Obesity Journal study: It's not just CICO

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  • AuroraGeorge8393
    AuroraGeorge8393 Posts: 100 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    It would be interesting to compare the Biggest Loser folks' BMRs to those who lost similar amounts of weight using less extreme deficits. It says that one person had a daily goal deficit of 3500. How does his BMR compare to a person who lost using much more moderate (or even low) deficit and who took diet breaks, etc?

    I agree. It's not too surprising that creating a daily 3500 calorie deficit might damage someone's metabolism (and general health). The main question, for me, would be does someone on a more sensible - and slower - weight loss plan suffer the same effects.
  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
    edited June 2016
    jemhh wrote: »
    It would be interesting to compare the Biggest Loser folks' BMRs to those who lost similar amounts of weight using less extreme deficits. It says that one person had a daily goal deficit of 3500. How does his BMR compare to a person who lost using much more moderate (or even low) deficit and who took diet breaks, etc?

    I agree. It's not too surprising that creating a daily 3500 calorie deficit might damage someone's metabolism (and general health). The main question, for me, would be does someone on a more sensible - and slower - weight loss plan suffer the same effects.

    There's also been the issue raised in many articles critical of the study that the participants reduced their caloric intake and increased exercise while being monitored during the study. There was evidence in the data points for that. The study is absolutely useless.
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
    The study shows that their metabolism is PERMANENTLY altered.

    Sooooo, they were able to change their metabolism from where it was to something "damaged" but they can never change it again?

    Disagree.Metabolic rate is simply a measure of efficiency for one's body. There are certain generalities that are consistent for MOST everyone, which is where you get standard BMR calculations. You also know that a body responds to stimulus and changes over time to adapt, but not in really big ways unless there is a medical need. So damaged metabolisms just does not add up. The stress of losing weight too fast for a show might temporarily mess things up, but proper diet and exercise (if maintained) would level things out.

    Weird.

  • Crisseyda
    Crisseyda Posts: 532 Member
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    @amusedmonkey

    I think you might enjoy this article by Dr. Fung entitled, "The Carbohydrate Insulin Hypothesis is Wrong." It made me think of you and how you seemed so stuck on defending carbohydrates. I guess you've been exposed to this theory and found problems with it? Well, I wasn't talking about that theory; hence, my confusion as to why you kept simplifying the discussion... anyway... you might find you agree with him more than you initially thought.

    https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/carbohydrate-insulin-hypothesis-wrong-hormonal-obesity-vi/

    Yes, that was the theory I'm against but I also don't agree with his hypothesis. He is mixing cause and effect. Obese people are more likely to be insulin resistant due to obesity, not the other way around. When people lose weight, regardless of diet, they tend to become less insulin resistant. Case in point: from borderline diabetic to low average blood sugar values, and all it took was weight loss without much of a change in the amount or the type of carbohydrates I consume.

    You should read up on the. Obesity doesn't cause insulin resistance; insulin does. Researchers can infuse healthy people with physiologic levels of insulin and induce insulin resistance fairly quickly. Many many diabetics are not obese; they can even be thin! He has a great lecture on that on his intensive dietary management blog. Additionally, he heals his type 2 diabetics by reducing their insulin levels through diet and fasting regimen.
  • Crisseyda
    Crisseyda Posts: 532 Member
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    Also do you know why insulin "inhibits lipolysis"?
    Because if it's high it means you've just eaten and have plenty of energy available in your blood stream.
    Calories.

    @Stevencloser

    yeah, maybe--if you're healthy. Or maybe it's high because your cells are insulin resistant and you haven't actually eaten in hours.
    Science.
    If your theories get regularly shot down by others it should tell you something about yourself.

    Your statement actually tells me a whole lot more about you.

    And please don't give me so much credit, Steven! These are not my theories. I just read reliable evidence from doctors, nutritionists, and researchers--pioneers who have taken far more risks than I have. And I continue to learn more every day. I promise you, there are hundreds, maybe thousands more just like me, and we are growing. One day, you won't be able to keep up with squelching us, even on these forums.

    Another piece of science, insulin resistance means your cells don't respond to the insulin as well as they should which leads to more being produced to reach the desired effect, meaning the effcts of it get diminished. All effects.

    In other news, water is also wet.

    You didn't get the implication? Okay, I'll tell you.
    If the effects on the cells are diminished, so is the lipolysis inhibition. Meaning the higher resting insulin levels do absolutely nothing apart from being there.

    Where do you come up with this stuff? In that case insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes would not be a progressive disease. However, it is and does progress to the point of total beta cell destruction and the inability to make any insulin.
  • Crisseyda
    Crisseyda Posts: 532 Member
    @Stevencloser

    Sorry, your idea that all effects are inhibited seems pretty obvious to me. This would help explain why diabetics strangely have elevated blood levels of free fatty acids in the presence of elevated glucose. Since another role of insulin is to selectively stimulate lipoprotein lipase (an enzyme which hydrolyzes triglycerides in circulating lipoproteins) in fat tissue to uptake triglycerides (while also inhibiting in skeletal muscle). Inhibiting the effect and stopping it are 2 different things. But the idea that they cancel each other is nonsensical to me. The system is damaged system and backed up at all levels, and the result is disease.

