Barry Sears calls high insulin levels paired with a diet with excessive omega 6 the “perfect nutritional storm.” There is no doubt in my mind that the American diet, which is known to be very proficient at inducing insulin resistance while supplying the largest quantity of dietary omega 6 Linoleic Acid in the world, is the perfect recipe for inflammation-related diseases. Sears of course uses the Glycemic Index as his guide to keeping insulin levels low, which is a major fumble on his part. Postprandial insulin levels in response to dietary carbohydrate is insignificant, as the levels fall back to baseline within a few hours of eating. It’s the dietary causes of insulin resistance – most notably fructose in large quantities (a low-glycemic carbohdyrate) that appears to be most significant.
In an insulin resistant state, insulin levels are elevated 24-hours a day, the delta-5 desaturase enzyme is activated 24 hours a day, and the omega 6 linoleic acid that you consume is constantly converted into the hyperinflammatory fatty acid Arachidonic Acid – which accumulates in the cells and leads to a vicious circle of events that begins with a hyperinflammatory response to everything we encounter. Barry Sears is probably right on in calling this “the perfect nutritional storm,” even if he has come to erroneous conclusions about how hyperinsulinemia is induced.
Listen to more on this topic in this week’s podcast:
Hey Matt,
Have you given any more thought to the approach that Professor Peskin uses in regards to omega-6? I think it's sensible to make processed omega-6 a villain but we should not include unprocessed omega-6 in the same group. If you're avoiding processed foods, you're pretty safe to start with in regards to inflammatory omega-6.
Thanks,
Mark
I think this idea really explains why so many experts go to extremes and recommend such low carbohydrate intakes. Carbs seem like they're wholly to blame, but it's really the carb/omega-6 combo that's doing people in.
Mark. Thanks for your input. I too have operated under that belief for several years now. I'm giving other ideas some exploration now. We'll be exploring this topic for months and perhaps even years to come. Peskin's thoughts on the subject will not be forgotten, don't worry.
Elizabeth-
Also keep in mind, as you start the milk diet, that the old-schoolers recommended a diet of only milk – and low fat milk at that. This diet cuts out omega 6 and 3 almost entirely. Full-blown EFA restriction. Maybe this is why body temps came up so radically, and why health conditions cleared up so dramatically on this diet (other than of course being nutritious, calorie-dense, macronutrient-balanced, etc.).
Sure, insulin and glucose levels fall back to normal a few hours after eating a bunch of carbs. But isn't it bad for you for them to be so high for those few hours? Especially if it's a few hours after each meal; that could account for half of the day. I'm pretty hesitant to eat foods that will have my BG numbers up in the beta-cell-danger range for several hours every day.
Look out people, now that Bill Clinton is in the news for having some stents, we are probably going to be hearing more in the mainstream media about how to eat heart healthy!
I predict they'll sing the virtues of polyunsaturated fat.
I believe that we can already get plenty of healthy omega-6 without having to resort to oils. Grains, corn, rice, meat, milk and even butter all contain some amount of omega-6. I think you get plenty of it by just eating as recommended in this site. I've cut out all vegetable oils except for coconut and olive, and I eat some grass fed but mostly grainfed meat. As far as I can tell, cutting out the omega-6 oils has led to better skin than I have had since I was a child!
Obviously, Bill Clinton's arteries were getting clogged from inflammation in the artery wall. I'm excited to see where this leads, how can we ultimately control and reduce the out of control inflammation that seems to be plaguing a lot of people?
Scott
Matt, just a quick question:
Do you think there's anything wrong with consuming raw milk as raw milk kefir, let's say 70% of the time?
I personally do not see anything wrong with it, as it has great benefits. However, it does contain some alcohol (up to 2 percent I think). Do you think this or the reduced carbohydrate content are anything that's really worth considering or does it just play a minor role?
Matt, I'm definitely curious to see what kind of benefits come from the milk diet. My milk seems a little heavy on the cream – even though it's not from a Jersey – so I may pawn off some of it to the kids and see how that turns out.
Scott – I'm with you. There's no logical reason to intentionally add omega-6 fats to the diet. I'm sure we unintentionally get plenty from foods like you mention above. No one can make me trade my coconut oil for veggie oils. :)
Elizabeth,
When are you starting the milk diet? I'm so curious how it goes for you. I'd do it myself in a hot second but I can only get 2 gallons of raw Jersey milk a week. Stupid state laws.
Nell,
Started today, actually. :) Going good so far. I made a blog post about it earlier today, and I'll make a podcast shortly detailing my first day on the milk diet. But yeah, this is gonna take a lot of milk. I'm trying a gallon a day right now, but I may need more.
Aaron-
There's nothing wrong with insulin, and if blood sugars spike high after ingesting rich sources of glucose then that is a problem that needs to be addressed by taking action to improve insulin sensitivity. It is a result, and not a cause, of compromised health.
