Fructose

from http://carbtripper.blogspot.com/2011/11/wiki-quickie-on-fructose.html

Metabolic syndrome

Excess fructose consumption has been hypothesized to be a cause of insulin resistance, obesity, elevated LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, leading to metabolic syndrome. Fructose consumption has been shown to be correlated with obesity, especially central obesity which is thought to be the most dangerous kind of obesity. A study in mice showed that a high fructose intake increases adiposity.

Although all simple sugars have nearly identical chemical formulae, each has distinct chemical properties. 

One study concluded that fructose "produced significantly higher fasting plasma triacylglycerol values than did the glucose diet in men..."

Fructose is a reducing sugar, as are all monosaccharides. The spontaneous chemical reaction of simple sugar molecules binding to proteins, known as glycation, is thought to be a significant cause of damage in diabetics. Fructose appears to be equivalent to glucose in this regard and so does not seem to be a better answer for diabetes for this reason alone, save for the smaller quantities required to achieve equivalent sweetness in some foods. This may be an important contribution to senescence (aging) and many age-related chronic diseases.

Liver disease

"The medical profession thinks fructose is better for diabetics than sugar," says Meira Field, PhD, a research chemist at United States Department of Agriculture, "but every cell in the body can metabolize glucose. However, all fructose must be metabolized in the liver. The livers of the rats on the high fructose diet looked like the livers of alcoholics, plugged with fat and cirrhotic." Fructose is almost entirely metabolized in the liver.

Excessive fructose consumption is also believed to contribute to the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

[edit]

Gout

It has been suggested in a recent British Medical Journal study that high consumption of fructose is linked to gout. Cases of gout have risen in recent years, despite commonly being thought of as a Victorian disease, and it is suspected that the fructose found in soft drinks (e.g., carbonated beverages) and other sweetened drinks is the reason for this.

In order for the liver to process fructose, it must be phosphorylated by removal of phosphates from adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The ATP gets converted toadenosine monophosphate (AMP), then to inositol monophosphate (IMP), and finally to uric acid, the agent in gout.

Got that? Fructose, bad, for weight loss. What is not pointed out that fructose is metabolized in the liver to it's storage form, fat, visceral fat. Visceral fat comes out of storage about 1.3 to 1.5 time faster than sub-epidermal fat, gram for gram.  That may also be the reason the last fat is the most difficult to lose. Fat and glucose puts on sub-epidermal.

But if we burn everything we eat each day, it does not matter so much. The objective of diet should be to never overflow the liver's storage. This is great in theory, but we still need to be able to do that. Therein lies the cravings that drive me to the food. Those are the part that I must address.

Insulin

From Taubes  at http://garytaubes.com/2011/11/catching-up-on-lost-time-%E2%80%93-the-ancestral-health-symposium-food-reward-palatability-insulin-signaling-and-carbohydrates%E2%80%A6-part-iid/

 " This cephalic release of insulin also serves to clear the circulation of “essentially anything an animal or a person can use for fuel. Not just blood sugar, but fatty acids, as well. All those nutrients just go away.” Hence, the thought of eating makes us hungry, because the insulin secreted in response depletes the bloodstream of the fuel that the peripheral tissues and organs need to survive."

In general my idea is we need both palatable available food, reward if you like, and insulin resistance, insulin to gain weight.

When I was a young man, I worked in exploration and construction camps many winters. Most people would come in and gain 10 to 20 pounds and then get bored with the good food available. A few of us would be up 50 pounds by spring, when the job ended. When it was our nickle buying the food, it was less plentiful, and we lost weight.

To lose, the only way is to cut both hyper-palatable available food and insulin generating food.

Incomplete picture

at http://itsthewooo.blogspot.com/2011/11/response-to-does-high-circulating.html she references/states


First thing you need, is access to ad lib calories. Obesity cannot occur during food restriction. Second thing you need, is the genetic potential for your fat cells to rapidly, and powerfully, respond to insulin with fat gain. Third thing you will need is excessive insulin production.

