Damn the Torpedoes. Part 3. Fasting, Hunger and satiety.

[MikePollard]

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the regime I am undertaking is extreme and as such there should be hunger and satiety issues. 


There aren’t!


Let me give you an example.


Last Saturday I had a carb frenzy at my mother in law’s. Shepherds pie with carrot, broccoli, cauliflower and sprouts followed by cherry pie and cream. Probably around 1600 calories in all for the day. That was on the back of a 22 hour fast and 11 mile bike ride. Last ate at 7.30 with liquorice sticks (bit of a passion, you know - the soft chewy ones!) and a glass of milk. 


Sunday.


Went out for an afternoon 17.6-mile bike ride in appalling weather, still fasted. 
Ravenous aren’t I? 
No.
 Came home and broke my fast with just a tin of beans/sausage (400 cals) after 20 hours without food. I was ready to eat, but not famished. 6 o’clock came and went. I still felt full, so skipped my other 400 to see what followed. That’s satiety being acknowledged and acted upon. I just followed what my body was telling me to do. 

So why wasn’t I tearing lumps out of the fridge?
 Simple, my fasting insulin was through the floor - super, super low; which gives me uninterrupted access to my fat stores. This makes my body happy, as the conditions are ideal for it to reach out to get to my set point - my ideal natural weight. It doesn’t want this condition to change by making me hungry, ergo, no hunger.
 Hard to believe I know, but that's the science and my experience so far.

[pamela22]

Hi Mike I've read your 4 torpedo stories and I'm impressed by your knowledge and dedication.

I'm just starting out with the LCHF eating plan and I'm reading all I can to understand what is going on in the body on the LCHF.

While reading your post I came accross ... "Simple, my fasting insulin was through the floor - super, super low; which gives me uninterrupted access to my fat stores."

Could you please explain this further for me?

Many thanks in advance and good luck with your future torpedoes

XxX

[MikePollard in reply to pamela22]

Insulin is the fat storage hormone. It's what the body uses to push excess sugar (glucose) into the fat cells as fat. If insulin is too high it is IMPOSSIBLE to lose weight, so you need to get it as low as possible. If your diet is mainly carbohydrate, as per NHS guidelines, insulin will be wildly spiking, and somebody with a significant weight problem will have PERMANENTLY elevated insulin levels and be permanently hungry. Here's an example. You have toast, jam, orange juice for breakfast (which breaks down to a huge glucose load). Insulin spikes pushing the sugar to be stored (there is only ever about a teaspoon in the bloodstream at any one time). After that the blood sugar plunges leaving you hungry - typically after 2 hours, as insulin is still very high. So you have a Snickers bar and fizzy drink. The process restarts and continues through dinner, mid-afternoon snack, tea, snack, supper. All the time your appetite is under control of elevated insulin and hunger is only ever a few hours away.

When insulin is very low you don't get the hunger pangs and you can get to burn your stored fat effortlessly.

Here's an alternative example from today:

I fasted from 5.30pm yesterday and went to the baths this morning without eating. Because of the gales, I didn't think I'd be able to cycle, so swam 160 lengths. No hunger. I ate a piece of Fat Head Pizza (430 cals) midday, then saw the wind had dropped, so cycled 17 miles. Again, no hunger as I was effortlessly eating my own fat and using pure ketones instead of glucose for fuel. My tea was a pork steak and small piece of cheese.

Putting it simply, don't eat sugar, pasta, potatoes, rice - they all turn to glucose and will spike insulin.

Hope this helps.

[pamela22 in reply to MikePollard]

Thanks, that all makes perfect sense now.

As i mentioned I'm trying the LCHF way of eating so I'm avoiding potato, rice, pasta and all baked goods bread pastry and the like... which is fine.

I do however miss fresh fruit but now appreciate that insulin stores sugar as fat in our fat cells so by avoiding all carbs my body will revert to ketogenic fat burning mode and I will loose more weight.

I've lost 3 lbs this week a total of 2 stone so far, but this is not all on the LCHF eating plan.

I still have lots of weight to loose but I do not have good health like yourself, I have fibromyalgia, hashimotos disease so I'm on a gluten free diet and taking 175 mcg levothyroxine daily for low thyroid levels.

I am awaiting a gallbladder removal operation as I have gallstones which I believe were caused by following a long term low fat diet.

XxX

[MikePollard in reply to pamela22]

That's a big load to bear Pamela. Not many people realise that the gall bladder is a pulsatile organ that doesn't pulse when fat is low. That's when the salts build up.

I'm sure your health will improve when you are settled with LCHF.

Good luck.

[pamela22 in reply to MikePollard]

Thanks xxx

[pamela22 in reply to MikePollard]

I'm interested in trying to get rid of the gallstones through diet rather than surgery, Do you have any insight into what could help?

I'm slowly increasing my fat intake so that the gallbladder "works" every day but I'm not sure what will break down the stones I've read so many versions of how to get rid of them but no scientific proof

Any ideas?

[moreless in reply to pamela22]

You may wish to read this, Pamela dietdoctor.com/gallstones-a...

[pamela22 in reply to moreless]

Thanks I will xxx

[moreless in reply to pamela22]

I found this on the internet, too

Although the common treatment for gall stones is to just remove the bladder, there are other ways that don’t involve removing an organ. You can use ultrasound to break the stones up into tiny, easy-to-pass pieces. That same study found that a drug called ursodeoxycholic acid, or UDCA, can dissolve gallstones already present in the gall bladder.

[pamela22 in reply to moreless]

Oh I wonder if my go will suggest this ???

😊

[moreless in reply to pamela22]

If I'd known what I know know now, before I'd had my gallbladder whipped out, I'd have insisted on this treatment!

[pamela22 in reply to moreless]

I've been reading up on it and it sounds great, I think I will approach my gp with this if my gallbladder flares up again ... fingers crossed my gallbladder behaves and I don't have any pains while on the LCHF eating plan and all goes well... I've not had pain since September last year so 6 months, and I hope I never have it again.

XxX

[moreless in reply to pamela22]

It is a horrendous pain, so I hope you don't get it again, either! With luck, the increased fat in your diet will just keep the bile flushing through and prevent a recurrence

[pamela22 in reply to moreless]

I hope so too.

Many thanks for your help, this has really got me thinking...

XxX

[pamela22 in reply to moreless]

I'm off to Google ursodeoxycholic acid,

Thanks

XxX

[pamela22 in reply to moreless]

Very interesting thanks, I now know that the LCHF eating plan is good for gallstones and my gallbladder but I run the risk of passing a stone which is terrifying ... I wonder if anything can actually help to break them down and desolve them ???