    Additionally, as the disease of type 2 diabetes progresses, people may be resistant to gaining weight, but I wasn't aware of any end point for obesity... I mean, the human body can clearly keep filling up adipose tissue to the point of extreme morbid obesity as we see in certain cases more and more today (500+ lbs). Of course, if the pancreas does eventually becomes totally destroyed, these people would stop gaining weight, go into diabetic ketoacidosis, and if untreated, die.

    Did you have any evidence to support your conjecture?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    @Crisseyda that's exactly the point.

    The insulin hypothesis of obesity doesn't hold up well against scientific evidence and his overly simplistic explanations sound more like extrapolations, taking a basic mechanism and drawing unrelated conclusions from it that I don't find particularly pertinent.

    Low carb is not particularly any more or less muscle sparing than any other diet if you control for protein and I have yet to see any consistent evidence that people with higher carb intake/insulin are particularly more prone to gaining fat than those on a lower carb/with lower insulin.

    TBL contestants were most likely low carb, in addition to being effectively in a ketogenic state due to their 4-6 hours a day exercise routine which would leave anyone on a 800ish calorie diet in a ketogenic state, even if every single one of these calories came from carbs.

    Do you have any access to this evidence?

    Dr. Fung shares clear scientific evidence that calorie restricted diets lower BMR and that fasting does not. He then explains the science behind it, which you can find in any physiology textbook. Insulin does in fact inhibit lypolysis--known fact.

    http://itarget.com.br/newclients/sbgg.com.br/informativos/14-09-15/1.pdf
    KH wrote:
    This study demonstrated that, calorie for calorie, restriction of dietary fat led to greater body fat loss than restriction of dietary carbohydrate in adults with obesity. This occurred despite the fact that only the carbohydrate-restricted diet led to decreased insulin secretion and a substantial sustained increase in net fat oxidation compared to the baseline energy-balanced diet.

    In contrast to previous claims about a metabolic advantage of carbohydrate restriction for enhancing body fat loss (Ludwig and Friedman, 2014; Taubes, 2007, 2011; Westman et al., 2007), our data and model simulations support the opposite conclusion when comparing the RF and RC diets. Furthermore, we can definitively reject the claim that carbohydrate restriction is required for body fat loss (Taubes, 2011).


  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    @amusedmonkey

    I think you might enjoy this article by Dr. Fung entitled, "The Carbohydrate Insulin Hypothesis is Wrong." It made me think of you and how you seemed so stuck on defending carbohydrates. I guess you've been exposed to this theory and found problems with it? Well, I wasn't talking about that theory; hence, my confusion as to why you kept simplifying the discussion... anyway... you might find you agree with him more than you initially thought.

    https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/carbohydrate-insulin-hypothesis-wrong-hormonal-obesity-vi/

    Yes, that was the theory I'm against but I also don't agree with his hypothesis. He is mixing cause and effect. Obese people are more likely to be insulin resistant due to obesity, not the other way around. When people lose weight, regardless of diet, they tend to become less insulin resistant. Case in point: from borderline diabetic to low average blood sugar values, and all it took was weight loss without much of a change in the amount or the type of carbohydrates I consume.

    You should read up on the. Obesity doesn't cause insulin resistance; insulin does. Researchers can infuse healthy people with physiologic levels of insulin and induce insulin resistance fairly quickly. Many many diabetics are not obese; they can even be thin! He has a great lecture on that on his intensive dietary management blog. Additionally, he heals his type 2 diabetics by reducing their insulin levels through diet and fasting regimen.

    And many many obese people are not insulin resistance as demonstrated by the fact that 66% + of the US population is overweight or obese, but not all of them are diabetic.

    There are several hormones to cause the body to store fat... insulin is only one of them.
  • Crisseyda
    Crisseyda Posts: 532 Member
    edited June 2016
    psulemon wrote: »
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    @amusedmonkey

    I think you might enjoy this article by Dr. Fung entitled, "The Carbohydrate Insulin Hypothesis is Wrong." It made me think of you and how you seemed so stuck on defending carbohydrates. I guess you've been exposed to this theory and found problems with it? Well, I wasn't talking about that theory; hence, my confusion as to why you kept simplifying the discussion... anyway... you might find you agree with him more than you initially thought.

    https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/carbohydrate-insulin-hypothesis-wrong-hormonal-obesity-vi/

    Yes, that was the theory I'm against but I also don't agree with his hypothesis. He is mixing cause and effect. Obese people are more likely to be insulin resistant due to obesity, not the other way around. When people lose weight, regardless of diet, they tend to become less insulin resistant. Case in point: from borderline diabetic to low average blood sugar values, and all it took was weight loss without much of a change in the amount or the type of carbohydrates I consume.

    You should read up on the. Obesity doesn't cause insulin resistance; insulin does. Researchers can infuse healthy people with physiologic levels of insulin and induce insulin resistance fairly quickly. Many many diabetics are not obese; they can even be thin! He has a great lecture on that on his intensive dietary management blog. Additionally, he heals his type 2 diabetics by reducing their insulin levels through diet and fasting regimen.

