Dont Be Afraid Of Butter! Five Reasons Butter Is Good For You | Poliquin Article
Dont Be Afraid of Butter! Five Reasons Butter Is Good For You Butter is easily one of the most controversial foods. The dominant public health message is that you need to avoid butter despite mounting evidence to the contrary. This is a crime because butter is not only delicious but it has noteworthy health benefits when eaten as part of a well-planned diet. This article will give you a rundown on the benefits of butter and set your fears at rest by explaining why scientists are so down on butter. The belief that butter is bad is rooted in the fact that it is high in saturated fat. The theory that saturated fat causes heart disease is so deeply ingrained that expert scientists continue to ignore the evidence that is right in front of them. Where does this bias come from? In simple terms, its rooted in the belief that high levels of low density blood cholesterol levels (LDL) lead to the buildup of arterial plaque, resulting in atherosclerosis or heart disease. In some populations, saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol levels. However, there are two kinds of LDL cholesterol: Large particles that are considered benign and do not raise heart disease risk and small particles that are harmful and do raise heart disease risk. Saturated fat raises the large, fluffy LDL and has no effect on small LDL. Additionally, high density cholesterol (HDL), which helps remove plaque and is considered good, increases when you eat saturated fat. Most important, the strongest, largest studies show no association between saturated fat intake and heart disease risk. For example, a meta analysis of 347,747 people from Harvard found no significant evidence for concluding that saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, some studies have found that di Continue reading >>
How Does Fat Affect Insulin Resistance And Diabetes?
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 29 million people in America have diabetes and 86 million have prediabetes. Insulin resistance is recognized as a predictor of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. But what causes insulin resistance? In this NutritionFacts.org video, Dr. Michael Greger talks about how fat affects insulin resistance, and about how the most effective way to reduce insulin sensitivity is to reduce fat intake. We’ve also provided a summary of Dr. Greger’s main points below. Insulin Resistance of People on High-Fat Diets vs. High-Carb Diets In studies performed as early as the 1930s, scientists have noted a connection between diet and insulin intolerance. In one study, healthy young men were split into two groups. Half of the participants were put on a fat-rich diet, and the other half were put on a carb-rich diet. The high-fat group ate olive oil, butter, mayonnaise, and cream. The high-carb group ate pastries, sugar, candy, bread, baked potatoes, syrup, rice, and oatmeal. Within two days, tests showed that the glucose intolerance had skyrocketed in the group eating the high-fat diet. This group had twice the blood sugar levels than the high-carb group. The test results showed that the higher the fat content of the diet, the higher the blood sugar levels would be. What Is Insulin Resistance? It turns out that as the amount of fat in the diet goes up, so does one’s blood sugar spikes. Athletes frequently carb-load before a race because they’re trying to build up fuel in their muscles. We break down starch into glucose in our digestive tract; it circulates as blood glucose (blood sugar); and it is then used by our muscle cells as fuel. Blood sugar, though, is like a vampire. It needs an invitation to enter our cells. And that invit Continue reading >>
Dairy And Its Effect On Insulin Secretion (and What It Means For Your Waistline)
206 Comments Insulin is an old, old hormone. Evolution has preserved its structure across hundreds of millions of years and hundreds of thousands of species. Fish, insects, reptiles, birds, and mammals all secrete insulin with fairly similar amino acid arrangements (insulin from certain species of fish has even been clinically effective in humans), so, clearly, it is a vital hormone. But insulin gets a bad rap in our circles. Why? With metabolic syndrome laying waste to the citizenry and with insulin playing an undeniable role, it’s difficult not to be soured on this hormone. And yet we need insulin to shuttle all sorts of nutrients into cells, like protein and glycogen into muscles. It’s there for a reason, so to demonize it is misguided. It’s chronically elevated insulin and insulin resistance – you know, the hallmarks of metabolic syndrome – that are the problem. You might have noticed a softening stance on carbohydrates around the paleo and Primal blogosphere. I think it’s simply an acknowledgment that in healthy people with healthy glucose control and healthy insulin responses who engage in glycolytic activity, starch is fine in measured amounts. And if insulin increases to shuttle that starch and protein into the insulin sensitive muscle cells, so be it. That’s why it’s there. But not everyone (anyone?) lives a perfect Primal existence. And even if you did an understanding of how insulin works and what foods and behaviors affect it’s production should be high priority. Especially for the millions of people immersed in the modern, industrial lifestyle, with deranged metabolisms from years of poor eating habits (i.e. most of us). Which brings us to dairy and its effect on insulin. Dairy intake, you see, stimulates insulin secretion. Lots and lots o Continue reading >>
