by liz pavek
...is a symptom, and is very common in
hyperinsulinism/ insulin resistance. It is caused by insufficient glycogen being
accepted into the cells to maintain body heat. When you are insulin resistant,
your cells either lose or mutate their insulin receptors (probably both), which
causes them to refuse the insulin/glycogen loads that arrive from the liver.
This condition is known as insulin resistance. The body creates more and more
insulin (hyperinsulinism) in answer to the cells' cries for glycogen, and the
vicious cycle repeats and repeats: More insulin, fewer receptors, starved cells,
cries for glycogen, carbohydrate consumption, more insulin, and on and on. A
diet high in carbohydrate and low in protein and fat will yield this
phenomenon.
You will
know when you are getting sufficient calories, protein, and fat when your
fingers warm up, since the body "shuts down" the extremities in order to shunt
all possible heat and energy to the brain, heart, lungs, and other internal
organs. The
thyroid
gland is frequently underactive, and a good course of supplementation
and therapy can restore function here.
The longer the high-carbohydrate diet continues, the worse the body's resistance
to insulin becomes. It becomes hyper-efficient at conserving and storing energy,
since the perverted diet deprives it of the proper nutrients. The body
interprets this situation as starvation, and goes into "CONSERVE AT ALL COSTS!!"
mode, a situation that means that "unimportant" areas of the body, like fingers,
toes, nose, and skin, are given very low priority, while every possible calorie
of energy is stored as fat to be meted out carefully to maintain brain function,
heart/lung action, and core temperature. This produces the unhappy condition of
gaining fat while literally slowly starving to death. (Stored body fat does NOT
mean that a person is not dying of malnutrition and starvation, if all possible
caloric energy is being diverted to produce nothing but more fat.)
As soon as you correct your diet, your body will respond by restoring insulin
receptors on the cells. The more receptor sites, the more insulin/glycogen can
be admitted, and the more body heat there will be available for skin, fingers,
and toes.
The next
thing you might notice is an actual decrease in appetite. I suspect it's
because the body is finally getting what it requires, not what insulin
"desires," and will cruise for hours on the proper nutrients before requiring
more.
Newspaper editors, television anchors, and anyone who is in a position to report
news to the general public should be made to understand all this information.
They are the worst offenders in the Standard American Diet (or "SAD" for good
reason) propaganda. They are the ones who could tell the people the truth about
a diet that is more than 60% bread and sugar, and which contains so few natural
fats that people are becoming sicker and sicker because they are being deprived
of the nutrients that can only be found in these fats. In a way, I lay a lot of
the blame for this at the door of the rabid environmentalists, who have demanded
a synthetic diet to replace a natural one in order to "preserve" natural plants
and animals.
Believe me when I tell you that a diet that contains adequate meat and good fats
(lard, coconut oil, butter) is so beneficial that you will notice changes in
about 36 hours. Your mind will clear and your blood pressure will begin to fall
almost immediately. The next thing you will notice is that carbohydrate foods
have NO appeal for you. (I think this is because the body is finally getting
what it really needs and doesn't turn to carb calories as replacement.)
MSNBC
had a segment some time back in which the talking heads were trying to figure
out how the French can be so healthy on a high-fat diet, while Americans on
their "low-fat," high-carb diets get fat, get diabetes, and get heart and blood
pressure problems and all other kinds of metabolic disorders. They will never
get it through their stupid, media-spun heads that it isn't the quantity
of the fat that people eat, it's the QUALITY. The French eat butter,
lard, cream, goose fat, coconut oil, and all good, natural, unadulterated fats.
Americans, on the other hand, eat tons of hydrogenated and partially
hydrogenated artificial, denatured, scorched, and decomposed fats and every one
of these cremated fats produces trans-fatty acids, which have been proven to be
very dangerous to human health. No wonder there's a difference in heart attack
rates. The French have the lowest rate of heart disease in the civilized
world (I think the Eskimos on their traditional diet would have had the lowest
rates ever of any culture. Of course, now they are being poisoned by the White
Man's diet, and have the same obesity, diabetes, heart and artery problems that
we do.)
One thing I know is that if you don't keep distracting your body with sugar and
starches, it will begin to crave its own preferred treat: fat. I've reached the
point where I'd rather have a pat of butter than a cinnamon roll to put it on.
FATS AND BONES?