    And many many obese people are not insulin resistance as demonstrated by the fact that 66% + of the US population is overweight or obese, but not all of them are diabetic.

    There are several hormones to cause the body to store fat... insulin is only one of them.

    @psulemon

    @amusedmonkey states: "Obese people are more likely to be insulin resistant due to obesity, not the other way around." Not true, many normal weight or even thin people are insulin resistant or type 2 diabetics. Obesity doesn't cause IR, insulin does. Here's Dr. Fung's lecture if you want to check it out:

    https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/insulin-toxicity-cure-type-2-diabetes/

    It's important to note that he is a practicing physician who treats type 2 diabetes, effectively reversing their disease (getting them off medication and exogenous insulin requirements) much faster than he reverses their obesity (because the obesity isn't what causes insulin resistance, it's elevated levels of insulin). The obesity takes longer if and when it disappears. He treats them with individualized fasting protocols and dietary management aimed at lowering insulin levels and allowing the cells to regain sensitivity.

    As far as the Kevin Hall Study you shared... yeah, I've seen it before.

    Let's clarify the blatant misinformation presented here. Important points are as follows:

    1. The Restricted carbohydrate (RC) and Restricted fat (RF) diets both led to weight loss, more weight was lost following the RC diet.
    2. Fat mass change as measured by DXA revealed significant changes from baseline, but did not detect a significant difference between RF and RC diets.
    3. This study lasted 2 weeks. There were 10 men and 9 women in the study.
    4. Carbohydrate restriction was only to an average of 140 grams/day--hardly a ketogenic diet.
    5. They calculated daily fat balance as the difference between fat intake and net fat oxidation (i.e., fat oxidation minus de novo lipogenesis) measured by indirect calorimetry while residing in a metabolic chamber--an invented (aka made up) parameter. This means numbers compared were (a) the fat intake from from RF group (7% of total calories) minus how much fat they oxidized (on a calorie deficient diet, of course they were oxidizing body fat) vs. (b) the fat intake from the RC group (49% of total calories--a much greater number) minus how much fat they oxidized--a difference that is accounted for more than 3 times in the intake.

    So in summary, the only conclusion this study supported was that if you eat a low fat calorie restricted diet, you burn more fat than you consume! We already knew that!!! This study does NOT support the hypothesis that a low fat diet results in greater total fat burning than a high fat/low carbohydrate diet.

    If you look at the hard data, the only statistically significant differences they found were - increased fat oxidation and increased weight loss in the high fat/low carb diet.

    They also found decreased insulin, decreased triglycerides, and elevated HDL with the carbohydrate restricted diet - all known benefits! In short, if you make up new parameters to show the numbers you want and ignore hard data, you can make a study say what you want it to say.
  • KetoneKaren
    KetoneKaren Posts: 6,412 Member
    edited June 2016
    Also do you know why insulin "inhibits lipolysis"?
    Because if it's high it means you've just eaten and have plenty of energy available in your blood stream.
    Calories.

    {First let me preface this by acknowledging that not all obese individuals are insulin resistant.}

    Or it means that the person has high baseline insulin levels because he/she is obese and genetically predisposed to insulin resistance, therefore one's cells are insulin-resistant, causing the pancreas to produce more insulin via a feedback mechanism having to do in part with serum glucose levels. You are aware, of course, that one's cells need glucose and/or ketones for energy, but unfortunately, cells that are resistent to glucose entry combined with higher baseline insulin levels inhibiting lipolysis (which produces ketones), make it significantly more difficult to lose fat weight, and causes a person to feel lethargic because of less available fuel inside the cells (ATP). When it's harder to lose weight, and there is a suboptimal amount of glucose getting into one's cells to provide energy to exercise and do other tasks, people become more obese and more lethargic. Overcoming insulin resistance can be hard work without medications like glucophage and others. An extremely low calorie medically supervised diet or a gastric bypass procedure will quickly reverse it in most people, but these are not first line options except in rare circumstances.
  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
    gothchiq wrote: »
    If we're going to throw in our personal data, let me contribute. I was prediabetic. I lost all my extra weight. I am still prediabetic. I eat the way the doctor tells me to (and got a second opinion from an endocrinologist just to be safe.) Still prediabetic and gain weight very easily. I have to track calories obsessively and if I don't work out I *still* gain. Yes I weigh my food. I only burn 1400 cal in a day (metabolic testing backs this up.) Always hungry and it sucks. This stuff is not as simple as many people would like to believe. Folks will say "well I had no problem.... why should you?" Well, goodness.... if I knew why I might be less frustrated with the whole thing. The doctors' opinion is just "Look, you're prediabetic and that's how it is. Get used to eating less." BLARGH!

