My personal hypothesis - T2 - Low insulin Diet

Day 12 of the Low Insulin Diet (starting weight 91.6 kg, current 84.2 kg )
Waist size 86.5 cm (starting 94 cm)
A new low today ! 0.6 kg down.

Average glucose yesterday 5.4 Overnight average glucose 5.4
Morning ketonix 4.9 pm

Two charts form the talk I posted above. These show that Omega 6 - which Gary terms " inflammatory oils " have increased dramatically since 1961,. Autopsies have shown that there has been a trebling of body fat content from 8% to 25% of human body fat.

Human breast milk shows that Omega 3 oils have remained stable in human breast milk, but Omega 6 has increased dramatically

Inflammation and hyperinsulinaemia are connected to most diseases.

Historically we were closer to 1:1 in terms of consumption of Omega 3 to Omega 6, Omega 3 neutralises the Omega 6 in food intake.

I guess the question then becomes can you then get rid of the historic build up of Omega 6 by over consuming Omega 3? even if you can given that most of us have been consuming ratios of upto 30:1 for years, then it must be a long time before you can make the switch at a similar body weight.

It will be interesting to see if one can have omega 6 levels tested in live populations.

It would be fascinating to find out what the body fat composition of the metabolically obese 44MI 5.4 IuI/ml fasting insulin people was.

It would also be fascinating to find out if the various different means of weight reduction result in different types of fat loss in the human body.

zand said:

Cherry thanks for starting this thread. I am sure there is something in this for me, but I don't have the time or energy to start looking into it right now. I will read it from start to finish when life slows down a little and I'll start my own experiment using some of your ideas.

Click to expand...

Well if you only have time to take away one thing, for me that one thing would be
take a teaspoon of cod liver oil every day !

https://chriskresser.com/how-too-much-omega-6-and-not-enough-omega-3-is-making-us-sick/

A great explanation of the om 6 vs om 3 issue with links to the research .

Kentoldlady1 said:

Hello cherry. Interested in your idea about fruit. I have already decided to do this, even tho I dont eatmuch fruit these days anyway. Having given a lot of thought to my families pre war diet, when we apparently didnt seem to die of diabetes type illness but still had some very hefty women, I have decided to have a " seasonal" diet.
I think fruit is a big player in continuing obesity levels, particularly among children. At my grandsons nursery bananas, apricots , oranges etc are all available at lunch. Hardly ever an apple or pear. Apparently the children prefer bananas. However, it also seems to encourage an even bigger love of sweet things. And they can have them all year round. I can see my ideas are heresy in the mum world, so I never talk about it !!! I dont think the message " dont give your children too much fruit" would go down very well.

I will still stay lchf but eat whats around. Also limit eating to one biggish meal, a cooked breakfast ( not every day) and far more physical activity. No snacks. Nothing radical at all. Just old fashioned.

Click to expand...

Hi @Kentoldlady1


Yes I agree, to be honest what I'm saying really isn't all the different from a good old fashioned way of life! -
real foods and no snacking. The difference for me is that am finally beginning to figure out for myself why and I finally understand why "cheating" isn't getting away with something its just sending me to either an earlier grave or to a hospital - its amazing how powerful that can be!

This summer I picked about 2 kilos of wild blackberries from the hedgerows. I was astonished they were still there given it was near a big housing estate. People have become so disconnected from food overall. I had a couple of people say to me .. " is that really edible?" before turning down the opportunity to try it.

Bit of an emotional moment for me today. I caught a flight. For the very first time I can ever remember I had to tighten the seat belt because the previous occupant had been bigger than me.

A year ago I caught another flight. I spent the entire flight with the seat belt held tightly in my hand to make it look like it was closed, preferring to die in the event of sudden turbulence than admit to the air steward that I needed an extension.

All the advice available here, hearing about other's successes, has made a huge contribution to me getting to that stage.

I've still got a couple of kilos to go before I'm no longer obese and for the very first time I feel like that might actually happen.

Thank you @Diabetes.co.uk and thank you all that put up with my incessant questions in getting to grips with this.

I am 59 years old, retired with no kids , I realised this weekend that I am going to spend the rest of my life trying to get the messages out there that can help others to tread a similar path .

On a practical front, the very idea that I would break today's fast with the sweet or savoury treat offered was quite simply laughable.

Chook said:

@CherryAA

Thanks for keeping this diary of what you are doing - I have been re-reading this thread again - and making notes this time as I am looking for a follow on to my current 800 cal Newcastle Diet (I'm in week 9). My ND has morphed in to a one meal a day diet (early dinner) and I'm happy with that which is why your low insulin hypothesis diet rings a loud bell with me.

I have tried to note down all the important bits - could you tell me if I've got it right/wrong or add in anything that I've missed out.

• One meal a day
• 1300 to 1600 calories
• Below 40g carbs
• Fats - more than 60%
• Protein - 60-80g
• Omegas - Omega 3 to balance Omega 6
• 1 teaspoon cod liver oil and 1 teaspoon (tablespoon?) apple cider vinegar before meal

Will Omega 3 capsules do in place of the cod liver oil - as I've already got a lot of them?

TIA

Click to expand...

That pretty much sums it up. ( I use 10 g codliver, 10g vinegar) I have some omega 3 capsules and some krill oil capsules I am thinking of adding one of them each day as well

My only reservation about using the capsules is that when I was a kid, my granny used to continually exhort the entire family to drink a tablespoon of cod liver oil a day. It was a standing joke which we generally ignored and the stuff is truly disgusting. Practically all of my grannies advice turns out to have been spot on. I think I should probably take the stuff as penance for not listening to her !