In fact, insulin is the body's tissue-building hormone. It is essential to life. Sure, you don't want to have higher than normal levels or insulin resistance. But to declare war on it is a huge mistake with consequences down the line. Schwarzbein and Sears are the voices of reason on this topic as far as I'm concerned.
As for omega 6, there's simply the belief floating around out there that the less omega 6 the better. Considering that it has been shown that tissue concentration around the world has escalated to unnatural levels, it only makes it all the more sensible to really remove as much omega 6 as possible to get back to balance.
David Brown has been very vocal about this lately – a lifelong student and scholar of nutrition – as his lingering health problems that he's had for years have disappeared on a low omega 6 diet. I have no choice but to pay attention, and give the idea of cutting omega 6 back a fair and thorough exploration to see where it leads.
Oh yeah, and kefir…
Probably no issue there. Kefir is fine.
Elizabeth Walling
Started today, actually. :) Going good so far. I made a blog post about it earlier today, and I'll make a podcast shortly detailing my first day on the milk diet. But yeah, this is gonna take a lot of milk. I'm trying a gallon a day right now, but I may need more.
If you have any questions feel free to ask. I just finished up about 18 days on the Milk Cure and am still following the semi-milk cure at this moment (I will end it on monday).
I have done it a number of times and will be doing it again for 10 days in April. I will blog about that episode because I will be keeping track of all my numbers.
I haven't read Porter's book so I can't comment intelligently but be aware the less fatty the milk sometimes the more aggressive the initial detox, which is not fun.
Porter did it low-fat with apparently amazing results. Crewe did the Milk Cure full fat with apparently amazing results. Bernard Jensen survived only on goats milk when he had cancer. Between now and my blog posts I am going to see if I can discover how Hippocrates utilized the Milk Cure.
Michael, wow, thank you, I will definitely email you with a couple questions if that's all right. That's great to hear from a Milk Cure veteran! Not many of those out there.
Hey Matt,
I meant to ask you, are there any signs of a high fasting insulin levels? Just curious, thanks.
Thanks, Matt. I hear what you're saying about insulin, that there are good reasons not to want it too low. But if I'm already insulin resistant (which I'll gladly believe was caused by past consumption of massive amounts of fructose) and producing huge amounts of it to control glucose, then low insulin would seem to be one problem I don't have to worry about.
So I'm trying to figure out how I can introduce more carbs into my diet to raise energy and body temps, which I desperately need, without spiking BG and insulin even more. Maybe I have to just accept higher insulin levels for a while, while something more important (leptin resistance? inflammation? gut malabsorption?) heals. I'm finding lots of good information here, so I really appreciate all your research and writing.
I've already started adding some rice and potatoes back to my diet, and so far so good: none of the acid reflux or hypoglycemic-feeling episodes that normally tell me I've had too many carbs (when sugar was usually part of them). I've also cut out the nuts, which I was eating by the pound as a low-carb snack and flour substitute. Peanuts especially made me feel run-down, so now I wonder if I've got a lot of omega 6 inflammation. It's certainly possible. Off to do more reading!
Aaron, I have a similar experience with nuts. Any time I tried to cut carbs, I ended up relying a lot on peanuts and pecans to get me through the day. I wonder now if all those fatty acids were a little counterproductive and possibly even damaging.
Aaron-
Too much attention is given to post-meal glucose and insulin levels. While they may tell us something, what is far more important is your long-term glucose and insulin levels. Worrying about what happens to those levels in the short-term is probably an inappropriate focus.
It's kind of like losing weight, only to find that it makes you fatter once your willpower topples in the face of the hunger and hypometabolism demon that diets awaken.
I think blood sugar and insulin levels follow the same trajectory. Eat well, don't worry about them in the short-term, or your weight, and once your metabolism comes up you are likely to see drops in both insulin and glucose readings as you overcome insulin resistance.
Elizabeth-
That's one potential negative of low-carb that few acknowledge. On a low-carb diet your fat intake is almost automatically doubled. Even wit the same omega 6 ratios to other fats, you will double your total intake. A high-fat diet calls for even more vigilance over how much omega 6 you're consuming.
Mark-
Having high fasting insulin levels is step 1 in advancing towards metabolic syndrome. Symptoms would be abdominal fat, low body temp., high triglycerides, high blood pressure, etc.
How do you "not worry" about blood sugar spiking up around 200 and then crashing below 40, as mine has done on carb binges in the past (including potatoes)? I understand what you're saying about just putting up with it for the sake of increased body temperature and improved metabolism, but don't you also have to consider the danger of going on that roller coaster in the short term?
For instance: today I made my first loaf of Nourishing Traditions bread, soaking freshly ground wheat flour in yogurt 24 hours and the whole bit. I figured up that the two slices I had with my bacon and eggs amounted to 60 carbs, and my 2-hour post-meal BG was 137. At lunch I had a couple bowls of chicken noodle soup, and an hour later my BG was up to 187. I didn't get a chance to test the low a couple hours later, but I felt pretty shaky. I just don't see how I can ignore those numbers, even temporarily; and I certainly don't see how I could go high-carb without serious danger. Maybe I'm missing something.