Let me say this about estrogen replacement and bone loss: The amount of estrogen necessary to prevent bone loss is very small. And bone loss is not a risk in all women, no matter what the advertisements tell you. If you are frail, petite, and have one child or none, you might be a candidate; but if you have normal bone density, are well into your middle years (over 40), have had several children, and take even haphazard care of your health, osteoporosis is not a real threat. I don't think that bone health is a good enough reason for taking Premarin® or other conjugated estrogens (synthetic). The health risks far outweigh the advantages. (Get the product information sheet from the pharmacy and look at the list of side effects. The only thing left off is "death.")
In
the first place, Premarin® is not recognized by the human body. Your body
produces plenty of estrogen if you have even part of one ovary. If you can stand
to stop drinking coffee, you will notice a change in the number, frequency, and
intensity of hot flashes and night sweats. Even decaf coffee has whatever is
necessary to stimulate these episodes, so it's not the caffeine. (These symptoms
might even be traceable to the
thyroid
gland, too.) If this (hot flashes/night sweats) is the only reason you are
taking conjugated estrogens, let me reassure you that it's NOT worth the
risk of breast cancer, especially if something less risky works better.
Estrogen is a fat-stored hormone, so if you have an abundance of body fat, you
probably have sufficient estrogen "in storage" to last you for quite a while
(See the
book
report on "Outsmarting the Midlife Fat Cell" elsewhere in this
website for some very interesting information about abdominal fat and estrogen).
Here is where I usually begin to rant: In a real natural diet, with
plenty of saturated fats, the body produces hormones like clockwork. But
Premarin® is one of the most heavily prescribed medications in the United
States. The fact that it is not only as good as useless, but actually a real
health risk to those women who take it for more than a couple of months tells me
that doctors who prescribe it so freely as a panacea for menopause are being
rewarded by $earle. I would be very surprised if they don't get some
compensation for their diligence in prescribing this little money-maker. Just
because the people who prescribe this poison have MD's after their names does
not necessarily mean they have your best interest at heart. In my opinion, your doctor probably
prescribes Premarin® more for him/herself than for your comfort. Just
something to think about.
Another
thing the medical industry doesn't want you to know is this: A LACK OF
SATURATED FATS IN THE DIET CAUSES A DISRUPTION IN THE UPTAKE OF BONE-BUILDING
MINERALS. This means that all those ads for calcium supplements are useless
unless you are eating steaks and butter. Calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and
potassium cannot do their ultimate good in the body in the absence of saturated
fats. But by now, there is such a market for calcium supplements to treat
the dissolving bones of fat-deprived women that the legend of universal
osteoporosis will take its place next to the myth of dietary saturated fats and
cholesterol as the cause of heart disease. Any pharmaceutical company that
doesn't have its own brand of calcium $upplement is nuts, and they know
it. Another little moneymaker thought up by the food/pharm giants, I'm
afraid...
Our
bodies require cholesterol and animal fat not just for heart and artery health,
but in order to manufacture hormones, nerves, brain cells, neurotransmitters, as
well as for the nourishment of our hair, skin, eyes, glands, and organs. If you
have been on a low-fat diet for a long time, you can be sure that you are
deficient in a lot of the most important building blocks required by these
functions, men and women alike.
A low-fat diet will stimulate the auto-production of cholesterol because there
is not sufficient cholesterol in the diet to turn off the activity. This is why
people on cholesterol-lowering medications never really get any better, and wind
up taking more and more medication to control the levels of auto-manufactured
cholesterol. But, if you consume sufficient cholesterol, the insulin-stimulated
mechanism in the body will cease overproducing cholesterol, and your cholesterol
levels will fall to normal automatically. This won't work, however, if you are
taking cholesterol medication, which prevents dietary cholesterol from being
utilized. This is why people on some anti-cholesterol medications have such
papery, discolored skin. If cholesterol is an essential component of skin (and
everything else) cells, and you prevent it from doing its work, the consequences
are very ugly.
Do not be afraid to consume fats. The only fats not recommended are the
"damaged" or synthetic fats: hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, trans
fats, overheated oils (most cooking oils are at least partially hydrogenated,
which causes them to become toxic in the human body), and blackened fats. Also,
polyunsaturated oils should not comprise more than 1% of the calories you take
in each day, and seldom need to be supplemented if the diet is rich in
unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods.
Be sure to read the ingredient labels of all processed foods to make sure you are not getting sugar in its many forms, hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated fats (they are actually the same thing). This is why one needs to be very careful when cooking fats. Do not turn your burner above medium, and do not allow your foods to become blackened. If you cook lean cuts, add butter or coconut oil when you eat them. Make sure you have at least SIX 1-tbsp servings of butter every day, and raw Spring butter is best. This butter is one of the finest, most nourishing foods available. Whipping cream (raw preferred), natural cheeses--soft and aged (especially those made from raw whole milk), and cream cheese are all recommended sources for good fats.