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List Of Foods That Do Not Cause Insulin Release
Contrary to what many believe, carbohydrates -- that is, sugar and starch -- are not the only macronutrient that stimulates the release of insulin, the hormone responsible for clearing excess glucose from the bloodstream and packing it, in the form of fatty triglycerides, into fat cells. Protein also stimulates insulin release. Dietary fat is the only one of the three macronutrients that does not cause insulin release. Therefore, food that is made up entirely of, or predominantly of, fat is the only type that does not cause insulin release. Note that this categorization does not apply to type I diabetics, who are not able to produce insulin at all. Video of the Day Olive Oil and Other Plant-Derived Oils Oil is pure plant-source fat, whether it is olive, canola, sunflower, sesame, peanut, coconut, soy or corn. One ounce of oil is about 28 grams of fat because 1 ounce converts to about 28 grams in the metric system. It makes no difference to this equation whether the fat is saturated or unsaturated. It is probably more helpful, and certainly more accurate, to think of oil as being fat, rather than containing fat. Dietary fat by itself, including these foods, does not cause insulin release. Two tbsp. butter, about 1 ounce, contain 22 grams of fat and no carbohydrates or protein. The other 6 grams in the 28 grams ounces of butter is made up mostly of water, along with a small amount of milk solids. Butter eaten by itself does not stimulate the release of insulin. Nearly all of cream cheese's macronutrient value is in fat, as 1 ounce of cream cheese contains 9 grams of fat, but only 1 gram of carbs and 2 grams protein. That would mean that it stimulates little insulin release. One ounce of macadamia nuts contains 21grams fat, with only 4 grams carbohydrate and 2 grams protei Continue reading >>
10 Diet Tips To Fight Insulin Resistance
Insulin resistance is very commonly seen in people who have diabetes, Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or are obese. And there is something that links all these diseases together — a poor diet. Insulin resistance is a lifestylecondition, and your diet has a huge role to play here. In fact, changing your diet is one of the single-most effective ways to reverse insulin resistance, especially when it’s coupled with regular exercise, a good sleep hygiene and stress management. The right diet for insulin resistance can alter insulin signaling pathways to improve blood sugar control, help you lose weight, and also make you feel more energetic. 10 Principles For The Best Diet For Insulin Resistance Fill Up On Whole Foods The best diet for insulin resistance is one that focuses on eating a variety of raw, whole foods. If the food comes in a ready-to-eat packet, it has no business being on your plate! Processed foods and sugars are the WORST enemies of insulin resistance. They turn into simple sugars readily as they are highly processed to remove healthy fiber, making them digest rather quickly. Plus they are very high in calories, devoid of healthy nutrients, and can aid inflammation. Instead, choose to eat more fresh vegetables, fruits, lean cuts of meat, wild-caught fish, healthy fats, nuts, and seeds. In fact, a Mediterranean diet can improve insulin sensitivity and heart health, as it focuses on whole foods – plenty of fruits and vegetables, along with quality fats and proteins. Cut Back On Carbohydrates All carbohydrates get broken down into sugars, which only worsen your insulin resistance. This is why it’s a good idea to cut back on your intake of carbohydrates, particularly of refined carbs. Refined carbohydrates with a high glycemic index are best avoided, as t Continue reading >>
Hyperlipid: Butter, Insulin And Dr Davis
You need to get calories from somewhere, should it be from carbohydrate or fat? Sigh. Okay, here we go. It's the weekend and I'll correct the typos when I get chance! Better read Dr Davis' post here here to get the lie of the ground before reading this post. Now, before we get to the Spanish study , let's look at the insulogenic effect of cream (the closest I can find to butter in a study which, unlike the Spanish study, controlled its variables). Please bear in mind that cream contains small amounts of both casein and lactose. So does butter. BTW look what casein does to insulin. But it doesn't budge glucose levels (they should drop!) so there has to be a counter regulatory system here, glucagon was not measured. It's not relevant to the role of palmitic acid in the Spanish study, but it's interesting never the less. Taken from Dandona's paper here . This is the effect of 300kcal of cream (equivalent to about 30g of butter) or the equivalent in casein calories: Okay, on 300kcal of cream alone insulin "spikes" from 39.6pmol/l to 49.2pmol/l at 1h (remember the casein and lactose?) and then insulin drops below baseline at 2h and 3h. During this period there will be palmitic acid in to the blood stream and muscles. Palmitic acid is the primary metabolic signal to switch from glucose burning to fat burning. Because essentially zero carbohydrate is supplied with cream there is neither a rise in blood glucose or in insulin. The Spanish study uses about 40g of carbohydrate (22% of about 800kcal) with their fat load. It gets eaten along side just under 60 grams of fat or oil. The rise in glucose is trivial for all groups. It is neither statistically nor biologically significant. We can ignore it. Now, let's look at insulin. The full figure and caption is here Obviously, the be Continue reading >>
