Diet And Nutrition Myths - Up Fitness
Is it true that carbohydrates will make me fat or is it a nutritional myth? Yes and no. Well, you didnt expect a straight answer, did you?! All carbohydrates are not created equal (it is a nutritional myth to think otherwise) and if you overdo the bad ones (the simple sugary carbohydrates found in sweets and junk food) then they will make you fatter than if you were to eat the equivalent calories of protein or god fats (think avocados, nuts and oily fish). We believe that the most effective way to manage body fat levels is through dietary manipulation of insulin levels, and this is done by regulating carbohydrate intake. Absolutely not, this is a very old, and very wrong nutritional myth. In nutrition we have such macronutrients as essential amino acids (protein) and essential fatty acids (fats of course!), but we dont have essential carbohydrates. I leave it up to you to decide which of the three macronutrients should be cut first. However, please heed one warning. Just as in the first answer we said that all carbohydrates are not created equal, so too are not all fats the same. Avoid like the plague any saturated and hydrogenated fats and instead go for those fats found in what for want of a better word we call natural foods such as red meat, eggs, nuts, oily fish and avocados. Will late night snacking result in weight gain? You dont expect a yes or no answer to this supposed nutritional myth do you? If you eat junk at night,then of course it will make you fat, but thats the same as if you eat junk at breakfast. The issue most people have with late night snacking is that they tend to go astray from their healthy eating habits once they are curled up on the sofa at home and watching their favourite soap opera or midweek movie. There is no such thing as an enzyme with Continue reading >>
The Insulin & Fat Storage Myth
There is a lot of talk on this theory that insulin causes you to gain weight. The basic idea is that certain foods can cause your blood sugar to spike thus signaling your pancreas to secrete more insulin. This insulin shuttles that sugar into your fat cells and you gain weight. Another part of this theory says that since your spike in blood sugar was so sharp your body might shuttle too much sugar out of your blood and your blood sugar levels drop causing hunger so you eat insulin spiking foods once again and the cycle repeats itself until you’re fat, sick and feeling out of control. Like many theories in diet and fitness, it has a lot of truth to it, but there are quite a few holes to the theory and a lot of fine print as to what’s really going on. True parts of the theory #1- Some foods can influence a spike in blood sugar. There is no doubt that certain foods are digested at different rates and along different pathways in the body. Any basic knowledge of human digestion will simply point out that some foods break down and digest faster than others. It is certainly true that simple carbohydrates and sugars tend to break down faster and are entered into the bloodstream at a quicker rate thus raising your blood sugar. #2- Insulin does shuttle sugar out of your blood. Your blood sugar level is incredibly important towards your health and well-being. Insulin is not a bad hormone because you need it in order to survive. It’s primary role is in fact to pull sugar out of the bloodstream when there is too much of it there. #3- Certain foods do digest faster and may cause you to become hungry again much quicker. Since it is true that certain foods digest and break down quicker it’s also true that some foods have less sticking power and helping you feel full longer. Sim Continue reading >>
Insulin Absorption Facts And Myths
Blood glucose checks can be frustrating. Sometimes I think I am doing everything right - I know my target, I know the carb count of any food I'm about to eat, I know my insulin-to-carb ratio, and I understand my insulin sensitivity. But even if I pay close attention to these factors, my blood glucose results can be mysteriously higher or lower than I expected. What people may not know is that of the many things that can influence blood glucose, insulin absorption is one of the most important. Let's look at some common misconceptions: MYTH: My blood glucose should not be affected by where I take my shot, or where I insert the catheter for my pump. After all, insulin going in is insulin going in! FACT: Actually, the injection site you pick can affect how quickly the insulin is absorbed. For example, insulin is usually absorbed faster in the abdomen - sometimes almost twice as fast - than in other sites such as the thigh or arm. MYTH: Insulin will always be absorbed faster if I inject in my abdomen. FACT: Well, not exactly. There are additional things to consider, says Dr. Howard Wolpert of the Joslin Clinic: If you take your shot or place your pump catheter in a spot on your abdomen where there is more fat underneath the skin, insulin may be absorbed more slowly. For example, the middle of the abdomen may be fattier than the side. Even though it might seem more comfortable to take insulin here, because there are fewer nerve endings, your insulin may not be absorbed as quickly as you want. You should avoid using the same injection site continuously, because this can cause scar tissue to build up. Scarring at infusion sites is often seen in pump wearers, or those who have had surgery, but it is also seen in any people who use the same injection site constantly. Scars can ca Continue reading >>
How Fat Cells Work
