Continued...
First a few definitions from the glossary of Lustig's book: "
Insulin - the hormone that tells the liver to store glycogen, the fat cells to store energy, and interferes with the leptin signal to increase food intake." "
Ghrelin - a hormone made by the stomach that conveys a signal of hunger to the hypothalamus." "
Peptide YY (PYY) - a hormone made by the small intestine, in response to food, that signals satiety to the hypothalamus." "
Cortisol - the stress hormone that acutely mobilizes sugar for use, but that chronically lays down visceral fat."
1. Get the insulin down--to reduce your body fat and improve leptin resistance.
My experience of the fastest way to do this on the low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) diet is to
eliminate sugar, eliminate or greatly limit grains, starchy vegetables, and legumes, and limit fruit. Not easily done,
but so incredibly freeing. After a few days of eliminating all of these foods, for the first time in my life, my hourly cravings for sugar and carbohydrates significantly lessened. Previously, for years and years, I'd thought about what I was going to eat next every 1 to 2 hours. It was awful.
Shifting from having something sweet after lunch and dinner was challenging. Two things helped greatly: Eating small amounts of dark chocolate with 70%, later 85%, cocoa after lunch and dinner, and later replacing the "sweet" ritual with the new ritual of having green tea after lunch, and a herbal, typically chamomile, or a decaffeinated tea after dinner solved the problem. (I later learned that green tea's effects on obesity and type 2 is being studied -
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3689013/ I'll explain why I think it was helpful in the PYY section.
Initially, I was still craving corn chips topped with melted cheddar cheese. At the time, I thought is was the grains I was craving, so I'd eat 4 corn chips with cheese a day as a survival tactic. Later I realized it was the salt. After I added adequate amounts of salt back into my diet, that craving disappeared. A few weeks into the diet, my body was still screaming for some type of sugary carbohydrate with fat, so I began allowing myself to have one gluten-free peanut butter cookie from the freezer after dinner every 1 to 3 days, but it spiked my blood glucose to much, so after two weeks or so, I gave up the cookies.
JJ Virgin also spoke about how she transitions her clients from being a "sugar burner" to a "fat burner". What she finds works best with her clients is adding something before taking away something.
During week one, she encourages her clients to begin tapering off sugar, and to begin increasing "clean, lean proteins" and "healthy fats". She has found that consuming protein, fat, and fiber - (I assume from whole foods such as non-starchy vegetables and nuts) - is what's needed to get off sugar. She explains that the protein increases the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, so we begin to feel better. Fats reduce inflammation (and I'll add here increase satiety). And fiber slows the blood glucose response. She adds, if you stop sugar suddenly, your "energy dies, your brain cries, and you have to reach for the sugar again."
During week two and three she has her clients eliminate all sources of sugar from their diet including fruit and berries, and I'm assuming all grains too, "to reawaken the taste buds". Clients report less gas and bloating, fatigue, brain fog, and moodiness, also improved ability to lose weight around the waist. She talks about one 64 year old woman who feared she was developing dementia due to her forgetfulness and inability to maintain focus throughout the day. During week two and three, her ability to focus was completely restored.
At the beginning of week four, she has her clients test "sweet foods" again. They're surprised by their heightened ability to taste foods now, and how sugary foods are now "too sweet". I still remember the first time I had a blueberry a month or so into the LCHF diet. I was no longer just tasting the sugar, I was now intensely experiencing
all its flavors. She talks about how sugar dulls our sense of taste. I found this to be true. I enjoy food so much more now.
Lustig states that the
"best way to reduce insulin release is to limit the exposure of the pancreas to the agent that drives insulin up, which is glucose." He recommends
"cutting back on refined carbohydrates"... "limiting your exposure to fat and carbohydrates together (this is why most popular diets work, see chapter 17)"... "reduce sugar consumption"... "remove sugared beverages from your house: soda, juice, Vitamin Water, all of it. Stick with water and milk."... "eat more fiber, which reduces flux to the liver and the insulin response (see chapter 12). Opt for brown foods: beans, lentils, whole grains, nuts, and other legumes. And eat the real stuff: the whole fruits and vegetables rather than their processed or juice derivatives. White food--bread, rice, pasta, potatoes--means the fiber is gone (or, in the case of potatoes, was never there in the first place. Finally, improving muscle insulin sensitivity is very simple--only exercise will do it, because once muscle fat is stored, the only way to get rid of it is to burn it off. Plus, exercise will burn off liver fat as well."
Lustig's recommendations are excellent, but in my opinion, do not go far enough for some type 2 diabetics like myself. At this time, I am too carbohydrate intolerant to eat some of the foods that he lists as okay: fruit, grains, legumes, milk, etc. He asks us to greatly reduce sugar intake, but I've had to eliminate it. This may change as I continue to lose weight and reduce my visceral fat, and reduce my insulin and leptin resistance. Time will tell.
I also was disappointed to learn last night that while Lustig believes the medical condition known as celiac disease is supported by science, he considers non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), which I have, a fad that will disappear in a few years. So he doesn't "walk on water" because he clearly has not read all of the research on the latter, but then, no one can keep up on all areas of research.
I'll post more tomorrow...
2. Get the ghrelin down--to reduce hunger.
3. Get the PYY up--to hasten satiety (the feeling of being full).
4. Get the cortisol down--to reduce perceived stress and hunger, and reduce deposition of energy into visceral fat."
