It feels like now is a good time to step back and think about the science of fasting and why it works for fat-based weight loss. It turns out that research has shown that weight gain is not related to exercise, or how many calories you eat as we have been taught our entire lives. We don’t believe in the calories in minus calories out theory anymore. Weight gain is from a hormonal imbalance, specifically an excess of the hormone insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone that is released by the pancreas in response to an increase in blood sugar. It binds receptors on cells in the body that allow glucose to be transported into those cells so they can use it to make ATP, the energy currency in the body. Insulin also causes gluconeogenesis (or the making of new glucose molecules) in the liver and muscles. Insulin causes lipogenesis (creation of new fat) and promotes glycogen creation and storage. The bottom line is that high insulin levels causes sugar and fat storage. All of these things are good responses after you eat a meal and want your body to lower your blood sugar and store energy, but as long as there is insulin present the body will not burn fat for fuel. The way to lose fat then is to have longer periods of time where there is no insulin circulating in your body, or some fasting every day. The very worst thing you can do is to eat small meals throughout the day as we have been taught recently. By eating like that you constantly have insulin circulating so your body is always in storage mode and never in fat-burning mode.
Different foods cause a different insulin response, and also the time of day you eat those foods cause a different insulin response. Highly processed carbohydrates like white bread, soda, ice cream, and candy get absorbed almost directly into your blood and cause a blood sugar spike, causing the biggest insulin response by the body. Proteins cause less insulin release than carbohydrates but still will cause the pancreas to release some insulin. Fat causes the least insulin response, and therefore is the best thing to eat for fat-based weight loss. Wow, does that really make sense? you might ask, eat fat to lose fat. It’s contrary to everything we have been taught since we were little. The truth is that since the food pyramid with carbohydrate as its base, and the low-fat diet have been introduced into America, obesity and diabetes type II has exploded into an epidemic.
Knowing all of this, the best way to lose fat is to practice intermittent fasting and to eat a mostly fat based diet. The keto diet people have been on to this for a while, and when you eat keto, it makes it easier to fast, which makes it easier to lose fat. These two things go hand in hand and work together very well. I will definitely get more into those topics in the future, I just wanted to give a little introduction right now.