    Pretty much I've seen that everyone acknowledges certain health conditions change part of the equation. No one is denying that.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    gothchiq wrote: »
    If you *do* have a condition, or you have similar issues in the absence of a diagnosis, I find that paying attention to the glycemic index of foods can be helpful when choosing your carbs. For example, basmati rice has a lower glycemic index than jasmine rice. So that's your starch for the meal, then your veggie should be nonstarchy. Add a lean protein. Weigh all these foods and log them. Complex carbohydrates have a lower glycemic index than simple ones and won't raise then crash your blood sugar if you eat the right portion of them. If you raise your blood sugar with a simple carb, then when it drops again, you feel hungry again, making you likelier to overeat (especially on more simple carbs.) Small protein snacks throughout the day help. A 50 calorie babybel cheese or part skim cheese stick, a boiled egg, a measured portion of peanuts or cashews. Not donuts, bagels, or stuff from the vending machine. I was directed to break down meals into several small ones rather than 3 larger ones and to never eat a carb without a protein paired with it. However you can eat a protein on its own. This strategy paired with calorie counting should be able to help at least some of the others who are struggling. It requires a lot of planning ahead and strategic grocery shopping.

    Thanks. Right now my wife isnt ready to calorie counting so we have been making dietary changes to address satiety and other factors. She has to be low carb and gluten free based on the research from the Mayo Clinic. So we have increased veggies, concentrated on low GI fruits, lean proteins, more fish, nuts/legumes, full fat or non fat added dairy and limit staches (only yams) to once a week. Additionally added exercise that is suitable for her. I created my own plan based on compound movements and a basic upper/lower split.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,213 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    gothchiq wrote: »
    If you *do* have a condition, or you have similar issues in the absence of a diagnosis, I find that paying attention to the glycemic index of foods can be helpful when choosing your carbs. For example, basmati rice has a lower glycemic index than jasmine rice. So that's your starch for the meal, then your veggie should be nonstarchy. Add a lean protein. Weigh all these foods and log them. Complex carbohydrates have a lower glycemic index than simple ones and won't raise then crash your blood sugar if you eat the right portion of them. If you raise your blood sugar with a simple carb, then when it drops again, you feel hungry again, making you likelier to overeat (especially on more simple carbs.) Small protein snacks throughout the day help. A 50 calorie babybel cheese or part skim cheese stick, a boiled egg, a measured portion of peanuts or cashews. Not donuts, bagels, or stuff from the vending machine. I was directed to break down meals into several small ones rather than 3 larger ones and to never eat a carb without a protein paired with it. However you can eat a protein on its own. This strategy paired with calorie counting should be able to help at least some of the others who are struggling. It requires a lot of planning ahead and strategic grocery shopping.

    Thanks. Right now my wife isnt ready to calorie counting so we have been making dietary changes to address satiety and other factors. She has to be low carb and gluten free based on the research from the Mayo Clinic. So we have increased veggies, concentrated on low GI fruits, lean proteins, more fish, nuts/legumes, full fat or non fat added dairy and limit staches (only yams) to once a week. Additionally added exercise that is suitable for her. I created my own plan based on compound movements and a basic upper/lower split.

    This is the same wife that just had a baby right? How is she doing?

  • missh1967
    missh1967 Posts: 661 Member
    gothchiq wrote: »
    If we're going to throw in our personal data, let me contribute. I was prediabetic. I lost all my extra weight. I am still prediabetic. I eat the way the doctor tells me to (and got a second opinion from an endocrinologist just to be safe.) Still prediabetic and gain weight very easily. I have to track calories obsessively and if I don't work out I *still* gain. Yes I weigh my food. I only burn 1400 cal in a day (metabolic testing backs this up.) Always hungry and it sucks. This stuff is not as simple as many people would like to believe. Folks will say "well I had no problem.... why should you?" Well, goodness.... if I knew why I might be less frustrated with the whole thing. The doctors' opinion is just "Look, you're prediabetic and that's how it is. Get used to eating less." BLARGH!
    @gothchiq Yes! The CO part is the part that so many people just glide past if they have nice revved up metabolisms. CICO is a simple concept, but not easy for everyone to nail down. I am pretty sure that today I am not burning as many calories because I am sleep deprived and I feel that slight headachey hung over feeling that means I needed more sleep than I got last night. I am insulin resistant, as you are. Certain foods I am slightly allergic to, like mushrooms, slow me down (inflammation effect?). Anyway, I completely agree with what you said. There is a tendency to think that those of us who have a more difficult time are not being honest with our logging, or some such nonsense. It's so condescending. I am going to start lifting heavy to build muscle mass to counteract some of my problem. We have to be proactive! Go forward with a fierce heart!

    Yes! In a nutshell, I believe all of this comes down to genetics. I think genetics play(s) a ginormous role in how our bodies respond to being over fat.

    When I was 65 pounds too heavy, you know what it got me? It didn't get me anywhere near diabetes or even prediabetes. What it got me was gall stones (and incredible pain with over eating and too much fat in the diet), jacked up liver enzymes, and a fatty liver (thankfully reversible with 65 pounds gone). I'm not genetically predisposed to diabetes. Not a single person in my family has it.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    gothchiq wrote: »
    If you *do* have a condition, or you have similar issues in the absence of a diagnosis, I find that paying attention to the glycemic index of foods can be helpful when choosing your carbs. For example, basmati rice has a lower glycemic index than jasmine rice. So that's your starch for the meal, then your veggie should be nonstarchy. Add a lean protein. Weigh all these foods and log them. Complex carbohydrates have a lower glycemic index than simple ones and won't raise then crash your blood sugar if you eat the right portion of them. If you raise your blood sugar with a simple carb, then when it drops again, you feel hungry again, making you likelier to overeat (especially on more simple carbs.) Small protein snacks throughout the day help. A 50 calorie babybel cheese or part skim cheese stick, a boiled egg, a measured portion of peanuts or cashews. Not donuts, bagels, or stuff from the vending machine. I was directed to break down meals into several small ones rather than 3 larger ones and to never eat a carb without a protein paired with it. However you can eat a protein on its own. This strategy paired with calorie counting should be able to help at least some of the others who are struggling. It requires a lot of planning ahead and strategic grocery shopping.

