Six common beliefs addressed, Part 118

1. You should salt your food liberally.  

Eat salt to taste, but track your electrolytes using this guide. 

2. You should only count carbohydrates and not calories. 

You shouldn't be counting anything, except your macros. The reality is that some people cannot wing this. There are people, like me, who can intuitively eat low carb and have no issues achieving results. We don't need to track a thing, but other people do. Some people must track their macros or they simply cannot achieve results. 

This all has to do with how well you can regulate your blood glucose. Some people are able to achieve proper blood glucose regulation and affect their insulin profoundly enough to affect their leptin. Others cannot. There are some who simply cannot achieve proper blood glucose regulation, even while seemingly following their diet correctly. Before you can move on to other causes, we must make sure the diet is on point and sometimes what "seems" correct is not. Until you can obtain and sustain proper blood glucose regulation, nothing is correct.

So, if you have to track anything, track your macros. They are a better tracking method than just carbs or just calories. Macros are three: carbs, fat and protein. Not one or two. If you aren't consuming sugar, grains or starches, then you have no need to track carbs. Your focus should then be on fat and protein. You want to make sure fat remains moderate and that you are consuming adequate protein. That's how this works. You can read the recommended way of doing this here. 

Calories generally do not have to be tracked, unless you have no satiety signaling and/or you have some kind of disordered eating issue. Then calories can be added to your macros in order to ensure you are following them. Calories kind of become a fail safe with this method. 

3. The best protocol is one where you have no calories for breakfast. You have your first meal late in the day and the second one in the evening. 

The only thing that makes a protocol "good", is if it's getting you results. Not just "working for you", but results. Many things work very well, but achieve 0 results. Results are only quantified though blood glucose regulation. If you can sustain proper blood glucose regulation, you will begin to lose body fat. 

 

So, if eating your first meal at noon and the next one in the evening is getting you results then, by all means, proceed. But if you aren't getting results, then it's because that protocol is no good and it shouldn't be surprising. 

 

There are certain general observations that appear to be consistent in the obese. For example, the later a person tends to eat, the fatter they generally are. This has been shown to be the case in study after study. This has to do with how insulin expression differs at different times of the day and especially while we are asleep. This is particularly the case for the insulin expression of the obese. Insulin should be at its lowest during the night time fast. There is something about having low insulin levels while asleep, that is not achieved while awake. This probably has to do with energy flux. You do not use the same amount of energy while asleep or in the same ways. The later you eat, the less you will be able to drive insulin to its lowest level, while asleep. The diabetic cannot drive their insulin low enough while asleep and that's why they experience hypoglycemia during the night and wake up with Dawn Phenomenon in the mornings.

The magic is in getting insulin to a very low point, during the night time fast, so it stops dropping blood glucose too low, and then letting it rise again with breakfast. This causes the pulsatile function insulin was meant to have. The person with metabolic syndrome/diabetes, just has a stagnant insulin level, that is high all the time. It never goes low enough and it never goes high enough. 

So, lowering insulin is not enough. It must go very low. Eating early in the day allows for very low levels during sleep. 

4. There is no need for set meal times.

Set meal times help adjust your circadian clock so your body can better predict nutrient availability and this reduces hunger, helps regulate metabolic hormones and reduces the stress response. Whoever tells you that meal timing is not important is a fool. 

5. Food should be eaten slowly and cut up in small pieces. 

Yes, if you don't want to choke. You would be surprised how many deaths occur from choking in modernity. So please, don't bite off more than you can chew, literally. Chew well and don't laugh or fool around while eating. It is also a good idea to learn the Heimlich Maneuver. There is even a way to do it on yourself. 

Chewing food well, also allows for better digestion, especially if you suffer from dry mouth. But, as far as obesity/diabetes is concerned, how you chew is irrelevant. Chewing will not cause a single pound to be lost.

6. Liquids should be consumed only 5 minutes prior to eating and then no more until 30 minutes after.  

This is not necessary unless you are having some digestive issues, like low stomach acid. Water can dilute your stomach acid if you are consuming it with your meal. But a better way to resolve that is by either having apple cider vinegar or supplement with betaine.