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This article is about Z Coach (all Windows, 3.5MB, no adware), a simple application I created when I realized that tracking progress was a great way to stay focused on goals (in this case weight loss), and create habits.

As it turned out, it helped but it wasn’t enough. Back when I created this the results that followed were rather poor. The same old loss of weight due to temporary focus and effort, followed by very discouraging weight gain.

It doesn’t replace understanding how weight loss works (which is what my free weight loss plan is based on). But since it does help, here it is, as a backup tool.

 

5 Primary Functions

 

Once you’ve created a user (much like Z Planner, multiple users are possible, making it useable by more than one person on the same computer), there are five sub-screens. You can use all of them for maximum functionality (but also more tedious) or just pick and choose.

 

Choose Target Values

 

This form is quick and only needs to be used once, unless you wish to update. Simply pick a start date and a target date for your weight loss goal to be achieved. Enter a target weight and, optionally, a target pulse (rising pulse in state of rest is a sign that you are overdoing training, while a slowing rate means your heart is growing stronger).

 

Add Exercises

 

If you’ve referred to the weight loss plan before, and possibly have read the article on muscle type, you may have picked several training activities (either for strength/speed, endurance, or both). In this form you can enter each exercise and assign them an intensity. Intensity will be used to determine a point value (points you will earn each time you’ve performed the exercise).

Those can be specific (push-up / sit-up series), or broad (an hour at the gym or just going for a 30 minute walk).

Z Coach gives you a lot of liberty for determining goals and how you will evaluate yourself down the line.

 

Daily Exercise

 

At this point you are tracking fitness activities. If you haven’t done any of your exercises, pick No Workout Today. Otherwise, select one of the exercises you have done and enter the number of times it was carried out. Repeat for each exercise. Their point values will be awarded accordingly.

 

Meal Evaluation

 

There are plenty of things to focus on when getting back in shape. Chew carefully, drink a lot of water, don’t snack, have fiber, stay off fast carbs (except on cheat day).

All of these are included in this form, and points are awarded for each aspect that is in line with the plan. Note that skipping meals takes away points!

Positive foods would be: slow carbs, magnesium, an omega-3 source, vitamin D, chromium. All of those micronutrients that fend off insulin resistance! Those can be taken care of with simple over-the-counter supplements.

This is by far the most tedious form to fill out. Try sticking with it until you’ve developped the required habits. Personally, I rather quickly switched to only tracking weight in the last form.

 

Progress Log

 

This last form is there for you to track progress. Enter your weight once a day, or once a week and hopefully your weight report will look something like this:

 

 

If you want it to, it will! It can even be better, you can learn and do things right from the start (I had milk for instance at the time, still unknowing of the insulinic index problem).

Note that you can read more details on how each form works by clicking on the corresponding help button once the app is running.

If you think it can help, download it here. It is freeware and doesn’t have any junk bundled. Just like Z Planner. Honest. (Works with all Windows and weighs about 3.5MB)

 

 

Hunger is a tricky, complex mechanism.

Hormones, nervous signals and psychology come into play together to make one big mess and various types of feelings. Part of this complexity is due to there being a set of sub-mechanisms that trigger the hunger sensation, and completely different sub-mechanisms that trigger the feeling of dietery satisfaction (or satiety).

Ultimately, when you understand them, you can control hunger to some degree (although not completely). So let’s look into all those mechanisms. Then we’ll see how you can act to control it.

 

Hormones

 

First let’s have a quick run-down on what hormones are and how they work.

Hormones are chemical messengers. They are secreted when a message needs to be sent to a part of the body where that specific hormone’s receptors are located. The bloodstream serves as a means of communication, simply by transporting the hormone molecules to those receptors. Once they get there, they “fit” into the receptor, much like a key in a hole. This triggers a specific chain of events that the hormone was meant to cause. In this case, hormones that trigger hunger cause neurological events that lead to your feeling hungry.

There are two hormones that contribute to telling your brain that you are hungry. The most important is ghrelin, but a high concentration of glucagon in the bloodstream also cause hunger generating signals to the brain.

Ghrelin is secreted in various places in the body that detect conditions that require you to eat.

The liver secretes ghrelin when its glycogen storage runs low (glycogen is in fact a strand of sugar molecules assembled for storage). This makes sense, because if storage is running low, it means that blood sugar levels have been low long enough to deplete it.

The stomach secretes ghrelin when it is empty.

