No. A lot of low carb followers get into the habit of "counting carbs" but that not enough. The only way to know if you are following a low carb diet correctly is to see its effects on blood glucose. After all, the purpose of the diet is to acquire and sustain proper blood glucose regulation.
2. I lost 1 - 5 pounds, so I am losing weight.
Active weight loss is when more than 10 - 15 pounds are lost and the loss continues from there. In other words, the trend should always be towards fat loss, not weight loss, even if there are periodic stalls. In fact, these stalls help you know that fat is what's being lost because only the loss of body fat halts leptin expression periodically. Anything less than 10 - 15 pounds is just water fluctuation and some lean muscle loss. Because it's so easy to mistake "weight loss" (water, muscle) for fat loss, I suggest you stop weighing yourself and start measuring. Fat loss only occurs in the long term.
3. Tracking calories is never necessary for anyone.
For some yes. There are people who have disordered eating habits, whether due to a biological or behavioral cause. The cause is irrelevant because in the end, the results are the same - inability to adhere to a proper dietary protocol that will help better regulate blood glucose. As long as blood glucose is unstable, the loss of body fat will never occur. The only time a person would require caloric restriction is when:
- They cannot stop eating and are always hungry, due to incorrect signaling between fat stores and the brain, so they assume a rack of lamb is a completely reasonable meal.
- They insist on consuming bottles of mayonnaise, with their meals, because they can't follow a low carb diet properly. This can also caused by incorrect signaling between fat stores and the brain but usually its more of a behavioral problem.
In this situation, the person is forced to restrict calories to simply not eat to excess. The goal for these people is not to be in a caloric deficit, since that will only induce further metabolic abnormalities, but to track caloric intake in order to refrain from excess. Since their bodies do not communicate well when they have eaten enough, and neither do their eyes or common sense, then that only leaves the calculator.
4. Should diets be "balanced"?
The advise of the mysterious "balanced" diet, which no one yet exactly can define, is really code word for - "I don't want to to be held liable for advising any specific food item, so just eat a little of everything, so I can save my own a$$."
Do not accept this asinine recommendation. There must be specifics when following a diet and it must be complementary to metabolic function. Choose a proper ancestral diet instead of a "balanced diet".
5. People with metabolic disease need to reduce their stress through meditation.
When I speak about stress, on this blog, I am not referring to family, financial problems or the need to meditate, I am referring to systemic stress management. Extreme glucose fluctuations, with large disparities, caused by an exaggerated counter regulatory response, causing bouts of hypo-hyperglycemia, is what's responsible for the "stress" in people with metabolic syndrome/diabetes.
This systemic stress is best managed by regulating the autonomic nervous system through the development of healthy circadian rhythms. This is why you want to have predictable and consistent habits. This means going to bed and waking up, at the same time, every day. You also need to eat your meals and exercise at the same time, every day. Routine is very beneficial for metabolic function. Studies have shown that people with metabolic syndrome/diabetes, have dysregulated biological clocks. This makes sense, because our hormones work with our body's clocks and metabolic syndrome/diabetes are conditions that affect metabolic hormones. Following predictable routines results in lower systemic stress, because it helps regulate the body's internal clocks through better blood glucose management.
Moderate exercise helps with cortisol regulation, which is controlled, once again, by another circadian clock. You don't want to over exercise, as that will only exacerbate the stress response, but you want to have a daily exercise regimen, like walking for an hour. If you can do it outside, that's even better, as this stimulates dopamine for better circadian function.
Avoid long fasts, no more than 16 - 18 hours a day, to not exacerbate the body's stress response further. Also remember to have no caffeine, as it's a stimulant that affects the nervous system.
6. Can you predict diabetes years in advance?
There are certain metabolic abnormalities seen in people who are at risk for diabetes, many years in advance, long before they get the disease, but there is no consensus as to what these abnormalities are, since they vary vastly between individuals. Even when metabolic disease reaches diabetes, there can be differences in each individual's manifestation of the disease. So far, abnormalities in blood glucose regulation appear to be the best predictor since it has been the only marker that has tracked consistently with the development of metabolic syndrome and obesity.
No comments:
Post a Comment