Aaron, the numbers will come down, mine weren't as high as yours but they gradually come down. It won't happen overnight. At 5 months doing this, my fasting is ~90 and my 1hr PP is ~110. Most of my meals are 100 to 200g of carbs, 4 times / day.
You could try the Scwharzbein approach for now, 4 meals with a snack, 3hrs apart each. Mixed meals – good sat fat/ good carb /protein. But keep the carbs at 25g to 35g per meal and then start to increase as the BG numbers come down. Get lots of sleep sleep sleep, and keep the stresses in life mega low. Cortisol is not your friend when insulin resistant.
Milk Diet Peeps,
I can't get enough raw milk to do the diet all the way. But today I was not that hungry for lunch, and tired of figuring out what to eat anyway, so I just had a couple glasses of milk. So satisfying!
I was wondering whether having a regular HED breakfast and dinner, but only milk for lunch, would do anything good. I've got the usual digestion/hormonal dysfunctions…
Aaron,
Is there any reason your blood sugars might be spiking that high? Have you been on a particularly low-carb diet or low-fat diet recently?
Have you had fasting glucose, A1C, and glucose challenge tests to see if those are normal? If your pancreas is not secreting enough insulin, that is a concern. I haven't read Matt's new e-book on diabetes, but it might be a good idea to proceed with caution with numbers like yours, and get checked out first, so you know what you're dealing with.
Nell – I can't see any reason why trading a meal for milk would have a negative effect (as long as you're still getting enough overall calories in). The fact that I don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat is great to me now that I'm on the milk diet. Hungry? Grab some milk. It's like healthy, balanced fast food.
Helen,
I went on a low-carb diet partly because I discovered my blood sugars were spiking, and I wanted to control them with diet; and also because I was overweight. And in low-carb's defense, I have to say it's worked for weight loss every time I've stuck to it, but that's become harder and harder to do. Now I'm coming around to Matt's and Schwarzbein's opinion that I need to get healthy to lose weight, rather than the other way around. I was diagnosed with adrenal exhaustion 20 years ago, and I don't think I ever dealt with that completely, though low-carb did seem to help to a point.
I've tested my own fasting and post-meal glucose many times (fasting is always perfect), but I haven't had my insulin tested, so I don't know how much of the post-meal spikes is diabetes (pancreas not secreting enough insulin) and how much is insulin resistance (cells not taking up the sugar when insulin says to). I'm starting to think I need to know that.
I'm getting Matt's diabetes book, and Schwarzbein's latest books are on the way, so I can determine what tests to have done. In the meantime, I'll continue introducing carbs like potatoes and raw milk in smaller amounts, and keeping an eye on blood sugar. People who focus on adrenals, like Schwarzbein and James Wilson, say not to go too low in carbs. I ignored that because I was fat and could see the BG numbers, but I'm starting to think they have a point. I'm also going to get a sleep study at some point, because I know I have a certain amount of apnea, which makes it hard to get the sleep that's necessary for healing, especially healing the adrenals.
Thanks, everyone, for all the info and suggestions!
Aaron-
Sorry for the delayed response. I assure you that my 3-day break from the computer was fully needed though :)
It sounds like you have classic insulin resistance problems. If your blood sugar went to 200 and then stayed there for the rest of the day, that would be a sign of insulin deficiency. Crashing back down to 40 is a sign that you've got PLENTY of insulin – the extra weight and response to a low-carb diet is another indicator.
As you'll read in my diabetes eBook, the low-carb diet does keep blood sugars down, but it is the last resort after all other options for overcoming insulin resistance have been exhausted – or it is determined that insulin deficiency is the root problem.
But one thing that's interesting is that Broda Barnes helped people overcome hypoglycemia by bringing the metabolism up.
This changed my thinking on a lot of fronts actually. No longer was "X" substance that caused me to have a hypoglycemic-feeling episode the problem. MY BODY's response was the problem, and something that I wanted to fix – to be able to do what Barnes's patients could once again do – eat whatever the hell they wanted without having hypoglycemic reactions.
There's hope for you yet. In any case, you'll see in the eBook that there are many avenues to explore and the pros and cons of each approach, including a low-carb diet.
The video on Ray Peat is not accurate. There is no mention of glucagon. Ray Peat writes that the monosaccharide fructose causes glucagon secretion. This diminishes blood sugar levels. When paired with glucose, which spikes insulin, there is a stabilization of blood sugars. I think there is major gaps in your understanding of the science. Also, you liken fructose to high fructose corn syrup, and they are not the same. Go back and study it more carefully.
The immediate postprandial effects of fructose are insignificant. Study the long-term consequences more carefully.