This discussion is not based on an article per say, but I found the subject matter so intriguing that I had to post this.
I was flicking the channels one day, and came across some show that had Suzanne Somers as the guest. You remember her, she was Chrissie in "Three's Company". Anyway, she has a new diet book out and was demonstrating some recipies and explaining why her diet works. Here's her philosophy. That you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight and keep it off, as long as you do not injest ANY sugar. Her theory being that sugar triggers the production of insulin, which she calls the "fat storage hormone".
So, I'm thinking, well, aren't we talking about blood glucose triggering the insulin response? Not jelly doughnut glucose! And even if you avoided all forms of sugar in your diet, wouldn't foods like vegetables, etc. still raise your blood glucose levels? Besides, how sound is it to tell the general public to mess with their insulin?
So, I got on the web and looked up her deal. She has got a M.D. explaining why this works, and so I want to share what she has to say in a nutshell. By the way, this may be my cynicism, but I'm sure this doc is getting paid alot to prostitute herself to sell Somers' book. I mean, jeez, the title of this "forward" says at the top of the page: BUY THIS BOOK!
Diana Schwarzbein, M.D. states:
In medical school, everyone in medical training was taught that a low-fat diet was the way to prevent obesity, diabetes, and heart attacks. These professors spoke of hundreds of studies that they said proved that fat was indeed the culprit in creating a national epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
But these studies proved to be wrong. That the secret to weight loss and maintenance lies in controlling the amount of the hormone insulin that is released into our bloodstream after a meal.
With type II diabetes, the body produces insulin, the hormone responsible for getting sugar into the cells, but the patient's cells do not respond well to insulin - they are what is called insulin resistant.
As I listened to the patient's stories, it was clear that they were very upset that instead of getting better after seeking medical help, they were steadily getting worse. They told me that they had started off eating the American Diabetes Association (ADA) diet, which is a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet. They checked their blood sugars regularly. When they came back to the doctor, the doctor would tell them that they had not been compliant - if they had been, their blood sugars, cholesterol, and weight would be better.
The next therapeutic step was to add in one of the sugar-lowering drugs while continuing to follow the same diet. During their next follow-up visits, they were again told that they must be noncompliant because they were not getting well.
I gave each of these patients a choice. Every one of them wanted to come up with something different, so we started by collecting baseline data. I had them write down everything they put in their mouths. I had them check their blood sugars six times a day, before and after their meals. First thing in the morning I had patients measure their blood sugar. It was always normal. Then they had the breakfast recommended by the ADA, typically a bowl of cereal with non-fat milk, a banana, and a glass of fruit juice. Nondiabetics eating this breakfast would experience only a ten to twenty point rise in their blood sugar. But after this high carbohydrate, low-fat ADA-recommended breakfast, my patients would watch their blood sugar soar - up between 100 and 200 points, ten times the normal blood sugar response.
We were feeding them hidden sugars, in the form of carbohydrates. All carbohydrates are broken down into sugar by the body during digestion, whether they are in the form of grains, starches, dairy, fruits, or sweets. By recommending a high-carbohydrate diet, we were asking diabetics to eat sugar.
What should these patients be eating? As few carbos as possible, since they were converted to sugar. So, that left proteins, fats and nonstarchy vegetables. I asked them to keep their fat intake to a minimum because type II diabetics have the highest risk of heart disease of any patient population. Limiting fat seemed wise since I still believed at that time that eating fat caused heart disease.
The most important clinial question was: Could we get the patients' blood sugars lower while still keeping heart disease at a low level?
The ones who had improved the most were the "cheaters". Soon, they were eating even more mayonnaise, butter, cheese, eggs, and steak.
By cutting down on carbos and eating fats, they were losing weight! For a type II diabetic, losing weight is an almost impossible feat. But these patients were eating fats and losing body fat and it did not end with that. Everything was improving. They felt satiated and their energy improved. Their cholesterol levels were improving.
There was not a single long-term study that proved that a low-fat, high carbo diet was beneficial to our health. However, I did find thirty years' worth of basic science studies that proved that high insulin levels were linked to heart disease, high blood pressure, excessive increase in body fat, and many other problems.
You have seen how we have debunked the myth that eating fat makes you fat by actually looking at basic human physiology, which proves that increased insulin levels cause weight gain. When insulin levels and their effects are higher, people are more prone to storing fuel as fat.
Your diet should be rich in fat and cholesterol, which can come from a wide variety of foods, such as avacados, butter, eggs, red meat, chicken, shellfish, fish, olives, tofu, nuts and seeds.
Eating fats and cholesterol lowers insulin levels and switches off the body's production of cholesterol, protecting you from heart disease.
Insulin is the real culprit. Without fat, insulin levels rise higher in the blood, which leads to other factors that cause high blood pressure.
Type II diabetics are insulin resistant. Eating a low-fat, high carbo diet increases their insulin resistance. Patients get better on a balanced plan of protein, fats, nonstarchy vegetables and limited carbos.
Cancer cells grow best when insulin levels are high, just the climate created by the low-fat, high-carbo diet. Dietary fat increases a healthy immune system and gives the body key components to fight cancer cells.
Now, a note from Suzanne herself....
I'll unveil the true enemy - sugar and foods that are immediately converted to sugar upon ingestion, such as white flour, potatoes and white rice. By eliminating these foods, in addition to alcohol and caffeine, you can enjoy all those rich treats while staying healthy, energetic and lean. Yes, you can get skinny on fats!
I honestly don't know what to think of all of this, but I thought it was good food for thought on pondering what is the truth about insulin? What is the deal with blood glucose levels even if you aren't eating dounuts? How sound is it to be recommending this to non-diabetics? Is insulin really the "fat storage" hormone? Isn't it necessary in the body at some level?
Hmmmmm.......
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