Women’s Board
Warning - uh...I dunno. Just sounded good!
Posted By: Vickie, Chick Board Midwife <midwife@abundancemagazine.com> (12.17.183.114)
Date: Tuesday, 5 October 1999, at 10:32 p.m.In Response To: Oprah yesterday (waring diet talk) (Sandie Zitkus)
Hi, ladies!
Good questions, Sandie. First of all, I've read both books, The Atkins New Diet Revolution and The Carbohydrate Addicts Diet (even though I have a HUGE problem with the title, but anyway...) and I think they both are good options for people who have difficulty in maintaining stable blood glucose levels.
I tried the Atkins diet several years ago, and as much as I tried I could NOT get into "ketosis" which is the state where you're actually burning fat at a higher metabolic rate. (Ketosis comes from "ketones" which are spilled in your urine when you undergo this kind of weight loss -- I don't know a bunch chemically about what that means. Give me a year, okay? After I take chemistry I'm sure it'll make more sense to me than it does now). I never lost an ounce on this diet, but then I nearly never lose weight on ANY diet, so I don't know if that's a good indication if its success or not. Mindy and Tina seem to have done really well on it, as have many others. I did feel pretty awful it however, had no appetite at all, and it wasn't too long after that that I started having gall bladder problems. I still don't know if it had anything to do with that -- very likely it exacerbated an already damaged gall bladder. People don't usually "get" gall bladder disease in the short run like that -- it takes a long time of wacky blood chemistries to make you deposit calcium salts in the gall bladder which eventually leads to gall bladder disease.
But I digress...
The same doctor who suggested Atkins to me (a lady I trust implicitly, by the way, a woman of size herself, and an alternative health care practitioner) also suggested the CA Diet when Atkins didn't work for me. Like Atkins, it stresses the importance of proteins (in the form of lean meats usually) and the de-stressing of carbohydrates in the diet; it's much more concerned with fat intake than Atkins. Like Tracy said, you can eat all the carbohydrates you want at one meal. Here's the philosophy:
When we begin a meal, our body starts producing insulin in an amount that determined from our recent carbohydrate intake. Now this is all fine and good, except that about 60-90 minutes into a meal (I think -- it's been awhile since I read the book) if we're STILL eating, our body sends out another hit of insulin. It's this second insulin boost that's the problem for two reasons: 1) it can send your blood sugar plummeting because the insulin to glucose ratio is off, and 2) it will give your body the message to make more insulin the next time you eat.
So, you end up making too much insulin; why is this a problem, you ask? Well, for a couple of reasons. First of all a diabetic who takes too much insulin knows how dangerous it can be. It can damage the body's tissues. Also, ironically if you make too much insulin it seems to mess up the receptor sites on the cells, causing (we think) insulin resistance. (I'll talk about that a little later.) Also, if you think of the Isles of Langerhans, little cells in the pancreas as a brake pedal for a car. Every time you eat carbohydrates, they step on the brake, sending out a hit of insulin. Eventually, like a car's breaks, they wear out. There seems to be a limited number of cell replications; once they're gone, they're gone and your body cannot produce insulin anymore and you become an insulin dependent diabetic.
What does hyper-insulinemia feel like? Well, if an hour or two after a meal -- particularly a high carbohydrate meal -- you get stomach growling type hunger pangs, it's likely because of this insulin reaction; stomach growing is triggered, not only from an empty stomach but from low glucose levels. Also, if you get really tired and lethargic right after a meal it's because of the same thing.
Now, another variable is what we call insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when the receptor sites (like little doors) which lets insulin and glucose into your cells are "sticky" and don't work too well; this probably is because the body sense the high amount of insulin in the blood and as a protective mechanism locks some of the doors so that the insulin can't find its way in and damage the tissues. So, instead of the insulin doing its job -- opening up the cell and allowing the glucose in to nourish your body and allow you to burn the food you eat -- it continues to build up in your bloodstream, along with the glucose. The glucose, rather than being broken down the RIGHT way, is pretty quickly processed through the liver as triglycerides and glycogen, and immediately stored as fat. The insulin continues to circulate until the body processes it.
They find that people who carry a lot of weight -- especially "apple" shapes -- have high levels of insulin in their blood. The abdominal fat settles there because it's created in the liver and just "sits" there. Unfortunately, this is my pattern for fat disposition, and it makes sense given my insulin problems (she says eating a piece of carrot cake).
