Always Hungry?: Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells... anyone know anything?

eric2light
eric2light Posts: 113 Member
edited November 29 in Health and Weight Loss
Anyone know anything about:
author wrote:
Always Hungry?: Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently by David Ludwig (Author)

I like the idea that I can teach my body to produce less Insulin... anyone have experience with diets like this one or this one specifically?

Replies

  • crazyjerseygirl
    crazyjerseygirl Posts: 1,252 Member
    Isn't that called "diabetes"?
  • jmearbell
    jmearbell Posts: 1 Member
    my husband and I are at the end of our third week following this plan. I am down 8 lbs by following the eating plan and no working out. He is down 18 lbs- he wears a fitbit and gets his 10,000 steps in daily, sometimes on the treadmill
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Not read the book, I work on getting my blood glucose down and keeping it down to allow insulin to fall so I'm onboard with the ideas.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    Me too. I haven't read the book yet but the idea makes sense. I eat low carb to reduce blood glucose and insulin needs.
  • umayster
    umayster Posts: 651 Member
    Just started reading the book, but have been eating very low carb since June and hit goal in December. I'm very interested in his formula as low carb really fixed my cravings (and several other issues) and I'll be eating this way for life.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Fat cells cannot be "retrained". Do they hold seminars for your fat cells to learn how to behave or what???!!!
  • OMP33
    OMP33 Posts: 308 Member
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Me too. I haven't read the book yet but the idea makes sense. I eat low carb to reduce blood glucose and insulin needs.

    Watch out buddy, fat can make a person insulin resistant.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,029 Member
    Lol, the fat cells have one main purpose..........to store excess energy. You CAN'T retrain them NOT to do it. It's basically a low carb approach (nothing wrong with that if that's what someone likes) and just another sensational way to advertise it so he can compete with other authors on sales.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited February 2016
    Getting in more fat and generally more nutrient dense food has made me less hungry and cravy. Don't know if insulin or uneducated fat cells had anything to do with it, but I'm much more relaxed around food and eating has become more enjoyable.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    edited February 2016
    OMP33 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Me too. I haven't read the book yet but the idea makes sense. I eat low carb to reduce blood glucose and insulin needs.

    Watch out buddy, fat can make a person insulin resistant.

    IR is why I had to reduce carbs. I am insulin resistant. Eating low carb is the only way I can control my blood glucose throughout the day. It works wonderfully for me. Fats don't elevate my BG so my diet is around 75% fat.

    My doctor is very pleased and I haven't felt this good in a couple of decades.
  • OMP33
    OMP33 Posts: 308 Member
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    OMP33 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Me too. I haven't read the book yet but the idea makes sense. I eat low carb to reduce blood glucose and insulin needs.

    Watch out buddy, fat can make a person insulin resistant.

    This is why I had to reduce carbs. I am insulin resistant. Eating low carb is the only way I can control my blood glucose throughout the day. It works wonderfully for me. Fats don't elevate my BG so my diet is around 75% fat.

    My doctor is very pleased and I haven't felt this good in a couple of decades.

    Good to hear for you! But fats can make people very insulin resistant.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    OMP33 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    OMP33 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Me too. I haven't read the book yet but the idea makes sense. I eat low carb to reduce blood glucose and insulin needs.

    Watch out buddy, fat can make a person insulin resistant.

    This is why I had to reduce carbs. I am insulin resistant. Eating low carb is the only way I can control my blood glucose throughout the day. It works wonderfully for me. Fats don't elevate my BG so my diet is around 75% fat.

    My doctor is very pleased and I haven't felt this good in a couple of decades.

    Good to hear for you! But fats can make people very insulin resistant.

    Eating fat does not cause insulin resistance, but being fat can.
  • OMP33
    OMP33 Posts: 308 Member
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    OMP33 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    OMP33 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Me too. I haven't read the book yet but the idea makes sense. I eat low carb to reduce blood glucose and insulin needs.