The pancreas and hypothalamus are both capable of detecting low sugar levels in the bloodstream. When they do, both contribute to the secretion of ghrelin.

Glucagon is a molecule that is secreted by the pancreas when blood sugar levels diminish. Most of its receptors are located in the liver, and the result of the hormonal message is the breaking down of glycogen strands into sugar molecules that are released in the bloodstream to keep blood sugar levels constant. It also triggers signals that amplify the hunger sensation.

There are completely different hormones that cause the opposite effect (satiety).

Leptin is secreted by fat cells when excess fat and sugar is being stored. Leptin also plays a part in fat breakdown (lipolysis), but this part is not well known. It has only been demonstrated in empirical studies that showed that decreased leptin secretion slowed down weight loss. This would account at least in part for the “slowed metabolism” that occurs during dieting.

Cholecystokinin is a very complex hormone, made up of over 100 amino acids, that is secreted by the intestines during digestion. This hormone was first discovered in 2002.

Insulin’s main role is to cause sugar and fatty acid uptake by cells that use them for energy or store them. Liver cells store sugar as glycogen, fat cells store sugar and fatty acids in the form of triglycerides and muscle cells use sugar (white muscle cells use sugar and store glycogen) and fatty acids (red muscle cells use them during endurance efforts – Pasteur effect). Insulin is glucagon’s counterpart and is also secreted by the pancreas.

 

Nervous Signals

 

Most of the nervous signals that lead to hunger are actually caused by hormones, except those sent through the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve directly links the stomach to the brain and sends complex signals of varying frequency. This leads to varying degrees of hunger or satisfaction, depending both on quantity and quality. It detects the types of food present in the stomach and reacts differently to each food group. The strongest satiety effect is caused by protein.

 

Psychology

 

We saw in a previous article on nicotine addiction just how powerful the brain’s reward cycle could be in determining behavior. What is true for nicotine can also be true for food.

Comfort food triggers this reward cycle if it is taken as a result of stressful events. The more this happen, the more reward cycles occur and therefore the more comfort food will be associated with stress relief. It can become a psychological addicition that leads to a physiological addiction to sugar and ultimately cause insulin resistance (a very common problem) and type II diabetes (also a very common problem).

This effect is called positive reinforcement in psychology. Another psychological mechanism called punishment has the opposite effect (food isn’t associated with pleasure, but with pain). This can become a disorder that can potentially lead to anorexia: eating is associated with a painfully negative (and often unreasonably exagerated) self- image . The anorexic thinks she (usually a woman) is too fat while she may in fact be just skin and bones. Eating becomes painful.

 

Benefits of Understanding

 

Understanding hunger allows you to follow a dieting plan that takes it into account.

Hunger caused by low glycogen storage and decreasing leptin secretion is kept in check with cheat day (restoring leptin secretion also keeps metabolism running).

Hunger caused by sugar lows is considerably reduced by emphasizing the use of low GI foods (stabilizing both sugar highs and sugar lows).

Hunger caused by the vagus nerve is reduced by ensuring proper protein intake (without going overboard – protein digestion causes high levels of toxicity) as well as fiber intake (insoluble fiber especially cause food to stay in the stomach longer).

Hunger caused by stress and other psychological factors can be identified as such and lead you to focus on relaxing. Note that stress also causes cortisol spikes which are known to cause belly fat storage.

Identifying the cause of your hunger should help you deal with it better and ultimately lower your consumption of comfort foods. Many of these factors are taken into account in the free weight loss plan (which of course should only be undertaken under proper medical supervision). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This may very well be one of the most important articles you ever read. Seriously. Many commercial “sales pages” start this way so note that this isn’t one.

Insulin resistance deprives you of your energy. It sets you up for diabetes and cardio-vascular disease. It prevents weight loss (fighting it is one of the cornerstones of my free weight loss plan), no matter how hard you try. It causes depression. It ruins careers and relationships. It makes lives more difficult and less enjoyable. It sometimes ruins them.

It affects a very large percentage of the world population.

Insulin resistance is the enemy. One of the worst 21st century ailments, and practically no one ever talks about it, because it isn’t deadly. Not directly anyway. Yet 8% of the US population has diabetes (90% of which is type II). All type II diabetes patients developped insulin resistance prior to diabetes setting in. Quietly, unknowingly.

