Low Carb Eating -- An Update

You may remember I wrote about America's growing obesity incidence back in October. Different populations and different ages of people may contribute to the fattening trend, but I wonder if changes in diet and food availability may also contribute.

The USDA's food pyramid for guidance to healthy eating recommends breads, cereals, rice, and pasta to be the main dietary component (6-11 servings per day) but meats and eggs -- proteins -- to only comprise 2-3 servings per day, and fats to be in the same category as sweets, which are to be eaten "sparingly."

Americans have taken this advice to heart. Look around, at vending machines, in restaurants, at supermarkets. Carbohydrate products are everywhere. It's relatively easy to eat "low fat," but "low carb" is tougher.

But is eating low fat and high carb really the healthiest advice? I've been doing some reading on nutrition, and am beginning to wonder if obesity is not a symptom of eating too much, but simply a symptom of a maladaptive insulin response in the body. Let me explain. Insulin is a peptide hormone produced by the pancreas (an organ lying beneath the stomach), and is released in response to rises in blood sugar. The blood sugar rises when carbohydrates are digested and the food elements are released into the bloodstream. Since high blood sugar causes alkylating reactions to tissues that damage them over time, the body needs to lower the blood sugar to stay healthy. Insulin causes cells to take in sugars from the blood, and also causes glycogen (an endogenous sugar source) to be stored in the liver. In some people, especially with a genetic component and as people age, the insulin may cause a too-vigorous response by fat cells so that they remove ALL the blood sugar. This too-vigorous response causes the fat cells to get fatter, and at the same time removes the energy source from the blood so that the body feels it is STARVING. The person will crave more food, and usually carbohydrates, since carbs cause the fastest rise in blood sugar to supply energy. The insulin is released again, and this sets up a vicious cycle.

I don't know; I'm not a nutritionist, simply someone who enjoys reading the literature. But this explanation seems reasonable.

I've been eating low-carb since the beginning of October, with a 3 week glitch around the end of November. Since that time I've lost 15 pounds without exercise, and don't feel hungry. There are no down effects as far as I can tell from how I feel; in fact, I feel more energetic and just... better.

The toughest part about sticking with low-carb is finding things to eat. I like eggs but not often. I'm not a fan of red meat or of seafood (except salmon), although I can eat it if I have to. I find ham and cheese to be too salty to eat much. So, what's a low-carb person to do?

My solution has been to figure out alternatives to the pure meat-and-eggs choices. I found a few low-carb cookbooks and make low carb taste-alike products such as protein bars and cookies. These taste good, I can grab them off the shelf or from the freezer, and they are satisfying for quick meals like breakfast or lunch. I will eat a spoonful of peanut butter or some cottage cheese if I'm hungry. I love vegetables and have platefuls of red pepper and cucumber to crunch on. I make lots of shredded chicken, and occasionally wrap it with mayonnaise and lettuce in a low-carb tortilla for lunch. Very satisfying. I'll mix up tuna salad or egg salad with celery and slivered almonds to eat for dinner. Occasionally I'll make a slushie with crushed ice and vanilla-flavored whey powder. Sometimes I'll eat almonds mixed with sugar-free chocolate chips for breakfast or a snack.

Now that I've worked out these solutions, and freeze or otherwise prepare foods that I can eat quickly, that taste good, I'm doing much better. I'm not tempted to eat carbs; in fact, the idea is even vaguely repellent. Maybe my body is remembering the swinging blood sugar after breads? I don't know, but I have no problems with desiring cakes and sugar.

So, my verdict? Low-carb seems to be a good lifestyle for me. I'm a convert.

I'll be posting a few low-carb recipes for surprising foods next week.

Lowering Insulin Levels to Lose Weight

OK, back to calories not all being created equal.

The Eades are a married physician couple who have written extensively on diet and weight. They advocate a low-carbohydrate, high protein/fat diet to lose fat and stay healthy, and note that our great- great- cestors hunted and didn't have much to eat except meat and fat. They also noted that humans crave sweet, salt, and fat, and these things may not be as bad as we've always heard. I don't have personal experience with their work but they probably wouldn't keep putting out the diet books if they didn't have a following, so will assume they're effective. Gary Taubes is another low-carb author about whom my mom raves, and apparently there are others as well.

My sister had a baby two years ago, and was discouraged about her weight gain until she tried the high-protein/low-carb regime. Now every time I talk to her on the phone she tells me about how wonderful she feels and how the diet has really worked for her. My Mom has also taken up the cause, although she's not losing weight as she wishes. (Too many carbs? Too much wine? Or it doesn't always work?) Who knows.

I've never been fat, but I've noticed these past few years that I'm no longer "slender" i.e. I moved to 10-12 size range two years ago. This trend is NOT good, so I've been doing some research on my own about losing weight.

Unlike my family, the first thing I decided was that I did not want to eat only meat and butter for the rest of my life. An interesting book I found that was related to low-carb was Diane Kress' The Metabolism Miracle, which offered an alternative and more detailed explanation for what may be going on to cause people to gain weight. Basically, if your fat cells have a too-vigorous response to insulin, they will snarf up the available blood sugar and grow, ignoring the needs of the other cells. She postulates that this is a genetic type of metabolism (Metabolism Type B). It could be. It also could be simply that as the person ages and/or undergoes life stress, this response becomes more likely. It's not essential for understanding her diet though.

Kress postulates that one simply has to retrain the body's response to insulin. Instead of the fat cells dominating, slower responses by all the cells can be trained.

