Six common beliefs addressed, Part 114

1. Is there a difference between a healthy person’s insulin and a diabetics?

No. They both have the same exact insulin. The difference is in its expression. 

Diabetics have poor insulin expression in tissues and organs but super insulin expression at their fat mass. The diabetic has also lost most of their first phase insulin response. Diabetics just do not release enough insulin to stop the catabolism of their body into glucose. A healthy person has a sufficient release of insulin, after they eat, to halt this catabolism. There is no need to create more glucose if you just finished eating, but the diabetic just continues to do so anyway. Oftentimes a diabetic will have high fasting serum insulin levels but this does not always the case.

The diabetic as lost the normal pulsatile function of insulin, which is: 

• Pulsatile Function One - Large spike of insulin, immediately after eating, to stop glucagon's catabolism, halting the production of excessive glucose from the breakdown of food consumed and lean muscle mass. 
• Pulsatile Function Two - Decrease in insulin release, about 2 hours after eating, as it takes a much lower amount of insulin to facilitate glucose and nutrient entry into cells than it does to halt catabolism. 
• Pulsatile Function Three - Very low insulin levels during fasting in order to halt fat storage and help mobilize fatty acids from storage. 

That’s how insulin is supposed to work. That’s how it works in a healthy person. The diabetic's insulin works like this: 

• Only One Function - High insulin with no pulses. Their insulin does not halt catabolism because there isn’t a sufficient spike to halt the production of excess glucose from the breakdown of food consumed and lean muscle mass. Their insulin does not decrease, but continues to facilitate glucose into cells until the cells no longer can accept any more and glucose remains in the bloodstream and eventually turns into fat for storage. Their insulin levels never lower enough during fasting to halt fat storage and allow the mobilization of fatty acids from storage. 

2. Insulin can drop to a "normal" range quickly.  

The time it takes for insulin to return to a normal range is very difficult to predict because it is highly individualized, depending on age, gender, hormonal status, adherence to diet and exercise and advancement of the disease. Not to mention co-morbid conditions that also affect insulin, such as thyroid disease. 

The only thing that is known for certain is that fasting insulin levels are highly determined by body fat percentage. This means that the amount of stored body fat you have, influences your fasting insulin level. So, your insulin levels will drop as fast as you can drop your body fat. 

3. Are healthy fats needed in order to increase satiety?

You increase satiety through protein. Fat does not increase satiety. We know this because you have to keep raising the bar on how much of it you eat in order to obtain this mythical "satiety". Satiety is only achieved when hormones are working properly. In the meantime, use protein as that is the macronutrient that most helps balance your hormonal state. 

4. Is it possible to eat too many calories if you need to lose weight?

Yes, but since "weight loss" is not what I advise on, we don’t use calories as a primary intervention on this blog. Our focus is obesity and metabolic dysfunction. 

But calories can certainly be used as a secondary intervention for people who have absolutely no satiety signaling and disordered eating habits. People who can eat a wheel of cheese, a side of lamb or a dozen eggs, clearly have a problem that is both biological as well as psychological. These people need to track their calories. Tracking their calories, alongside their macros, gives them an added level of protection against eating in excess. This tracking of calories is not to sustain a deficit, but instead it is to abstain from excess. 

5. Does eating meat cause "toxins" and other abnormalities?

I am sorry, but I don’t comment on these types of statements because I have answered them before, a hundred times over, and I refuse to waste my time "debunking" vegan propaganda studies, as that’s not the focus of this blog. There is so much BS out there, that I prefer to focus on what will provide information on metabolic issues, rather than the "diet wars". 

6. You should consume coconut sugar if artificial sweeteners cause digestive issues. 

You should not be consuming anything sweet, whether it's coconut sugar, coconut aminos, coconut syrup or whatever other multiple names are used to achieve a sweet taste.