I think this is an incomplete statement. We also require a desire to eat. We may have a bit of influence over that. That is where reward/addiction/appetite stimulation/habit/social pressure/life pressures/emotional stress/stress any source/ etc really play a role.

On another post she said:
A far better, more illuminating clinical example of the pure biological actions of insulin would be an otherwise normal subject who happens to unfortunately develop a pancreatic neoplasm, with constant on switch of insulin. And as we can see, these individuals OFTEN become fat, sometimes extraordinarily fat, and they also interestingly enough develop resistance to the actions of insulin. When the disorder starts, they are chronically hypoglycemic, but it is not unheard of for them to progress into total resistance to insulin and diabetes. Sounds like a lot of fat people I know.

Now that sounds like me, always hungry.

Constant weight feelings

At constant weight and losing weight, this is how I feel.

http://itsthewooo.blogspot.com/2011/11/on-misery-of-starvation.html

Comments to others

Don:

So now have insulin resistance causes obesity, insulin resistance is caused by overeating. Then once we become insulin resistance, aka overfed, we have a physical desire to maintain that overfed state as long as food is pleasureful and available. OK. More ELMM advise comming?

After   http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly 

There are so many things that do not apply to a “damaged metabolism” here.

A day of "overeating" will start insulin resistance. Once insulin resistance is started, our appetite expands to keep the insulin resistance there. Probably the thrift gene type effect.  Now we are on a cycle of weight gain, insulin resistance, increased appetite, overeating.

Insulin resistance is the body's way of distributing energy, first overflowing the liver's storage capacity, then muscles, and into fat. When fat cannot handle it, you got a major problem. 

Consuming an ample supply of palatable food is sufficient to start insulin resistance, and unless we make a conscious effort to cut the next day, we will be into increased appetite. Then there all those other things we eat over, social pressure, anxiety, boredom. Once we start, our appetite increases. 

Insulin and insulin resistance is just the body's way of dealing with the process. It is our nature to eat /overeat when food is available. With full time processed food, and no great need for energy expenditure,  what we can expect:  our nature, to do what it does. 

On your graph, to simply see the effect of overeating, shift your zero axis downward or tilt to the right to see the accumulative effect of overeating, which must occur for weight gain.    

To remain non-obese, we must avoid eating processed food, and overeating which is against our vary nature. We must overcome our food seeking nature.

And to GT, one off the wall idea. I suspect that the reason that many of us have greater weight accumulation in the lower body is due to laminar blood flow directing slightly greater concentration of insulin and nutrients to the lower portion of the body and the first pass effect. Or perhaps it is our lower body gets a greater volume of nutrition per unit of mass than the remainder.

I accept that these people do not read my blog, but I have said my piece. 

Also in order to beat the glucose challenge, we must train our bodies to up-regulate.  Is the glucose bolus a fit way to test for dietetics in a low-carber?  A1c  Ok, but after a potato with supper, after a week of VLC, my AM glucose is in diabetic range.

And what do I know? 

Advise of an obesity expert

An obesity expert stated

"Indeed, such a policy discussion would likely need to be prefaced by a fundamental societal discourse on what we value as individuals and as social beings - everything from how we make and spend our money, raise our kids, build and nurture relationships, and find spiritual meaning, purpose and balance in our lives would likely have to be ‘open game’ for discussion."

Are we ready. Most obese persons looking for recovery do not hesitate at such things. There is a obesity related disorganization that has been doing this for fifty years, with some success. Is the establishment ready to understand the problem and accept the solution? No processed foods.


We know that obesity is driven by insulin resistance, insulin resistance is driven by too much food, both carbohydrates and fats, but what drives overeating, the cravings, and what drives them? No clear answers. Food cues, or a natural process of greed, desire for more, or internal starvation as we go from excess insulin to fasting level of insulin, when fats can be released from storage? We simple need to suffer through this stage of life. There is no other solution, but a days fasting will do the trick.

Trust Government?

“Is Pizza Sauce a Vegetable? Congress says Yes.”




As a Canadian, all I can say is OK. We have the stupid Canada Good food guide, which is equally just wrong.

