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Showing posts from January, 2011

Hyperinsulinemia, Hyperglycemia and Insulin Resistance

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Over in the comments on the Taubes Toothpick post, starting around  here , Nostril Damus (funny!) challenged my contention that the only carb implicated in IR is fructose, a carb that doesn't elicit an insulin response.  ND posited that other carbs cause hyperinsulinemia cause self-downregulation of insulin receptors leading to IR.  Then Melchior posted about a study where hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia/insulinemia induced insulin resistance which provided more food for thought.   I thought on this a bit and think it is worthwhile to repeat in a post of its own and add a few more comments. So a direct quotation of ND's premise:  " Over time, this self-induced loss of target cell receptors for insulin reduces the target cell’s sensitivity to the elevated hormone concentration." Unfortunately only the abstract is available free online, but it does contain some interesting information.  Here's the study: Effect of sustained physiologic hyperinsulinaemia and h

Insulin: Understanding its Action in Health and Disease

Another bookmarking post.  I may or may not have linked directly to this article in a primary blog post before, but I'm doing it now.  Hat-tip to LynMarie Daye in this post  at her Adipo-Insights blog . Insulin: understanding its action in health and diseasel

The Physiologic Effects of Insulin

Mostly a bookmarking post here.  I wanted to share this link:  http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/pancreas/insulin_phys.html I think it's a pretty good summary of insulin's actions vis a vis glucose transport, metabolism and fat tissue.

Coconut allergies anyone?

This isn't so much a science post but an open question to my readers.  Although I did adopt a different skin care regime about the time I started low carbing in 2007, I'm pretty confident in attributing a goodly portion of my cleared skin to my diet.   I had suffered from mild (relative to some images I see) adult acne for years, mostly on chin, hairline and back/bra-line.  This all pretty much cleared up to where I hadn't had a breakout worth mentioning in two years.  And one would think that somewhere in those longer cheats at least I would have consumed enough wheat or other culprit to set off a breakout, but nada.  Then summer 2009 I did an IF experiment.  I consistently followed a 5 hour eating window for 3 months.  I lost 10 lbs in the first couple of weeks but gained several pimples!  OK, so perhaps something about the fasting was killing off toxins and they were coming out my pores??  Thinking back, however, something else changed in my diet.   I was making this pea

R.I.P. Jack Lallane

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An icon if there ever was one.  I remember watching his show as a kid.  Ninety Six and looking pretty darned healthy up to the end!!  That's a good long life.   http://www.bestweightlossmealplans.com/low-fat-diet-plan/jack-lalanne-sample-meal-plan/ Looking at that diet it is actually one that is fairly low in carbs.  But it contained a fair amount of fructose by LC standards, and notice something else?  It was also relatively low fat, and certainly low in added fats.  Just food for thought. You will  be missed Jack! 

The Glucose Fatty Acid Cycle

LOTS of info in this summary by my favorite sci-crush Keith Frayn.  This is mostly a bookmarking post as reader Margaret mentioned this article in the comments elsewhere.  It's a good, if not lengthy read.  Perhaps someday I'll get around to summarizing it, but for now, just a link & the abstract. The glucose–fatty acid cycle: a physiological perspective   Glucose and fatty acids are the major fuels for mammalian metabolism and it is clearly essential that mechanisms exist for mutual co-ordination of their utilization. The glucose–fatty acid cycle, as it was proposed in 1963, describes one set of mechanisms by which carbohydrate and fat metabolism interact. Since that time, the importance of the glucose–fatty acid cycle has been confirmed repeatedly, in particular by elevation of plasma non-esterified fatty acid concentrations and demonstration of an impairment of glucose utilization. Since 1963 further means have been elucidated by which glucose and fatty acids interact

