Wicked Carbs

I have a story to tell. It's a true story. It goes like this:

Once upon a time, there lived a woman. This woman was just a normal woman, not diabetic, not sensitive to gluten, just a normal human being. Unfortunately, this woman was a little bit fat. She wanted to lose weight, so she started to using MFP and counting calories. She maintained a calorie deficit.

But then one day, this silly woman ate carbs. The carbs entered her digestive system. They were broken down into simple sugars like glucose. These simple sugars entered her blood stream, where the glucose did something down right dastardly.

The glucose signaled to the pancreas and the pancreas dumped a whole bunch of insulin into the blood stream. The glucose caused an insulin spike!

The insulin signaled to the cells within the body. It told the cells "Hey, we've got food here. Use it." The cells took the glucose inside and began breaking it down for energy.

The insulin ALSO signaled to the liver AND the fat cells and said "Hey, we've got food here. Let's put some of this away for later." And so the liver started storying glycogen. And so the fat cells started storing more fat.

If this were the end of the story, it would be very sad.

Luckily, it's not. You see, the woman was on a diet. And so, as the day went on, the glucose levels in her blood streamed dropped. When the glucose dropped, the insulin in the blood stream went away too. A fantastic new hormone took it's place. This hormone is called glucagon.

Now glucagon talked to the liver. It said, "Hey, we need more food. Start using those glycogen stores." And the liver did.

More time passed, and the fat cells also got the message. They started releasing fat so that it could be broken down into food for the hungry hungry cells.

More time passed and this lucky woman lost weight. Even while eating carbs. Because our bodies are cool like that.

P.S. The tone of this post is meant to be funny and educational. I've been reading a lot of children's books lately. But for the record, I am familiar with the theories and justifications for low carb. I don't subscribe to those theories because I think the anti-carb proponents zoom in on the details and forget the big picture. Insulin, leptin, glucagon, and all the other hormones out there work in concert to maintain homeostasis. Zooming in on just one of those is like saying the hand is the whole human body. So... my apologies in advance if anyone is offended.

Also for the record, I am NOT anti-low carb. If the diet works for you, great! I'm just against the idea that it's somehow superior because it doesn't cause insulin spikes.