    I have found eating lower glycemic foods, high fiber veggies, and combining proteins with starches to be helpful also.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    psulemon wrote: »
    gothchiq wrote: »
    If you *do* have a condition, or you have similar issues in the absence of a diagnosis, I find that paying attention to the glycemic index of foods can be helpful when choosing your carbs. For example, basmati rice has a lower glycemic index than jasmine rice. So that's your starch for the meal, then your veggie should be nonstarchy. Add a lean protein. Weigh all these foods and log them. Complex carbohydrates have a lower glycemic index than simple ones and won't raise then crash your blood sugar if you eat the right portion of them. If you raise your blood sugar with a simple carb, then when it drops again, you feel hungry again, making you likelier to overeat (especially on more simple carbs.) Small protein snacks throughout the day help. A 50 calorie babybel cheese or part skim cheese stick, a boiled egg, a measured portion of peanuts or cashews. Not donuts, bagels, or stuff from the vending machine. I was directed to break down meals into several small ones rather than 3 larger ones and to never eat a carb without a protein paired with it. However you can eat a protein on its own. This strategy paired with calorie counting should be able to help at least some of the others who are struggling. It requires a lot of planning ahead and strategic grocery shopping.

    Thanks. Right now my wife isnt ready to calorie counting so we have been making dietary changes to address satiety and other factors. She has to be low carb and gluten free based on the research from the Mayo Clinic. So we have increased veggies, concentrated on low GI fruits, lean proteins, more fish, nuts/legumes, full fat or non fat added dairy and limit staches (only yams) to once a week. Additionally added exercise that is suitable for her. I created my own plan based on compound movements and a basic upper/lower split.

    This is the same wife that just had a baby right? How is she doing?

    Yes, 7 months ago. Since there she has had her appendix out and we are working on getting her medications and condition under control.
  • Crisseyda
    Crisseyda Posts: 532 Member
    edited June 2016
    psulemon wrote: »
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    psulemon wrote: »
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    @amusedmonkey

    I think you might enjoy this article by Dr. Fung entitled, "The Carbohydrate Insulin Hypothesis is Wrong." It made me think of you and how you seemed so stuck on defending carbohydrates. I guess you've been exposed to this theory and found problems with it? Well, I wasn't talking about that theory; hence, my confusion as to why you kept simplifying the discussion... anyway... you might find you agree with him more than you initially thought.

    https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/carbohydrate-insulin-hypothesis-wrong-hormonal-obesity-vi/

    Yes, that was the theory I'm against but I also don't agree with his hypothesis. He is mixing cause and effect. Obese people are more likely to be insulin resistant due to obesity, not the other way around. When people lose weight, regardless of diet, they tend to become less insulin resistant. Case in point: from borderline diabetic to low average blood sugar values, and all it took was weight loss without much of a change in the amount or the type of carbohydrates I consume.

    You should read up on the. Obesity doesn't cause insulin resistance; insulin does. Researchers can infuse healthy people with physiologic levels of insulin and induce insulin resistance fairly quickly. Many many diabetics are not obese; they can even be thin! He has a great lecture on that on his intensive dietary management blog. Additionally, he heals his type 2 diabetics by reducing their insulin levels through diet and fasting regimen.

    And many many obese people are not insulin resistance as demonstrated by the fact that 66% + of the US population is overweight or obese, but not all of them are diabetic.

    There are several hormones to cause the body to store fat... insulin is only one of them.

    @psulemon

    @amusedmonkey states: "Obese people are more likely to be insulin resistant due to obesity, not the other way around." Not true, many normal weight or even thin people are insulin resistant or type 2 diabetics. Obesity doesn't cause IR, insulin does. Here's Dr. Fung's lecture if you want to check it out:

    https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/insulin-toxicity-cure-type-2-diabetes/

    It's important to note that he is a practicing physician who treats type 2 diabetes, effectively reversing their disease (getting them off medication and exogenous insulin requirements) much faster than he reverses their obesity (because the obesity isn't what causes insulin resistance, it's elevated levels of insulin). The obesity takes longer if and when it disappears. He treats them with individualized fasting protocols and dietary management aimed at lowering insulin levels and allowing the cells to regain sensitivity.

    As far as the Kevin Hall Study you shared... yeah, I've seen it before.

