Episode 51 - Calories, Insulin and Losing Body Fat

Do calories mean that much?

Consider two foods of equal caloric value. On the one hand, you have a sugar cookie, and on the other is a plate of lettuce. Calories are identical. OK. So what?

The metabolic effect of those two foods is completely different.

• Sugar cookie will stimulate insulin and no other satiety hormone
• Lettuce will not stimulate insulin and you will feel fuller. 

While the calories in-calories out equation remains true in a literal sense, there are numerous variables that influence the end result in terms of body composition, notably whether your body burns or stores the caloric energy you ingest. To understand weight loss, we need to understand what our body ‘cares’ about. The answer is clearly not ‘calories. The answer is ‘hormones’, predominantly insulin.

Hormones run everything in our body.

Our body gains or loses fat according to detailed hormonal instructions from our brain.

The rise and fall of insulin is the main stimulus to weight gain.

So, foods that stimulate insulin are typically more fattening (cookies). Those that do not (broccoli) are typically not fattening at all.

Since our body is not likely to learn the language of ‘calories’, we need to learn the language of ‘insulin’, by translating food into insulin effect instead of calories.

Insulin.

Considered the "master hormone" for its role in facilitating the transport of nutrients and hormones to target organs and storage depots in the body. A healthy level of insulin production allows liver, muscle, and fat cells to repair, regenerate, and store energy for future use.

Insulin has many beneficial effects on muscle growth and regeneration, and on the delivery of hormones to target organs in the bloodstream.

Since insulin is the major transport and storage hormone in the bloodstream, the function of many other hormones are affected by insulin. Chronically excessive insulin production can interfere with the optimal function of appetite hormones, sleep hormones, thyroid hormones, sex hormones, and stress hormones. 

A diet promoting hyper-insulinemia (chronically high insulin levels) promotes a vicious cycle of excess calorie consumption, inhibited energy burning, and excess energy storage.  When insulin production is chronically excessive, the body is locked into a fat-storage pattern and the dangerous condition of insulin resistance ensues

Losing excess body fat involves deriving a certain portion of daily energy requirements from stored body fat.   It is a matter of first becoming fat- and keto-adapted, and thus less reliant on ingested carbohydrates and external sources of energy in general. 

For example, eating a breakfast of bacon and eggs provides readily available fat calories that can be used as energy (in the absence of insulin-producing foods at the meal), while skipping breakfast will compel the body to derive those fat calories from storage depots for use as energy.

What's the most powerful way to control your insulin levels? 

Intermittent Fasting

When you don’t eat for a while, your body changes hormone levels to make stored body fat more accessible and initiates important cellular repair processes.

Here are some of the changes that occur in your body during fasting:

• Insulin levels. Blood levels of insulin drop significantly, which facilitates fat burning
• Human growth hormone (HGH) levels. The blood levels of human growth hormone (HGH) may increase dramatically. Higher levels of this hormone facilitate fat burning and muscle gain, and have numerous other benefits
• Cellular repair. The body induces important cellular repair processes, such as removing waste material from cells

Many of the benefits of intermittent fasting are related to these changes in hormones,  and the function of cells.

Bottom Line:

Start intermittent fasting and eat nutrient dense whole foods that aren't processed!

If you love the Get Lean Eat Clean Podcast, we’d love for you to subscribe, rate, and give a review on iTunes. Until next time!

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