Her diet has 3 stages:

Stage One: virtually no carbs. This in essence pushes the "reset" button on insulin metabolism in the body. No carbs equals no insulin equals a resting of the pancreas (that produces insulin) and the liver (that coordinates metabolism).

Stage Two: gradual, regular ingestion of relatively low levels of carbs to help the body adjust to modest insulin responses.

Stage Three: maintenance: higher, regular carb ingestion that will keep the body's metabolic functions working well without causing fat gain.

Stage One is for 8 weeks, Stage Two for 8 or more weeks until you're happy with where you are, and Stage Three for "the rest of your life." (It's not difficult, by the way). I've now been on Stage One for three weeks and have lost 8 pounds. I haven't been hungry or felt bad, although have to admit that I'm eager to move back to some carbs. Kress has excellent recipes in her two books, but really, I'm a bit tired of cottage cheese, eggs, broccoli, cheese and peanut butter. The artificial sweeteners have a nasty aftertaste (although Dickinson's sugar-free Cherry Preserves are AMAZING!).

I prefer the idea of "Metabolism Miracle" diet better than the simple low-carb-forever plans. If it works, this method allows you to eat anything, even frosted brownies, as long as you space carbs and don't overload your system.

Although after reading William Davis' Wheat Belly, I'm not as eager to use flour as I used to be. I've been baking with almond and flax flours with pretty good results. We'll see.

Whole Grains are NOT Healthy!

Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist, also postulates that insulin is a problem. He believes that America's growing obesity problem can be explained largely through the large consumption of "Whole Grains." In the American diet wheat is a component of most foods, and there is evidence that we Americans eat more of it than we have in the past. The problem with this is that the wheat we eat now may not be the same plant we ate even 50 years ago. Davis references aggressive cross-breeding of different strains of wheat to produce desired characteristics such as shorter growing season and resistance to different conditions (drought, parasites etc.). He notes that gluten composition (gluten is a major protein in wheat) is also altered, and new gluten types are appearing. He postulates that these changes may alter how wheat is metabolically handled in the body.

Dr. Davis uses the glycemic index to show how "Whole Grains" may be contributing to America's obesity problem.

The Glycemic Index (GI) is a standardize measurement that quantifies how quickly a particular food converts to blood sugar in the human body. The standard is glucose, with a GI of 100. Other foods are compared to the glucose GI to receive their own GI. A high GI food means that blood sugar rises quickly, and causes an intense insulin release. The insulin causes fat cells (and other cells) to absorb the sugar for proper functioning. When fat cells are stimulated by insulin, they manufacture more fat and eventually cause unsightly bulges. Many experts believe that keeping insulin levels as low as possibly will decrease fat formation.

Whole Grains are viewed as being "healthy" in our society, but in reality they have high GIs. For example, Shredded Wheat cereal has a GI of about 69, whereas a Snickers candy bar has a GI of 40. This high GI in grain is in large part due to high quantities of amylopectin A, a form of branched sugar molecules (complex carbohydrates) that are quickly broken down in the body.

Davis gives a chain of reaction: whole grains --> amylopectin A broken down --> sugar absorbed into the blood --> quick and high release of insulin --> fat cells take up the blood sugar --> fat cells produce more fat --> blood sugar levels drop --> brain senses low blood glucose levels --> brain stimulates the appetite --> whole grains often preferred because they produce a fast sugar rise

Davis' prescription to his patients is simple: DON'T EAT WHEAT PRODUCTS! Other grain products, such as corn and rice, are also not encouraged. He suggests using flax flour, almond flour, and coconut flour for baking. He also recommends avoiding simple sugar ingestion, since the sugar also gives fast insulin responses.

It's interesting to contemplate that a Snickers candy bar might be a better breakfast than breakfast cereal and milk.

Types of Food

Insulin is the hormone released in response to blood sugar rise, and works to allow cells to uptake the sugar for energy. Dietician Diane Kress postulates that insulin response in some people is skewed so that the fat cells take up all the sugar, leading to growing fat cells and no sugar for the other cells.

There are four general substances that can generate blood sugar to power cells. These substances come from foods that we digest. They are: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and alcohol.

Carbohydrates are the starches and sugars: breakfast cereal, potatoes, breads, and so forth. They yield 4 kcal per gram.

Proteins are things like meats, egg whites, and tofu. They also yield 4 kcal per gram.

Fats are, well we know what they are: butter and oil. They yield 9 kcal per gram. Molecularly fats are long carbon chains with hydrogen atoms. "Saturated" fats are the ones that are filled with hydrogen atoms so they lie flat and on a larger scale are solid at room temperature: butter, fat in steak, and so forth. "Unsaturated" fats means that they don't have as much hydrogen and are bent. These are the oils such as safflower and corn oil that are liquid at room temperature. "Monounsaturated" oils have just one hydrogen missing; olive oil is a good example. Hydrogenated fats are unsaturated oils exposed to hydrogen to saturate them. The trans fatty acids refers to a specific type of bond that develops in the fat when an unsaturated oil is hydrogenated: I don't want to go into too much detail with the biochemistry, but feel free to write to me if you wish for further explanation. The trans fatty acids are considered unhealthy.

Alcohol is ethanol; if you're drinking another sort of chemical alcohol you'll get in trouble. It yields 7 kcal per gram.

These substances are broken down in the digestive process through different metabolic pathways. Carbohydrates are the substance that cause insulin to be released: proteins, fats, and alcohol don't. Carbohydrates are also most quickly broken down to yield glucose in the body.

To be continued...