    Let's clarify the blatant misinformation presented here. Important points are as follows:

    1. The Restricted carbohydrate (RC) and Restricted fat (RF) diets both led to weight loss, more weight was lost following the RC diet.
    2. Fat mass change as measured by DXA revealed significant changes from baseline, but did not detect a significant difference between RF and RC diets.
    3. This study lasted 2 weeks. There were 10 men and 9 women in the study.
    4. Carbohydrate restriction was only to an average of 140 grams/day--hardly a ketogenic diet.
    5. They calculated daily fat balance as the difference between fat intake and net fat oxidation (i.e., fat oxidation minus de novo lipogenesis) measured by indirect calorimetry while residing in a metabolic chamber--an invented (aka made up) parameter. This means numbers compared were (a) the fat intake from from RF group (7% of total calories) minus how much fat they oxidized (on a calorie deficient diet, of course they were oxidizing body fat) vs. (b) the fat intake from the RC group (49% of total calories--a much greater number) minus how much fat they oxidized--a difference that is accounted for more than 3 times in the intake.

    So in summary, the only conclusion this study supported was that if you eat a low fat calorie restricted diet, you burn more fat than you consume! We already knew that!!! This study does NOT support the hypothesis that a low fat diet results in greater total fat burning than a high fat/low carbohydrate diet.

    If you look at the hard data, the only statistically significant differences they found were - increased fat oxidation and increased weight loss in the high fat/low carb diet.

    They also found decreased insulin, decreased triglycerides, and elevated HDL with the carbohydrate restricted diet - all known benefits! In short, if you make up new parameters to show the numbers you want and ignore hard data, you can make a study say what you want it to say.

    The study supported that the insulin hypothesis is junk as touted be Gary Taubes and others. The fact that you dont have to restrict carbs to lose fat, is a clear indication of that. Additionally, while the RC group lost more weight, due to glycogen depletion, FFM was greater in the low fat group. The purpose of me linking this wasn't to discuss which was better, but rather dispell your constant insinuation that all things come down to insulin because a subset of people have issues with it, like diabetics.

    You are touting Dr. Fungs hypotheses like they are supported by the rest of the community. If insulin caused obesity and cause diabetes, than almost every Asian person would have it. The blue zones are the healthiest and longest living place on earth and yet, they all dont it. If you look at the rest of the community, there still isn't enough conclusive evidences to know what causes insulin. The NIH would allude to the fact that obesity (particularly belly fat) is one cause. Other causes would be physcial inactivity, other medical conditions, steroid use, some medications, older age, sleep problems, especially sleep apnea, and cigarette smoking.

    Regarding your first point, you ignored the fact that they had greater fat oxidation, not the ridiculous "net fat oxidation." Of course, FFM was greater in RF since it includes extracellular fluids, which we all know drop on a low carb diet. The study was a miniscule 2 weeks, and the DEXA showed no significant difference between either diet. And let's be honest too about the diets: the RF diet was too low to be considered healthy, normal, or attainable by anyone in real life (7%) and the RC was way too high to be a ketogenic diet (140 g). Again, all the study proves is what I stated: if you eat a low fat calorie restricted diet, you burn more fat than you consume. Ground-breaking.

    Regarding your Asian comment. It's already been addressed in this thread. We're are not talking about the carbohysrate-insulin hypothesis--we are not talking about Taubes either. Dr. Fung does a good job explaining why that is an incomplete and inaccurate picture: https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/carbohydrate-insulin-hypothesis-wrong-hormonal-obesity-vi/

    I disagree with you that I'm touting anything like anyone agrees or disgrees. I'm just sharing evidence. It means little to me what everyone else believes. I'm well aware that following mainstream nutritional advice would be very different from following Dr. Fung's. That's a shame. Actually, it's more than a shame when you understand the players involved and why change is not happening. You said yourself, "there still isn't enough conclusive evidences to know what causes insulin." I assume you mean insulin secretion or resistance? Bottom line is, even you acknowledge that insulin plays an very important role in weight gain and weight loss. And that's what Dr. Fung tries to tease out. What drives insulin secretion? Yes, we all know sugar and refined carbs... also steroids, certian medications (like seroquel or other antidepressants), cortisol (stress hormones), snacking between meals and through the day, artificial sweetners, the list goes on. The point is: controlling insulin is a HUGE component to controlling weight. @psulemon
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    psulemon wrote: »
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    psulemon wrote: »
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    Crisseyda wrote: »
    @amusedmonkey

    I think you might enjoy this article by Dr. Fung entitled, "The Carbohydrate Insulin Hypothesis is Wrong." It made me think of you and how you seemed so stuck on defending carbohydrates. I guess you've been exposed to this theory and found problems with it? Well, I wasn't talking about that theory; hence, my confusion as to why you kept simplifying the discussion... anyway... you might find you agree with him more than you initially thought.

    https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/carbohydrate-insulin-hypothesis-wrong-hormonal-obesity-vi/

    Yes, that was the theory I'm against but I also don't agree with his hypothesis. He is mixing cause and effect. Obese people are more likely to be insulin resistant due to obesity, not the other way around. When people lose weight, regardless of diet, they tend to become less insulin resistant. Case in point: from borderline diabetic to low average blood sugar values, and all it took was weight loss without much of a change in the amount or the type of carbohydrates I consume.