    Watch out buddy, fat can make a person insulin resistant.

    This is why I had to reduce carbs. I am insulin resistant. Eating low carb is the only way I can control my blood glucose throughout the day. It works wonderfully for me. Fats don't elevate my BG so my diet is around 75% fat.

    My doctor is very pleased and I haven't felt this good in a couple of decades.

    Good to hear for you! But fats can make people very insulin resistant.

    Eating fat does not cause insulin resistance, but being fat can.

    http://nutritionfacts.org/video/what-causes-insulin-resistance/

    “As the amount of fat in our diet gets lower and lower, insulin works better and better. This is a clear demonstration that the sugar tolerance of even healthy individuals can be impaired by administering a low-carb high-fat diet. But we can decrease insulin resistance by decreasing fat intake.”
  • umayster
    umayster Posts: 651 Member
    OMP33 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Me too. I haven't read the book yet but the idea makes sense. I eat low carb to reduce blood glucose and insulin needs.

    Watch out buddy, fat can make a person insulin resistant.

    The bad kind or the good kind?
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    OMP33 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    OMP33 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    OMP33 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Me too. I haven't read the book yet but the idea makes sense. I eat low carb to reduce blood glucose and insulin needs.

    Watch out buddy, fat can make a person insulin resistant.

    This is why I had to reduce carbs. I am insulin resistant. Eating low carb is the only way I can control my blood glucose throughout the day. It works wonderfully for me. Fats don't elevate my BG so my diet is around 75% fat.

    My doctor is very pleased and I haven't felt this good in a couple of decades.

    Good to hear for you! But fats can make people very insulin resistant.

    Eating fat does not cause insulin resistance, but being fat can.

    http://nutritionfacts.org/video/what-causes-insulin-resistance/

    “As the amount of fat in our diet gets lower and lower, insulin works better and better. This is a clear demonstration that the sugar tolerance of even healthy individuals can be impaired by administering a low-carb high-fat diet. But we can decrease insulin resistance by decreasing fat intake.”

    What about in the short term? If I have many carbs it sends my blood glucose way up.

    I find carbs trigger cravings and over eating for me. A HC diet turns into a high calorie diet. 20 years ago when I was running 30 minutes to 3 hours a day it was not an issue. But I am less active now and cravings are larger... It won't work for me.
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  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,120 Member
    But wouldn't severe insulin deficiencies (as seen in type 1 diabetes and some cases of type 2 diabetes) trigger increased hunger? Insufficient insulin is produced, carbs cannot enter the cells and be utilized as energy (through glycolysis and the citric acid cycle), BG rises as the concentration of carbs in the blood stream increases, the kidneys begin to filter out those carbs through the urine, a calorie deficit may be created, and increased hunger may occur as the body is "starved".

    Mimicing your pancreas isn't fun. I'm having a joy trying to figure out how much additional insulin I need to cover a viral infection (was in the 200-250s all day yesterday because of it) -too little insulin, and I risk causing ketosis and subsequent ketoacidosis (which can be fatal if untreated), while I can die of hypoglycemia if I give too much insulin. Let's not forget that the extra stress of the viral infection can put unnecessary stress on the few beta cells that I do have left and could trigger another autoimmune attack on those cells.

    I am clueless on what they mean by "teaching your body to produce less insulin." Do they mean following the glycemic index in hopes of preventing huge phase 1 insulin spikes (If I'm remembering Bernstein's book correctly, normal people see two phases of insulin release)? Eating a keto lifestyle to minimize the amount of bolus insulin produced? Triggering an autoimmune attack on your beta cells so that you produce no insulin at all? :/
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    abatonfan wrote: »
    But wouldn't severe insulin deficiencies (as seen in type 1 diabetes and some cases of type 2 diabetes) trigger increased hunger? Insufficient insulin is produced, carbs cannot enter the cells and be utilized as energy (through glycolysis and the citric acid cycle), BG rises as the concentration of carbs in the blood stream increases, the kidneys begin to filter out those carbs through the urine, a calorie deficit may be created, and increased hunger may occur as the body is "starved".

