The podcasts are now archived on my Youtube channel: 180degreehealth. I won’t always do a blog post featuring every podcast that I post, but wanted everyone to know that they can subscribe to the 180degreehealth channel and receive updates whenever I do a new recording or video there. Here are the first two podcasts for 2010 – a 2-part series on the connection between fructose, leptin, and insulin resistance as discussed in recent posts.
Please help 180 out by subscribing to 180degreehealth on Youtube.
http://youtube.com/180degreehealth
Can you post what you eat in a typical day?
Typical meal would be lamb, salmon, or a couple ounces of cheese with side of veggies or creamy salad and 2 large potatoes, or a couple cups of brown rice(with 2-4T of added fat from butter, coconut oil, or bacon grease) 3 times per day.
That would be me eating clean for a day.
thanx matt. keep up the good work
so about 50% ur diet is fat? 25% protein, 25$ carbs? give your take?
big fan of supplements?
No supplements, but I'm open about vitamin D, iodine, and chromium supplementation – maybe high-quality fish oil. Magnesium as well.
My diet is typically 50% fat, but I usually run at about a 2:1 ratio of carbs to protein naturally. If there was an ideal, it would probably be more like 50:35:15, but I may be mistaken. Time may prove to me that a higher carb intake is preferable.
I did post 3 days of my diet in my post: Nutritional Bombardment. You can see all that I ate and all my macro and micronutrient profiles in a link there.
Matt, do you still keep a copy of the MP3 for the podcasts available? I download them and listen to them in my car (my CD player has a USB slot so I can pop whatever onto a flash drive and listen to it), and will likely never end up listening to them if I dont do it that way! Any possibility of still making the MP3 available?
-Drew
Damn you Drew! I'll think about it. That's a lot of work for one person. Maybe if a bunch of others chime in and request the same I'll consider it.
maybe there is more to leptin resistance is more complex than fructose alone.
please check – Reversal of high-fat diet-induced leptin resistance by dietary fructose
Abstract:
Leptin, which is thought to be a feedback signal in the regulation of energy balance, inhibits food intake, increases energy expenditure and selectively reduces body fat mass in lean animals. Recently it has been suggested that increased consumption of fructose has contributed to the increased incidence of overweight and obesity in Westernized societies. We have reported development of leptin resistance in rats fed low-fat diets containing 60% kcal fructose, but the high-fructose fed rats were already thin before leptin was administered. The objective of this study was to test leptin responsiveness in rats fed a high fructose, high fat diet and to determine whether leptin resistance was a monosaccharide-specific or a fructose-specific effect. Male Sprague Dawley rats were offered one of six diets; 30% kcal fat, 50% glucose (HFHG), 30% kcal fat, 40% fructose, 10% glucose (HFHFr), 30% kcal fat, 15% fructose, 10% glucose (HFLFr), 10% kcal fat, 50% glucose (LFHG), 10% kcal fat, 40% fructose, 10% glucose (LFHFr), 10% kcal fat, 15% fructose, 10% glucose (LFLFr) for 10 days. Rats within each dietary treatment were infused for 12 days with either PBS or 40 ?g leptin/day from an intraperitoneal miniosmotic pump. Leptin inhibited 12-day food intake only in rats fed the HFHG diet. In contrast, leptin decreased body fat by 12% in all low-fat fed rats and in HFHFr-fed rats, but not HFHG or HFLFr rats. These results show that low peripheral doses of leptin can reduce body fat independent of a change in energy intake. In high-fat fed rats, feeding fructose up to 40% kcal has the ability to prevent leptin resistance.
Thanks Anonymous-
It's sometimes hard to know what to think of individualized studies. My conclusions on fructose and its relationship with leptin resistance and obesity stem from the work of Richard J. Johnson and now Robert Lustig. They have obviously reviewed more than 1 study on leptin and fructose to come to their conclusions. They have also worked directly with people with a low-fructose diet, which induces weight loss and lower caloric intake reliably – up to 25%.
One interesting and vague statement in the above abstract is that leptin only "inhibited food intake in rats fed a HFHG diet," which suggests that only those on the HFHG diet were NOT leptin resistant. Then it says that giving leptin injections only lowered body fat in the high-fructose and low-fat groups. What exactly does that mean? And why is inhibiting food intake "in contrast" to losing body fat in the other groups? And who consumes 40% calories as fructose? No one on earth. You'd have to eat over 70% of your calories as HFCS to pull that off.
But I'm open to other ideas for sure, and am eager to further explore the strange world of leptin. In fact, leptin being the hormone behind both a low metabolism and insulin resistance makes more sense than any theory I've ever heard. Leptin is the hormone, which when absent or not functional, signals the body to go into hibernation mode. That means low body temperature, a long list of health problems that go with it, and aggressive protection of body fat and a tendency to store it readily.