    You should read up on the. Obesity doesn't cause insulin resistance; insulin does. Researchers can infuse healthy people with physiologic levels of insulin and induce insulin resistance fairly quickly. Many many diabetics are not obese; they can even be thin! He has a great lecture on that on his intensive dietary management blog. Additionally, he heals his type 2 diabetics by reducing their insulin levels through diet and fasting regimen.

    And many many obese people are not insulin resistance as demonstrated by the fact that 66% + of the US population is overweight or obese, but not all of them are diabetic.

    There are several hormones to cause the body to store fat... insulin is only one of them.

    @psulemon

    @amusedmonkey states: "Obese people are more likely to be insulin resistant due to obesity, not the other way around." Not true, many normal weight or even thin people are insulin resistant or type 2 diabetics. Obesity doesn't cause IR, insulin does. Here's Dr. Fung's lecture if you want to check it out:

    https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/insulin-toxicity-cure-type-2-diabetes/

    It's important to note that he is a practicing physician who treats type 2 diabetes, effectively reversing their disease (getting them off medication and exogenous insulin requirements) much faster than he reverses their obesity (because the obesity isn't what causes insulin resistance, it's elevated levels of insulin). The obesity takes longer if and when it disappears. He treats them with individualized fasting protocols and dietary management aimed at lowering insulin levels and allowing the cells to regain sensitivity.

    As far as the Kevin Hall Study you shared... yeah, I've seen it before.

    Let's clarify the blatant misinformation presented here. Important points are as follows:

    1. The Restricted carbohydrate (RC) and Restricted fat (RF) diets both led to weight loss, more weight was lost following the RC diet.
    2. Fat mass change as measured by DXA revealed significant changes from baseline, but did not detect a significant difference between RF and RC diets.
    3. This study lasted 2 weeks. There were 10 men and 9 women in the study.
    4. Carbohydrate restriction was only to an average of 140 grams/day--hardly a ketogenic diet.
    5. They calculated daily fat balance as the difference between fat intake and net fat oxidation (i.e., fat oxidation minus de novo lipogenesis) measured by indirect calorimetry while residing in a metabolic chamber--an invented (aka made up) parameter. This means numbers compared were (a) the fat intake from from RF group (7% of total calories) minus how much fat they oxidized (on a calorie deficient diet, of course they were oxidizing body fat) vs. (b) the fat intake from the RC group (49% of total calories--a much greater number) minus how much fat they oxidized--a difference that is accounted for more than 3 times in the intake.

    So in summary, the only conclusion this study supported was that if you eat a low fat calorie restricted diet, you burn more fat than you consume! We already knew that!!! This study does NOT support the hypothesis that a low fat diet results in greater total fat burning than a high fat/low carbohydrate diet.

    If you look at the hard data, the only statistically significant differences they found were - increased fat oxidation and increased weight loss in the high fat/low carb diet.

    They also found decreased insulin, decreased triglycerides, and elevated HDL with the carbohydrate restricted diet - all known benefits! In short, if you make up new parameters to show the numbers you want and ignore hard data, you can make a study say what you want it to say.

    The study supported that the insulin hypothesis is junk as touted be Gary Taubes and others. The fact that you dont have to restrict carbs to lose fat, is a clear indication of that. Additionally, while the RC group lost more weight, due to glycogen depletion, FFM was greater in the low fat group. The purpose of me linking this wasn't to discuss which was better, but rather dispell your constant insinuation that all things come down to insulin because a subset of people have issues with it, like diabetics.

    You are touting Dr. Fungs hypotheses like they are supported by the rest of the community. If insulin caused obesity and cause diabetes, than almost every Asian person would have it. The blue zones are the healthiest and longest living place on earth and yet, they all dont it. If you look at the rest of the community, there still isn't enough conclusive evidences to know what causes insulin. The NIH would allude to the fact that obesity (particularly belly fat) is one cause. Other causes would be physcial inactivity, other medical conditions, steroid use, some medications, older age, sleep problems, especially sleep apnea, and cigarette smoking.

    Regarding your first point, you ignored the fact that they had greater fat oxidation, not the ridiculous "net fat oxidation." Of course, FFM was greater in RF since it includes extracellular fluids, which we all know drop on a low carb diet. The study was a miniscule 2 weeks, and the DEXA showed no significant difference between either diet. And let's be honest too about the diets: the RF diet was too low to be considered healthy, normal, or attainable by anyone in real life (7%) and the RC was way too high to be a ketogenic diet (140 g). Again, all the study proves is what I stated: if you eat a low fat calorie restricted diet, you burn more fat than you consume. Ground-breaking.

