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Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

aeon.co

211–220 of 221 posts

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading a study that indicated that simple carbs combined with fat are worse than either fat or simple carbs alone. I can't find the study at the moment, but the gist of it was that a high fat, high sugar, meal will be metabolized differently than either in isolation and also that it triggers cravings for more fat and sugar. So, a keto diet is fine. Eating bread every now and then is fine. But, something l…

I haven't seen a specific study but I have read assertions along the same lines: either low-fat or low-carb can work. I believe the insulin-centric explanation (I'm a low carb eater and this is the perspective I tend to see) would be something like: - Low carb and high fat: The fat goes to your fat cells (that is, whatever fat you don't burn for fuel immediately after eating), but since your insulin is low the fat is…

"Low carb and high fat: The fat goes to your fat cells (that is, whatever fat you don't burn for fuel immediately after eating), but since your insulin is low the fat is readily burned off relatively soon."

- The fat you eat does not have to be stored as fat, the raised insulin levels are necessary for the body to store energy as fat.

"Low fat and high carb: The carbs cause an insulin spike, and insulin inhibits fat burning, BUT since you haven't stuffed much fat into your fat cells, there isn't much to burn off when your insulin eventually comes back down. You need to be relatively insulin sensitive, so that your insulin level does come back down. Even if you're insulin resistant, this diet might still work if you eat only a tiny amount of fat."

- Carbs can be converted to fat via lipogenesis.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.ncbi.nqlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10435117 For most people high fiber foods are better.

It is a study of 14 people that self reported how hungry they were and how much they ate on their own. I don't think we can get to advice stating "most people" should do anything from that. It is an example of how bad science gets translated to bad advice and bad behavior. Not picking on you, you are responding rationally to a headline or blurb about the study. But it is a worthless study.

There are more studies. That was an example. Go look around for the others. Most importantly try it for yourself. It is pretty easy to figure out.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#213

The largest hormonal change we experience isn't puberty - it's night, under the aegis of the master hormone melatonin. Almost every hormone changes. I was overweight and had an appetite out of control a couple decades ago. For other health reasons, I adopted a natural night (real dark, can't see you hand in front of your face) and exactly the same lights on and lights off time. My extra weight vanished. My appetite d…

This sounds very wooey. Do you have anything to show this isn't the result of you wanting to change, changing habits, and your excitement at attempting change carrying through to produce some kind of placebo effect? I get similarly suspicious when people talk about how going on keto radically changed how they felt. Maybe it is true, but in an sea of anecdotes, it's really hard to figure out what is real. Do you notic…

It's held for two decades now, so no, it wasn't a mood.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#214

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There's no way to demonstrate that as one individual, full stop. The burden of proof you require to consider whether a valuable benefit could potentially be derived is unacquirable. A more interesting test is to measure the difficulty of trying a certain anecdote yourself. How easily can you 'black out' your bedroom and sit, lay, or sleep in it for a 10 hour window at night for 30 days in a row? If you can do such a…

It's not that I think it is risky; there's probably no risk at all from making a room darker when you go to sleep. I know people who can't sleep without a sleeping mask and they've been alternately skinny and fat all the same. What I'm asking is whether that test, as an individual, can actually prove anything? What you think is an actual effect might not be any effect at all. Without something more rigorous, your "te…

One always wants larger experimental groups, but remember that one self-experiment was quite important in conquering malaria. If the result is striking enough, it's worth some attention. This result has held for two decades.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't seen a specific study but I have read assertions along the same lines: either low-fat or low-carb can work. I believe the insulin-centric explanation (I'm a low carb eater and this is the perspective I tend to see) would be something like: - Low carb and high fat: The fat goes to your fat cells (that is, whatever fat you don't burn for fuel immediately after eating), but since your insulin is low the fat is…

"Low carb and high fat: The fat goes to your fat cells (that is, whatever fat you don't burn for fuel immediately after eating), but since your insulin is low the fat is readily burned off relatively soon." - The fat you eat does not have to be stored as fat, the raised insulin levels are necessary for the body to store energy as fat. "Low fat and high carb: The carbs cause an insulin spike, and insulin inhibits fat…