Matt, why does a really low carb diet lead to high cholesterol and high glucose in some people? have any links ?
hmmm… finally got around to the podcast jimmy did with sally fallon.. she mentioned the Adrenal type… good interview though… whens yours coming up?
troy
thanx matt.. im surprised you only eat 1500 calories a day about for your age and weight. Your diet is pretty close to my diet except im doing more protein and less carbs and i dont eat as many veggies but and i eat more beef,eggs,etc(im into weight training)
but im definitely going to take some of your diet advice and apply it.
1500 calories a day?
That's his breakfast ;)
@Drew: I've never tried this, but I think if you're using firefox, you could just install this addon and download the video as an MP3.
Drooo:
Just go to mediaconverter.org
You dont have to install anything.
Choose "enter a link" and paste the youtube link of matt's video.
Then you have to select an output file typ. Go to audio type files and choose mp3. The site will then directly convert the youtube video to an audio only mp3 file. When it's finished you can download it.
I do that with all the youtube videos i want to have on my mp3 player
Dude Jannis!!! That is awesome… already using the hell out of mediaconverter!!!!!!
thanks
troy
You're welcome troy!
Thanks Jannis. I might need to use that someday myself. For some reason these podcast files are absurdly huge and take a half a day to upload to youtube, which is already getting on my nerves because of it. Maybe a different file format would work better.
1,500 calories per day huh? Yeah, maybe I only ate that many one day of my life when I was ill or something.
Jimmy hasn't contacted me directly, but I definitely hope that he really wants me to be on his show. That would be cool.
Other Anonymous –
Low-carb probably leads to high cholesterol in some due to hypothyroidism, especially if the diet is way high in protein and not as high in fat.
Low-carb can lead to blood sugars much higher than mine because it induces insulin resistance – or intensifies it. The glucose comes from gluconeogenesis, which the body gets progressively better at the longer you stay on low-carb.
Nice brief and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you seeking your information.
So I get that we should eat a minimum of 25g of startch a meal and this gives the brain energy and makes us feel clear headed etc. What happens when that runs out like after a overnight fast, would my body go into ketosis and run well even though your eating method adapts us to use startch as primary fuel?
Eating 100 calories of starch per meal will not make your body run primarily on carbohydrate. When you run out of available carbohydrate you can produce some ketones for energy, but you also release glycogen and break down a little muscle tissue for glucose with the release of catabolic hormones.
Wouldn't this breakdown of muscle warrant that protein should indeed be higher,Matt?Or eat more starch?
Ok cool, that makes sense but then why with all the Paleo dudes/Berardi/Poliquin hating on starch intake (and pushing only fruits and veggies for carbs) if it doesn't stop your body using fat for fuel? Is it purely the so called excess insulin/allergens etc that they are talking about?
Paleo dudes be hatin' on starch because starch raises insulin and they think insulin is bad. Insulin resistance is bad, but insulin is fantastic. If you're not insulin resistant, starch doesn't even raise your blood sugar level. They hold a lot of scientifically false notions about carbohdyrates in general – starch esepcially.
The more protein you eat, the more proficient your body becomes at breaking it down for glucose – both in food form and in muscle form. If you want more protein for muscle building, it's better to consume it with carbohdyrate so the protein is used as muscle building material and not glucose. Plus, you need insulin to store amino acids just like you do glucose.
I don't think there's ever a need to consume excess protein, or any advantage to doing so. It is metabolically inefficient and yields harmful by-products when consumed to excess. Even Franco Columbo and Arnold didn't consume excess protein. The body can only use so much. Plus, to get muscle gains for an entire year of 10 pounds would theoretically only require 24 extra grams of protein per day.
^^^I am poster form above with the more protein to prevent muscle breakdown question.
If you watch Lustig video you find that even eating starch can be bad.He uses 120calories of glucose(white bread)as example and says that 24calories hit the liver.Some of these calories actually convert to bad stuff as he states.He gives example of asian man eating rice all day and dying of heart attack at age 90 as an ok thing.
So I ask then….is too much starch bad then?
There probably is a thing as too much starch as part of mixed diet, such as the quantities consumed by Sumo wrestlers (600-700 grams per day).
Still, they aren't known to have health problems like typical obese people do.
Awesome stuff Matt, Thanks so much for your time! One last small query after reading your 180 e-book it left me in a conundrum into starch intake after a short workout let's just say I did 20 minutes of weights and 15 of mixed intensity cardio….
The 25g-40g of starch I eat in the post workout meal would be used to replenish muscle glycogen or would it help fuel the brain for the next few hours?
Matt nice posts..
Would say for building muscles, that 1g of protein for 1lb of body weight is a good amount when someone is trying to build mass?
200lb = 200g protein
maybe 250g carbs?
fat??
Matt I feel that even starch should be moderated.While its not as damaging as fructose/sugar it does cause damage if you eat too much IMO.