Treat Insulin Resistance

I am beginning to think that weight loss diets should be designed to treat insulin resistance, not reduction in calories, which will likely result. Small meals, protein and fats, none or small amounts of added fats, and no more that 100 calories of unprocessed carbohydrate. Do not eat again until we are getting hungry. Check AM BG level, and when it gets to be stable at 4.7 (85) we should be allowing our livers to control our blood sugar from the low end. This should avoid cravings.

It is also my opinion that IR is the actuate condition, that if not treated with diet becomes obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, etc.

Insulin Resistance

Stephan Guyenet at http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-causes-insulin-resistance-part-i.html is doing a series on Insulin resistance.

I hope along the way he says something to confirm my opinions. Insulin is the energy regulation hormone, as well as the glucose gatekeeper. It also hogs Leptin receptors causing leptin signal blocking aka leptin resistance.

It appears to me that once we have two of three carbohydrate meals in a row, or a feast, our liver and muscles are filled with glycogen, and we become insulin resistant enough to push everything into the fat cells. The liver is the first to fill, due to the first pass effect, and it becomes insulin resistant, pushing more of the insulin and nutrients through the liver to the blood flow. Insulin resistance is a continuum, not a sudden onset issue. It occurs cell by cell, at a cellular level of decision making. It protects the cell from overfeeding.

As I understand it, the liver uses 50% to 90% of the insulin. The portal vein has insulin concentrations 2 to 10 times higher than the circulation. When the liver is full, it becomes insulin resistant, it must allow more insulin to pass, along with glucose and fats. Insulin controls glycogenesis and glyconeogenesis in the liver. As the concentration of insulin goes up these shut off, first glyconeogenesis where glycogen is made from odd amino acids, followed by the production of glycose from glycogen. Once the insulin is passing the liver faster, the body gets fed.

It appears to me that cravings are the result of cellular hunger during the insulin depletion stage of intermittent insulin resistance. That is the hell that I go through in the first days of any diet. It is my intention to never again overflow my liver by eating small meals, and low carbohydrate, until I get down to the point that my waste/hip ration is less that 1.0, perhaps 0.95. That is a good reason to not eat out if possible.

A comment like "I do not want to take a chance of inducing insulin resistance again and have to go through 5 days of the agony of  recovering from insulin resistance again." Take that ye old food pusher. 

Default Behavior

Eating and drinking have become default behaviors to many of us. We do them before anything else, any time we have time not accounted for or assigned to other activities.

Eating need to become just a necessary body function, to intake energy.

Insulin Resistance is a regular occurring condition anytime we overflow the liver and muscle cells with energy. That is we are insulin resistant, --- aka  --- insulin rising, as is blood sugar, in order to store glucose and/or fat in fat cells. This implies that we become insulin resistant after a feast, after any larger meal. The energy is sent beyond the liver. When we are insulin resistant, there is a lag time between insulin going down, allowing the release of fat and glycogenesis and the start of actual release.  This lag time may be the internal starvation, shortage of energy at the cellular level, window of cravings, something like turbo lag.

This suggest that small meals may be the way to avoid internal starvation cravings, by staying below the insulin resistance threshold, that is never overflowing the liver, and allow the liver to dole out the energy as it sees fit.

When we are insulin resistant, out body want to stay that way, possible due to a survival advantage of eating while there is food available. The trick is to fast or fat feed down to low insulin, and then stay there with small meals, to stay insulin neutral, and below the craving threshold, and above the hunger threshold. Four meals is sometimes required.

Causes of Insulin Resistance

A clear understanding of the factors that led to insulin resistance (IR) may be required to avoid it.  Overeating leds to IR, which leds to difficulty burning fat which leds to hunger which leds to overeating. IR is the first step in the cycle.

First, muscle and hepatic insulin resistance(IR) do not necessary happen together. Fat cells becoming insulin resistant is diabetes, more or less. But insulin resistance is the first step in putting fat on, at any time. The liver is full, muscle cells are full, it is time to store fat.

