This statement is true, but it is describing something that occurs way downstream from what you can control. Insulin resistance is caused by poor blood glucose regulation, which you can control, but we can into the weeds a little bit.
Once your adipose tissue (fat cells) reach their threshold, and can no longer hold any more fat, the fat spills into the bloodstream and other organs, causing metabolic abnormalities, which are obesity and metabolic syndrome, all of the hallmarks of insulin resistance and future diabetes.
The reason that the cells are described as being "filled with sugar" is because, in modern society, this fat is mostly coming from excess carbohydrate (sugar) consumption. Excess carbohydrate is converted into fat and then efficiently stored in the adipose (fat cells), once glycogen stores have exceeded their threshold. This view helps the person better understand the dietary approach they have to take to treat their obesity. They must put a shut off valve on the sugar intake. If they don't and take the approach of restricting dietary fat, instead, they will continue getting fat and be none the wiser as to why or how.
The average person is not aware that the body converts sugar into fat. It doesn't matter how inefficient it is at it. It doesn't matter how much it tries to avoid doing it. It doesn't matter what a pain in the ass it is, since it's so much easier to just shuffle fat into fat cells. It doesn't matter how far down the metabolic pathway it occurs. It's all irrelevant. Nothing matters except that it does do this. The body uses what it's given, not what it wishes for. If it's given a lot of carbohydrates, then it has no choice, but to stick it somewhere. It doesn't just evaporate into the surrounding air to feed the fairies.
Most people assume sugar stays as sugar and fat stays as fat, in the body, but it doesn't work that way. Sugar can turn into fat and vice versa. For this reason, it's very common for people to assume they are fat from too much dietary fat. This is why only going low fat, does not curb obesity since, the main culprit, sugar, is still pouring into the body.
In the modern world, carbohydrates like sugar and grains, are the primary cause of obesity, because they are abundant, cheap and easily accessible. The fear mongering and expense of animal fats and protein, has also made people turn to carbohydrate as their primary macronutrient. This does not mean that you cannot become obese on starch or dietary fat. You can get fat on any diet that causes an interference in proper blood glucose control. Carbohydrates are just the common culprit in modernity.
2. Do people get fat from "vegetable" oils, because they cause an increase in calories?
If controlling calories worked, it would have already worked, but once again, things are slightly more complicated than that.
Each fat cell is equipped with the ability to reject excess energy that's being delivered to it by becoming locally insulin resistant. This allows for the Reverse Electron Transport (RET) process to release energy, to the bloodstream, rather than the cell up taking it. This release of energy into the bloodstream causes the basal metabolic rate to respond by increasing, in order for this energy to be burned off. Linoleic fatty acids, from "vegetable" oils, interfere with this process by halting the RET pathway and overfilling adipose cells with energy. Now the cell has no way to stop intaking energy and it eventually reaches its threshold and overfills. After this, the process of the body becoming systemically insulin resistant, and eventually developing diabetes, is on a roll and is inescapable.
The cells reach their fat threshold, not because of a lot of calories from "vegetable" oils, but because the RET pathway has been inhibited by them. You can control all the calories from "vegetable" oils, you want, and you will still get fat. Until these oils are completely removed, this will continue to be the case. This is how "vegetable oils" interfere in the ability for the body to break down its fat stores and they are implicated in insulin resistance.
3. If it wasn't for grains, civilization wouldn't have ever gotten to this point.
Grains are the breadbasket of the world. If it wasn't for agriculture, population would have never made it to where it is now. Complex political, social systems, innovation and progress would have never occurred, because food uncertainty takes precedence over everything. The fact that people can now relax and come up with an iPhone is because of grains. The reason that famine is becoming less of a concern, around the world, is because of grains. More and more people are rising out of poverty, with each passing year, in poor countries, because of grains. Hunter/gatherers have not had the same success. You just cannot develop into a complex and advanced civilization without the domestication of plants and animals (agriculture).
