. Insulin response starts as soon as food hits your tongue, and continues or stops based on content of the food.

Besides, name one meal in the real world, outside of a lab, that contains 100% fat.

yarwell

Insulin increased a slight amount after one hour, from 39 to 49

But not statistically significant. In other words 39.6 +/- 20.4 and 49.2 +/- 33.0 could be the same value - the ranges of each are over double the difference.

Compare that to the levels over 100 seen for two hours from the protein.

There might be a tiny response purely to eating, I've seen the same said about the look or smell of food too, but is it enough to have any effect on blood sugar, lipolysis etc compared to the large responses to carbs and protein ingestion ?

kelseyhere

Many of these posters are right that you can't "spot reduce", but Dr. Oz is also right that some foods make you more bloated than others. I'm already pretty lean, and the only way for me to really get leaner is to eat low carb. For me that's cutting out bread and anything with white flour- tortillas, pastries, crackers, etc. I eat more high fats instead, avocado, veggies satueed in olive oil, etc. It's the only way for me to get a flat stomach. Even eating whole grains and oatmeal I can't get that lean. I strongly believe that a calorie is not a calorie, and different foods act different in your body. If I eat 1,200 calories of McDonalds everyday I'm not fat, but I'm "soft", my clothes don't look or fit good, I have a belly and back fat. 1,200 calories of lean meat, veggies, and just a little bit of low-fat dairy and I have a waist, no love handles and you can actually see the muscle in my legs.

dlwyatt82

I'm sure there are websites dedicated to all the things Dr. Oz says that are incorrect. My wife's favorite was when he advised people to drink green tea because it doesn't have caffeine... (hint: it does. It's made from the same plant as many other types of tea.)

tigersword

Insulin increased a slight amount after one hour, from 39 to 49

But not statistically significant. In other words 39.6 +/- 20.4 and 49.2 +/- 33.0 could be the same value - the ranges of each are over double the difference.

Compare that to the levels over 100 seen for two hours from the protein.

There might be a tiny response purely to eating, I've seen the same said about the look or smell of food too, but is it enough to have any effect on blood sugar, lipolysis etc compared to the large responses to carbs and protein ingestion ?

In a normal human metabolism, insulin spikes have very little effect on blood sugar in general, so I'm honestly not even sure what point you are trying to make. As for lipolysis, like glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, it's a 24/7 process. Insulin doesn't stop fat from being burned. It slows it down to maintain energy balance. Insulin honestly stores very little fat, I honestly don't know why people think it does. Insulin controls blood sugar by by moving glucose into muscle tissue and the liver, and only stores it in fat once glycogen stores are completely full, which pretty much never happens unless in a huge surplus. People put way too much emphasis on insulin and trying to control it, and really, it serves no practical purpose to anyone without a metabolic condition.

apriltrainer

I don't have a big belly but I bloat ALOT when I eat even one piece of bread. I know it's not fat and it will go away but who wants to live with bloat too? I don't. So I just try to limit my carb intake.

waldo56

Insulin doesn't stop fat from being burned. It slows it down to maintain energy balance. Insulin honestly stores very little fat, I honestly don't know why people think it does.

...I think we can thank Gary Taubes for that. Even if you think he is full of dung, some of his ideas have become mainstream with little in the way of reality backing it up, his ideas get regurgitated enough that you don't see the source.

Many among the Paleo cult tend to spew Taubesisms. The Paleo cult hates "them" even more than Taubes, so thy picked up a lot of his anti-establishment rhetoric.

yarwell

My interest is not in fat storage but in fat disposal. insulin inhibits lipolysis. I want to remove fat from my adipose tissue so I want to maximise lipolysis. Why would I want elevated insulin if I could reduce it ? Should I not make any change I can that favour maximum lipolysis rates ?

carriann2012

The only way I lose weight is a low-carb diet. But I also have hypothyroidism, which is a bummer dealing with when trying to lose weight. The 'calories in-calories out' approach doesn't hold true for me....the types of calories really do matter. And I hold most of my fat in my belly, so naturally, it comes off first.

This is the same for me too ....sucks to have hypothyrodism ~ and trying to loose weight and do what's right for your body.

tigersword

My interest is not in fat storage but in fat disposal. insulin inhibits lipolysis. I want to remove fat from my adipose tissue so I want to maximise lipolysis. Why would I want elevated insulin if I could reduce it ? Should I not make any change I can that favour maximum lipolysis rates ?

Because in an overall 24 hour period, either way evens out. Higher insulin spikes lead to lower insulin drops, while lower spikes lead to less drops. Either way you burn the exact same amount of fat during a 24 hour period.

geraldlosesweight

The thing about low carbs is that if you cut refined sugar out of your diet, after a few days the sugar levels in your blood level out. Low carb/low sugar diets are good for breaking the physiological sugar cravings so that you can resume low calorie intake without that awful craving for something sweet!

kristianpp

i personaly dislike low carb diets.i'm on a strict 40% carb 40% protein 20% fat regime and ive burned belly and butt fat.
The idea is to take complex carbs(like whole-grain,fruits) over simple carbs(like refine sugar and sweets) thats that's the whole philosophy.