Some Weight Loss Secrets from 'The Obesity Code'
I recently read The Obesity Code - Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss, by Dr. Jason Fung and Timothy Noakes. This book has quite a few ideas beyond the most espoused, “eat less, exercise more.”
Nearly every diet can help you lose weight in the short term. In fact, you may have tried a number of them and you may have lost weight a number of times, but you eventually gain it all back. According to Dr. Fung, maximum weight loss usually occurs at six months, with a gradual regain thereafter.
As a specialist in kidney disease (nephrologist), Fung has found the most common cause of kidney disease is type 2 diabetes and its associated obesity. He says that when patients start on insulin treatment for their diabetes, they will gain more weight.
In the book, Dr. Fung states that the root cause of obesity is a high blood level of insulin. He describes long-term obesity as a hormonal disorder of fat regulation and that insulin is the major hormone that drives weight gain.
You can inherit obesity. You may notice that obese children often have obese siblings. Obese adults often have obese children. Families share genetic characteristics that may lead to obesity. But, they also live in the same environment, eat similar foods at similar times and have similar attitudes
Dr. Fung wrote about the obesity research that Dr. Albert J. Stunkard began doing in the 1950s. In Denmark where life-long health records are kept on adoptions, he discovered that adoptees took on the body weight of their biological parents rather than their adoptive parents. He also studied twins, raised apart, and found that their body weight was similar.
Genetics cannot be the entire reason that people become obese because only 6% of the population in the 1950s was obese, yet by 2020 nearly 42% of Americans were considered obese.
Obesity usually takes decades to fully develop and is considered a long-term disease.
The most crucial question in obesity is how to reduce insulin, according to Dr. Fung. Some foods are better than others; nonetheless, all foods increase insulin production. If all foods raise insulin, then the only way for us to lower it is to completely abstain from food, i.e., fasting.
Some of Dr. Fung’s diet hints from the book include:
Don’t snack. Try eating enough at your meals 3x/day so you don’t have to grab a snack. That can be the death of any wight-loss plan because you will often grab something easy, like a processed food item. If you are not truly hungry, don’t eat.
Reduce your consumption of sugar, sucrose, fructose, corn syrup, dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar, agave nectar, and honey.
Don’t add sugar to your coffee or tea. Don’t drink fruit juices. Don’t drink soft drinks.
Watch out for sauces that are added to your food. Many of them contain hidden fats and sugars.
Don’t eat processed foods, basically any food that comes in a wrapper or box with a list of ingredients, such as granola bars or crackers, cookies, ice cream, peanut butters and jellies. If it comes in a package, it probably contains sugar and fat.
Don’t eat fat, especially saturated fat.
Drink water. Drink green tea or coffee without sweetener. An occasional glass of red wine or a beer may be o.k. Only you know if you can keep it to two or three drinks a week.
Eliminate white flour.
Eliminate dairy protein, as whey is responsible for raising insulin levels even higher than bread.
Avoid bakery foods and tortillas. Keep pastas and noodles to a minimum.
Eat more quinoa, chia seeds and beans.
Excessive protein is not advisable. A high protein diet may cause kidney damage.
Meal replacement shakes, bars and protein powders are not good.
Eat plenty of fiber such as fruits, berries, vegetables, whole grains, flax seeds, chia seeds, beans, popcorn, nuts, oatmeal and pumpkin seeds.
Vinegar can help reduce insulin spikes.
Eating high fiber foods will cause your stomach to empty it’s contents more slowly, which will keep you feeling satiated longer.
When you experience a weight-loss plateau, you need to change something up.
According to Dr. Fung, this could be a good time to introduce intermittent fasting. Fasting has no standard duration. Fasts can range from twelve hours to three months or more. You can fast once a week or once a month or once a year.
Intermittent fasting involves fasting for shorter periods of time on a regular basis. Some people prefer a daily sixteen-hour fast, which means that they eat all their meals within an eight-hour window.
Some ways to you can start fasting include:
Skip breakfast one or two days a week. You can drink water or a cup of black coffee.
Skip lunch one or two days a week. You can drink water, green tea, or 1 cup of vegetable broth.
Skip dinner one or two days a week. Drink water or green tea.
Fast one full day of the week. Drink water, green tea, a cup of vegetable broth.
The one crucial aspect that differentiates fasting from other diets is its intermittent nature. Diets fail because of their regularity. Any constant stimulus will eventually be met with an adaptation that resists the change.
Fasting can be combined with any diet imaginable. The bottom line is that fasting is something that you can do to get beyond an impasse.
Fasting is defined as the voluntary act of withholding food for a specific period of time. Non-caloric drinks such as water, sparkling water, tea and vegetable broth are permitted. Aim to drink 8 cups of water daily. All types of tea are excellent, including green, black, oolong and herbal and can be enjoyed hot or cold. You can use spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg to add flavor to your tea. Coffee, caffeinated or decaffeinated, is also permitted. Spices are permitted, but not sweeteners. Vegetable broths are also permitted. All vegetables, herbs or spices are great additions to your broth, but do not add bouillon cubes, which are full of artificial flavors and monosodium glutamate.