In the last section, we learned how fat in the body is broken down and rebuilt into chylomicrons, which enter the bloodstream by way of the lymphatic system. Chylomicrons do not last long in the bloodstream -- only about eight minutes -- because enzymes called lipoprotein lipases break the fats into fatty acids. Lipoprotein lipases are found in the walls of blood vessels in fat tissue, muscle tissue and heart muscle. Insulin When you eat a candy bar or a meal, the presence of glucose, amino acids or fatty acids in the intestine stimulates the pancreas to secrete a hormone called insulin. Insulin acts on many cells in your body, especially those in the liver, muscle and fat tissue. Insulin tells the cells to do the following: The activity of lipoprotein lipases depends upon the levels of insulin in the body. If insulin is high, then the lipases are highly active; if insulin is low, the lipases are inactive. The fatty acids are then absorbed from the blood into fat cells, muscle cells and liver cells. In these cells, under stimulation by insulin, fatty acids are made into fat molecules and stored as fat droplets. It is also possible for fat cells to take up glucose and amino acids, which have been absorbed into the bloodstream after a meal, and convert those into fat molecules. The conversion of carbohydrates or protein into fat is 10 times less efficient than simply storing fat in a fat cell, but the body can do it. If you have 100 extra calories in fat (about 11 grams) floating in your bloodstream, fat cells can store it using only 2.5 calories of energy. On the other hand, if you have 100 extra calories in glucose (about 25 grams) floating in your bloodstream, it takes 23 calories of energy to convert the glucose into fat and then store it. Given a choice, a fat cell w Continue reading >>
Sugarscience.ucsf.edu | Dispelling Myths
Sign up for the latest updates from SugarScience.org 1. How could sugar lead to fat buildup in the liver and arteries? The liver plays several roles in the body. If the human body were a factory, the liver would be a sorting station for the multiple types of nutrients moving through it. The liver's job is to identify and sort each nutrient, sometimes transforming it into something else the body can use, and then direct those items into the body. When the body encounters fructose , it will try to use the sugar as energy. But if there is more fructose available than the body needs, the liver stores the excess by converting it into fatty acids , which are then packaged into small fat molecules called triglycerides .Some of those fat globules enter the blood stream and, once there, may end up lining the arteries, increasing the risk of a heart attack. Other triglycerides will build up in the liver, eventually causing damage through a condition called fatty liver . If left unchecked, fatty liver can lead to the more dangerous, life-threatening problem of cirrhosis , just as it does when people consume large amounts of alcohol over long periods of time. 2. Some people question whether the accumulation offatin theliver, brought about in part by excessfructoseconsumption, is actually harmful to health. By and large, there is consensus within the scientific community that the accumulation of fat in the liver is not only harmful to the liver itself, but also signals other health concerns. 1 Accumulating fat in the liver leads to scarring and inflammation that produces a condition called " steatosis " which, if left unchecked, can progress to the life-threatening stage of liver cirrhosis . Furthermore, the amount of liver fat is associated with the degree of insulin resistance. A Continue reading >>
Insulin…an Undeserved Bad Reputation
I feel sorry for insulin. Insulin has been bullied and beaten up. It has been cast as an evil hormone that should be shunned. However, insulin doesn't deserve the treatment it has received. Insulin: A Primer Insulin is a hormone that regulates the levels of sugar in your blood. When you eat a meal, the carbohydrate in the meal is broken down into glucose (a sugar used as energy by your cells). The glucose enters your blood. Your pancreas senses the rising glucose and releases insulin. Insulin allows the glucose to enter your liver, muscle, and fat cells. Once your blood glucose starts to come back down, insulin levels come back down too. This cycle happens throughout the day. You eat a meal, glucose goes up, insulin goes up, glucose goes down, and insulin goes down. Insulin levels are typically lowest in the early morning since it's usually been at least 8 hours after your last meal. Insulin doesn't just regulate blood sugar. It has other effects as well. For example, it stimulates your muscles to build new protein (a process called protein synthesis). It also inhibits lipolysis (the breakdown of fat) and stimulates lipogenesis (the creation of fat). It is the latter effect by which insulin has gotten its bad reputation. Because carbohydrate stimulates your body to release insulin, it has caused some people to argue that a diet high in carbohydrate will cause you to gain fat. Their reasoning, in a nutshell, goes like this: High Carbohydrate Diet -> High Insulin -> Increased Lipogenesis/Decreased Lipolysis -> Increased Body Fat -> Obesity Using this same logic, they argue that a low carbohydrate diet is best for fat loss, because insulin levels are kept low. Their logic chain goes something like this: Low Carbohydrate Diet -> Low Insulin -> Decreased Lipogenesis/Increase Continue reading >>
How Insulin Really Works: It Causes Fat Storage…but Doesn’t Make You Fat