The reason high protein diets help is that the carbohydrates are broken down more slowly with the aid of protein and fat. (I don't know exactly why this is, since this is where my knowledge hits a brick wall). So, eating a candy bar that has fat in it is actually BETTER for you (glucose wise) than licorice which doesn't contain fat. Strange, but true. Also, in terms of fat storage, the hardest food to store as fat is fat. No, it's not like they told us at Jenny Craig, that fat makes you fat. Animal fat is not the same as human fat so it's not able to just "glom" onto our hips like frosting on a cake. It has to be converted through a rather lengthy process. Same with protein. Carbos on the other hand have a pretty short "road" to be stored as fat, which is why people don't routinely lose weight -- and keep it off -- on low fat diets.
So, according to the Carbohydrate Addicts' Diet if you limit the duration of a carbohydrate "feast" you avoid that second hit of insulin. Also, what they used to tell diabetics -- eat regular small meals -- actually seems to exacerbate the problem with the pancreas, if those meals are high in carbohydrates. Every time you put a carbohydrate in your mouth, your body starts producing insulin. And if your body over-reacts, you're actually asking for insulin resistance and a worn out pancreas.
So it seems that eating fewer, larger meals -- if they have carbos in them -- is a better thing. If you're like me you've noticed that you don't get hungry until AFTER you've eaten, right? And then, if you're like me, it's hard to STOP. That's because of this insulin reaction, like a spiral, demanding you eat more and more and more... But the answer isn't NOT to eat, it's to choose carefully what you DO eat.
Now here's where my knowledge gets extended a bit and enters the realm of alternative. In my hubby's dental office they have a biochemist and nutritionist come and give classes periodically on all of these things; part of their services that they provide people -- and actually this is Burt's job since his degree is in biochemistry -- is a body chemistry analysis, where they look at your blood and urine chemistries and determine what nutritional supplements could help you have more optimal health. Often they see problems in the body which mimic the problems happening in the mouth and they can halt the progression of dental disease through treating the body as a whole.
What they're taught is that there are subclinical signs of disease that can be seen in blood chemistries before you show symptoms and many diseases -- diabetes, heart disease, stroke, etc. can be avoided (indefinitely, we hope!) if they're found early and the proper changes in diet and lifestyle are taken, as well as taking certain nutritional supplements.
One of the things I learned from this incredible man is that insulin production and thyroid function are on a teeter totter, which makes sense if many of us who have high levels of insulin are also fat, right? What he suggests to get your thyroid working and your insulin production under control is eating a high protein, low carbohydrate breakfast. *blech, especially for this grrrl who hates breakfast entirely* I hate it, but I try and do it, and it really makes a difference for me. So I'll eat a bowl of oatmeal, or another complex carbohydrate cereal, or sometimes a turkey sandwich even. The key is high protein and low carbohydrate -- or at least as complex a carbohydrate as possible. By doing this I can go much longer before I'm hungry for lunch, as opposed to if I eat a muffin for breakfast, and then I'm starving two hours later.
The other thing that helps -- in moderate amounts -- is chromium. I take chromium GTF (glucose tolerance factor) which seems to act like a bellman at a swank hotel, opening those sticky receptor sites on the cells, allowing the insulin and glucose to do their jobs. I take it twice a day, once in the morning to help me regulate my blood glucose and once at night because that's when the body's repair work is being done.
Just those two things have helped my blood sugar tremendously. Now I can eat a high carbohydrate meal without falling asleep. I can have a doughnut or a piece of cake without feeling really sick and shaky an hour later.
Okay, now as for high protein causing kidney damage? Well, this is a concern of mine as well. Protein is processed through the kidneys, that can't be argued with. And, our bodies really aren't meant to *consistently* consume high levels of protein. Stone age people would go stretches of time where they consumed NO protein, and then eat a bunch of it when they killed a bear or something, and then again go long stretches without it. So, this is a concern of mine and why I don't go hog wild eating unlimited amounts of protein; also, I seem to have a bit of kidney damage, so I really have to watch it. The typical American diet is already pretty high in protein, except for those folks who think they'll lose weight eating Fat Free Snackwells and those Olean potato chips. I think the key as far as kidney function is concerned is to drink LOTS of water like Tina said, and check your protein regularly for nitrites. If you're "spilling" protein (something that happens during pregnancy pretty routinely and is of concern when it's too high) then your kidneys aren't handling the protein well and you should either talk to a doctor or back off of it.
Well, Sandie, I hope this answers some of your questions. This is pretty well out of my scope of knowledge, since I'm not an endocrinologist; also, trying to explain the complex relationship of hormones is very, very difficult without it taking up way too much time.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, okay? My weeks seems like it'll slow down some after today (my boss is going out of town for a few days!!!) so I'll have some more time! I'd suggest reading both books and seeing which feels right for you and then listen to your body. You live in your skin -- no one else does -- so there's no one better to determine what's the best thing for YOU.
Hugs, Vickie