Diabetes has been officially declared an epidemic at the turn of the century. Insulin resistance is a pre-diabetic condition. It becomes type II diabetes later down the road. Estimates from 2004 tell that 25% of the population has mild to severe insulin resistance. It has only been getting worse, so the figures may now be much more alarming.

Yet insulin resistance isn’t a fatality. It is rather easy to reverse, given people affected by it know what it is, how they got it, what it is doing to them and how to get rid of it.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. I am not a doctor, and am not qualified to either diagnose or prescribe treatment. This article is meant to be used in collaboration with a qualified physician. No guarantees are made as to the results you should expect from applying its contents.

That being said, insulin resistance is characterized by high sugar, triglyceride and fatty acid content in the blood. It can be diagnosed easily with a simple blood test.

Insulin resistance will often cause weight gain, because it prevents sugar and fatty acids from being transported to cells that need them for energy. Instead of being used, they stagnate in the blood and ultimately end up being stored. Without insulin resistance, people that are affected would have more energy, would be likely to use it, and not store it. This energy could be used for better family, social and / or career life, but it isn’t so these improvements aren’t made.

People with this condition do not necessarily put on weight. Some people never get fat, and for entirely different reasons. If you read that (short) article, you understand that people that never put on weight may actually be more at risk. Not being overweight isn’t reason enough to conclude that there is no resistance to insulin.

Insulin resistance causes digestive drowsiness, especially if meals have a high carbohydrate content. An uncontrollable urge to sleep after lunch is a rather reliable symptom of advanced stages of insulin resistance.

 

Causes of Insulin Resistance.

 

Insulin resistance, like the name suggests, is a developped immunity to the effects of insulin at the cellular level. The pancreas has, for too long, produced too much insulin. The cells have in turn gradually stopped responding. The role of insulin is to cause sugar and fatty acid uptake by cells that need to replenish glycogen and energy supply, liver cells that metabolize or store them (glycogen)  and fat cells that store fat and sugar that isn’t immediately required. Insulin resistance causes these excesses to stagnate in the blood, affecting arteries and ultimately causing cardio-vascular incidents and other complications.

The pancreas releases high amounts of insulin when sugar content in the blood spikes. The large amounts of insulin causes that excess sugar to be stored quickly if the fat and liver cells are healthy. This causes a sugar low. The sugar low causes a craving for more sugar, which leads to the next spike in sugar content.

As this cycle repeats itself, an addiction to sugar sets in and the pancreas grows more efficient. More sugar intake is caused by the addicition. More sugar and a stronger pancreas cause insulin spikes to reach much higher levels . A vicious cycle that causes cells to start to develop immunity. 

 

Worsening factors.

 

Sugar intake and pancreatic response may or may not be enough on their own, but there are worsening factors.

 

Weight gain.

 

With weight gain, fat gets stored in the muscles and around vital organs. Intra-muscular fat storage mechanically impedes sugar and fatty acid uptake, duplicating the effects of insulin resistance.

Trans fats and low density lipoproteins (LDL, or “bad cholesterol”) are more likely to penetrate such confined storage places (as well as vascular walls).

 

Too much fructose.

 

Fructose directly causes the creation of LDL when it is catabolized by the liver (hepatic cells are the only cells in the body that can process fructose). Too much fructose in our diet is another worsening factor.

This article and video go into the details of the effects of fructose. Note that excess fructose in our diet isn’t caused by fruit. We actually don’t have enough of those, but fructose is used as a substitute for sugar in virtually all industrially processed foods.

 

When sugar is absorbed in the blood too fast.

 

This is due to the nature of the sugars in our diet, or more precisely their glycemic and insulinic indexes. This article goes into the details of good vs bad carbohydrates, and it is mostly based on those two measurements:

Glycemic index: How fast the sugar is digested and absorbed in the blood stream.
Insulinic index: How responsive the pancreas is to that sugar when it is detected.

If the sugars in our diet have a low glycemic index and insulinic index, the previously described insulin spike / insulin low cycles that lead to addiction to sugar, then insulin resistance and ultimately diabetes and other complications never happen. Switching to them is probably the best prevention for children and young adults that aren’t affected yet.

 

How to reverse Insulin Resistance.

 

The following measures are, as stated above, listed for informational purposes only. All undertakings aimed at improving your health must be carried out under proper medical supervision.

 

Slow carbs.

 

Switching to “slow” carbs is one of the required measures to successfully reverse insulin resistance. It does so by first preventing the insulin spikes that make it worse. With time, cellular immunity to insulin should wear off.