Does Butter Raise Insulin And Make You Fat? The Low-carb Experts Respond To This Claim
Does Butter Raise Insulin And Make You Fat? The Low-Carb Experts Respond To This Claim DR. ANDREAS EENFELDT, Swedish doctor and low-carb blogger : Certainly there seems to be some insulin response to dairy, possibly due to the milk protein (and of course the lactose). That said, I hardly think butter is making anybody fat. Milk (and possibly cream and cheese) can be a problem for very sensitive individuals though, as they contains more lactose (milk sugar) and milk protein. Saying butter can triple insulin levels is only true relative to starvation levels. In the Lpez study, insulin got only marginally higher with butter than with isocaloric meals containing different fats: about 205 pmol/L compared to average about 165 with other fats. Thats about 25% higher, not 200% higher (tripled). Additionally there is a lot of statistical uncertainty in those numbers. Plus, butter contains some carbs and protein, the oils do not. So we shouldnt be surprised that the insulin levels got a bit higher after the butter meal. If you instead substitute bread for the butter, calorie for calorie, the insulin levels would shoot through the roof. In other words, if eating more butter makes you eat less bread, that will surely make you thinner, not fat. That seems to be the way it works for me and my patients. I eat more butter than ever, more than most people, and I am as thin at 38 as when I was 20. Continue reading >>
Stop Fighting Blood Sugar, Start Fixing Insulin Resistance
Insulin resistance is the underlying condition that is present in all forms of diabetes. Most people believe that insulin resistance is only present in prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, however ample research shows that insulin resistance is also present in type 1 diabetes (1-3). It is a common misconception that people with type 1 diabetes do not experience insulin resistance. Even many doctors believe that insulin resistance only affects people with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, and that by nature of being “skinny” or “normoweight,” people with type 1 diabetes are insulin sensitive. This information cannot be farther from the truth. In my practice, more than 95% of my clients with type 1 diabetes are insulin resistant, and 100% of my clients with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are insulin resistant. If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably have picked up on the fact that I’m a huge fan of maximizing insulin effectiveness over managing blood glucose. The reason for this is actually quite simple: Trying to control blood glucose without addressing insulin resistance is akin to frequently washing your car and never fixing problems under the hood. Addressing the root cause of blood glucose variability – insulin resistance – is the most successful method of controlling blood glucose. Period. The Blood Sugar Rollercoaster Perhaps you’ve been in this situation before: you wake up in the morning, your blood glucose is 50 points over the normal range. You don’t know why. You eat a standard breakfast, bolus the same amount of insulin that you always give yourself for breakfast, and then continue on with your day. Two hours later, when you check your blood glucose, and it is still high. This time it is 150 points above the norma Continue reading >>
Coconut Oil And Butter (in Excess) Cause Fatty Liver And Insulin Resistance
Home Conditions Gut Coconut Oil and Butter (In Excess) Cause Fatty Liver and Insulin Resistance Coconut Oil and Butter (In Excess) Cause Fatty Liver and Insulin Resistance It doesnt matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesnt matter how smart you are. If it doesnt agree with experiment, its wrong. Saturated Fats From Palm oil Increases Fat in Liver A recent study from Sweden shows that saturated fats (SFA) from palm oil, which is similarto coconut oil in saturated fat content, increases a persons storage of fat in the liver, which markedly increases diabetes risk. Ive spoken about the harms of saturated fat before , but this study is a clinical trial that mimics the real world to a large degree. What we see is a translation of mostly animal studies to well-conducted human studies. Thirty-nine young, normal- weight subjects were randomly assigned to eat large amounts of muffins made witheither palm oil(high in saturated fats) orsunflower oil(high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats) for seven weeks. MRI showed that those who ate the saturated fat from palm oil had double the amount of fat stored in their livers compared to the sunflower oil group. Interestingly, those who ate primarily omega-6 polyunsaturated plant fat (sunflower oil) had triple the gain in muscle, compared to the palm oil group. The subjects in the study were overeating and gained on average 1.6kg in both groups. Overeating PUFAs caused half of that weight to be stored as fat and the other half was turned into muscle. On the other hand, overeating saturated fat lead people to 80% of those calories to be converted to fat and 20% muscle. What we see is overeating is never a great idea, but overeating is a fact for most of the west, so it would be wise to choose what you should overeat. Its important to al Continue reading >>
Does Butter Coffee Decrease If Effectiveness?
