Have you heard about insulin resistance?  You’ve probably seen people who tend to gain weight around their mid-section; maybe you’ve experienced it yourself!  Very often, the body’s resistance to insulin causes the deposit of fat in the abdominal area. This is a very common disorder of metabolism, and here is what you need to know about it:

What is insulin?

Insulin is a hormone that is secreted by the pancreas.

When is insulin secreted?

Insulin is secreted in response to eating.  Foods with a high glycemic index cause more insulin to be secreted from the pancreas. Very sugary foods have a high glycemic index—see our prior entry on Glycemic Index.

What does insulin do?

Insulin is the “key” that unlocks the door to the cell to let glucose in the cell.  Once glucose is in the cell, it can be used to produce energy.

What causes insulin resistance?

It seems that fat decreases the number of insulin receptors on each cell.  With fewer receptors on the cell less glucose is taken up by the cell.  This results in higher glucose levels in the blood, and the pancreas responds by making more insulin.  This lack of response to normal levels of insulin is known as insulin resistance.

So what?

Since insulin is not driving glucose into cells (like a muscle cell to be used for energy) the glucose hangs around in the blood and is transferred to the liver.  In the liver, the glucose is converted to fat, transported to fat cells, and guess what?  It is stored as fat.  As we get fatter we get more insulin resistant and the cycle spins downward.

What next?

Eventually the pancreas is unable to secrete very much insulin (it seems to be “burned out”) and we run high blood sugars all the time.  This is known as Type II diabetes mellitus.

What’s the big deal?

High glucose levels and high insulin levels damage blood vessels, especially small blood vessels.  If the vessels of the eye are damaged, we can go blind.  If the vessels of the kidney are damaged, we get kidney failure.  If the vessels of the feet are damaged, we get gangrene and amputations.  It is a big deal.

Anything else?

Yes, the high insulin levels seem to cause women’s ovaries to secrete too much androgens (male hormones).  This is very disruptive to normal menstrual cycles.  It is known as PCOD (Poly Cystic Ovarian Disease) and is a common cause of infertility, acne, abnormal hair growth and oily skin.

Solutions? Weight loss usually helps glucose and insulin levels return to normal, resulting in lower blood sugar levels, normal insulin levels, and decreased risk of damage to blood vessels

hCG is a hormone, produced in pregnancy and used therapeutically in infertility patients.  In the Simeon protocol, the hormone is used in very low doses, either injected subcutaneously like insulin, or applied daily as a cream.  It seems to be a potent appetite suppressant; thus, patients are able to stick to the very low calorie diet without being hungry.  A couple of days eating any very low calorie diet will induce a condition known as ketosis, which is NOT the same as diabetic ketoacidosis.  Ketosis is a metabolic condition that occurs when fat is being used as an energy source.  Ketones are a by-product of this process, and ketosis itself suppresses appetite.

There is individual variation in the rate of weight loss, and there is no guarantee that any individual will lose one pound per day.  A successful 3-week protocol usually results in a 10-12 pound weight/fat loss, and about 20-25 pounds with the 40-day protocol.  SOME patients will lose 40 pounds in 40 days, but not most.

SO…the bottom line is that the hCG diet DOES WORK to enable rapid weight loss.  HOWEVER, this diet requires close supervision by a medical specialist, to ensure that the weight being lost is FAT, not muscle.  For this reason, we see our patients every week on this protocol, measuring weight, body fat and muscle or lean body mass at each visit.  The loss of FAT is vital to the successful maintenance of your weight loss.  Final thought: There is a scientific basis for the weight loss, but the diet is not for everyone!

Glycemic refers to glucose or blood sugar level.  Index refers to a number, so Glycemic Index  is a number referencing blood sugar.  Glycemic index refers to how fast your blood glucose (blood sugar) will rise after eating a certain food.  Food are assigned a glycemic index.  Often pure sugar is used as the “standard” and is set to 100 so everything is measured in terms of pure glucose.

How is the glycemic index calculated?

Human volunteers all eat a certain food and have their blood drawn over a certain time period.  The blood sugar level is measured and averaged out among the volunteers to obtain a glycemic index.

What does a high glycemic index mean?

A high glycemic index means that a food is absorbed very rapidly, causing blood sugar to rise very rapidly.  The easier it is for the body to absorb a food, the higher the glycemic index.  Processed foods are easy to absorb, and have a high glycemic index. Foods that are hard for the body to absorb will produce a lower glycemic index- such as fiber or tree bark.

What are some examples of high glycemic index foods (glycemic index = 70 to 100)?

Corn flakes, baked potatoes, watermelon, croissants, white bread, processed  breakfast cereals:  these contain straight glucose.

How about medium glycemic index foods (glycemic index = 56-69)?  Whole wheat products, basmati rice, sweet potatoes, table sugar, and most white rices are examples.

And low glycemic index foods (glycemic index = 55 and less)?

This group includes most fruits and vegetables (except potatoes and watermelon), grainy breads, pasta, legumes, milk, products extremely low in carbohydrates (fish, eggs, meat, some cheeses, nuts, cooking oil), brown rice.

How does this affect you?

Eating foods with a low glycemic index will result in little or no spike in your blood sugar, little or no spike in insulin secretion from the pancreas, and thus little or no conversion and storage of fat.

Next time we will talk about a food ingredient which produces a very high glycemic index:   HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/712578?sssdmh=dm1.558322&src=nldne&uac=65189FX

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/weight-loss/expert-advice/diet-detective/food-exercise-tips-to-lose-weight/