    Mimicing your pancreas isn't fun. I'm having a joy trying to figure out how much additional insulin I need to cover a viral infection (was in the 200-250s all day yesterday because of it) -too little insulin, and I risk causing ketosis and subsequent ketoacidosis (which can be fatal if untreated), while I can die of hypoglycemia if I give too much insulin. Let's not forget that the extra stress of the viral infection can put unnecessary stress on the few beta cells that I do have left and could trigger another autoimmune attack on those cells.

    I am clueless on what they mean by "teaching your body to produce less insulin." Do they mean following the glycemic index in hopes of preventing huge phase 1 insulin spikes (If I'm remembering Bernstein's book correctly, normal people see two phases of insulin release)? Eating a keto lifestyle to minimize the amount of bolus insulin produced? Triggering an autoimmune attack on your beta cells so that you produce no insulin at all? :/

    I'm not pro low carb but I can answer your first question. The hunger signaling changes over a short period of days so no, one becomes used to the low carb. Plus despite what that some would have you believe there is an insulin response to protein and fat - the "overshoot" sensitivity tends to be lower (although protein can also spike insulin). In the low carb model there is relatively less need to have glucose enter cells since its low carbs .... BG doesn't spike.

    What does happen is that the presence of high fat diet has both an intracellular effect (including mTOR signaling - so some concern in muscular recovery)blocking INTRA cellular use with increased insulin response in the presence of carbs - so it's a bit opposite of what you assume. When carbs appear they are transported more efficiently but used less. High fat can be used for glycogen loading.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    eric2light wrote: »
    Anyone know anything about:
    author wrote:
    Always Hungry?: Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently by David Ludwig (Author)

    I like the idea that I can teach my body to produce less Insulin... anyone have experience with diets like this one or this one specifically?

    It's a pretty new book. I haven't read it yet but it's on my list. His credentials are good. I can't say I disagree with anything in this recent article on the topic.
    http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2015/12/16/dr-david-ludwig-clears-up-carbohydrate-confusion/
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
    abatonfan wrote: »
    But wouldn't severe insulin deficiencies (as seen in type 1 diabetes and some cases of type 2 diabetes) trigger increased hunger? Insufficient insulin is produced, carbs cannot enter the cells and be utilized as energy (through glycolysis and the citric acid cycle), BG rises as the concentration of carbs in the blood stream increases, the kidneys begin to filter out those carbs through the urine, a calorie deficit may be created, and increased hunger may occur as the body is "starved".

    Mimicing your pancreas isn't fun. I'm having a joy trying to figure out how much additional insulin I need to cover a viral infection (was in the 200-250s all day yesterday because of it) -too little insulin, and I risk causing ketosis and subsequent ketoacidosis (which can be fatal if untreated), while I can die of hypoglycemia if I give too much insulin. Let's not forget that the extra stress of the viral infection can put unnecessary stress on the few beta cells that I do have left and could trigger another autoimmune attack on those cells.

    I am clueless on what they mean by "teaching your body to produce less insulin." Do they mean following the glycemic index in hopes of preventing huge phase 1 insulin spikes (If I'm remembering Bernstein's book correctly, normal people see two phases of insulin release)? Eating a keto lifestyle to minimize the amount of bolus insulin produced? Triggering an autoimmune attack on your beta cells so that you produce no insulin at all? :/

    I'm not pro low carb but I can answer your first question. The hunger signaling changes over a short period of days so no, one becomes used to the low carb. Plus despite what that some would have you believe there is an insulin response to protein and fat - the "overshoot" sensitivity tends to be lower (although protein can also spike insulin). In the low carb model there is relatively less need to have glucose enter cells since its low carbs .... BG doesn't spike.