Does butter coffee decrease IF effectiveness? Hi, I seem to have stalled in weight loss. Sticking to 2 to 6 hour eating window and LCHF. I usually put about 1-2 table spoons of butter in my morning coffee, having a cup at 5 am and another at 9 am. Is it possible that the butter is killing my IF early each day? Carbohydrates and protein raise insulin with protein having about 1/2 the effect, but it is often overlooked that fat also raises insulin to a small degree, what doesnt seem to be known is how variable that effect can be and whether or not it is something else in the butter that can be affecting it besides the fat since butter is still dairy. Personally, I think the effect of 1 to 2 tablespoons of butter on insulin is probably not the issue, but it is possible, especially when people start melting entire sticks of butter in their coffee. For you, more than likely it is something else in the butter, so you might try ghee (clarified butter) instead as a test. Personally, I dont like ghee and use coconut oil and/or MCT oil instead of butter when Im having a fatty coffee to get me through a low-energy period. Protein has about half the effect on insulin as carbs? That seems highespecially when coupled with natural fats, as in a fatty steak. Dr. Phinney has said that when calculating the effect of diet on insulin to use carbohydrate grams and 1/2 the protein grams. So both coffees (5am and 9am) have 1-2 tablespoons of butter (100 calories for each tablespoon) ? This doesnt seem like IF, or is your eating window between 5am and 9am ? I seem to have stalled in weight loss. Sticking to 2 to 6 hour eating window and LCHF. Where are you on your weight loss journey? What is your diabetes and IR status? If you have lost a significant amount of weight and are IR resistant you Continue reading >>
7 Foods That Spike Blood Sugar
1 / 8 7 Foods That Spike Blood Sugar If you have type 2 diabetes, you know about the importance of making healthy mealtime choices. But just as important is staying away from the wrong foods — those that can spike your blood sugar. That's because simple carbohydrates, like white bread and sugary soda, are broken down by the body into sugar, which then enters the bloodstream. Even if you don't have diabetes, these foods can lead to insulin resistance, which means your body's cells don't respond normally to the insulin produced by the pancreas. Here are seven foods you should avoid for better blood sugar control. Continue reading >>
The Root Cause – Insulin Resistance
THE Root Cause – Insulin Resistance Drying Up the Root LCHF and the Fasting Cure If the major chronic illnesses of today were pictured as a tree, Insulin Resistance could be pictured as the root of that tree. From this root, the trunk of poor blood sugar control grows and the many branches of that tree represent almost every modern illness that have destroyed the lives of people we all know and love. The driving force, of why I made “Butter Makes Your Pants Fall Off” was my desire to explain the complicated problem of “insulin resistance”. Last year, while I was losing weight, I was also reading everything I could get my hands on about insulin resistance, because as I studied, I came to understand that this disorder was literally at the root of most the illnesses that plague people we all have known and loved. The Root of the Problem Why do I say insulin resistance is the root of the problem? Because, insulin resistance has been associated with most of the worst diseases we all know about including: Obesity, mental illness like Schizophrenia, Depression and anxiety, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes, irregular menstrual cycles, ovarian cysts, high triglycerides (fat in blood), intestinal problems like IBS, joint pain and skin problems are all related to or in some way caused by or made worse by insulin resistance. What causes insulin resistance? Insulin resistance begins as the levels of insulin in the body remain high over a prolonged period of time. Insulin resistance is also closely related to fat around the middle, or belly fat. Becoming fat around the middle is thought to cause system wide inflammation in the body, which causes the immune system to release chemicals that interfere with the effectiveness of insulin. What Causes Insuli Continue reading >>
Butter And Insulin