Many people believe that insulin is to blame for the obesity epidemic. When you understand how it actually works, you’ll know why this is a lie. Insulin has been taking quite a beating these days. If we’re to listen to some “experts,” it’s an evil hormone whose sole goal is making us fat, type 2 diabetics. Furthermore, we’re told that carbohydrates also are in on the conspiracy. By eating carbs, we open the insulin floodgates and wreak havoc in our bodies. How true are these claims, though? Does it really make sense that our bodies would come with an insidious mechanism to punish carbohydrate intake? Let’s find out. What is Insulin, Anyway? Insulin is a hormone, which means it’s a substance the body produces to affect the functions of organs or tissues, and it’s made and released into the blood by the pancreas. Insulin’s job is a very important one: when you eat food, it’s broken down into basic nutrients (protein breaks down into amino acids; dietary fats into fatty acids; and carbohydrates into glucose), which make their way into the bloodstream. These nutrients must then be moved from the blood into muscle and fat cells for use or storage, and that’s where insulin comes into play: it helps shuttle the nutrients into cells by “telling” the cells to open up and absorb them. So, whenever you eat food, your pancreas releases insulin into the blood. As the nutrients are slowly absorbed into cells, insulin levels drop, until finally all the nutrients are absorbed, and insulin levels then remain steady at a low, “baseline” level. This cycle occurs every time you eat food: amino acids, fatty acids, and/or glucose find their way into your blood, and they’re joined by additional insulin, which ushers them into cells. Once the job is done, insu Continue reading >>
What Is Insulin And It's Connection To Fat Storage
Insulin is one of those words that everybody’s heard of, but many can’t actually explain. Asked what it is and why it’s important, they shuffle their feet and uncomfortably shrug their shoulders. For those people concerned with controlling their body fat levels (and who isn’t?) that creates a problem. Insulin, you see, has a critical part to play in determining whether your body is lean and mean or flabby and lethargic. Let’s find out how. The Carb / Insulin Connection Every piece of food that we eat travels down into our stomach and is broken down into small particles that travel through the gastro-intestinal tract. When that food is in the form of carbohydrate it gets broken down into glucose. Now, your body can only use so much of that glucose at any one time. What doesn’t get used gets stored by your body. To transport that spill-over glucose to its storage site, your body produces a hormone called insulin. You could liken insulin to a railway carriage cart that carries glucose around the body. If the body didn’t produce insulin, we’d end up with a whole lot of excess sugar in the blood. This would make the blood extremely thick and difficult to move through the veins and arteries. This would require the heart to pump a lot harder to move the blood around the body. The Fat Storage Train There are only a couple of places that the insulin can carry the extra glucose to. The first place is the liver. There it will either be used or moved on to the next location, which is the muscle cell. The more muscle we have, the more glucose is required for maintenance and energy. That’s why the more muscle you have, the leaner you will be. If the muscle cell rejects the glucose that is offered to it because it’s already saturated, that glucose will then be stor Continue reading >>
Modern Diet Myth No. 4: Fructose Turns To Fat
Modern Diet Myth No. 4: Fructose turns to fat Fructose the dietary villain de jour is currently giving rise to more myths than anything else and they all seem to relate to fat. Fructose supposedly leads to fatty liver and too much fat in the blood. To top it off, fructose is said to be uniquely fattening! Where do we start? Most of the carbohydrate we eat ends up in the bloodstream as either glucose or fructose. The myth goes that glucose is the good sugar as it is used to power the brain, the muscles and most of the cells in the body. And the fructose is the bad sugar which is quickly taken up by the liver and turned into fat, giving rise to fatty liver. Unfortunately for the myth-makers, no reputable health authority in the world agrees. Fatty liver is certainly a common problem but the experts see it as part of the metabolic syndrome a cluster of abnormalities linked to central obesity and insulin resistance, where the cells of the body become less sensitive to insulin. There is no recommended diet for fatty liver. Instead, health authorities encourage people with fatty liver to lose some weight and increase their physical activity, both of which improve insulin resistance. Our liver certainly has the ability to turn both glucose and fructose into fat its the perfect way to turn any excess carbohydrate calories into a form that can be stored for later use. And sooner or later this fat appears in the blood as triglycerides. However, the idea that all the fructose we eat turns to fat pushing up the level of triglycerides in the blood is just plain wrong. If you are a healthy, normal weight person eating enough food to maintain your body weight your liver only turns a tiny fraction of fructose into fat , about 1-3%. Most of the fructose taken up by the liver is actuall Continue reading >>
Is It Time To Stop Blaming Insulin For “fat Storage”?