    Regarding your Asian comment. It's already been addressed in this thread. We're are not talking about the carbohysrate-insulin hypothesis--we are not talking about Taubes either. Dr. Fung does a good job explaining why that is an incomplete and inaccurate picture: https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/carbohydrate-insulin-hypothesis-wrong-hormonal-obesity-vi/

    I disagree with you that I'm touting anything like anyone agrees or disgrees. I'm just sharing evidence. It means little to me what everyone else believes. I'm well aware that following mainstream nutritional advice would be very different from following Dr. Fung's. That's a shame. Actually, it's more than a shame when you understand the players involved and why change is not happening. You said yourself, "there still isn't enough conclusive evidences to know what causes insulin." I assume you mean insulin secretion or resistance? Bottom line is, even you acknowledge that insulin plays an very important role in weight gain and weight loss. And that's what Dr. Fung tries to tease out. What drives insulin secretion? Yes, we all know sugar and refined carbs... also steroids, certian medications (like seroquel or other antidepressants), cortisol (stress hormones), snacking between meals and through the day, artificial sweetners, the list goes on. The point is: controlling insulin is a HUGE component to controlling weight. @psulemon

    To clarify the bold, it was insulin resistance. It was a quote from the NIH. I would also like to point out, that you are sharing observation, rather than evidence by a research organization. I dont know that this guys is qualify to treat his patients because they all pretty much share the same subset of metabolic issues. In those cases, specific dietary restrictions have been noted for years. It's not rocket science that people with diabetes need to moderate their carbs... The issue I have is he completely disregards calories as a function of weight loss for anyone. Essentially, he doesn't believe in the law of thermodynamics, which is an issue. Because if calories weren't an issue, then those on low carb or keto diets wouldn't be able to gain weight or muscle? Or lose or spare what they wanted. He also doesn't address any other of the weight gain hormones. i

    I recognize the calories are the driver of weight loss and gain. I do also recognize the hormones (not just insulin) can affect ones ability to lose weight, not because it would disprove CICO, but rather it can alter components of the equation. PCOS has some likes to reduction in resting metabolic rate, which would also affect non exercise activity thermogenesis (more efficient metabolic rate, means less calories burned doing daily activities). This in turn would lower your TDEE and make it more difficult to lose weight. And while I cannot confirm why that happens, since I haven't researched too much, but I would suspect that a person would have longer periods of lipogenesis from elevated BG or insulin, which in turn would reduce times in lipolysis. Having said that, i do recognize, that for as much as we do know, things will change over the years. My general problem these conversations is throwing out mainstream data just because its mainstream.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    Also do you know why insulin "inhibits lipolysis"?
    Because if it's high it means you've just eaten and have plenty of energy available in your blood stream.
    Calories.

    {First let me preface this by acknowledging that not all obese individuals are insulin resistant.}

    Or it means that the person has high baseline insulin levels because he/she is obese and genetically predisposed to insulin resistance, therefore one's cells are insulin-resistant, causing the pancreas to produce more insulin via a feedback mechanism having to do in part with serum glucose levels. You are aware, of course, that one's cells need glucose and/or ketones for energy, but unfortunately, cells that are resistent to glucose entry combined with higher baseline insulin levels inhibiting lipolysis (which produces ketones), make it significantly more difficult to lose fat weight, and causes a person to feel lethargic because of less available fuel inside the cells (ATP). When it's harder to lose weight, and there is a suboptimal amount of glucose getting into one's cells to provide energy to exercise and do other tasks, people become more obese and more lethargic. Overcoming insulin resistance can be hard work without medications like glucophage and others. An extremely low calorie medically supervised diet or a gastric bypass procedure will quickly reverse it in most people, but these are not first line options except in rare circumstances.

    I already talked about that above. Insulin resistance means your body needs more insulin to do the same job, that goes for every single of its effects on cells, including the nebulous lipolysis inhibition. It is not selective that the lipolysis inhibition stays at full throttle while the glucose going in your cells doesn't, that's not how it works when your body is resistant to it.
    And since when does HIGH insulin levels produce ketones?
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    psulemon wrote: »
    gothchiq wrote: »
    If you *do* have a condition, or you have similar issues in the absence of a diagnosis, I find that paying attention to the glycemic index of foods can be helpful when choosing your carbs. For example, basmati rice has a lower glycemic index than jasmine rice. So that's your starch for the meal, then your veggie should be nonstarchy. Add a lean protein. Weigh all these foods and log them. Complex carbohydrates have a lower glycemic index than simple ones and won't raise then crash your blood sugar if you eat the right portion of them. If you raise your blood sugar with a simple carb, then when it drops again, you feel hungry again, making you likelier to overeat (especially on more simple carbs.) Small protein snacks throughout the day help. A 50 calorie babybel cheese or part skim cheese stick, a boiled egg, a measured portion of peanuts or cashews. Not donuts, bagels, or stuff from the vending machine. I was directed to break down meals into several small ones rather than 3 larger ones and to never eat a carb without a protein paired with it. However you can eat a protein on its own. This strategy paired with calorie counting should be able to help at least some of the others who are struggling. It requires a lot of planning ahead and strategic grocery shopping.

    Thanks. Right now my wife isnt ready to calorie counting so we have been making dietary changes to address satiety and other factors. She has to be low carb and gluten free based on the research from the Mayo Clinic. So we have increased veggies, concentrated on low GI fruits, lean proteins, more fish, nuts/legumes, full fat or non fat added dairy and limit staches (only yams) to once a week. Additionally added exercise that is suitable for her. I created my own plan based on compound movements and a basic upper/lower split.

    This is the same wife that just had a baby right? How is she doing?

    Yes, 7 months ago. Since there she has had her appendix out and we are working on getting her medications and condition under control.

    Well, she's had a busy year. Hopefully the doctors can get everything straightened out!

    And hope the little one is doing well. :)
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