The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss (Why Intermittent Fasting Is the Key to Controlling Your Weight)

by Jason Fung

The proximate cause is immediately responsible, whereas the ultimate cause is what started the chain of events.

His 1972 book, Pure, White and Deadly: How Sugar Is Killing Us, is eerily prescient (and should certainly win the award for Best Book Title Ever).

Let’s apply this reasoning to obesity. Reducing Calories In works only if Calories Out remains stable. What we find instead is that a sudden reduction of Calories In causes a similar reduction in Calories Out, and no weight is lost as the body balances its energy budget. Some historic experiments in calorie reduction have shown exactly this.

Getting enough good sleep is essential to any weight loss plan.

But in the development of obesity, the increase in meals is almost twice as important as the change in diet.

The addition of vinegar for sushi rice lowered the glycemic index of white rice by almost 40 percent.

Type 2 diabetics drinking two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar diluted in water at bedtime reduced their fasting morning blood sugars.

All foods stimulate insulin, thus all foods could be fattening—and that’s where the calorie confusion emerges. Since all foods could be fattening, we imagined that all foods could be measured in a common unit: the calorie. But the calorie was the wrong unit. Calories do not cause obesity. Instead, insulin is responsible.

The toxicity lies not in the food, but in the processing.

THERE ARE TWO prominent findings from all the dietary studies done over the years. First: all diets work. Second: all diets fail.

There’s a simple answer to the question of what to eat at snack time. Nothing. Don’t eat snacks. Period. Simplify your life.

A simple rule to follow is this: Don’t eat sugared breakfast cereal. If you must, eat cereals containing less than 0.8 of a teaspoon (4 grams) of sugar per serving.

Coffee drinking is associated with a 10 percent to 15 percent reduction in total mortality.26

You can use cinnamon, coconut oil, vanilla extract, almond extract and cream to flavor your coffee without changing its healthy nature. Avoid adding sugar or other sweeteners.

Eggplant, kale, spinach, carrots, broccoli, peas, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, asparagus, bell peppers, zucchini, cauliflower, avocados, lettuce, beets, cucumbers, watercress, cabbage, among others, are all extremely healthy carbohydrate-containing foods.

OF THE THREE major macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins and fats), dietary fat is the least likely to stimulate insulin.

Fruits, berries, vegetables, whole grains, flax seeds, chia seeds, beans, popcorn, nuts, oatmeal and pumpkin seeds provide ample fiber.

THERE ARE FIVE basic steps in weight loss: 1. Reduce your consumption of added sugars. 2. Reduce your consumption of refined grains. 3. Moderate your protein intake. 4. Increase your consumption of natural fats.

5. Increase your consumption of fiber and vinegar.

When we talk about fasting to break insulin resistance and lose weight, we are talking about intermittent fasts of twenty-four to thirty-six hours.

What we’re describing here is the process the body undergoes to switch from burning glucose (short term) to burning fat (long term). Fat is simply the body’s stored food energy. In times of food scarcity, stored food (fat) is naturally released to fill the void. The body does not “burn muscle” in an effort to feed itself until all the fat stores are used.

It’s crucial to note that all these beneficial adaptive changes do not occur in the caloric-reduction diet strategy.