Last week I went from a junk food diet to a meat based diet(10gms starch per meal).The fat content was whats found in meat and eggs.So chicken thighs,steak,eggs,sausage with a bit of butter or CO oil to cook.It was low calorie at 1500 but I wanted to lose some fat which I accomplished.
After just last week my health improved dramatically.I lost weight,skin improved and just felt better.
Starting friday till today(sunday)I have been eating the same meat meals but adding a good amount of starch to each meal.Just had a chinese food meal with a ton of rice.All I can say is that I look AGED.My eyes are red,skin is blotchy etc though it seems like no fat gain and my muscles look pumped and full.
Just putting this out there as I feel you really need to find a level of carbs where you see marked improvements and probably do not have to go lower.
so is it better to eat a ton of nonorganic heavily sprayed potatoes versus only a few organic potatoes. Matt, are you saying the effects of a revving metabolism will counteract the results of processing the poisons found on the sprayed potatoes?
Depends on the country you buy your potatoes. In Europe, some countries like Germany, Austria, France potatoes are not sprayed at all.
HED update, after starting at the beginning of November. Temps still zig-zagging, still not high enough. Energy still low. But…hair and skin look much better, and weirdly, I've started dreaming again. Not nightmares but just regular oddball dreams. Mood is good.
Here's my question. My weight is exactly the same as when I started. I am getting zero exercise and eating probably three times the calories as pre-HED. This morning I had 2 strips of bacon, 2 eggs fried in butter, a big heap of creamy grits, and a big heap of spinach sauteed in bacon fat. I'm not usually eating a huge lunch because I'm just not hungry, but a big dinner.
Where are the calories going?? Obviously I need a lot of repair — Lyme's and other infections, I'm on thyroid and adrenal meds. Are all those calories working to heal me up? I don't need to lose weight but I'm shocked that I'm not gaining.
Still pretty constipated but taking magnesium to keep things moving, but it's not at all like stuff is going through too fast. Not at all.
I'm asking myself the same question Nell. Still eating 4000+ calories a day, and the past four weeks I've gained, like… half a pound. The fact that I still have an appetite to match and end up hungry between meals if I eat less than this, indicates to me that my body still wants this much food, and is putting it to good use, somehow.
My body temp has been consistently above 98.2F for these past weeks, but, I'm still failing the adrenal insufficiency test badly, and my blood pressure is still at a rather poor 151/82.
Also bought a blood glucose meter last week and have been doing some measurements. Fasting glucose is between 90-95 and my 1h postprandial after a 1000 kcal meal with approximately 90 grams of carbs was about 115. So I guess my glucose tolerance is still far from optimal, it'll be interesting to see how it changes in the coming weeks.
Nell/Collden
I'm coming up to 4months, weight gain does seem to stall then progress, so far looking like it will 1 lb/week for me.
Morning underarm basal temps are still low at 97.3, but that has climbed from 96.8 at the beginning.
My fasting BG is 85, and postprandial is average 100-110 right now. That seems good to me.
Daily food example, yesterday:
8am
Breakfast
4 eggs scrambled, 1TB butter, sea salt
1 cup steel cut oats (soaked 24hrs), 1TB heavy cream, 2TB raw milk, 1TB coconut Oil, 1TB butter, lots of cinnamon
First lunch
11am
Few ounces protein, usually chicken, grassfed beef, sockeye salmon (chicken and beef will include bone broth)
2 Cup brown rice pasta, 2TB heavy cream, 2TB butter, 4TB unpasteurized Parmesan cheese, 2 pastured egg yolks, sea salt
1 Cup broccoli w/butter
Second Lunch
2pm
Second portion of lunch #1 same size
Supper
6pm
Few cups of beef stew; grassfed beef, potatoes, carrots, celery, tomato, turnip, bone broth with marrow, 2TB butter
1 cup grassfed raw milk
9pm
2 cups fresh popped popcorn, lots of butter and coconut oil
few ounces of hard or soft cheese
I eat until full and I am never hungry, been doing this solid for 4months now, and my appetite seems to be starting to wane abit. Definitely fat gain, but certain areas, mainly my core there is significant lean mass gains.
Sleep is still improving, and yep lots of good dreams, I still wake up feeling groggy after 8hrs, so that leads me to believe there is lots of healing repair going on. poor little adrenals!!
Skin improvement has been to good to be true, its the one thing I see constantly improving, so really keeps me motivated.
And way happier now, girlfriend reminds me of this all the time. I was a real crankmeister on 1yr low-carb.
@Collden: When you say you are eating 4000+ a day, how are you measuring that?
I recently got a digital kitchen scale. I was way worse at eyeballing calories than I thought. =)
Just out of curiosity.
Well I've been using a kitchen scale for years and have that much experience with counting calories. Every once in a while I punch in my daily intake into a nutritional database program, and I eat pretty much the same thing every day.