Deleterious Effects of NEFA II: Panceatic beta cell impairment

Non-esterified fatty acids are deleterious for human pancreatic islet function at physiological glucose concentration Progression from normal glucose tolerance to Type 2 diabetes results from a gradual deterioration in beta-cell function, in the presence of insulin resistance [1]. Over the past 10 years, the role of excess glucose in the alteration of beta-cell function has become increasingly clear and has led to the concept of glucotoxicity [2, 3].  At the same time, the deleterious effect of increased NEFA was suggested by studies on Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats, an animal model of Type 2 diabetes combined with obesity. The authors showed that altered beta-cell function was preceded by an important increase in the plasma concentration of NEFA and subsequent triglyceride (TG) accumulation in pancreatic islets [4, 5] . This hypothesis, also referred to as lipotoxicity, was confirmed by in vitro exposure of isolated islets to NEFA [6, 7, 8]. However, whether glucose and NEFA alt

Insulin Wars IV.1: Todd Becker of Getting Stronger blog responds

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I received an email from Todd Becker of Getting Stronger blog who tried to add his comments/responses to my review of his contribution on Jimmy's blog regarding James Kreiger's Insulin Series. Here is a link to that installment:   Insulin Wars IV: Todd Becker of Getting Stronger blog I did my best to retain the emphasis/formatting from Todd's email.  So, with apologies in advance if any of my responses are repetitious of my initial post, without further adieu: Todd writes: Hi CarbSane, Congratulations on your articulate, informative and passionate podcast interview on Jimmy Moore’s site. Small world: I’ll be a guest on his podcast in a few weeks. Your interview inspired me to look at your blog, where lo and behold I found your critical review of my analysis of James Krieger’s views about insulin, which I wrote for Jimmy’s blog. I appreciate the time and thought that went into your analysis, and I’ve learned several interesting things from your site. But if you would

My Interview with Jimmy Moore

CLICK HERE WOW, thanks (not) Jimmy for your characterization of me as a low carb skeptic.  I'm not.  I'm a skeptic of the so-called science. {Stuff in these parentheses were updated ~2:40 pm 1/21/11 ...  Seems I'm being taken to task a bit over at Jimmy's blog for "trashing" him when apparently I should be thanking him profusely.  I did thank him in an email, at the end of my interview, and previously on this blog, but I did neglect to do so once again here.  Probably because at the time of this post I was a bit miffed by Jimmy's lead ins in the podcast and what I consider mis-characterizations of me.  Kevin over in the comments who actually writes the show notes has claimed authorship for part of this so I won't blame Jimmy for that.  Thanks Kevin for correcting that.  I have since been labeled a "taunter" and essentially had words put into my mouth by Jimmy himself such as fraud though I'm not sure I ever used those words.  Anywho,

Countering Anti-Energy Balance, CI=CO Arguments ~ Part I The 3500 Cal = 1 Pound Fat

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Calories In - Calories Out = Change in Energy Stored I continue to be amazed by the number of people who argue against this basic physical law.  This series will discuss the various versions by which folks seek to argue against this.   This installment will consider the argument that 1 pound of fat = 3500 calories is incorrect. = 3500 Cals??

More on Water Weight & Insulin

There's an interesting related conversation on this topic going on over at Paul Jaminet's site: Water Weight: Does It Change When Changing Diets? Does It Matter? For those not familiar with the Perfect Health diet, one component is to get ~400 cal in "safe starches" -- around 100g.  For those transitioning to their diet from a low carb diet, some have experienced a not-unexpected weight gain.  I've added some thoughts to the comments there and -- can't be sure and some is just a hunch -- but I think any weight bounce is probably more carb associated, predominantly glycogen repletion.  It may well be due to replenishing other "carb" molecules with their associated water as well.  My guess is that for the most part these changes show up on the scale more than in dimensions.  That was my experience during the almost 3 years of my "low carb cheating" plan.  I can't know for sure for the first year and a half or so of that, because I never

Insulin, Weight Loss & Water Weight

Reader kds posted a link to this Peter of Hyperlipid's blog post about the following study:  . Beneficial Effect of Diazoxide in Obese Hyperinsulinemic Adults Basically, diazoxide is a compound that has been used to treat hypoglycemia and reduces insulin secretion.   Two groups of 12 obese hyperinsulinemic adults were treated with diazoxide or placebo for 8 weeks while each consuming the same Optifast diet.   Compared with the placebo group, DZ subjects  had greater weight loss (9.5 ± 0.69%   vs.   4.6 ±   0.61%,   P   < 0.001), greater decrease in body fat ( P   < 0.01),   greater increase in fat-free mass to body fat ratio ( P   <   0.01), and greater attenuation of acute insulin response to   glucose ( P   < 0.01).    This is pretty phenomenal and difficult to fathom -- almost twice the weight loss.  It was also reported that there was no significant change in resting energy expenditure (REE, RMR, BMR), and s ubstrate   use, as derived from indirect calorimetry,

