It's the insulin, stupid.

I'm convinced that the root of many of our diet problems is having a hangover from a life we no longer live: that is, being farmers who till the soil manually, stuke wheat, weed large gardens, manually clean farmhouses, clean horses, tote feed buckets....you get the picture. You burned your calories off.

We were just on holiday and met a number of Europeans who were travelling on the train through Canada with us, who were horrified at the size of both the meals and their fellow travellers. While the portion sizes on the train are far from what you'd get at a local restaurant chain, having 3 gourmet meals a day is too much. As is the plain old North American diet, which can be several large bowls of cereal (sugar laden), orange juice (sugar laden) toast with jam, (sugar laden...), then lunch, which can be just as bad. Then supper. Also beer, wine, liquor or Coke. It's the aftereffect of high carb/glucose diets that is making us fat.

For me, the new motto is, "It's the insulin, stupid."

And in a farmer's garden, lots of potatoes were grown. It was a staple. It filled you up. That is fine for people who never eat too much and stay slim the majority of their lives. But if you get overweight, your body works against you. If you combine bread, potatoes, beer and a sweet dessert, you've got the recipe for a constant state of high insulin in the blood stream, hunger from the highs and lows of glucose, a state of inflammation and the pathway to chronic disease. It would be better to eat eggs, ham, meat, salad, steak and broccoli. You'd feel full and wouldn't need those desserts. The beer is a different story.

Our metabolism is such that an influx of glucose into the blood stream requires a big insulin push, whereupon fat is stored. Fewer carbs, less fat storage. It's that simple. Every complicated article and textbook I read boils it down to stimulating less insulin. Insulin has such a complex effect on our bodies. Many of its effects aren't well understood even yet, with all our advanced research capability.

Losing weight is a complicated array of processes, but by not carb loading, you don't facilitate fat storage. And while saturated fat continues to be considered a problem, eating lean protein, lots of plant materials (low sugar fruits and vegetables) and small amounts of "good" fats like olive oil and omega 3 fats, and getting some exercise to reduce insulin resistance is the way to lose weight.

Think about it. Lions in the wild are carnivores, eat few carbs, and still grow.

The low-fat message has confused North Americans, and they started eating just about anything that was labelled low fat. Dont get me started on the food industry and how well its done because of this lack of interest in the realities of human metabolism. it all drives me crazy!

Low Carb diets do work folks.

So my husband and I have been following a sort of South Beach diet, somewhere between strict phase 1 and phase 2. He of course has lost 10 lbs to my 7, which is par for the course. I don't eat fish which complicates things. I'd like to but get a scratchy throat which could mean allergies. But we've eaten chicken, beef, ribs etc, cottage cheese, cheese.....just little bread. It can be done. I've been eating carb free jello. I have sugar free coffees.

Most interesting is that my blood sugar (I'm a type2 diabetic) is now hovering between 5 and 7 all the time. My doc reduced my metformin a bit. Nice!!! My ankles aren't swollen as much, and she also reduced one of my heart meds that affect my blood pressure. I went to Pritikin in the spring and they say that losing 5% of your body weight improves your health, so I am closing in on that. I need to do it several times.

I got onto this because one of my acquaintances lost 60 lbs and improved her blood profile while doing it. She pointed me to the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes and the rest is history, in that I am doing lots of research on the idea that carbs and therefore insulin can almost be said to be the root of most of the obesity epidemic.

Of course skinny folks don't have to worry as much except if they eat a high carb diet, of simple and easily digestable carbs. Also high fructose corn syrup is a culprit. But being fat brings its own brand of wonderfulness - high blood sugar, high insulin readings, insulin resistance. Fat doesn't just lie there, it is working all the time and affecting you.

I'll let you know how things go, and how my blood profile changes over the next while. Learning to burn fat and stay away from carbs will be interesting.

A sane person's view

What has happened to the driving public? They have all gone mad. Or have gotten so insufferably arrogant. For instance, so many people in large trucks think that they are safe turning after the light is red. It
is like they are saying, "Try it" to the rest of us who drive Corollas. It is true that a car in the intersection when the light turns yellow has the use of the intersecton until they are through, but you can't enter the intersection when the light is red and expect to get through safely every time.

And don't get me started about red lights. I see at least one person running a red light every time I drive. These are the people who speed up when the yellow light is getting old. You are supposed to be cautious when the Don't walk sign stops flashing and be prepared to stop.

I'm prepared to support red light cameras and the resulting fines. Call it a tax on stupidity.

Society works in most respects because people support reasonable rules. If driving becomes too haphazard, there will be more carnage on the road from every day driving and not just high speed chases and road rage.