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

by Jason Fung

THE ANSWER IS simpler once we understand hormonal obesity theory. Insulin is the major hormonal driver of weight gain. Insulin causes adult obesity. Insulin causes newborn obesity. Insulin causes infant obesity. Insulin causes childhood obesity. Where would an infant get high insulin levels? From his or her mother.

The sad but inescapable conclusion is that we are now passing on our obesity to our children. Why? Because we are now marinating our children in insulin starting in the womb, they develop more severe obesity sooner than ever before.

Eating fructose does not appreciably change the blood glucose level.

Artificial sweeteners may decrease calories and sugar, but not insulin. Yet it is insulin that drives weight gain and diabetes.

Since artificial sweeteners also raise insulin levels, there is no benefit to using them.

Because insulin is the main driver of obesity and diabetes, its reduction is beneficial. In essence, fiber acts as a sort of “antidote” to the carbohydrate—which, in this analogy, is the poison. (Carbohydrates, even sugar, are not literally poisonous, but the comparison is useful to understand fiber’s effect.)

If fiber can protect against elevated insulin, then it should protect against type 2 diabetes, right? That’s exactly what the studies show.22

Two teaspoons of vinegar taken with a high-carbohydrate meal lowers blood sugar and insulin by as much as 34 percent, and taking it just before the meal was more effective than taking it five hours before meals.28

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

Interestingly, peanuts also resulted in a reduction of glycemic response by 55 percent.33

Certain nutrients are considered essential in our diet because our bodies cannot synthesize them. Without dietary sources of these nutrients, we suffer ill health. There are essential fatty acids, such as the omega 3 and omega 6 fats, and essential amino acids, such as phenylalanine, valine and threonine. But there are no essential carbohydrates and no essential sugars. Those are not required for survival.

Carbohydrates are just long chains of sugars. There is nothing intrinsically nutritious about them.

Another criticism leveled at the low-carb diets is that much of the initial weight loss that dieters experience is water—which is true.

High carbohydrate intake increases insulin, and insulin stimulates the kidney to reabsorb water. Lowering insulin therefore causes excretion of the excess water. But why is this bad? Who wants swollen ankles?

High-protein diets are not recommended for those with chronic kidney disease, since the ability to deal with the breakdown products of proteins is

impaired.

Several recent studies have concluded that a high-protein diet was not associated with any noticeable harmful effects on kidney function.1 The con...

The Atkins v2.0 approach assumed that dietary proteins do not raise insulin since they do not raise blood sugars. This notion was incorrect.

In 1966, studies showed that oral or intravenous administration of the amino acid leucine causes insulin secretion.

Intensive research efforts revealed that the stomach itself produces hormones called incretins that increase insulin secretion.

Even non-nutritive sweeteners, which have no calories at all, can stimulate the insulin response.

All foods, not just carbohydrates, stimulate insulin.

While vegetable proteins raise insulin minimally, whey protein and meat (including seafood) cause significant insulin secretion.

These two opposing effects—insulin promotes weight gain, but satiety promotes weight loss—cause a maddening debate about meat and dairy.

Here’s a small tip for weight loss, one that should be obvious, but is not. If you are not hungry, don’t eat. Your body is telling you that you should not be eating.

All foods stimulate insulin, thus all foods could be fattening—and that’s where the calorie confusion emerges.

Several differences are noted in fasting between women and men. Plasma glucose tends to fall faster in women,30 and ketosis develops more quickly. With increasing body weight, however, the sex difference disappears.

Diets must be intermittent, not steady.

Changing the fasting protocol is often what’s required to break through a plateau.

you can’t relieve stress by doing nothing. Stress relief is an active process.

Exercise can also release endorphins and improve mood.