One example meal is
100 g brown rice (dry weight)
200g coconut milk
50g 20% ground beef
200g assorted vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots
One large onion
Fried in 20-30g of butter
Now, just the rice and coconut milk is over 700 kcal together, and with the rest I reckon this one lands at about 1100 kcal. I eat four meals of approximately this size a day.
Hey Matt,
I'm a some time lurker and first-time commenter on your site. I don't have time to tell you how awesome you are and your site is, because I am way past my bedtime (I have work the next day). But I desperately need help and if anyone could help me I think it might be you(and 180ers). You see, I think I have a bad case of PMS. Like, relationship-destroyingly bad. It's now the time of the month(just today) and in the past few days, I've been in a horrible mood. I bitch about every single thing my mum does, not because she's done anything wrong but just because I hate the way she does it. I lash out at my boyfriend with strings of sarcasm, put-downs and complaints about how he can never do anything right and that he doesn't love me. I hit the cat until she doesn't dare come near me anymore (her favourite hangout place was behind my laptop, and I hit her simply because I was in a shitty mood and the sight of her annoyed me…something I regret bitterly). I fantasize about hitting my workmates, am desperately unhappy and have been crying myself to sleep every night for the past half week.
In short, I turn into a complete, horrid monster just before I get my period. The thing is that I KNOW it but I seem to have absolutely no control over it. The same thing happens when I was on the Pill – my boyfriend almost broke up with me because he couldn't cope with my Pill-induced mood swings. The thing is that, I have been eating low-carb since June and only quit a month ago when I noticed it backfired on me. Since then I have kicked the artificial sweetener habit and let a little sugar back into my life. In my low-carb period, I didn't experience such a dramatic mood-swing. I just get slightly irritated but developed a massive appetite. Now I'm not so hungry, but became a right b****. And before that, I can't exactly remember as I've spent a good chunk of my life (from mid-teens until recently) being too busy screwing myself up by trying out different diets in an attempt to control my weight, including a year-long stint with bulimia.
What's wrong with me, Matt? Please help me before everyone runs away from me.
PMS anonymous –
Before getting too desperate, realize that PMS symptoms are a great outwardly monitor of your overall health. Low-carb causes a great deal of blood sugar stability, which helps in the short-term but is not really a very good solution. Much of the psychological distress that takes place during the PMS window is due to a shortage of neurotransmitters. That's something I know well, as low-carb dieting has, just like Schwarzbein warned me, caused me to "fail to make neurotransmitters." I'm now extremely sensitive to a low-carb diet. One day and I get really grumpy. Yell at my computer. Get very aggressive. I'm never like that.
Notice how each of the people in this thread talk specifically about increased dream activity. I've never had much dream recall in my life until about 1 month ago, less than 2 months into HED. I believe this is a sign of increased serotonin production, which is also responsible for the huge mood enhancement of HED, which is a pretty reliable change.
So maybe give it a shot. Ignore changes in weight, just be persistent. Get plenty of rest. Ask those around you to support this attempt. Show them you're being proactive. They'll understand and be really supportive hopefully. Can't wait to hear how things progress. Note that during the first cycle things may be worse, but don't turn away from it until you've had several months with no results. You know me and that HED – I don't think there's much out there that can achieve such core, fundamental healing.
Wary about starch gang:
Too much starch may be harmful, however, starch intake tends to self-regulate over time. It works to raise leptin and suppress appetite, but doesn't happen overnight. And yes, I know going low in carbs or other macronutrient can feel better at first. That's the illusion. Drinking coffee and pounding sugar feel better at first too. So does fasting. But they feel good precisely because they are doing harm – more like a hardcore drug might make you feel good.
Potatoes without pesticides are of course preferable, but I think in the big scheme of things improving the metabolism as a whole has a greater impact on health than pesticide residues.
And hold tight with the adrenals. Heard from Brock yesterday, and after about 6 months he suddenly started needing less sleep and felt an irresistible urge to exercise. He was really pleased. I think this is a great sign of what's to come for many of us.
To add to Matt's comment about mood changes…
They are very noticeable for me while on the HED, and the funny thing is that I have always been a fairly calm person. In short, I feel more stable than ever before. Things that would have once annoyed me do nothing now. I don't get small episodes of micro-depression when something important does not happen or when high expectations are not met. It's a very clam and cool confidence that does not reach to the level of cockiness
I used to be really into Buddhism, and this reminds me of the Buddhist mindset that one aimed to achieve. A very high control of emotions, thoughts can enter your mind, and instead of the thought controlling your emotional response, you control your response. Very interesting, especially when considering how increased serotonin affects mood.
Scott
Amen Scott. Food is incredibly underrated medicine for emotional and psychological issues. I was in bad shape and very overreactive at the apex of my low-carb eating escapade. I was mildly bi-polar on a mostly vegetarian diet, describing my life as "every other day is the best day of my life."