• Glucose in excess is the first cause of insulin resistance.
• Fructose causes insulin resistance
• Overeating of any kind - excess sugar will be turned into triglycerides and cholesterol. 
• Peat Ray says PUFA above a few grams cause IR
• Adrenaline - flight or fight response causes non-essential IR
• Branch chained amino acids (Cross linked), soy protein, corn fed beef, animals fed oils to fatten them- pigs, chickens
• Trans-fats, Omega 6 partly hydrogenated and others
• Omega 6 oils in excess, beware deep fryer, and oxygendised oils 
• a bunch of other odd proteins
• caffeine

Insulin other effects

• Insulin stops the use of fat as an energy source by inhibiting the release of glucagon.
• Anytime your cell is exposed to insulin, it is going to become more insulin resistant.
• When you are insulin resistant you will have trouble burning fat
and excess sugar will be turned into triglycerides and cholesterol.
• Insulin is the fat storage hormone. it locks fat into fat cells. 

reference: http://www.google.ca/#q=Causes+of+Insulin+Resistance&hl=en&prmd=imvns&ei=jMm5Tr_QG9Pq2wWv6s3RBw&sqi=2&start=20&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw

Daily Intake

The daily intake of any vitamin or mineral is a continuum between none and a poisonous amount. The typical government recommended dose are often in the sub-clinical deficiency zone.  That should not be.

There is a second issue, that our individual dose varies with our size, how well we absorb the ingredient, and how much we individually need, and our storage of the constituent.  Most of us are short of magnesium, zinc, vitamin D, and iodine.

 Consider vitamin D, where the government recommended daily dose is 400 UI and to maintain a suitable serum level, many of us require 6000 UI per day. Now consider the sub-clinical effects, bone loss. Now, whatch ya going ta do? 

Consider Iodine, to much causes loss of appetite. Sub-clinical deficiency causes cravings, which led to overeating. In Canada, we have to go to health food stores to get iodine, to rub on a patch of skin, to allow it to be absorbed through the skin or over consume salt. That is one of the contributing factors to obesity. Iodine drives appetite. 

Consider all the industrial foods that are produced under government control and we need supplements. Turns out that much of the industrial food of the 20 and 21 Century is and will be vitamin and mineral deficient, more suited to storing and shipping than consuming. It is time to abandon all industrial food and look out for our own health. It is time to stand up for individual food producers, organic producers. The only foods fit to eat have not been processed much. 

I am getting militant? Is it time to join the occupy movement or the middle figure movement?      

Is it time to take personal responsibility for our health? Is it time to learn nutrition or to hire that service?

  

Lack of Satiety Signal

In both the Lustig via Dietdoctor and Kessler, the missing satiety signal is noted. Lustig says 18% have insulin resistance due to some defect, and that screws the satiety signal. When I was a kid, before extremely heavy widespread sugar consumption, there was about 20% heavy in my class at school, and I was by far the fattest. I was never full, aka no satiety signal.

For those who say insulin is part of the satiety signal, it is when it is low. But if it is high, locked on high, what is the satiety signal? So then I have no choice but to use diet to lower my insulin, low slow carbohydrates, no omega 6 oils, trans-fats, no corn fed beef, and exercise.

The missing Satiety signal is likely the key to weight loss and weight gain. Eat just enough to not get excessively hungry. No missing meals. Metered meals. There is no choice.

We cannot depend on our bodies to tell us when we have had enough. It will not do this for those of us who have no satiety signaling. Satiety is just a concept. We need to live with 100% of our meals metered, in some form, and yet be able to stop eating at that point. Record keeping, weighting of foods, preparation methods, and the like are the key for now. e need to eat enough that we can stop, and not so much that we gain weight. This is tight food control, much like Dr. Bernstein recommends for diabetics. The carbohydrates may also be one of the main keys, to keep insulin low.

Videos worth watching

Videos worth watching found here
http://www.dietdoctor.com/beyond-gluttony-and-sloth

http://weightmaven.org/2011/11/03/point-counterpoint/
Lustig is good, the other less so but some good information.