Comments on Tom Naughton's Interview with Taubes on Why We Get Fat

Why We Get Fat: Interview With Gary Taubes - Tom Naughton This is a pretty long interview, so I'm not going to address all of the points, but just a few of the exchanges. GT:  I’m always asking myself, “How can I explain this to a general audience? How can I simplify the science to the point that it is barely noticeable?” In fact, often the best science writing has no noticeable science at all. OK ;-) Fat Head:  I found those critiques rather odd, considering that  Good Calories, Bad Calories  includes an entire chapter titled  Conservation of Energy , in which you wrote at length about the laws of thermodynamics and how nutritionists misinterpret them. How do you deal with criticisms of your books coming from people who clearly haven’t read them?

Another Why We Get Fat review (again, not mine)

http://www.weightymatters.ca/2011/01/book-review-gary-taubes-why-we-get-fat.html Found this one because I was getting some hits from this unbeknownst to me website.  Towards the end of the review one of my Taube$ posts is linked to.  I've since refrained from addressing Taubes' personal motivations.  My exposing of his omissions and outright misrepresentations should speak for themselves at this point.  

Zoe Harcombe ~ Walking Advertisement for Low Carb Eating?

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Zoe Harcombe made a bit of a splash in the LC community thanks in part to the following article in the Daily Mail:   Everything you thought you knew about food is WRONG The subtitle:   Fibre's bad for you. Fat's healthy. And five-a-day is a gimmick to make fruit and veg firms rich. Or so claims a remarkable new book... Just say no to fruit and starchy carbs that the government is pushing on you ... right? Harcombe sings the praises of butter and eggs, and meat and *real food*.  She shuns the idea of dieting and restricting foods.   Clearly she's drunk the Taubes Kool Aid on calories and insulin. So her diet is fairly low carb and extolls the virtues of animal foods -- meat, fish, eggs, butter, dairy.

Random thoughts on Why We Get Fat

Why We Get Fat:   So I’m on a cruise ship in parts unknown of the Carribean which has given me the opportunity for people watching in their natural habitat.   Folks, we don’t need a book, or this blog, or any scholarly thesis.   And there are a lot of Europeans on this cruise in addition to the Americans for my observation of the modern human in the wild.   We EAT TOO MUCH.   OK so you’re on vacation.   Great.   All the food is included in the cost.   Great.   Does that mean you have to shovel as much food as humanly possible down the pie hole three meals a day and midnight buffet?   Apparently for some people!   Do you not get your money’s worth if you don’t eat something from every station or something?   Over at GT’s blog they’re again debating the stupid 20 cal/day balance.   It’s not that folks!   It’s if you spend 10 days on a cruise ship and eat 2000 cal/day more than you burn lying around the deck drinking another 1000 cal/day in cocktails, you will disembark weighing several

2010 Rap Up

{cross posted on both blogs} Like just about everyone, I thought I would jot down a few thoughts as a new year is upon us.   I can hardly believe it's 2011 already.  Wasn't that Y2K thing just like yesterday? Without a doubt the biggest success for me is maintaining my weight loss.  I've seen some NSV's so I must be recomposing a bit despite not much movement on the scale.  When I return from vacation I do plan to give this another push.  But for someone who was never the same weight (except when ~300 lbs) for an entire month my entire adult life, I cannot express how monumental this is.  As I pack for warmer climates, I don't have to stress over finding out of season clothes b/c the summer stuff doesn't fit.  Wardrobe security is a wonderful thing!   The best part is that this year maintaining was relatively easy and I've been able to eat more "normally" on a daily basis with a carb count ~75g avg.  I do find myself defaulting down to VLC so