    What does happen is that the presence of high fat diet has both an intracellular effect (including mTOR signaling - so some concern in muscular recovery)blocking INTRA cellular use with increased insulin response in the presence of carbs - so it's a bit opposite of what you assume. When carbs appear they are transported more efficiently but used less. High fat can be used for glycogen loading.

    I'm not even sure how much evidence there is for hunger signaling based on insulin. It gets repeated - a lot - but there seem to be few studies:
    http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2016/01/always-hungry-its-probably-not-your.html
    There is no evidence that our appetites increase, and our energy level drops, because our fat cells are hoovering up fat from the bloodstream. You would think, with how often this is repeated, that there would be some kind of evidence that this process is actually happening in common obesity. Yet despite having read a number of works by Taubes and Ludwig, I haven't found anything more concrete than speculation and analogies. The concrete evidence I have encountered (#3 and 4 above) is at odds with the claim.
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
    senecarr wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Lol, the fat cells have one main purpose..........to store excess energy. You CAN'T retrain them NOT to do it. It's basically a low carb approach (nothing wrong with that if that's what someone likes) and just another sensational way to advertise it so he can compete with other authors on sales.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

    Na-uh. You can totally turn fat into muscle. Literally turn the fat cells into muscle cells, despite all current understanding of biological understanding of pluripotency (or lack there of in mature cells). You just have to eat 6+ small meals a day, working out with the wrong equipment for the exercise (muscle confusion), not eat carbs after 6 pm (EST, regardless of where you live, fat cells only know EST) except during a full moon, and burn carbs every 2 fortnights under the right portent in a small brazier with the words "insulin hypothesis" written on it as your spirit hormone, and you can do it. Guy at the gym told me, and he knows what he's doing - he's ripped, and I think he is a doctor or some kind of medic because he has a lot of syringes in his gym bag.

    Love it!!!! Hahahahaha
  • joan_richmond
    joan_richmond Posts: 1 Member
    There is a Facebook page for the Always Hungry? community. You can check that out and get some feedback from people trying it. It's an official site for Dr. Ludwig and his wife Dawn, who creates the recipes. They chime in sometimes to help people with questions, but the membership is really good at supporting each other and helping out. Just go to FB and search for it.
  • lauritalovemuffin
    lauritalovemuffin Posts: 1 Member
    I'm on phase 1, week 2 and so far, so good. The meals are very satisfying and healthy and i've found a tremendous boost in energy. I don't see a lot of gimmick here, its mostly just getting you used to plain old clean eating.
  • godlikepoetyes
    godlikepoetyes Posts: 442 Member
    Based on what I've read and seen recently, I am highly skeptical of any diet "advice" from ANY source that asks you to cut out entire groups or types of food. Or makes claims that you won't get hungry or you'll lose weight and keep it off with no problem. There is just no proven science to back up any of these claims. But if you have Type 2 diabetes or are pre-diabetic, getting to a comfortable, maintainable weight will do you a world of good. So will any type of movement that motivates you to get up and go and to keep on moving.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    I have tried to read the book, but it was too full of *kitten*. Some of his ideas have merit (focus on real, whole foods), but they drown in hype/pseudoscience.
  • rebkertesz
    rebkertesz Posts: 2 Member
    I've read the book. It is not pseudo science although it is written for the general public, not doctors or scientists. His work is similar to Robert Lustig's research on sugar and metabolism at UCSF medical school. Both argue that we consume too much sugar and refined carbohydrates and that the obesity epidemic parallels the low-fat/hi-carb diet guidelines first put out in the 1970's. My wife and I have been following the program for the past two and a half weeks. Put simply, you cut out alI added sugar... in everything. Which means you have to cook your food and prepare your own sauces. But the food is delicious and has gotten us out of our cooking rut, making the same things over and again. I've lost 11 pounds and my wife has lost eight as well as two inches off our waists. We're both 61 years old. It feels more like a different way to eat than a diet because I'm not very hungry following the recipes in the book.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    I train my fat cells at regular intervals. This week is endurance cheesecake.
This discussion has been closed.