You don't have to try to be like Eckhart Tolle when your biochemistry is in order. Rationality is the normal state.
haha.. talking about dreams.. I had one last night where i was hanging out with you matt, in carbondale… I woke up on your couch and i was like where the hell am i… you came out and greeted me. You were smoking a cig too!! haha… then morgan freeman came over with his wife and a friend… he wanted to look through your garden to see what fresh ingrediants you had used in a meal you prepared for them… I went over to morgans place, and wanted to get a picture with him… then woke up.
troy
Well if you and I were hanging out together and not eating a burger, then clearly this was just a dream and not reality.
And BTW everyone. It's official. I'll be on Jimmy Moore's livin la vida low carb show next Tuesday. 180 Represent.
FUck YAH!!! Bad ass… i can't wait to hear you give it to Jimmy and all the other low carb dips… who keep fucking everyones metabolism!!!
troy
yah dude, if your ever in Boulder, i am down for some larkburger!! been gettin better everytime i go… like twice a week now!!
Larkburger is a go. Let you know if I swing through. I might next week actually.
Same offer for Carbondale. If you're up this way, we'll hit this brand new burger joint (Fat Belly Burgers) with all local grassfed beef. It's no larkburger, but it gets the job done no doubt.
Yeah Matt!I will catch that episode.Just wanna add here that my skin hasn't looked this good in…shoot yrs!!
I have dropped to VLC for two days and 1500calories.I will do HED on wednesday and I hope I can slowly heal but at same time lose these DAM love handles!
I am hungry on 1500cal which I wasn't in past,My skin looks great and I am sitting here typing this and actually feeling overheated slightly.Things I haven't felt in a very long time,thanks Matt.
I am a long time reader of your blog… and it is always so damned convincing.. but confusiing. I understand your thought process behind HED, eliminating stimulants(caffeine, sugar, fructose etc) and eating natural quality food. what i dont understand is the difference between primal eating and HED. everything you eat is natural so wouldnt it deem primal?
also, I am a zero carber recovering from anorexia. what is your insight on this? how would an incredibly insulin resistant person benefit from HED? I am very interetsed in learning, and this seems so so confusing and not logical to me
btw- i linked your blog in my blogroll on my recovery site
good cals bad cals… was sooo three years ago… pretty good book… but everyone uses it as an argument… I am glad you took that book off the pedal stool along time ago… Everyone is far behind the 180 and diet fucked… i know you guys don't agree on everything but… these paleo bloggers are sooo behind, if i have to hear about this book again i am going to have to go out and binge on Yams, rice, fruit, and sourdough rye bread!!!!
troy
Hey Matt, why don't you talk some more about about that neurotransmitter deficiency? Is it a problem stemming from a slow metabolism? Sure it is one hell of a common problem seing how many of our fadded, close minded, and obssesive friends of the "health world" act. It sure may be one of my problems too.
It would also be very good if you talked more about your moods and states of mind throughout your experiments; for instance, I don't remember you talking about irritability when on the FUMP diet. On another note, I find it interesting that you can no longer stand a low carb diet. Why is that? Could that change in the future? If not, in a way that means that you are catering to your weaknesses if you are no longer able to return to a low carb (or very high carb diet)diet, given that our ancestors and modern unindustrialized people can, and thriving. That would be somewhat sad, if it means some metabolic damage may be permanent. Time will tell. Lots of things left to try, and no one here is a type 1 metabolism yet. Certainly not me…
Oh yeah, and my mind is working much better now, though still far from normal. HED may be a part, and I certainly love the improved digestion, but this is the greatest culprit: http://forums.wrongdiagnosis.com/showthread.php't=62327
The guy, Fredd, says he suffered all his life till' he found the right pill of methyl b12 and the lights started to turn on. This has been also my case to an extent. There's also a very interesting discussion forum, with the info getting more refined in latter posts: http://forum.wrongdiagnosis.com/showthread.php't=9948
They seem a fine group of people, clueless about some things (who's not), but apparently open and quite tired of the dogma.
Matt, please give it a read. Lots of people with lots of different problems are going to approach in the future, and that position gives you power. And as a wise uncle said, with power comes a great responsibility (yay cheesy!). No, but seriously, it seems that severe and specific deficiency is really a much bigger problem than it would seem coming from the blog group round' here, (sad given that stephan is a neurobiologist, and this so, so tied to alzheimer and dementia), and maybe some of the people hurt by this aren't even getting to you guys because of the extremely serious shit happening to them. For me it certainly was a close call… Give it a read, Matt, and remember that methyl b12 injections are one of the current most promising treatments for autism, one the ultimate frontiers of metabolic ruin, and that's quite a feat. Besides, the numbers look just bad "http://www.ars.usda.gov/IS/pr/2000/000802.htm" (actually horrible if you consider that the tresshold for deficiency in USA is ridiculously low, and the numbers for mental illness and neurodegenerative disease are ridiculously high). All is even sadder knowing that damage to the central nervous system does not regenerate after injury in mammals (normally, that is).
