Here is some additional information which explains why NO food is free.
Dr. Bernstein calls it the Chinese Restaurant Effect, because Chinese cuisine tends to lean towards lots of bulk with their over-abundance of low-carb, high fiber veggies in a typical dish. Now people comment all the time about Chinese food leaving you hungry again after only a couple of hours, and Dr. Bernstein explains why.
The upper part of the small intestine contains cells that release hormones into the bloodstream whenever they are stretched. Such as after a large meal. These hormones signal the pancreas to produce insulin in order to prevent the blood sugar rise that follows the digestion of a large meal. So not only do we get phase 1 (immediate emptying of insulin into the bloodstream when carbs hit the mouth) and phase 2 insulin response (more insulin as quickly as the body is able to make it) with a large Thanksgiving, Chinese, or Family get-together type meal, but we also get a third dose when the food hits the small intestines.
Since a very small amount of insulin can cause a large drop in blood sugar, the pancreas simultaneously produces the less potent hormone glucagon to offset the potential excess effect of this third dose of insulin. So if you eat enough to feel stuffed, (FORCE yourself to get in all of those veggie carbs currently recommended through additional bulk, or FORCE yourself to eat more than it takes to make you feel just full), your blood sugar can go up dramatically, even if you haven't exceeded your carb allotment for that meal. And even if you're eating something indigestible like sawdust.
Because it's the stretching of the intestines, not the actual count of the carbs themselves, that makes the body believe you have just eaten something that needs a lot of insulin to digest.
Dr. Bernstein discovered this phenomena when a patient of his admitted to eating an entire head of lettuce just before going swimming everyday. What she considered to be a free food. Lettuce isn't really a free food, though it can seem like that when you're counting up the carbs in a single cup or two of torn greens. Because the carb count is very low. There's only like 10 carbs in a whole head. Which under normal conditions would only raise the blood sugar about 50 mg/dl. Yet this woman's blood sugar was going up 160 mg/dl "more" than that.
Chinese veggies tend to do this a lot because they make us feel very full. They make us feel stuffed. But if we eat too much salad and other veggies, the same thing will happen. Increased blood sugar, increased insulin, and all the complications that come from that.
According to Dr. Bernstein, 2 cups of salad equals the "same effect" as if you'd eaten 12 grams of carbohydrate!!! And 1 cup of cooked veggies equals about 8. So even though it outwardly looks like Dr. Atkins made a mistake with his cup rule, he really didn't. Because the body will handle that 2 cups of salad and 1 cup of cooked veggies (the 2002 rule) as if you were eating 20 net carbs of veggies.
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