Crack open any physiology textbook and chances are you’ll learn that after eating any normal meal, the release of insulin from the pancreas then signals the shutdown of the release of fatty acids from adipose (body fat) tissue and the increase of fatty acid uptake. Because of this well-known role of insulin, one of the more puzzling explanations offered by some – including a few respected scientists and medical professionals — for weight gain is that elevated insulin is to blame because of its involvement in “fat storage”. In addition, they argue that the reason why a diet lower in carbohydrates works for weight loss is because of reduced levels of the peptide hormone. It’s an easy conclusion to make. The logic goes that carbohydrates through their stimulation of insulin are fattening beyond their contribution of energy as kilocalories. It doesn’t matter how much you eat, so long as you avoid carbs to lose weight. Another growing belief floating mainly around fitness circles is that it’s best to forego foods containing carbs when heading to the gym. It’s for fear that the carbs’ action on insulin will squash fat burning stimulated by exercise. Then again, some low-carb proponents have also argued, physical activity as a means to expend energy for weight management is pointless altogether. Again, carbs are really all that matter because of their action on insulin. Where does all the extra energy from excess protein and fat go when overconsumed? And what about protein’s own effects in stimulating insulin or insulin’s role in promoting satiety? These questions are often overlooked or not easily answered by those that promote the “insulin is a fat storage hormone” proposition. Out to help repair insulin’s reputation is obesity researcher Stepha Continue reading >>
50 Fitness Myths That Really Need To Die: Part 1 Of 5
Light Weights & High Reps Are Best For Building Muscle Research shows that moderate rep intensity and high load are superior for building muscle. One research study took a group of 33 physically active men and put them through an 8-week training programme to measure the differences in muscle mass and strength. One group performed a high-volume workout consisting of 4 sets of 10 12 reps with 70% of their 1RM and 1-minute rest intervals. The other group performed a high-intensity workout consisting of 4 sets of 3 5 reps with 90% of their 1RM and 3-minute rest intervals. The researchers found that high-intensity resistance training (moderate reps, heavy load) is superior for building both muscle and strength than moderate intensity resistance training (high reps, moderate load).Researchers identified two reasons for this: Higher mechanical stress placed on muscles Another study also shows that progressive overload and the increase in muscle tension is the main driver for quality muscle growth . Not only this but using moderate rep intensity (4 11 reps) and high load whilst specifically applying progressive overload is even better.Research shows that if you couple this with prolonged rest times of 3 mins or more between sets and youre golden. This myth is everywhere and appears to stem from the role of insulin in the body. The simplest way to explain it is; insulin helps to store nutrients in your body from the food you eat. High insulin levels = high levels of storage Low insulin levels = low levels of storage When you eat food its broken down into basic nutrients (fat becomes fatty acids, carbs become glucose and proteins become amino acids) and your insulin levels rise as your releases it into your bloodstream to shuttle the nutrients to different cells in your body. Ea Continue reading >>
Nutrition Myths - Carbs Make You Fat Form Nutrition
Bread / Pasta/ [insert carb here] makes you fat. Or does it? By Dr Adam Collins. Adam is Head of Nutrition at Form, Director of BSc and MSc Nutrition at the University of Surrey and a PhD in Body Composition. Carbohydrates have had such a tough few years. Pretty much since Gary Taubes book Why We Get Fat carbs have been demonised as making us fat based on the hypothesis that carbs spike or elevate insulin and insulin as the fat storage hormone make us store calories as fat. Its a nice hypothesis, with just the right amount of science to sound scientific enough for popular press and the million headlines and low carb diets it spawned. Sadly its incorrect. There are now two metabolic ward studies that debunk this. If youre not aware, a metabolic ward is basically a room, youre locked in the room for a few days and nights and absolutely everything that goes in and out of you is measured, your energy expenditure is constantly measured and most likely body composition by DEXA. Its the gold standard in nutrition research and very expensive, consequently there are not many studies using them. So when two come along at once (ok, a year apart) we should take notice. In 2015 a first metabolic ward study1 controlled diet and exercise to precisely compare the effects of a low-carb diet with those of a low-fat diet. Its important to note here that protein was kept constant across both diets, i.e. carbs were replaced purely with fat in the low-carb diet and vice versa. Both diets led to an equal amount of fat loss. i.e. it was total calories that mattered not whether they were from carbs or fat. In 2016, the same researchers repeated the study2 with an even lower level of carbs, down at ketogenic levels (some people complained the first study was not low carb enough). Again though, Continue reading >>
Fasting Myths Part 5
