Six common beliefs addressed, Part 93

1. There is no one thing that can reduce systemic stress.

There is - be consistent. Consistency is the body's main stress reliever. With consistency comes predictability and the body's ability to coordinate the pulsatile rhythms of its hormones. All hormones work in pulses. You have an internal, biological clock that drives this and it is very sensitive to the surrounding environment. So taking care of your circadian rhythms is the first step to reducing systemic stress.

For this reason, you want to be rhythmic and consistent in your diet, fasting and exercise protocol. There is nothing that disrupts the body's clocks and stress response like flip flopping from one diet to another or exercising one day and sitting the rest or fasting for five days to then binge for eight. Do not do that. People with metabolic problems already have a heightened stress response and it doesn't take much to tip them over the edge. 

2.  Do thyroid problems cause difficulty in losing weight?

Some people think that pseudo lows or highs in thyroid are a "problem" when they are only the result of their overall metabolic state. Being obese, being thin, losing fat, gaining fat - are all metabolic states that affect thyroid function. This does not equate to "thyroid problems". 

The thyroid is a master hormonal regulator and works alongside every metabolic hormone in the body. This means that when you have thyroid problems, you will automatically have metabolic issues and vice versa. These issues can vary by individuals because they are so dependent and intertwined with the person's overall metabolic state. People who have been obese their entire life almost unanimously exhibit thyroid "dysfunction". A lot of obese people think they are obese because of their thyroid problems, but the reverse is true - they have thyroid problems because they are obese. This is of course only true in the absence of any genetic or autoimmune thyroid condition. 

Taking control of your metabolic problems will help improve your thyroid function, but you will not be able to take control of your situation completely, unless you address any real thyroid disease you may have. You need to work closely with your healthcare provider in order to accomplish that. It's going to take some tweaking, as you find the right treatment for your particular case, but it will be well worth it. You want a thyroid that will be working with you, to better your condition, not against you. 

3. Is there a cure for obesity?

There is no known cure for obesity. There are only lifestyle interventions. This makes perfect sense, when you look at obesity through the lens of "adaptation", rather than "disease". 

4. Do "low leptin" levels causes hunger?

Leptin is a starvation hormone, not a hunger hormone. 

Leptin is best, and most simply, described as a fuel pump. If leptin is signaling properly and fat stores are being used for fuel it can either trigger hunger because the body needs to acquire more fuel or it can trigger no hunger because the body has fuel to spare and doesn't need more of it. What occurs is dependent on your overall metabolic state, as there is an interplay of many hormones, working in feedback loops, that determine this. There is no one sole hormone that is responsible for any one specific effect. 

5. If you soak potatoes for 30 minutes, it will get rid of their starch.

The way you get rid of starch from potatoes is to let them go down the drain with the water you rinsed them in. Potatoes themselves are starch. The starch doesn't just cling to the exterior of the potato like dust clung to people's clothing during the Dust Bowl. 

If the starch is only on the outside of the potato, then what is that white "meat" that is inside the peel? Solid fairy dust? I don't think so. Do not fall for advice like this. It will only make you eat an excess amount of potatoes, thinking that you are now "safe from the starch". Low carb diets do not focus on the consumption of potatoes. On these diets, potatoes are either eliminated, all together, or are very limited. 

6. Is it difficult for a person with diabetes or other metabolic problems to achieve ketosis?

It is actually very easy for them to because of their under expressed insulin function and over expressed catabolism, which easily breaks down the body into glucose and ketones. A person with diabetes and metabolic problems can go into measurable ketosis, relatively easy, with just some simple carbohydrate restriction.