In a previous post, Atkins Diet: Common Errors , I commented on butter's unusual ability to provoke insulin responses. I offer this as a possible reason why, after a period of effective weight loss on a low-carbohydrate program, inclusion of some foods, such as butter, will trigger weight gain or stall weight loss efforts. This develops because of butter's insulin-triggering effect, doubling or tripling insulin responses (postprandial area-under-the-curve). If insulin is triggered, fat gain follows. Here's one such study documenting this effect: Distinctive postprandial modulation of cell function and insulin sensitivity by dietary fats: monounsaturated compared with saturated fatty acids From Lopez et al 2008. Mean ( SD) plasma glucose, insulin, triglyceride, and free fatty acid (FFA) concentrations during glucose and triglyceride tolerance test meal (GTTTM) with no fat (control), enriched in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) from refined olive oil (ROO meal), with added butter, with a mixture of vegetable and fish oils (VEFO) or with high-palmitic sunflower oil (HPSO). N = 14. The postprandial (after-eating) area-under-the-curve is substantially greater when butter is included in the mixed composition meal. This effect is not unique to butter, but is shared by most other dairy products. Fat, in general, does not make you fat. But butter makes you fat. Continue reading >>
Does Butter Raise Insulin And Make You Fat? The Low-carb Experts Respond To This Claim
One of the attractions of a healthy low-carb diet for many people is the ability to consume butter again. For years we’ve been told by groups like the American Heart Association that saturated fats like butter will raise your cholesterol (which is true–HDL “good” cholesterol goes WAY UP when you consume butter!) and that we should be choosing “better” alternatives like margarine and olive oil instead. We’ve all heard the heart health argument, but recently a cardiologist blogger in the low-carb community brought up a rather intriguing theory that perhaps the reason some low-carbers begin to struggle on their low-carb lifestyle is because of what he describes as “butter’s unusual ability to provoke insulin responses.” Respected blogger and physician Dr. William Davis from “The Heart Scan Blog” has been putting out quality information and nutrition and health over the past four years and we owe him a great debt of gratitude for the amazing work he has been doing to promote the message of less carbohydrate in the diet as a means for keeping our hearts healthy. He’s championed the CT scan for measuring plaque buildup in your coronary arteries as well as making sure you are getting adequate Vitamin D3 levels in your body and proper thyroid function. He literally is a one-man machine of information that is worth paying attention to. That’s what made his March 19, 2010 column entitled “Butter and Insulin” so perplexing to me when I read it. Dr. Davis cites this September 2008 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition as his evidence for believing there is up to a triple insulin response in those people who consume butter in their diet. And, of course, we all know that the higher the insulin levels in the body, the faster you Continue reading >>
Therapeutic Diet For Insulin Resistance
Home Dr. Rachelle S. Bradley Solutions Counseling Naturopathic Medicine Homeopathy Self-care Nutrition Prevention & Healing Policies/Fees/Contact Links Events/Lectures Return to the Nutrition main page Therapeutic Diet for Insulin Resistance This moderate-carbohydrate, moderate-protein and moderate-fat diet is focused on real foods as the solution to Insulin Resistance Syndrome (IR), sometimes called Metabolic Syndrome, Syndrome X, or pre-diabetes. It is mainly refined foods, especially sweets and refined flour products, combined with deficient exercise that gets people into trouble. A program based on whole foods, not more refined food products, is the best long-term solution in IR, and a host of other health problems as well. It is also recommended to take a good multiple vitamin/mineral. Based on human evolutionary history and physiology this should be your most natural and optimal diet. It reflects what our Paleolithic ancestors (i.e., before agriculture) evolved eating over a million years and, as such, has the highest potential of supporting healing and preventing disease. In addition, this diet is naturally alkalizing, which is considered by some people to be healthier than the typical American acidifying diet. If you need more recipe support than this handout provides, a popular diet that is close to this IR diet is The South Beach Diet by Arthur Agatston, M.D. We also recommended reading The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain, Ph.D. It gives a good background on the problems of the modern diet and the advantages of the Paleolithic diet. However, use this handout as your main reference and refer to these books only for background and recipes. It will take at least 2 to 3 months to reestablish normal insulin sensitivity. If there is severe IR or obesity it could take mu Continue reading >>
