For at least the last 100 years or so many "experts" have had an incomplete understanding of what it takes to greatly improve insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Their advice? Reduce carbs as much as you can stand. It's just common sense, right? If you have too much glucose in your blood, stop eating it in all of its many forms.
Sure, eliminating all of the BAD carbs is an obvious and necessary first step. What's a bad carb? Anything refined - sugar and white flour are obvious - but even honey, maple syrup, and similar high calorie, low nutrient carbs have to go. And if that's all you do, you can get some results. You can lose weight by reducing your high-calorie carbs. The problem is that if that's ALL you do, you'll very likely be doing it for the rest of your life because that alone won't fix the problem. Or, more likely, you'll do it for a while, give up, do it some more, give up, and repeat because you are missing the final steps that will make your efforts pay off for the long-haul.
Nearly 100 years ago, an experiment showed that consuming sugar and fatty oils together triggered a much higher spike of glucose in the blood than either by itself. It took 70 years to figure out why. Once we understood why, those final missing steps became clear.
Fatty oils are like gold to your muscle cells; nothing else has as much energy, so the first thing the cells do is take in and horde as much fat as they can. Once full of fatty oils, cells turn away anything else, including glucose, resulting in a big glucose spike.
Since insulin resistance is the result of too much fatty oil inside cells, if you get rid of it they'll start behaving normally again. This has been demonstrated many thousands of times. On the other hand, if all you do is cut down on carbs, the fat never leaves the cells, and you will be doomed to a low-carb existence.
Instead, reduce fats and remove refined oils AND remove the bad carbs we already discussed above, and then you'll have a much better chance. Eating even more fat or oil obviously will do nothing to remove fat from your cells. So, although a low-carb high-fat diet might keep some of your numbers in check, it's a difficult way to live and the long-term effects of eating lots of fat might not be ideal. There is a much better solution.
So what CAN you eat on a high-carb low-fat diet? Many carbs are wrapped up in fiber and release their glycemic loads slowly. Fruits, nuts, beans, legumes, and even starchy foods are back in your "should eat" list! While you may still want to avoid wheat if you are sensitive to gluten, there are other whole grains that are perfectly safe.
The following video explains everything in more detail: youtu.be/lLqINF26LSA
All fatty foods are not bad for health?
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Dinner: Gluten Free Panini: 7-20-24
