Many of us believe that exercising and maintaining a low-calorie diet alone promote weight loss. This is half the truth. Exercise and a diet that controls blood sugar and insulin spikes through low-glycaemic foods are ingredients to weight control and loss as well as good health. Let us understand what insulin does; why it is important to regulate it; and why a low-glycaemic diet is needed to achieve that.

Insulin is the hormone that metabolizes blood sugar, or glucose. When we don’t control the quality of food we eat, obesity and diabetes occur. Consuming large amounts of simple sugars (soda and soft drinks) and refined carbohydrates (pasta, white rice, ice-creams, cakes, chocolates, candy bars, pastries), leads to body cells becoming engorged with fat and makes them lose their sensitivity to insulin, which means the cells refuse the entry of the hormone. The body responds by releasing more of the hormone to break down blood glucose; otherwise it remains roaming in the bloodstream. Insulin stays idle unable to penetrate the insulin receptors in the cells in order to break sugar down. It becomes a vicious cycle with high insulin levels flooding the system and incapable of entering cells and blood sugar floating in the bloodstream.

Dysfunctional insulin turns against the organs and systems, causing stress and inflammation and wrecking havoc in the body. Too much insulin roaming in the body increases silent inflammation and weight gain. The condition results in weight gain and subsequently insulin resistance, giving way to the onset of diabetes type 2 in adults over forty years of age if obesity is not corrected in time. Studies have shown that with enough weight loss and exercise, diabetes can be reversed. Usually, known to be an adult disorder, diabetes type 2 has recently become quite prevalent among obese children, adolescents, and young people under forty.

Let us see how the hormone insulin works in the body in order to metabolize glucose and its critical role in assisting certain cellular functions.

Once in the digestive tract, the sugar we eat turns into glucose, a simpler form, which is a pivotal nutrient to the brain, cells, muscles, and body. The human body cannot operate without glucose, as it is the most efficient fuel for the brain and cells to generate energy. Sugar occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and dairy products. For instance in fruits, it is called fructose; in grapes, it’s glucose; in grains, it is maltose; in milk, it is lactose, etc…

To understand insulin, we have to know more about the organ that produces it. It is the pancreas. This organ, or gland, is dedicated to the secretion of insulin, which assists in carrying sugar from the bloodstream to cells in the muscles, fatty tissue, and brain. Excess glucose is synthesized in the liver as glycogen, which gets stored there and in the muscles for future needs. As long as insulin is secreted in reasonable amounts and glucose is available to cells in an efficient way, the body blocks its use of glycogen and does not utilize it for energy production unless needed. This stock becomes only available and useful for emergencies: during diets, strenuous exercising, fasts, famine and lengthy illnesses.

On the first day of a restrictive diet or fasting, the body turns to its stock of glycogen. After that for survival, the body attacks internal fat (belly or hip fat) for energy. Fat on the hips becomes useful to pregnant women during famine to feed the fetus. During prolonged illnesses and unsupervised fasts, when no other internal fuel is left to use, the body begins breaking down muscle mass to make amino acids, proteins, available to organs and the different systems for survival. Some of these proteins are also converted to glucose to nourish the brain. This stage is dangerous to reach as the body is left with nothing else to feed on. It is seen in people stricken by famine.

In instances when the body is deprived of food for more than three days, the liver turns fat into chemicals called ketones to supply the heart, brain, and muscles with nutrients. At this stage, people start losing the feeling of hunger; shed excess fat; and feel more energetic and acquire more mental clarity and spirituality. That is the purpose of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan; it is to detoxify physically, mentally, and spiritually.

The other benefit that come from fasting is when people lose fat, they also get rid of toxins (chemicals, drugs, food additives, heavy metals, pollutants), which remain hidden in their body fat. With fat loss, toxins get released in the bloodstream for elimination through the kidneys (urine), skin (perspiration), glands, and others. Reasonable fasting is an effective way of cleansing. But with harsh fasts, toxins get dumped in big amounts in the bloodstream and poison the systems. The condition is destructive to health and becomes threatening to life, because sudden toxic dumping shocks the organs (the heart…), systems, and body.

Ketosis (when ketone is released) may not be harmful, but for diabetics to reach that stage, it can be serious, requiring urgent medical care. It leads to a state of coma, which threatens the brain and human life. When blood sugar drops below normal levels, the body reacts by breaking down the saved glycogen in the liver and muscles to provide the systems and brain with the necessary energy to operate optimally.

Without enough glucose going to the brain, the person slips into coma and dies. It is recommended to assist the victim with sugar or honey, while waiting for adequate medical assistance. The warning symptoms of hypoglycaemia are low blood sugar, irritability, profuse perspiration, low energy, and fast heartbeat.

If left without adequate sugar supply going to the brain, in diabetics in particular, confusion, loss of consciousness, and coma occur.

For such reasons, insulin should be released in a controlled manner to metabolize roaming blood sugar. If it remains in circulation, it slowly poisons the organs (brain, eyes, cardiovascular system, kidneys…), resulting in dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, blindness, cardiovascular disorders, imputations, and renal failure. That is why with metabolic syndromes, like diabetes and insulin resistance, systems start failing as the bloodstream becomes flooded with sugar and insulin, damaging internal organs and systems.

The body and brain require a continuous and controlled supply of insulin to clear the sugar in the blood. In a recent study, excess sugar was found to leave a sticky substance on the brain, similar to Alzheimer’s plaque.

Simple sugars and refined carbohydrates (high glycemic foods) raise blood sugar to high peaks, sending signals to insulin to respond in an equal manner to lower the spiking sugar. The plummeting sugar leaves the person sugar-empty, irritable, prone to anger, and energy-less, demanding another high dose of sugar. This results in a see-saw effect of mood swings and low mental performance, exhausting the pancreas and stressing the brain and body systems with the excessive release of adrenalin and cortisol, two inflammation causing hormones.

Next week, I will proceed with more on insulin functions and the role of the pancreas plus what types of food to eat to maintain energy without creating a spike in sugar or a rush of insulin.

References:

• Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis Bach


N.B.:

Individuals with medical conditions or on medication should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything new in their diet even if it is natural.

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