The free weight loss plan lists the foods I used myself, and the Montignac GI tables will help you determine acceptable foods for yourself. Use the search box to test foods you are considering, or the <35 GI table (green) to find foods that can fit into a slow carb diet.

As stated there, dairy products have a low GI but the insulinic index of lactose is extremely high. Milk is not an acceptable source of slow carbohydrates.

Remember however that insulin resistance isn’t only about weight loss. Even if body shape is of little concern to you, there are still very good reasons to look into it.

 

Omega-3 fatty acids.

 

Omega-3 fatty acids are required to build healthy cellular walls. When a resistant cell reaches the end of its life cycle, it can be replaced by a healthier, non-resistant cell.

They can be found in flaxseed oil (also called rapeseed, canola and colza), krill oil, wild salmon and mackerel.

 

Micronutrients.

 

Magnesium plays an essential part in lipolysis (more on that in a future article) and has been said to have beneficial effects on insulin resistance. Magnesium defficiency is common, so bear this in mind when discussing with your physician.

Chromium and vitamin D are also said to have beneficial effects, but I have found no explanation as to why.

 

Reduce fructose intake.

 

Only get fructose from fruit. Read labels, and stay away from anything that says fructose syrup (or sucrose, which is 1/2 glucose and 1/2 fructose).

 

Exercise.

 

Exercise causes your body to create more glycolytic receptors. Those are cellular structures that enable sugar intake so as to replenish glycogen supply (essential for type II muscle cells especially). This has a direct impact on insulin resistance.

Exercise can be divided into two broad categories. It will either be an endurance effort or a speed/strength effort. Endurance relies on type I (red, or slow-twitch) muscle cells and it is mainly powered by the Pasteur Effect, which burns fat. Speed and strength rely on type II (white, or fast-twitch) muscle cells and it is entirely powered by glycolysis, which requires sugar and more calories.

My previous article on muscle type and exercise goes into more detail.

 

The Most Important…

 

Don’t forget: the first and foremost step to take to reverse insulin resistance is to elaborate a strategy in collaboration with a qualified physician. This article is meant to enable you to participate, not auto-medicate.

Whatever you do, do something. If it has been years since your last blood test, start there. If you struggle staying awake after lunch, can’t seem to lose weight, or never gain weight no matter what some investigation is required. Get your energy back.

Some people seem to never put on weight, no matter what. It is perpetually amazing, and frustrating to see what they can eat in a day and not have the slightest trouble staying thin.

There are reasons for this, and some of these reasons are actually bad news… For them.

If you are one of these people, this article can help you avoid serious risks hidden behind that gift from God. If you aren’t, you may be tempted to revel in these news, see this as personal revenge…

It isn’t nice.

But I agree, it does kinda feel good That being said, let’s look into why.

 

No, it isn’t due to metabolism.

 

People that are gifted with a high metabolism aren’t necessarily thin. There is actually little correlation between the two, simply because a high metabolism leads to more appetite, which causes higher caloric intake.

Even the fastest metabolism rarely burns more than 3000 calories a day. Compared to the 2000 average, the extra 1000 calories (2 or 3 sandwiches) isn’t a very substantial difference. Not one that accounts for some of the spectacular eating habits that some seem to be graciously forgiven for.

While a high metabolism is a great advantage for losing fat faster (there is more calorie deficit potential), it isn’t such a great advantage for preventing weight gain when we aren’t paying attention.

 

It’s the fat cells, or lack thereof.

 

Some people never get fat simply because they have far fewer fat cells. When those are full, there isn’t any more storage space.

The number of fat cells determines how much fat we can pack on, and it largely depends on our eating habits as children. This is because fat cells can multiply when we grow up, and stop doing so when we reach adulthood. Past that point, the maximum fat storage capacity is determined for life.

Fat cells can expand a little, but that has limited impact on how much more they can take in.

 

Why this can be dangerous.

 

Where do fat (the fatty acids and triglycerides) and excess sugar go when fat cells are full? In places you don’t want them to go. They stagnate in the bloodstream (high triglyceride, fatty acid and sugar count), penetrate muscle tissue (causing, or worsening insulin resistance and herego risk of diabetes), or penetrate vascular walls in the form of  excessive low density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad” cholesterol).