Many myths are associated with fasting. These myths have been repeated so often that they are often perceived as infallible truths. Some of the these myths include: Fasting causes overeating when you resume feeding Long ago disproven, nevertheless these myths still persist. If they were true, none of us would be alive today. Consider the consequences of burning muscle for energy. During long winters, there were many days where no food was available. After the first episode, you would be severely weakened. After several repeated episodes, you would be so weak that you would be unable to get hunt or gather food. Humans would never have survived as a species. The better question would be why the human body would store energy as fat if it planned to burn protein instead. The answer, of course, is that is does not burn muscle as we discussed in the previous post . It was only a myth. There is another persistent myth that brain cells require glucose for proper functioning. This is incorrect. Human brains, unique amongst animals, can use ketones as a major fuel source during prolonged starvation, allowing the conservation of protein such as skeletal muscle. Again, consider the consequences if glucose were absolutely necessary for survival. Humans would not survive as a species. After 24 hours, glucose becomes depleted and we become blubbering idiots as our brains shut down. Our intellect, our only advantage against wild animals, begins to disappear. Humans would have soon become extinct. Fat is simply the bodys way of storing food energy for the long term, and glucose/ glycogen is the short-term solution. When short-term stores are depleted, the body turns to its long-term stores without problems. Consider an analogy. A freezer stores food in the long term, and a refrigerator Continue reading >>
The Biggest Weight Loss Myth: Low Carb Diets Are The Best Diets
There are many variations of the low-carb diet. While some gurus advocate higher healthy fat, others push for high protein in place of carbohydrates (carbs). In general, the higher healthy fat approach to the low-carb diet can be ideal for people who suffer from a metabolic illness such as obesity, insulin resistance, and Type II diabetes. (High protein diets lack healthy fats and can potentially yield higher blood sugar levels leading to weight gain and inflammation, comparatively.) But either way, low-carb diets are not the best diets because healthy individuals and especially athletes would face more risk than benefit when lowering carbohydrate intake to less than 50% – assuming they choose the right carbs. The low-carb diet began in 1797 courtesy of Dr. John Rollo who treated his diabetic patients by removing carbohydrates from their meals. The medical community followed his lead and today, most people know the diet via the late Dr. Atkins, who advocated replacing carbohydrate intake with fats and a bit of protein for his obese, Type II diabetic patients. More recently, the low carb craze is purported to lend a “metabolic advantage” to those who overeat while pursuing low-carb and high protein. But it’s baloney because overeating will always cause an energy imbalance leading to fat storage – overeating is overeating, whether its seeds, nuts or cotton candy, though the hormonal effects will be different, weight gain still ensues either way. A carbohydrate comes from foods like grains, dairy products, fruits, vegetables and legumes (beans and peas). Biochemically, they’re known as saccharides or more commonly, a molecular chain of sugar. Once consumed, the body chops them into individual sugar units, and your blood sugar rises to various degrees depending Continue reading >>
The Basic Food Groups: The Insulin/fat Connection
The Insulin/Fat Connection The primary source of body fat for most Americans is not dietary fat but carbohydrate, which is converted to blood sugar and then, with the aid of insulin, to fat by fat cells. Remember, insulin is our main fatbuilding hormone. Eat a plate of pasta. Your blood sugar will rise and your insulin level (if you have type 2 diabetes or are not diabetic) will also rise in order to cover, or prevent, the jump in blood sugar. All the blood sugar that is not burned as energy or stored as glycogen is turned into fat. So you could, in theory, acquire more body fat from eating a high-carbohydrate “fat-free” dessert than you would from eating a tender steak nicely marbled with fat. Even the fat in the steak is more likely to be stored if it is accompanied by bread, potatoes, corn, and so on. The fatty-acid building blocks of fats can be metabolized (burned), stored, or converted by your body into other compounds, depending on what it requires. Consequently, fat is always in flux in the body, being stored, appearing in the blood, and being converted to energy. The amount of triglycerides (the storage form of fat) in your bloodstream at any given time will be determined by your heredity, your level of exercise, your blood sugar levels, your diet, your ratio of visceral (abdominal) fat to lean body mass (muscle), and especially by your recent consumption of carbohydrate. The slim and fit tend to be very sensitive (i.e., responsive) to insulin and have low serum levels not only of triglycerides but insulin as well. But even their triglyceride levels will increase after a high-carbohydrate meal, as excess blood sugar is converted to fat. The higher the ratio of abdominal fat (and, to a lesser degree, total body fat) to lean body mass, the less sensitive to i Continue reading >>