Oh, BTW, I'm trying the milk diet in a close future. Managed to convince (trick) my family into it. Oh boy, I even had to fake religious visions and false e-mails, but it worked. I'm quite excited, since my digestion is still not perfect and my temps are low. Oh, and I'm also megadosing in Iodine, and so far it seems to be helping some, though it's still to soon to report. Wish me luck.
Nell, Collden and Undertow it is very encouraging to read your positive experiences on HED so far. I am not really having the same experience. I also have been on HED since the beginning of November eating around 1800-2000 cals per day, trying to increase carbs to nearer 150 gr per day, as Matt has suggested. My weight/Body fat is still steadily increasing and i am now fatter than I have been for the past 23 years and i am running out of clothes to wear. My temperatures have not changed one bit, my digestion remains around the same, pretty good, though maybe less constipation than on LC. Sleep is better than the first month on HED but still worse than on LC, no change in mood, skin or hair, which are all fine anyway. Period now comes after 26 instead of 28 days. The only positive I am experiencing is it is nice to eat and not restrict, making it much easier socially too, but conversely the fat gain is having a negative mood effect on me. So overall though i so want to believe in HED after 2.5 months my changes are neutral or negative rather than positive…. it is hard to know whether to keep at it as i don't know how many more months of fat gain with no positive changes I can cope with. I really do see logic in all i have read on this site and i so want to believe what I am reading here because it is very liberating and I have been too trapped by a "diet mentality" over the past 30 years but I want to see some positives to help motivate me. After the intitial withdrawal symptoms after giving up sweetners and coffee I also experienced no difference (eg weight loss or more energy) from quitting these things. What have been others' experiences? I really appreciate this site and especially how Matt replies to all our queries. I am thrilled he will be on the Jimmy Moore Podcast soon. I am enjoying taking my blood sugar and was happy to see it at 93 an hour after homemade pizza last night and at 81 this morning (it seems to vary quite a bit). One last question for you guys, do you think snacking has a negative impact on insulin. If I don't make a real effort i tend to snack (on healthy stuff) in the evenings and am wondering about this. I look forward to every new blog entry and will hang in there for the time being as I do know HED has to be given time :)
Jedi,
This is the fattest I have been ever as well, I agree it can hamper with your mood, but look at it as a healing phase, it can't be avoided, until our glucose regulation is repaired.
If you can get the Scwharzbein book II, it is a good read, right inline with Matt, only difference being she suggests less carbs, but she may have already changed her mind on that. Anyway she helps explain that '30yrs' of malnutrition and crap dieting are not fixed overnight or in two months, it will take time, maybe 1 or 2yrs… I am sure your weight gain will plateau at some point.
Once you are healed (Scwharzbein calls this the Transistion), I assume this to be; hormones balanced, underarm basal above 98.0, excess fat will start to be used and will come off.
I wish it would happen quickly for all us, but I like you have been on the SAD for over 30yrs, plus all sorts of exercise, low-cal stints, and VLC so it will take time.
Hang in there!
I will also add that my basal temp seems to be rising at about 0.1 per month.
From 96.8 when I started to 97.2 – 97.3 this week.
I am expecting it to take about 1yr to get up to ~98.0.
So you may not see a big difference in basal temps in the first one to two months.
Another bonus I forgot to add is being able to breathe through my nostrils. At night it's getting clearer and clearer. I am started to become a nose breather again. Snoring less and less equating to better sleep quality.
Jedi,
I was going to say the same thing as undertow about Schwarzbein warning that weight gain often happens as the metabolism is healing, but the fat comes off easily once you get there.
Also wanted to add that I'm having the same body composition change as undertow — I used to have a watery, flabby layer of fat but now my flesh is more solid and firmer, and my core is stronger.
I wonder if you're eating enough calories? My meals are so big and full of fat that I never snack anymore. No more of that cruising through the kitchen looking for something to get satisfied and not really managing it.
Thanks undertow. I agree Jedi. Schwarzbein is the best source of info. on the subject. She was low-carb but she's not as into low-carb as she once was – saying the ideal carb to protein ratio is 2:1 – meaning 150-250 grams per day depending on size. She is too focused on insulin's reponse to carbs though, and not enough on the effect carbs have on leptin – which improves insulin sensitivity and fixes the problem at the core. Plus, I think with higher carbs she would get the same results only faster.
Juanito –
Thanks for the links. There's no doubt that nutrients play a huge role in the big picture. I addressed this in great length in 180 Diabetes with a concept I call "nutritional heredity" and the "health equation." B-12 injections likely have their miraculous effect due to the fact that digestion is impaired in autistic kids, and therefore the synthesis of many B-vitamins. That equals B-12 deficiency whether ingested or not – the cure being injections.
