The Obesity Code

by Jason Fung

From 1985 to 2011, the prevalence of obesity in Canada tripled, from 6 per cent to 18 per cent.1 This phenomenon is not unique to North America, but involves most of the nations of the world.

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

Bears, along with whales, walruses and other fat animals are fat, but not obese, since they suffer no health consequences. They are, in fact, genetically programmed to become fat. We aren’t. In humans, evolution did not favor obesity, but rather, leanness.

Caloric intake and expenditure are intimately dependent variables. Decreasing Calories In triggers a decrease in Calories Out. A 30 per cent reduction in caloric intake results in a 30 per cent decrease in caloric expenditure. The end result is minimal weight loss.

But does a calorie of olive oil cause the same metabolic response as a calorie of sugar? The answer is, obviously, no. These two foods have many easily measurable differences. Sugar will increase the blood glucose level and provoke an insulin response from the pancreas. Olive oil will not. When olive oil is absorbed by the small intestine and transported to the liver, there is no significant increase in blood glucose or insulin. The two different foods evoke vastly different metabolic and hormonal responses.

But here’s the dismal truth: whether physical activity increases or decreases, it has virtually no relationship to the prevalence of obesity.

OBESITY IS NOT caused by an excess of calories, but instead by a body set weight that is too high because of a hormonal imbalance in the body.

Insulin causes obesity—which means that insulin must be one of the major controllers of the body set weight. As insulin goes up, the body set weight goes up. The hypothalamus sends out hormonal signals to the body to gain weight. We become hungry and eat. If we deliberately restrict caloric intake, then our total energy expenditure will decrease. The result is still the same—weight gain.

Under conditions of chronic stress, glucose levels remain high and there is no resolution to the stressor. Our blood glucose can remain elevated for months, triggering the release of insulin. Chronically elevated cortisol leads to increased insulin levels—as demonstrated by several studies.

Population studies consistently link short sleep duration and excess weight, generally with seven hours being the point where weight gain starts.

What was the best diet for maintaining metabolism? The very-low-carbohydrate diet. This diet also seemed to reduce appetite.

Refined carbohydrates are easy to become addicted to and overeat precisely because there are no natural satiety hormones for refined carbs.

Unfortunately, we spend obsessive amounts of time and energy trying to understand what we should be eating and devote virtually no time to when we should be eating. We are only seeing half the picture.

The first myth is that eating frequently will increase your metabolic rate.

The second myth is that eating frequently controls hunger,

The third myth is that eating frequently keeps blood glucose from becoming too low.

In a 2007 study that looked specifically at soft drinks, Dr. David Ludwig from Harvard University found that accepting funds from companies whose products are reviewed increased the likelihood of a favorable result by approximately 700 per cent!

:)))))

Studies show that lunch and dinner portions tend to stay constant, regardless of the amount of calories taken at breakfast. The more one eats at breakfast, the higher the total caloric intake over the entire day.

So should we eat more fruits and vegetables? Yes, definitely. But only if they are replacing other unhealthier foods in your diet. Replace. Not add.

Reducing the use of sugar-sweetened beverages is a highly effective method of preventing childhood obesity.

Sugar, more than any other refined carbohydrate, seems to be particularly fattening and leads to type 2 diabetes.

Fructose overconsumption leads directly to insulin resistance.

The sugar in fruits. Half of the sugar in table suger

The INTERMAP studies of the 1990s found that the Chinese were eating very high amounts of white rice, but suffered little obesity. The key was that their sucrose consumption was extremely low, which minimized the development of insulin resistance.

Despite reducing sugar, diet sodas do not reduce the risk of obesity, metabolic syndrome, strokes or heart attacks. But why? Because it is insulin, not calories, that ultimately drives obesity and metabolic syndrome.

No health or obesity related benefit in suger-free soda

These foods are quite fattening, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all carbohydrates are similarly bad. ‘Good’ carbohydrates (whole fruits and vegetables) are substantially different from ‘bad’ (sugar and flour). Broccoli will likely not make you fat, no matter how much you eat.

Our bodies have adapted to the balance of nutrients in natural food. By refining foods and only consuming a certain component, the balance is entirely destroyed. People have been eating unrefined carbohydrates for thousands of years without obesity or diabetes. What’s changed, and recently too, is that we now predominantly eat refined grains as our carbohydrate of choice.

In short, fiber may decrease food intake, slow down food’s absorption in the stomach and small intestine, then help it exit quickly through the large intestines—all of which are potentially beneficial in treating obesity.

Apple cider vinegar seems to have gained a particular following, as it contains both vinegar (acetic acid) as well as the pectins from the apple cider (a type of soluble fiber).

In particular, whole milk, sour milk, cheese and butter were associated with less weight gain, but not low-fat milk.

STEP 1: REDUCE YOUR CONSUMPTION OF ADDED SUGARS

Don’t replace sugar with artificial sweeteners, as they also raise insulin as much as sugar and are equally prone to causing obesity.

Don’t eat snacks.

STEP 2: REDUCE YOUR CONSUMPTION OF REFINED GRAINS

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.

STEP 3: MODERATE YOUR PROTEIN CONSUMPTION

STEP 4: INCREASE YOUR CONSUMPTION OF NATURAL FATS

To break the insulin-resistance cycle, we must have recurrent periods of very low insulin levels.

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.

As the body becomes accustomed to fasting, it starts to burn its stores of fat, and your hunger will be suppressed.

During longer fasts, many people notice that their hunger completely disappears by the second or third day.