Welcome


My name is Gina and I would like to welcome you to my blog!

On this blog, I not only share the dietary and lifestyle approach which reversed my metabolic disease and achieved my weight loss, but I also debunk many misconceptions surrounding obesity and its treatment.

I am 5'5" and was weighing 300 lbs., at my heaviest. I lost a total of 180 lbs. I went through several phases of low carbohydrate dieting, until I found what worked best and that is what I share on this blog. Once on a carbohydrate restricted diet, along with intermittent fasting, I dropped all of the weight in a little over two years time.

My weight loss was achieved without any kind of surgery, bariatric or cosmetic. I also did not take any weight loss medications or supplements. I did not use any weight loss program. This weight loss was solely the result of a very low carbohydrate, whole foods based diet, along with daily intermittent fasting and exercise.

I allow discussions in the comments section of each post, but be advised that any inappropriate or off-topic comment will not be approved.

There are years worth of content on this blog, so I suggest you use Labels to easily find the information you are looking for. If what you are looking for is not under Labels, enter it into the Search Bar.

Aug 31, 2020

Six common beliefs addressed, Part 88

1. A diabetic cannot control their stress response.

That is the core problem of diabetes and the day it's successfully controlled, then it would be the cure. Diet has a very minimal effect on the stress response. The majority of the blood sugar that diabetics make is coming directly from the inside, not the outside. It is extremely difficult to reverse this stress response adaptation. For some people, it’s much easier than others. Some people are just wired to have high stress responses. Consistency in eating, fasting, sleep and exercise is a good way of taking back control, as normalizing circadian rhythms has a profound effect on regulating the stress response.

For some people going very low carb, without enough protein, like is the case for “keto”, can result in the body doubling down on its stress response. This is why we recommend eating carbs to tolerance and from whole foods only. Remember, diabetes is primarily a starvation adaptation, hence the high stress response. You never want to aggravate that further.

2. Do people lose weight and lower blood glucose on starch diets because these diets are very low in animal products?

The absence of animal products is irrelevant to the efficacy of these diets.

In the short term, all diets cause weight loss and lower blood glucose. Why? Because all diets create some form of caloric deficit and this has a mild and short term effect on metabolism, mainly through the lowering of glucose which affects insulin. But all diets fail in the long term because in order to manage weight, you need profound and long term effects on metabolism, as a whole, which is mainly done through the proper regulation of blood glucose. 

Weight management cannot be achieved using short term treatments, which do not impact blood glucose enough. Bypassing proper blood glucose regulation for simply a lowering of blood glucose in order to temporarily affect insulin, will not achieve long term results. All you are doing is releasing water weight and breaking down muscle mass, not burning body fat.

So, anytime someone points to a diet and claims that people are "losing weight" and "lowering blood glucose" on it, they are not making any special claim, as both of these effects are true of every diet on the planet.

3. They say meat builds muscle, but you can get fatter on carnivore.

"Meat" does not build muscle. Protein builds muscle and that is only stimulated through exercise.

Meat is not just protein. It contains plenty of fat and that’s what can make you fatter on carnivore. Consume leaner cuts of meat. Remember, the only true lean meat is wild game.

If you can't make your protein goal for the day, because it will cause you to go over your fat goal, supplement with whey protein. Remember, you must also have an exercise regimen in place. You won’t build muscle if you don’t use them.

4. An occasional bag of potato chips is not enough to gain weight.

That is correct. Again, it's all about proper blood glucose regulation. If a bag of potato chips does not affect your blood glucose regulation, then you can eat them but if it does, you cannot. For people who already have problems regulating their blood glucose, it does not take much to see a negative affect to their blood glucose so for them, an occasional bag of potato chips is enough to affect their goals.

Potato chips are very obesogenic. The refined oil, that the potato chips are fried in, mixed with the high starch of “baking potatoes”, makes for a very obesogenic food item and the obese are particularly sensitive to any condition that facilitates the growth of body fat. Potato chips are just that condition.

As a rough example, potato chips for a healthy person will cause a 0.5 increase in body fat in a span of months. Potato chips for an overweight/obese person will cause 2 pounds of body fat in a span of weeks. This is why obese people often complain that “just looking at a cupcake" causes them to gain weight. Fat people are extremely efficient and perfectly adapted at growing body fat. They must stay away from anything that makes it easier for them to do just that. 

So stay away from any food that disrupts blood glucose, even "occasionally" because it only takes one occasional hypoglycemic event to reinforce the adaptation towards obesity.  

5. Ever since I went carnivore, my belly fat has increased.

This is due to a badly formulated carnivore diet. When eating carnivore you must:

  • Watch the fat content of your meat. Stop slathering rib eyes with sticks of butter or fat based sauces. Farmed animal meat is already very high in fat, even when it's marked "lean".
  • Watch your dairy intake. Carnivore is a protein centered diet, not a fat centered diet. Dairy is mostly fat. You can easily go over your daily fat goal eating plates of cheese with bacon and drinking cartons of heavy cream.
  • Watch the type of meat you’re eating. Carnivore should be done using fresh meat not cold cuts, processed, pre-cooked, pre-seasoned, pre-prepared meats. Hot dogs and sausages are party food, not health food.
  • Stay away from one meal a day (OMAD). Meat is very satiating and boring, so this can cause you to get into the habit of eating only once a day. Don’t. Eating once a day is not a good practice for people who are overweight/obese and/or have metabolic conditions. Eat two meals a day and divide your daily protein between them. Stuffing yourself once a day will only further disrupt your insulin to glucagon ratio and the inability to acquire your daily protein requirement.
6. Carnivore exacerbates autoimmune conditions.

Read the carnivore recommendation above and watch your calorie intake. It is very easy to not eat enough, while on carnivore without realizing it, because of satiety. This can cause a stress response, in the body, that can trigger an immune response for some people.

Also, talk to your healthcare professional about any non improving and/or worsening symptoms when it comes to autoimmune conditions. Carnivore is suppose to be a metabolic treatment, not an autoimmune treatment. Diet, exercise and other lifestyle interventions are only complimentary to proper medical care.

No comments:

Post a Comment