Iodine, vitamin D, magnesium, chomium – these are all key components. Nearly everyone in the modern world is receiving inadequate nutrients, and my studies of Roger Williams suggest that, well, it's all about nutrients. Or that they are at least key to making the body's systems work correctly.
I still believe that 95% of health problems are a result of a combination of: vitamin deficiency, refined fructose, vegetable oil including trans fats, and environmental pollutants/additives/pesticide residues/halides, etc. Addressing only one category is almost always beneficial. 2 categories – moreso. All categories – there's a very high probability of health enhancement.
Low-carb diets are a stress to the system. Many people can live on a low-carb diet, but it is still a drain. The human body prefers to have carbohdyrates as its source of glucose. Otherwise human milk wouldn't be 40% carbohdyrate. If it preferred ketosis, human milk would be pure fat. No mammalian milk is devoid of carbohydrate. Why? Because carbohydrate is beneficial to life.
I agree Nell, I eat so much now that snacking just isn't on the mind ever. Food is the medicine, gag it down at your meals :)
Matt this may be of interest to you.
Insulin has been directly implicated in the hunger reflex for the first time:
http://entropyproduction.blogspot.com/2010/01/foxa2-transcription-factor-implicates.html
Malpaz –
You are confused because you believe that b/c carbohdyrates raise insulin, and you are insulin resistant, that carbohdyrates would be contraindicated based on your diagnosis.
The reason a 180-style approach makes sense is because:
1) Insulin resistance is the problem, and a zero carb diet is one of the most counterproductive diets on earth for fixing that problem. It is an avoidance scheme that hides from the enemy instead of conquering it.
2) Eating lots of glucose in the form of starch, as well as overall calories, saturated fats, etc. raises the hormone leptin. Leptin improves insulin resistance, which is the core problem. Leptin also appears to raise body temperature. Avoiding fructose improves leptin sensitivity so that you get the message from leptin, which is most people's problem. It's certainly not a problem for an anorexic.
If you try this you will feel like abosulute shit. An anorexic (and a zero carber) is basically an adrenaline and beta endorphin junkie. Supplying the body with all it needs will shut down adrenaline and beta endorphin release, as the body will no longer be in emergency mode. You will have withdrawal symptoms, be depressed, be extremely lethargic, and have a lot of physical pain (the opposite of an endorphin rush no?). That should be taken as proof – not that eating well makes you feel lousy, but that anorexia and zero carb eating were both addictive drugs sending you into a state of withdrawals.
If you do try it. Let us know how it goes. And yes, it can come with tremendous fat gain and out of control eating (you're body gains weight in an attempt to heal itself – Schwarzbein). It may take a full year, maybe even longer to rehabilitate. But it is the only way. It is how we fix our bodies after years of traumatizing them with diets, overexercising, nutrient deficiency, undersleeping, being overly sressed, and having pitiful heredity to begin with.
It is, as Schwarzbein states, "a healing process." And so far, healing is mostly what I've seen. If I knew a trick for preventing fat gain, I'd shout it from the rooftops. I do not though, and to be honest, the mental exercise of overcoming an attachment to that is almost as healing as the diet/lifestyle itself.
Sorry undertow. That study is a joke. That's how many have concluded that insulin causes hunger, even though it's the opposite.
What happens if you are fasted and someone injects insulin into you? You get so hungry that you will literally eat yourself to death if the insulin keeps pouring in? Why? it induces low blood sugar. You have uncontrollable urges to eat to fight off the low blood sugar tidal wave induced by insulin injection. Insulin that is secreted with a meal takes sugar and amino acids and stores it away into cells. It does not cause hunger.
Insulin is an appetite suppressant, not an appetite stimulant. That's why eating is satiating, and not eating is not satiating. This guy has everything backwards, even saying that low leptin levels causes low appetite because anorexics have low leptin levels. It's almost funny.
Thanks for following up on that study.
Matt, so it all comes back to the milk diet: plenty of rest, all macronutrients in spades and all the other essential nutrients in adequate quantities. I sure get it is ideal, yet, the fact is, if we can no longer do what our ancestors did, we are somewhat catering to our weaknesses. Not that living with stresses like LC is ideal in any way, just that it would be good to know that the capacity is there for when, you know, we get stuck in the wild, lol.
Oh, and about methyl b12, I think you didn't get the idea, or I didn't explain it well. See, I mentioned it to you not simply because it is a vitamin that may be missing in normal quantities for a lot of people, but because in big doses it has an actual therapeutic value. Many of those autistic kids being helped by it actually have an adequate serum level, so it is not so simple. It is a megavitamin therapy, I know, but one with potentially most impressive results, including but not limited to repairing damages to the nervous system, many of which cannot be solved even by the most ideal diet, and may actualy be a huge hindrance for recovery for lots of people. I may be the only case around here, but I doubt so. Not to panic, anyway, as I'll sure make my own kick-ass blog if I get out of this one, or something.
