Calories, Sugar, Fats, and SCIENCE

Eat less. Exercise more. Burn more than you eat.
A simple formula for weight loss that is obvious and has failed me--and I certainly blame my self control, my perseverence, etc. Clearly burning more results in weight loss, but there are more factors that work against this than I knew about.

However, I've been doing research on food/sugar/insulin related issues with respect to my diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). PCOS (as the name indicates), results in ovarian cysts, but part of the reason it does so is due to a malfunction in the insulin receptor (which is involved in follicle formation and release of an ovum). Due to this malfunction, the body (because it thinks it doesn't have enough insulin), makes more insulin than it needs. Insulin is super-efficient at shuttling sugar into fat stores. Sugar that is eaten is rapidly stored as fat, and the body (rather than wanting to use its fat stores) craves more food, because it needs more energy. Vicious cycle. Fortunately, I have never approached the danger zone of type II, but I am an excellent candidate should I not correct my health/weight issues.

Here's a little video to illustrate the relationship between insulin and fat.

The idea behind the video encompasses the hormones insulin and leptin. Leptin is a recently discovered hormone which assists in the regulation of hunger. It tells the brain "I've had enough." However, when there is an overabundance of insulin in the body, the insulin blocks the receptors for leptin.

So what to do? Buy a glucometer to keep my blood sugar at a healthy level? If I do want the leptin pathways to be functional, how do I kickstart it? Also, how do I find the balance between nourishing my body's cells (without harming this leptin-insulin imbalance) while still finding enjoyment in my food? Is it possible?

Sure. I guess. The first step is to acknowledge that in the light of my insulin issue, a calorie is not a calorie. It kills me to even think that. I used to think that it was a matter of physics--intake/burn. Period. But I just have to acknowledge that for me, that is NOT the sole consideration that I must make.

Again, at heart I am a scientist. I did a lot of research on how to re-enter the cycle of leptin's healthy intervention on food intake. Most of them endorsed a carbohydrate fast. Essentially, the goal was to intentionall put the body in ketosis and starve it for sugar. The body down-regulates insulin, utilizes fat stores in order to fuel its cells with energy. This results in metallic taste in the mouth, foul smelling urine, acetone-breath, and often what is called a "keto-flu" as your body adjusts. Doesn't that sound unhealthy? It does to me.

But, what can't be denied that over the last 30-40 years, our genetic pool hasn't changed a whole lot, but our food resources have. More grains, less fat. Low fat. No fat. More sugar in more places.

Of course fat can make you fat. Huge amounts of calories make you fat no matter what, and fat is VERY calorie dense. However, considering the insulin-sugar shuttle, sugar makes you fat, too.
So I decided to try something crazy, something I swore I'd never do. I decided to do a modified low carb thing. I did not (and do not) want to enter ketosis. I decided to consider cutting out starch (ALL grain--pasta, bread, rice, quinoa, etc, corn, and potatoes) and sugar (except that which comes from fruits/veggies/honey).

WHOA! What the hell? Seems like a big change. Well, truthfully, it wasn't. I didn't eat a lot of pasta, rice, or quinoa in general. Most of the potatoes I ate were french fries, and talking myself out of that wasn't hard either. The hardest things to think about were bread and corn. Bread! Cake! Tortillas! Cookies! Bah! And in truth, so far, I'm not missing them. I know that sounds improbable, but I don't. As for the sugar, that's a bit harder. I love ice cream. And occasionally I miss it.

But the changes I have made in my eating in other ways have MORE than compensated for what I was "giving up"--so much so, that I don't feel like I was giving much up at all. The reason being that I personally believe that I have adjusted my body's ability to feel satiated. I don't CRAVE like I did. I feel full with less food--way before I had ever expected to. How? I'll tell you...

NEXT POST (this one is long enough. phew).