Does this mean this doesn’t happen to people with (current or potential) weight problems? No, or course not.  We simply have more leeway. But likewise, if our fat cells reach maximum capacity, those same problems start appearing.

And when we lose weight, we gain some more of that leeway, whereas the eternally thin person has no possibility of doing so. For them overeating is potentially much more serious than putting on a few pounds during the holiday season is for the rest of us.

 

 

 

We’ve seen in the weight loss plan that exercise isn’t mandatory for fat loss. As long as there is a calorie deficit over time, and nothing gets in the way (cravings, resistance, …), then you will lose weight. Exercise can help, however, and understanding muscle cells will enable you to get the most out of it and optimize results.

The things that get in the way are generally the problem, which is why it is more than worthwhile to learn how it all works. It makes the difference. One of many reasons to subscribe on the top right of this page! Weight loss that works is one of the center themes on my blog.

Calories are almost always either stored or burned. The only exceptions are the proteins that are extracted from the blood by the kidneys, and the calories that never make it in the system (they do not pass the intestinal wall).

Today, we will focus on muscles, and you’ll understand how exercise can help you lose weight, how to pick the right kind, and why the answer to that question isn’t necessarily the same for you as anyone else.

 

Exercise is good for you, burns extra calories, increases metabolism, and makes you feel good.

 

Exercise releases endorphins, a molecule related to morphine that creates the relaxed, positive feeling you get from a good workout. Depending on what you do, it will have positive effects on cardio-vascular health, joints, will power, muscle mass…

It can burn a few hundred calories per hour (up to 1200 for intensive sessions), which isn’t the primary benefit. It increases metabolism (+ muscle mass), but that isn’t the primary benefit either.

The primary benefit is that it lowers resistance to insulin (increasing the number of glucose receptors in the cells).

 

Not everyone is made for the same type of exercise.

 

The reason for this is simple: there are two types of muscle cells, and everyone has a different proportion of each.

Since they are totally different, this plays a big part in determining just how different people are, and how they deal with energy (and fat) differently.

 

Type I muscles work for endurance effort.

 

There are many different kinds of sports, exercises or routines that can be used to burn more calories, which is ultimately necessary for fat loss. While calorie deficits do not necessarily require exercise, a good workout will slightly improve your metabolism (development of more muscle cells, a stronger heart) and it will help burn more calories.

All of the types of exercise you can choose from can be broken down into two categories: slow and fast movement.

Slow movement implicates type I muscle cells (red muscle cells).

 

Biological characteristics of red muscle cells and their importance for fat loss.

 

Red muscle cells do not have the same characteristics as their fast counterpart. They have a different mechanical structure and, more importantly, they process energy differently. Red muscle cells get the energy from the bloodstream for immediate use. They do not store much. This means that if you use them for long stretches of time (endurance sports such as jogging), they will need the bloodstream to constantly supply them with energy substrate.

If you run for an hour, the ability to regulate blood sugar using just glucagon and the glycogen in the liver will be insufficient. Glycogen storage in the liver would deplete dangerously and when it runs out, you would be unable to continue running and urgently need to eat carbohydrates to prevent your system from shutting down. Thankfully, a mechanism that shuts down the use of glucose and shifts your red muscle cells to a different source of energy kicks in gradually from the moment you start running (or practicing any kind of low to medium intensity effort).

That different source of energy is no other than fat (fatty acids that were released in the bloodstream by the adrenaline that was secreted as a result of physical effort). The mechanism that shifts from using glucose to using only fatty acids is called the Pasteur effect.

The fatty acids in the bloodstream are absorbed by your muscle cells, and enter the Krebs cycle in the mitochondria (a very important detail) where they will be catabolized into sugar, and ultimately ATP.

 

Does this mean that endurance effort is the ony way to burn fat?

 

No.

It is the only way to burn fat as a direct result of exercising. There is a very big difference.

Only cells that have mitochondria can use fatty acids for energy. Red muscle cells have plenty. White muscle cells, however, have very few. That means they are practically incapable of burning fat directly. But what counts isn’t the ability to burn fat directly. What counts is the ability to burn calories. White muscle cells can burn calories as well, and leave it to other cells to burn fat while they burn glucose (by breaking down glycogen storage, which they have plenty of).

This may all seem like plain trivia, but it isn’t. What makes these details extremely important is that each individual has a different proportion of red and white mucle cells. That means that each individual’s strategy for using exercise to enhance fat loss will depend on whether they have a red or white muscle cell predominance. At first, your efforts will concentrate on best using what you have available. If you want to become athletic, you will later aim for good balance between the two by developping the muscle type that you are lacking.