Maybe I'll call it the "third world daily report". Stop the friggin' Juanito thing!
@Undertow and Nell thanks for tip about Schwarzbein's book I will treat myself to that in a month or so, this month the big outlay was the glucose meter and strips, but i think t was worth it. I guess i just have to be patient, i am surprised at the amount of weight gained given my calories, which are not excessively high. I am eating to full each time (the snacking is just a bad habit i need to curb ;). I am lucky i haven't been on the SAD the past 30 years fortunately for that time i have been avoiding nearly all sugar and processed food (with the exception of high fibre breakfast cereal and chocolate, pre low carb) BUT because of being on statins i had bought in totally to the low fat cholesterol myth and vegetable oils, which certainly caused some damage.
@Matt, I am trying to increase my carbs ;)
you make sense to me ill never deny that. it frustrates me that you DO make sense. I am guessing there is no easy progression into it? i blorgrolled you and want to use your response you just gave me in my next post. what you described sounds like hell, and ill never say i feel bad on zero carb b/c i dont and i have control over my mind, but like you mentioned the adrenaline/endorphine junkie-ness also makes sense(ggrrr).
that sounds like a LOT of struggle…and weight gain which is the core problem… i need to read more about your nutritional approach.. im not sure where to start.
seems the opinions always are all over the place here. some eats lots of vegetables with fat and moderate protein, some preach potatoes with fat and enough protein. im not sure i buy vegetables are all that important nor that we actually utilize the ones we do eat.
im convinced saturated fat is "where it's at in terms of health… im confused on whether the insulin should be coming from excess protein, or moderate protein and carbs…or high carb, low protein lots of saturated fat…
you make sense to me ill never deny that. it frustrates me that you DO make sense. I am guessing there is no easy progression into it? i blorgrolled you and want to use your response you just gave me in my next post. what you described sounds like hell, and ill never say i feel bad on zero carb b/c i dont and i have control over my mind, but like you mentioned the adrenaline/endorphine junkie-ness also makes sense(ggrrr).
that sounds like a LOT of struggle…and weight gain which is the core problem… i need to read more about your nutritional approach.. im not sure where to start.
seems the opinions always are all over the place here. some eats lots of vegetables with fat and moderate protein, some preach potatoes with fat and enough protein. im not sure i buy vegetables are all that important nor that we actually utilize the ones we do eat.
im convinced saturated fat is "where it's at in terms of health… im confused on whether the insulin should be coming from excess protein, or moderate protein and carbs…or high carb, low protein lots of saturated fat…
Jedi, don't forget about your local library. You may be able to treat yourself to access to some of Schwarzbein's books this month for free.
Sorry to call you Juanito. It was so fun though! And you're reaction, LMAO! I am interested in the potential of megavitamin therapy, although cautious in general.
Malpaz –
I think light on the protein may be the best approach. I'm seeing how I respond to that as we speak – relying mostly on tubers and curries with lots of fat and small portions of meat/cheese/fish. You may be right about the veggies, but I do love them sometimes. Bok choy in bacon fat last night. Lawd have mercy!
Jedi –
Almost all libraries allow you to get any of Schwarzbein's books. I hardly pay for books anymore. Just try it once and you'll never go back. You don't have to be as phobic about carbs as she was in book 1 though. She's come up in her recommendations, as have I. Even low-carb die hards like Anthony Colpo and Nikoley are gobbling some starch these days.
I lol'd.
I don't know if Schwarzbein is translated but my local french library has absolutely nothing up to date on these sorts of things, sdady :( Medical care is great in France but they are very behind on many issues like hypothyroidism and satuarted fats etc
Yay for a fellow European. Same situation here too, I don't have access to those books via a library and I don't think they are wirth the investment right now, could be wrong though.
I don't know if the French medical system is that much better, but in my opinion the German medical system sucks! You HAVE to pay a certain amount per month and despite that you can't even really decide what treatment you wanna get. If you want to get some alternative treatment, you have to pay extra and most of the conventional treatment is super crappy and to some degree flatout wrong. So basically you are paying money for something you really do not want to have and if you wanna get some decent treatment you have to pay extra.
I wasn't asking about which country to get potatoes from. If i had a choice I'd go with non sprayed ones. My question was more of a tradeoff issue if you for some reason felt like you didn't have a choice. Eat a ton of sprayed starches or abused animals for the purpose of increasing metabolism but at the cost of ingesting more pollutants, or eat less of the sprayed stuff but not have a metabolic boost.
If I read the latest newsletter correctly, one of the quotes from the highlighted researcher said a body working in full concert will properly eliminate the poisons via the liver. This to me seems like it supports the sprayed HED approach.
Matt, how do you know colpo is eating carbs these days. I haven't heard from him in months; thought he just disappeared
That was the word on the street about Colpo. Someone passed along a Colpo thread months ago and he did, in fact, mention that he was eating more carbohdyrate. I don't follow him very closely though.