As a matter of interest an Eastern European friend of mine regularly eats actual cod livers. It had never occurred to me they existed as an actual food form that real people ate !. Available in Polish and Latvian food shops I'm told. picture below

There are two things I'm still actively pondering (though no doubt there will be others )
a) Is it enough to just lose weight to get the Omega 6 and its inflammation down, or do I actively need to try to redress the balance by having even more Omega 3 than just balancing each day's intake to try to redress all those years of guzzling the stuff that created its increase from 8% to 25% of body fat on average and the own inflammation markers in my body - which are still there albeit much reduced after one year on LCHF
b) should I be actively also switching things up to add a couple of very low calorie days in every few days - eg 800 - which is hard) and conversely should I do the same the other way now and again ( e.g. 2400 - which is easy) . I strongly suspect that the latter might happen willy nilly ( Indian meal out planned shortly)

Goonergal said:

I know exactly what you mean - happened to me in the summer, had several inches to spare on the seat belt!

Click to expand...

I even took a photo! not too sure what the guy sitting next to me thought

CoastGirl said:

@CherryAA, all your threads and this one in particular have taught me loads and inspire me to keep plugging away ...... thank you!

Click to expand...

aww thanks - if there is anything at all I can do to help anyone make progress then that's lovely . Nil desperandum as they say

Mr_Pot said:

Do you mean that you used to consume a lot of Omega 6? If so, in what form was that Omega 6 consumed?

Click to expand...

The problem with balancing Omega 3 and Omega 6 - which appears to be generally accepted as a good thing, is intensely difficult in today's environment unless one is very deliberately trying to do so.

Take for example - a 1950 calorie day comprising cereal and skimmed milk plus orange juice, lunch a cheeseburger no chips, dinner 2 sausages, chips , peas tomato ketchup and 2 slices of bread and butter , no dessert , small tin of pringles in the evening.

That day will deliver 0.7 g of Om 3 and 17.3 g of omega 6 - a ratio of 24;1. it is generally considered that a ratio of about 30:1 is what happens in a standard day of an average person eating a standard but not excessive western diet

Then take for example - someone such as me converting to LCHF, eating real foods with a great deal of variety, no particular cheats, no processed rubbish. just the occasional day when they got a bit carried away in volume terms .

That describes me over the last 12 months which delivered a weight loss of 24kg on LCHF . It also delivered a diet of around 1450 calories, a bit less in the early months when I did lose weight and a bit more latterly when I didn't ( unsurprisingly) .
I was deliberately trying to eat healthily acheiving 96% of nutrients overall. On average that delivered 2.7g om 3 and 12.0 om 6 a ratio of 4:1. I thought that was entirely acceptable and 5:1 is often mentioned as a good "goal " .

I did a lot of research trying to find out what must be wrong with my diet ( or the way my foods are interacting with my willpower ) i.e. why have I stalled. I concluded I need to do 2 basic things I had not hitherto been doing
a) proper gaps between foods to get the insulin down quicker and teach me the value of not snacking
b) better matching of Om 3 and Om 6 to reduce inflammation and hopefully get my system working more efficiently when not being overloaded with inflammatory Om 6 oils.

Funnily enough it was your post about " in your opinion " that led me to then go look again at more data. I knew before that matching was a good idea but it was more in a " that makes sense to me based on what I've read" kind of way rather than " here is why" kind of way. Your post got me thinking - " am I just making this up? " - hence asking the moderator to make abundantly clear this whole experiment is just " in my opinion".

That is the point that I searched out the historic data for the growth in Omega 6 oils in the human body and realised that its growth from 8% of body fat to 25% of body fat also correlates with the increase in diabetes and inflammatory disease.

Given that inflammation and insulin are intimately connected whenever mentioned in scientific research and the light bulb moment that the presence of too much insulin then causes carbs to become more toxic by converting more of them into fructose that causes fatty liver disease and there you have the complete set.

Stick to LCHF, Get rid of inflammation by getting rid of the Omega 6, get rid of the insulin by fasting , loese, weight by eating all nutrients in one sitting -(which you can do in about 1000 calories ) . I wasn't actually expecting that I could lose weight on 1500 calories because that is what I've already been eating so I had no reason to.

The only differences between before and now are I am now eating exactly the same foods but once per day AND I am now upping omega 3 deliberately by drinking enough cod liver oil to ensure that the two nutrients are matched. That process has delivered 7.1kg in 12 days and 7cm off my waist.

I don't know which ingredient made the difference. It could quite simply be that true enforced " no snacking " delivers it on its own.

For me personally I will continue with all three elements because I have been convinced of the health benefits of doing so and reduce calories in this context if I get to another stall.

I have uploaded the actual data since diagnosis ( I record everything I eat every day )

I am still doing about the same results in terms of nutrient mix, but my current ration of 4.8 om 3- 5.4 om 6 is a lot closer to 1:1

I am going to try and get the balance in favour of Om 3.
the weight chart shows whats happened since I made the switch. whatever the reason I intend to carry on for now !

Today's meal 7oz rib-eye steak, pepper sauce made with butter and cream, sauteed portabello mushroom , red onions and tomato, small salad of spinach, balsamic vinegar , 60g mackerel , beetroot and tomatoes, apple cider vinegar and cod liver oil to start,spiced coffee - 1350 calories, 63% fat Om 3 5.7, om 6 3.0 - is 2.6 :1 THE OTHER WAY . 35g carbs, 14 g fibre. 80g protein

ketones before meal 14ppm ketones 2hrs after 16.4 ppm
glucose on starting 4.4 ppm post meal high 5.7 2 hrs after 5.6 mmol