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

by Jason Fung

Seventy percent of your tendency to gain weight is determined by your parentage. Obesity is overwhelmingly inherited.

If hormones regulate fat growth, then obesity is a hormonal, not a caloric disorder.

Obesity is a hormonal dysregulation of fat accumulation.

Diabetes correlates with sugar, not calories.

Over the ten years of the Northern Manhattan Study,9 Dr. Hannah Gardener from the University of Miami found in 2012 that drinking diet soda was associated with a 43 percent increase in risk of vascular events (strokes and heart attacks). The 2008 Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC)10 found a 34 percent increased incidence of metabolic syndrome in diet soda users, which is consistent with data from the 2007 Framingham Heart Study,11 which showed a 50 percent higher incidence of metabolic syndrome.

Sucralose13 raises insulin by 20 percent, despite the fact that it contains no calories and no sugar.

Despite having a minimal effect on blood sugars, both aspartame and stevia raised insulin levels higher even than table sugar.

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

However, a standard serving of food may not contain 50 grams of carbohydrate. For example, watermelon has a very high glycemic index of 72, but contains only 5 percent carbohydrate by weight. Most of watermelon’s weight is water. You would need to eat 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds!) of watermelon to get 50 grams of carbohydrate—far in excess of what a person would eat at one sitting.

The glycemic load index attempts to correct this distortion by adjusting for serving size. Watermelon turns out to have a very low glycemic load of 5 while the corn tortilla still ranks high at 25.

Whole wheat and whole grain flours retain some of the bran and germ, but suffer from the same problem of rapid absorption.

While beans and legumes are very high in carbohydrate, much of it is not absorbed.

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.

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

The insulin index, created by Susanne Holt in 1997, measures the rise in insulin in response to a standard portion of food, and it turns out to be quite different from the glycemic index.

PROTEINS DIFFER GREATLY in their capacity to stimulate insulin,8 with dairy products in particular being potent stimuli.9 Dairy also shows the largest discrepancy between the blood glucose and insulin effect. It scores extremely low on the glycemic index (15 to 30), but very high on the insulin index (90 to 98).

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

Whole oats and steel-cut oats are a good choice, requiring long cooking times because they contain significant amounts of fiber that requires heat and time to break down.

The best drink is really just plain or sparkling water. Slices of lemon, orange or cucumber are a refreshing addition.

Due to its high caffeine content, coffee is sometimes considered unhealthy. However, recent research has come to the opposite conclusion,19 perhaps due to the fact that coffee is a major source of antioxidants,20 magnesium, lignans21 and chlorogenic acid.

Coffee, even the decaffeinated version, appears to protect against type 2 diabetes. In a 2009 review, each additional daily cup of coffee lowered the risk of diabetes by 7 percent, even up to six cups per day.23 The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study estimated that drinking at least three cups of coffee or tea daily reduced the risk of diabetes by 42 percent.24 The Singapore Chinese Health Study25 showed a 30 percent reduction in risk.

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.

Quinoa is very high in fiber, protein and vitamins. In addition, quinoa has a low glycemic index and contains plenty of antioxidants, such as quercetin and kaempferol, which are believed to be anti-inflammatory.

Beans are a versatile, fiber-rich carbohydrate staple of many traditional diets. They are an extremely good source of protein, particularly for vegetarian diets. Edamame beans, popular in Japanese cuisine, provide 9 grams of fiber and 11 grams of protein per serving.

Natural, unprocessed fats include olive oil, butter, coconut oil, beef tallow and leaf lard.

Vinegar is also a protective factor. Used in many traditional foods, it may help reduce insulin spikes.

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.

Regular fasting, by routinely lowering insulin levels, has been shown to significantly improve insulin sensitivity.8 This finding is the missing piece in the weight-loss puzzle.