Be careful to break your fast gently. Overeating right after fasting may lead to stomach discomfort. Try breaking your fast with a handful of nuts or a small salad to start.
If you experience hunger, it will pass. Staying busy during a fast day is often helpful. As the body becomes accustomed to fasting, it starts to burn its stores of fat, and your hunger will be suppressed.
If your stomach growls, drink some mineral water.
Low blood sugar is expected during fasting, so your dose of diabetic medication or insulin may need to be reduced. If you have repeated low blood sugars, it means that you are over-medicated, not that the fasting process is not working.
Be sure to follow a nutritious diet on non-fast days. Intermittent fasting is not an excuse to eat whatever you like.
Fit fasting into your life. Arrange your fasting schedule so that it fits in with your lifestyle.
The longer you have struggled with obesity, the more difficult you’ll find it to lose weight. You must simply persist and be patient.
Cortisol raises your insulin levels and is a major pathway of weight gain. Reducing stress levels, practicing meditation and getting good sleep are all effective methods for achieving lower cortisol levels.
What to eat to lose weight can be simple:
Reduce your intake of refined grains and sugars
Moderate your protein consumption
Maximize fiber and vinegar
Choose natural, unprocessed foods.
There is an important difference between being fat and being obese.
Evolution did not favor obesity, but rather, leanness.
A typical patient will be a little overweight as a child and slowly gain weight, averaging 1 to 2 pounds a year. That may seem like a small amount, but over the course of forty years, the weight gained can add up to 80 pounds.
The body maintains a body set weight, much like a thermostat in a house. When the body set weight is set too high, obesity results. If our current weight is below your body set weight, your body, by stimulating hunger and/or decreasing metabolism, will try to gain weight to reach that body set weight.
Most people’s weight remains relatively stable. Even people who gain weight tend to do so extremely gradually - 1 to 2 pounds a year. Over time, there is a gradual upward resetting of the body’s weight thermostat.
Dr. Fung says that he can make anybody fat. All he has to do is prescribe insulin. It won’t matter if you have willpower, or that you choose to exercise. You will get fat. It’s simply a matter of enough insulin and enough time. Obesity is a hormonal, not a caloric imbalance.
We don’t need to know how insulin causes obesity, but that insulin does cause obesity.
If we believe that too many calories can cause obesity, then the treatment for that is to reduce caloric intake. However, that doesn’t seem to work.
If we believe that too much insulin can cause obesity, then we need to figure out how to lower insulin levels.
Insulin is a key regulator of energy metabolism, and it is one of the fundamental hormones that promote fat accumulation and storage. Insulin facilitates the uptake of glucose into cells for energy. Without sufficient insulin, glucose builds up in the bloodstream. Type 1 diabetes results from the autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, which results in extremely low levels of insulin.
In lean subjects, insulin levels quickly return to baseline after a meal, but in the obese, these levels remain elevated.
2) If you get constipated, try increasing your intake of fiber, fruits and vegetables during non-fasting periods. You can also take some Metamucil to increase fiber.
3) If you get heartburn, avoid large meals during your non-fasting days. Avoid lying down immediately after a meal.
4) Certain medications (like aspirin, iron supplements, Metformin) may cause problems on an empty stomach. Try taking your medications with a small serving of leafy greens.
5) If you have diabetes, you will want to monitor your blood sugar closely and adjust your medications accordingly. Fasting reduces blood sugars. If you are taking insulin, your blood sugars may become extremely low, which can be a life-threatening situation. You must take some sugar or juice to bring your sugars back to normal, even if it means you must stop fasting for that day. Low blood sugar is expected during fasting, so your dose of diabetic medication or insulin may need to be reduced. If you have repeated low blood sugars, it means that you are over-medicated, not that the fasting process is not working.
6) If you get constipated, try increasing your intake of fiber, fruits and vegetables during non-fasting periods. You can also take some Metamucil to increase fiber.
7) If you get heartburn, avoid large meals during your non-fasting days. Avoid lying down immediately after a meal.
8) Certain medications (like aspirin, iron supplements, Metformin) may cause problems on an empty stomach. Try taking your medications with a small serving of leafy greens.
9) If you have diabetes, you will want to monitor your blood sugar closely and adjust your medications accordingly. Fasting reduces blood sugars. If you are taking insulin, your blood sugars may become extremely low, which can be a life-threatening situation. You must take some sugar or juice to bring your sugars back to normal, even if it means you must stop fasting for that day. Low blood sugar is expected during fasting, so your dose of diabetic medication or insulin may need to be reduced. If you have repeated low blood sugars, it means that you are over-medicated, not that the fasting process is not working.