It can be debated that all of this progress is more about fossil fuel than grains, but that's another story, so for the sake of simplicity let's allow grains to keep their fifteen minutes of fame, since without them, the search for fossil fuels or any kind of fuel, for that matter, would have most likely not ever occurred.
Regardless of the miracles created by agriculture, or not, they mean nothing to your blood glucose and your blood glucose is all you should be caring about because the one innovation, that grains have been late in producing, is the artificial pancreas. The other innovation, grains can take complete credit for, but you don't want to take advantage of, is the dialysis machine.
Grains are one of the largest contributors to obesity and general ill health, the world over. People are living longer, but sicker. The person that has to go to dialysis daily can care less about the geopolitical advancements caused by grains. They only care about how they are going to get through the day and what got them there. When you are obese and diabetic, you have to figure out how to avoid ending up at that dialysis center. Taking solace from the many world benefits of grain production is not going to help you. What will help you is to stop eating grains because grains profoundly interfere with blood glucose homeostasis.
So, on this blog, I focus solely on grains and health, not on grains and world hunger, advancements or anything else.
4. There's hunter/gatherer tribes that consume plenty of fruit and honey and do not suffer from metabolic syndrome, therefore no one food can be blamed for the obesity epidemic.
This is correct. No one food or diet can be blamed for anything. The only thing to blame is poor blood glucose regulation. Poor blood glucose regulation can be the result of many lifestyle factors, of which diet is only one. But let's go down this rabbit hole anyway.
4. There's hunter/gatherer tribes that consume plenty of fruit and honey and do not suffer from metabolic syndrome, therefore no one food can be blamed for the obesity epidemic.
This is correct. No one food or diet can be blamed for anything. The only thing to blame is poor blood glucose regulation. Poor blood glucose regulation can be the result of many lifestyle factors, of which diet is only one. But let's go down this rabbit hole anyway.
Just like there is a big difference between the way an impoverished, agrarian society consumes plain, white rice, there’s a big difference between the way the Mbuti and Hadza peoples consume sugar. It is almost ridiculous to compare our Western society to these tribes, but these arguments are out there and make the rounds every so often. They do nothing, but get in the way of people making the decisions that will better their health.
These hunter/gatherer tribes do not add sugar to everything they eat. When non-hybridized fruits and honey are available to them, seasonally, they take advantage of them and make them the bulk of their already limited supply of food. During these times, carbohydrates can make up to 80% of their daily calories, while they continue being under a state of low grade starvation. These tribes aren't dipping their biscuits in honey, adding it to their coffee or their steak sauce, whenever they want. They aren't eating fruits as snacks, in a syrup laden container or topping their pancakes with them.
These tribes do not have agriculture, so they do not have access to crops like wheat and corn, to pair with their honey and fruit. Eating plain honey is not a very pleasant experience, especially when it's all you have to eat. But, these tribes do not have much of a choice. They have to take advantage of what's available or starve to death. Their environment is different from ours. Their activity level is different from ours. Their rationing of food is different from ours. Their metabolic adaptation is different from ours. Honey to a hunter gatherer = no death from famine. Honey to a Westerner = another way to get fatter.
Thankfully, we have year round access to nutrient dense foods and we do not have to eat the plain white rice of the agrarian or the honey of the hunter gatherer. We do not live in conditions of low grade starvation, unless we purposely put ourselves there in order to have Oreos. But, since we can't sustain the starvation, we still end up getting fat. After all, it's purposeful starvation, not forceful starvation. Starvation is one of those funny things that works best when we aren't in control of it and its forced on us. This is because forced starvation only has two outcomes - death or it passes. These hunter/gatherers will not be eating honey forever. It will pass.
5. Will sugar alcohols affect my blood glucose?
Sugar alcohols go by many names, just like sugar. Common ones are erythritol, maltitol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, isomalt, lactitol, mannitol, sorbitol and xylitol. These sugar substitutes are usually added to processed foods in order for manufacturers to make claims on their packaging like "Diabetes Friendly" or "No Sugar Added." A lot of these sweeteners are also being used in low carbohydrate diets like "keto" or Paleo.