People that struggle with weight typically have a white muscle cell predominance. In some cases there are so few red muscle cells that the overall number of mitochondria in the body is so low that fat loss is made very difficult, or slow. In that case ketosis happens frequently (fatty acids are catabolized in the liver, which is dangerous). Medical supervision is especially required in those cases, and some development of red muscle cells through endurance training will be required before the body can become efficient enough for fat loss to occur.

This may be one cause for fat loss being difficult. There can be others, such as dehydration, lack of oxygen, poor lymphatic and blood circulation and resistance to insulin (glucose and fatty acids have a hard time entering your body’s cells). How to lose weight thus depends on individual characteristics, that lead to different fat loss strategies and a more or less important need for medical supervision.

 

Type II muscles are used for speed and strength movement.

 

For the subject at hand, it is important to note that type II muscles have very few mitochondria, and this makes them very poor fat burners.

However, it doesn’t mean strength and speed exercises need to be ruled out of your fat loss strategy.

Type II muscles get energy from glucose, and almost exclusively use anaerobic glycolisis for energy. This requires no oxygen, which is why you can lift heavy weights while holding your breath, like most power lifters do. This will turn you bright red, because the rest of your body does need oxygen as it runs partly on aerobic energy processing.

Anaerobic glycolisis may not be a good fat burner, but it is an excellent calorie burner. This is because it is energetically poorly efficient. This means that it will require a lot more calories to work.

So speed and strength movements bjurn very little fat (unlike slow, enduring movements, especially when the Pasteur effect has kicked in), but it burns a lot of calories in the form of glucose. 

 

So how do you use speed and strength for fat loss?

 

White muscle cells store the energy that will be used for such exercises in  the form of glycogen. When it runs out, it gets more sugar out of the bloodstream to rebuild its supply for the next round of speed/strength effort, but it can take days to restore that supply entirely. This is why after 5 reps you are burned out for the day and need to either move on to the next muscle group or call it a day.

By restoring glycogen supply, your white muscles use sugar that will no longer be available for the red muscles, as well as just about every cell in your body. They will therefore need to use fat that they can process in their mitochondria.

So while white muscle cells will not burn fat directly, they will cause all the other cells to do so… given there is an overall calorie deficit. This calorie deficit is easier to obtain using speed and strength because of the inefficient nature of anaerobic glycolisis.

But there are a few important points you need to be aware of. If you are too predominantly strength/speed profiled (too few red muscle cells), you have a lot less mitochondria that can burn fat. This means you will have to accept slow fat loss to avoid ketosis (very uncomfortable and unsafe).

In this case you will especially need medical supervision, and it may be required that you leave your comfort zone sooner to build some red muscle cells through endurance activity, despite the fact that that kind of exercise is very uncomfortable for you.

If that is the case, take things slowly. Rely on your strength abilities to some extent, but force yourself to build up your endurance. Naturally, if you start with very little, just walking will be great. Also consider swimming. Don’t try to go too quickly, and whatever you do, you should avoid ketosis.

 

 

You certainly already know there are “good carbs” and “bad carbs”. This post is about understanding both how to recognize them thoroughly, and what makes the good ones good, and the bad ones bad.

Previous posts have given some insight on this already, as well as the free weight loss plan itself, but if you didn’t read them, you didn’t know that. If you did, it’s not all there, and this is the foundation of the plan (that made me lose 60 lbs).

There are four characteristics of carbohydrates: Glycemic index, insulinic index, calorie load and metabolism (or your body’s cells ability to metabolize them).

 

Glycemic index.

 

This defines the time a carbohydrate takes to get to the bloodstream after ingestion. If it is fast, the glycemic index is high.

Good carbohydrates have a low glycemic index.

The reason this makes them good carbohydrates is that high glycemic index means you get a sudden glycemic hit that causes the pancreas to react violently. This means a peak of insulin, which causes the sugar to be stored quickly, which causes a sugar low and a craving for more sugar.

This leads to addiction, followed by an immunization to insulin called resistance to insulin, which is the first real step towards diabetes.

 

Insulinic index.

 

This defines how strongly the pancreas reacts to the carbohydrate. Even if it hits the blood gradually, a low GI carbohydrate with very high insulinic index will cause the same pancreatic response we are trying to avoid.

