Six common beliefs addressed, Part 78

1. You should not consume supplements during your fasting hours.

It depends on the supplements, but it's preferable to consume supplements with your meals, unless the supplement cannot be taken that way. Most supplements though, are best taken with food for better absorption.

2. Is vinegar okay to consume during fasting hours?

In this group, the only thing you can consume, while fasting, is water. Nothing else. After all, you are fasting.

3. Being overweight/obese does not automatically mean you are sick. 

Yes. Excess body fat is an indication that the body is under metabolic stress and has adapted a hormonal profile that is causing it to do, what you do not want it to: grow fat mass beyond its threshold and spare it.

For some people, this can cause pathology quickly, even before they appear overweight externally. For others, it can take years, to decades, before they develop any pathology, at all, and they can acquire an extremely large fat mass in the interim. For some of these people, the fat mass itself kills them before they develop pathology, due to the loss of mobility and crushing weight.

Excess body fat is the start stage of the condition. Diabetes is the end stage.

So, don't fall for what these obese, low carb advocates are trying to make you believe. I know that admitting their diet hasn't worked, and they are still sick (obese), is bad for business, but don't let that become your problem. That's their problem to deal with. You need to find a way to lose body fat, because until you do, you are still sick.

4. Only blood glucose determines if you are insulin resistant, so if you can keep it low, you have nothing else to worry about.

Lowering of blood glucose does not magically regain insulin sensitivity. This is because metabolic syndrome is not a condition of high blood glucose. It is a condition of poor blood glucose regulation. You can still have poor blood glucose regulation, at lower blood glucose levels. In fact, metabolic syndrome is insulin resistance at lower blood glucose levels than a diabetic. This is because the erratic and large disparities between postprandial and fasting blood glucose remains, driving the condition and finally progressing it to diabetes. Insulin's handling of this erratic blood glucose is what causes insulin resistance.

The pathology is actually driven by the lows in blood glucose, not the highs. It's these lows that cause metabolism to drive up the set points of blood glucose, insulin and body fat. So technically, trying to drive your blood glucose low worsens the problem, rather than solves it. You want to keep blood glucose steady, without the large disparities between highs and lows. You are much better off keeping blood glucose steady at higher levels, than driving it low and then watching it rise again after eating or exercising. 

5. The body is not so stupid that it will break down its lean muscle mass, while having plenty of stored fat to use.

Yes, it is. In fact, this stupidity is known as diabetes.

Diabetes is a disease of high body fat, while continuing to chronically catabolize lean muscle mass, at an exaggerated rate. Even the obese, without a diagnosis of diabetes, continue storing fat, even though they have plenty in storage to burn. Stupid indeed, but still reality. The body does a lot of stupid things, like attacking itself, growing old, failing for no apparent reason and finally dropping dead, though it's lived long enough to have gotten the gist of how to stay alive.

Intermittent fasting does not have a significant effect on this catabolic process because it is simply too short of a fast to make much of a difference. Extended fasting absolutely does have a negative effect and the more metabolic disease you have, the worse this effect is. All the benefits of fasting are seen with intermittent fasting only.

6. Athletes do not do well with fasting.

So far, it appears to be that they actually do. This is because athletes do not do extended fasting nor do they restrict protein, as they do not want to lose their lean muscle mass.

But, this is a metabolic health blog, not an athletes blog. I try to refrain from comparing athletes to non athletes, especially diabetics, as the context is completely different between the two. My advice is specifically for people with metabolic syndrome.