It is true that they do not raise blood glucose. Only glucose raises blood glucose and sugar alcohols are not glucose, but many sugar alcohols are converted back into glucose by the body. Others require no conversion and are used, by the body, in the exact same way as it would glucose, causing the same hormonal effects and interference with fatty acid metabolism that glucose would.
You can do your own research on which sugar alcohols cause different effects, since they do not all work the same, but on this blog, sweeteners of any kind are not recommended.
6. Unprocessed, whole carbohydrates did not cause the obesity epidemic, so they shouldn't be restricted.
Just like with fat, whole food carbohydrates did not make you obese or diabetic, but they sure can keep you that way. Make no mistake, you can continue experiencing abnormal blood glucose eating starch and if you were sick before, they can help you get sick again. For this reason, it is best to eliminate carbohydrates like sugar and grains and restrict whole carbohydrates like starch, for life.
Remember, whole food carbohydrates disrupt proper blood glucose regulation, just like any other carbohydrate.
These hunter/gatherer tribes do not add sugar to everything they eat. When non-hybridized fruits and honey are available to them, seasonally, they take advantage of them and make them the bulk of their already limited supply of food. During these times, carbohydrates can make up to 80% of their daily calories, while they continue being under a state of low grade starvation. These tribes aren't dipping their biscuits in honey, adding it to their coffee or their steak sauce, whenever they want. They aren't eating fruits as snacks, in a syrup laden container or topping their pancakes with them.
These tribes do not have agriculture, so they do not have access to crops like wheat and corn, to pair with their honey and fruit. Eating plain honey is not a very pleasant experience, especially when it's all you have to eat. But, these tribes do not have much of a choice. They have to take advantage of what's available or starve to death. Their environment is different from ours. Their activity level is different from ours. Their rationing of food is different from ours. Their metabolic adaptation is different from ours. Honey to a hunter gatherer = no death from famine. Honey to a Westerner = another way to get fatter.
Thankfully, we have year round access to nutrient dense foods and we do not have to eat the plain white rice of the agrarian or the honey of the hunter gatherer. We do not live in conditions of low grade starvation, unless we purposely put ourselves there in order to have Oreos. But, since we can't sustain the starvation, we still end up getting fat. After all, it's purposeful starvation, not forceful starvation. Starvation is one of those funny things that works best when we aren't in control of it and its forced on us. This is because forced starvation only has two outcomes - death or it passes. These hunter/gatherers will not be eating honey forever. It will pass.
5. Will sugar alcohols affect my blood glucose?
Sugar alcohols go by many names, just like sugar. Common ones are erythritol, maltitol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, isomalt, lactitol, mannitol, sorbitol and xylitol. These sugar substitutes are usually added to processed foods in order for manufacturers to make claims on their packaging like "Diabetes Friendly" or "No Sugar Added." A lot of these sweeteners are also being used in low carbohydrate diets like "keto" or Paleo.
It is true that they do not raise blood glucose. Only glucose raises blood glucose and sugar alcohols are not glucose, but many sugar alcohols are converted back into glucose by the body. Others require no conversion and are used, by the body, in the exact same way as it would glucose, causing the same hormonal effects and interference with fatty acid metabolism that glucose would.
You can do your own research on which sugar alcohols cause different effects, since they do not all work the same, but on this blog, sweeteners of any kind are not recommended.
6. Unprocessed, whole carbohydrates did not cause the obesity epidemic, so they shouldn't be restricted.
Just like with fat, whole food carbohydrates did not make you obese or diabetic, but they sure can keep you that way. Make no mistake, you can continue experiencing abnormal blood glucose eating starch and if you were sick before, they can help you get sick again. For this reason, it is best to eliminate carbohydrates like sugar and grains and restrict whole carbohydrates like starch, for life.
Remember, whole food carbohydrates disrupt proper blood glucose regulation, just like any other carbohydrate.
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