Although low GI tends to mean low insulinic index, there are a couple exceptions: milk and diet soda (hence the drink water only part of the weight loss plan).

Sugar substitutes in diet soda have no calories, because they cannot be metabolized by the cells. Nonetheless, their structure is close enough to sugar to be recognized as such, and trigger an insulin peak.

 

Calorie load.

 

The most important rule for weight loss is burning more calories than you absorb. Very few calories escape the body, so they are either burned or stored (the only ones that are filtered out are proteins, partially eliminated by the kidneys).

Low GI foods can therefore be a poor source of carbohydrates, simply because they contain too many calories (almonds and nuts for example, with roughly 600 calories to 100 grams).

 

Metabolism.

 

One carbohydrate in particular cannot be metabolized by all the cells in the body: fructose. There is a very interesting video about this in a previous post, see it when you can if you haven’t yet!

Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver, which leads to the creation of “bad cholesterol”, or Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL). Low density is what makes it dangerous – it can penetrate vascular walls, thicken and harden them, which ultimately causes the cardio-vascular disease everyone knows about.

This doesn’t mean fruit should necessarily be avoided, as long as it has a low GI, because fructose intake from fruit represents about 15 grams a day, whereas the dangers for public health come from current consumption having topped 100 grams a day. Fructose is used as a sugar (and fat) substitute just about in every manufactured food.

 

Digestability.

 

Carbohydrates that cannot be digested are commonly called fiber. There are three types of fiber that I will cover extensively in a later post.

All three types are necessary to maintain good digestion, which prevents toxic build-up.

All of this led to most of the weight loss plan rules. It works, so if you have a few lbs to lose, or many, follow it! You will live lighter and longer!

It seems war on fructose has been officially declared.

 

This video by Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology, currently being linked to and / or embedded all over the blogosphere, explains in details to any who like health tips they can understand how fructose, a substitute to sugar and fat used by the food industry over the last 30 years, quite simply ruined public health.

 

It lasts 90 minutes, so if you’re in a hurry here is what it boild down to.

 

- Fructose is found in fruit. That doesn’t make fruit bad for your health. Like all things, fructose is benign when it is taken in reasonable amounts. If it came only from fruit, daily intake would be about 15 grams. Since it is being used as a sweetener, or a fat substitute to make low fat foods pallatable (read: it is EVERYWHERE), daily intake in western countries has surpassed 100 grams.

So do not react to this video or article by banning fruit, while continuing with the processed food that represents 85% of fructose intake. Keep the fruit, read industrial food labels and stay off anything that has fructose and syrup on it, unless it is largely compensated by fiber. Sucrose is 1/2 glucose and 1/2 fructose so don’t fall for the wording trick.

The idea being that if fructose enriched foods stop selling, they will no longer be made.

 

So why is fructose bad for your health?

 

Watching the video is the best way to understand this, but for those of you that are in a rush, I’ll do my best to break it own quickly. Run the video though, it will increase view counts (run it all the way and it will increase interest rating). Rate it 5 stars and you’ve done all you can to help make it a Youtube hit.

- Zero insulinic response. Insulin response causes leptin to be secreted, which is the satiety hormone that tells your brain it’s had enough. You don’t want high and sudden insulin spikes that cause addiction to sugar (except the occasional cheat that restores full leptin secretion), but you do not want zero insulin either (you stay hungry and keep on eating).

- Highly efficient sweetener – this increases the psychological addiction to sugar, but also hides the taste of nutrients that are being added to keep us hungry or thirsty (salt), and eating / drinking (buying) more calories.

- Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver, while every cell in your body can metabolize glucose. The problem being that hepatic metabolism leads to:

    – de novo lipogenesis (creation of fatty acids that are stored in fat, but also pollutes the muscle cells, causing resistance to insulin). Fructose metabolization creates fat!

    - Creates the Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL). Its low density enables it to find its way into the permeable vascular walls, thus thickening and hardening vascular and coronary vessels, which leads to cardio-vascular disease. The good fat (High Density) cannot do that.

   – These effects are similar to those of alcohol, hence Lustig’s affirmation that fructose is “like beer without the buzz” (updated in response to stenbj’s comment below).

Cheap and stable prices – This explains why it is all over the place. Fructose costs 1/2 what sugar costs and isn’t subject to price variations sugar cane was when it was our primary sweetener (geopolitics / speculation).