As a
former non-meat eater, I did a lot of structural and hormonal damage to my body.
Once I returned to regular meat meals and added extra saturated fats, I began to
notice changes. I also gained weight, which alarmed me at first, but I soon
learned that it was my body restoring lost protein in muscle, bone, and blood.
But muscle and bone weigh much more than fat, and are much healthier to carry
around. The hair that I was losing in the front began to grow back in, and the
ends of my hair stopped splitting. My skin regained suppleness and a lot of my
wrinkles went away. My hormones tried to correct themselves, too, but some
glands have been removed, so the balance is missing.
Since many of us are not medical professionals, we have to experiment on ourselves to find the answers to these kinds of questions. This is time-consuming and frustrating, and can be very discouraging as we follow one false lead after another. The stakes are high, but the rewards are higher, and all the time we are experimenting, we are gaining knowledge about ourselves and our individual metabolism. What works for one person may not necessarily work for another, simply because of mitigating factors in each background. To paint all obese people with the same metabolic brush is to do them a serious disservice.
Keep in mind a few facts, like the following:
1)
Dietary saturated fat is not the villain.
2) A diet containing more than 60% carbohydrates is a killer.
3) Plain, pure water is the best beverage, and plenty of it is highly
beneficial.
4) "You are what you eat." A human body is composed of meat, bone, blood, and
fat. It cannot rebuild and replenish itself on grass, chaff, chemicals, and
sugar.
5) Dr. Atkins, the Drs. Eades, Dr. Anchell, the Drs. Heller, Dr. Schwarzbein,
and the other physicians who have discovered the truth about carbohydrate
metabolism are like prophets; voices crying in the wilderness of misinformation
and medical/nutritional mumbo-jumbo.
6) The facts in their books, when taken together, hold the secret. As
independent researchers, we owe it to ourselves and our families to get as
healthy as we possibly can, to get our children and spouses that way, and to
pass on the wisdom to succeeding generations.
Keep experimenting, no matter how long it takes or how frustrating it is for
you. You mustn't give up. The answer is out there, and we, "independent
researchers" that we are, are hot on the trail.
THE FAT OF THE LAND
Organizations like AHA and AMA carry enough credibility in the U.S. to pull off
a hoax like the diet/heart hypothesis and make it stick. This is because people
trust every word that comes from the mouths of their doctors and from the
government. (Would that people had that kind of trust in their Creator!) The
"lackey, lapdog media" have been the mouthpieces of this effort. They always run
the pieces from people like "Center for Science in the Public Interest" (who ARE
these guys?) They sound credible, influential, important, and knowledgeable
because the media give them credibility. But, if these guys ever really
did the research, they would have to lie about the results, because all
the research points to the fact that natural saturated fats are essential to the
human diet and hydrogenated vegetable oils, saturated-fat-reduced diets, and
refined fats are killers.
Forty or so years ago, the United States had the best diet in the world--high in
meat (and its attached fats, I presume). All other countries' diets were
measured against the yardstick of the American diet. It was a goal to be striven
for, and countries applied for Foreign Aid so they could improve the protein/fat
level of their citizens' diets. The incidence of cardiovascular disease in the
U.S. was low. It was rare to hear of someone who had diabetes or a stroke--and
when it happened, people were amazed, as if it was something they couldn't
imagine happening, and it didn't, very often.
Now, we are turning our dietary culture back the other way, in the direction of
the third-world diets: an emphasis on breads, carbohydrates of all kinds, and a
total phobia of any good (read, "saturated") fat, and directly into the deadly
arms of hydrogenated trans- fats and dangerous stuff like Olestra®. (I
am not considering the good oils like olive and flaxseed here, which have a
place in any healthful diet. I am concerned only with the national attitude
toward saturated fat.)
In Old Testament times, the priests were instructed by Yahweh to sacrifice the
fats first--especially the "fat of the kidneys," or suet--then the organs. (Even
God chose FAT as the first and best part of the sacrifice.) The muscle meats
went to the priests to feed their families. Ever hear of "living off the fat of
the land?" Know why we live "high on the hog?" That's where the good fat is. How
about "Fat and sassy?"
Feedlots fatten grass-fed animals on diets high in grains. Grains in the diet
make fat, whether you are a human or a steer. Period. If you are going to eat
grains, at least let a steer or a pig eat them first, metabolize them, and turn
them into good fat and potential energy for you.
Maybe we should demand fat-eaters' rights. Everybody else with a cause has a
coalition. Maybe it's time for the fat-eaters of the world to unite!