And in fact they have to be converted to fat. There are only two other options:

stored in muscles as glycogen - however, the muscle stores can only store up to 1600 calories so they may be full. Also, once sugar gets into a muscle it can't get out - it can only be used by that particular muscle.

used by the brain - however the brain doesn't need more than 500 kcal per day. (and can live with as little as 120 kcal / 30g of glucose provided that the rest of the energy is supplied by ketones)

So... exercise doesn't help lose weight, but it sure helps prevent weight gain when eating carbs. With the amount of carbs we eat nowadays and the low amounts of physical activity, its no wonder at all we store a lot of fat.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#216
post #28

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No, butter makes the other stuff more delicious, making you eat just a little more each time.

I think this is important, and that the food industry has been progressively making food more and more yummy over the past few decades. So far I really don't have a good answer for how to reduce consumption without reducing pleasure, at least in the short term. Developing a taste for food that isn't designed to be addictive, probably requires a long term change of habits.

The reason why our satiety mechanisms don't work is because carbs upregulate insulin, which supresses leptin [1]. Leptin and ghrelin are the two main hunger hormones; leptin tells our brain we're full. The signal doesn't work too well in the presence of high insulin, and gets worse with insulin resistance, causing people to have a "second stomach" for sweet foods.

https://olumialife.com/knowledge/how-does-insulin-affect-lep...

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#217
post #29
post #6

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Testing instruments are widely available and affordable too due to diabetes being such a widespread disease. I've just started using Freestyle Libre[1]. It's quite affordable even though it's not as accurate as blood measurements. It's possible to have one sensor attached for up to two weeks. This should be enough time to assess your body's reaction to carbs. I don't know how you would test for pre-diabetes but to te…

Have you tried to use it with xDrip plus[1] and an NFC capable Android phone? It allows you to calibrate the values using accurate blood glucose values. If you do a bit of research and do the calibrations right, it can be as accurate as the values from a fingerstrip reader. [1] https://github.com/NightscoutFoundation/xDrip

I've only just started using the sensors. xDrip is very interesting, thanks.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#218
post #217
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried to use it with xDrip plus[1] and an NFC capable Android phone? It allows you to calibrate the values using accurate blood glucose values. If you do a bit of research and do the calibrations right, it can be as accurate as the values from a fingerstrip reader. [1] https://github.com/NightscoutFoundation/xDrip

I've only just started using the sensors. xDrip is very interesting, thanks.

Being a type 1 diabetic, this software has changed my life totally. It's just that good nothing else comes even close. I use Dexcom G4 as my CGM and I wrote an InfluxDB support to xDrip, so now I can use Grafana to monitor my glucose values in real time.

The development of xDrip plus is very active, so you probably want to use the nightlies.

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#219
post #200

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Sorry, IIRC it was called alimentación disociada in Spanish. I tried the probable translation, made a search and assumed the links were pointing to the same thing. I just browsed the book 20 years ago and it said nothing about ph, but about avoiding certain mixes of proteins, carbs and fats. The owner of the book said it had helped him a lot, but I didn't take much interest because that guy was not exactly thin and l…

Ah, thanks for clarifying. I've got several friends who believe in various forms of the pH diet. They also tend to be folks who believe in a lot of other woo, so I'm a bit trigger happy in shooting down pH-based diet theories (those diets are particularly ridiculous because they often categorize quite acidic foods into the alkaline category and vice versa). If there's ever been a good study about it, I'd certainly re…

Its part of the Fit for Life diet and that's debunked [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fit_for_Life#Controversy

Re: Sugar alters hormones and metabolism, sets stage for obesity and diabetes

#220
post #102
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, butter makes the other stuff more delicious, making you eat just a little more each time.

I find a great substitute is olive oil where I'd use butter for non-cooking (eg. instead of butter on pasta or instead of butter on bread). It's not quite as tasty but still a huge improvement over dry, and it's healthier. For cooking, I understand olive oil is unhealthy (I think you create carcinogens as a side-effect), as are many other oils, but that coconut oil doesn't do this because of its different melting tem…

Coconut oil is a (mostly) saturated fat; olive oil and sunflower seed oil are (mostly) unsaturated fat.

Olive oil with herbs is amazing. Give it a whirl.

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