Get rid of fructose http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2011/11/goodbye-fructose/





David Kessler, is his book The End of Overeating, makes the observation the 50% of obese, 30% of overweight and 15% of thin people share 3 characteristics, in a condition which he calls conditioned hypereating. These characteristics are loss of control of appetite (eat until it is gone) in face of highly palatable foods, lack of satiation during eating (no full indicator), and preoccupation with thinking about food, eating, getting, and the like (looking for more). Sound familiar?

He offers little as a solution, other than to follow an eating plan rigidly. I do not know about you, but if I could do that, I would not have the problem.

He has a bunch of statements in his presentation that I do not agree with that represent common beliefs of the public which others have debunked.

A video summarizing his book can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/weightmaven#p/a/B87C02F016ECE119/0/A7M_mqXzpr8  

peptides

Clippings of papers

study/analysis that found that the pepsin hydrosylated of wheat gluten and casein contain peptides with opioid activity. 

a chart or drawing illustrates the substances that affect energy intake and expenditure, and opioids are included in that drawing (they could be endogenous or exogenous). 

snippets from http://www.childrensdisabilities.info/allergies/developmentaldisordersprotein7.html

Digestive enzymes break down proteins into these long chains of amino acids. Incomplete digestion of protein leaves short chains of amino acids referred to as peptides. 

some peptides can pass from the intestines into the blood stream where they may set up an immune reaction because they are considered foreign substances.

dairy products and grain have been associated with adverse reactions not all of which involve allergen-specific immune response as measured by typical diagnostic techniques 

Some of the peptides associated with digestion of dietary proteins (e.g., milk, wheat) are in the opioid family 

Opioids alter behavior because of their ability to bind to endorphin and enkephalin receptors in the brain. Endorphins and enkephalins are endogenous opioid-peptide neurotransmitters found in various parts of the brain and also produced by the pituitary gland. They are involved in the reduction of pain as well as in pleasure and reward

Exorphins, such as opioids generated from digestion, attach to the same receptors as the endogenous opioids and can inhibit the breakdown of endogenous peptides and change the level of endogenous opioids


FT - so wheat and dairy products are potentially addicting... one more paper saying this.

Many Causes of Obesity

It is my opinion that are many causes and/or contributing factors to obesity, not one single. There are many well educated people who are championing only a single cause and declining others. Don at http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2011/11/fatty-foods-and-sugar-addictive-like.html is one such person.

In my mind there is no doubt that addiction is one of the factors. There is also no doubt that insulin resistance is one of the factors that come into effect when we are overweight, and for sure when we are obese. Different cells become insulin resistant at different times and possibly by different methods. First the muscle cell, then fat cells and them liver cells. But that does not preclude the original drive to eat, aka, appetite to be stimulated by addiction,taste, cravings, add your own list. Once we become insulin resistant, ( full time, seasonally, occasionally) all the other things start, leptin signaling blocking, etc. Then there is hunger and cravings. Such is life.

Some of us obese, ex-obese need to address insulin resistance first, and our addiction, reward, craving causes later or vise - verse. For complete recovery we need to address all the causes. My list can be found on the page, Causes of Overeating.

Note added Nov 5: Others opposed to Dons view:
Videos worth watching found here
http://www.dietdoctor.com/beyond-gluttony-and-sloth

http://weightmaven.org/2011/11/03/point-counterpoint/
Lustig is good, the other less so but some good information.


http://itsthewooo.blogspot.com/2011/11/simple-question.html


Please be advised that this represents my current opinion, and my views have and will change. I am just trying to understand this complex issue and maintain recover from obesity. Maintenance of recovery is proving to be more difficult that actual weight loss. Much is separating theory and reality by n=1 testing.

Ex-obese & Insulin Resistant.

As an ex-obese & insulin resistant person, it is very easy to have the craving - eat -crave cycle start, and then need to resist strong cravings for three days to get out of the cycle.

One over size meal with perhaps as little as 10 grams of omega 6 oil is all it takes. That is just a bit of salad dressing. Cravings. Willpower. Good orderly direction required. No wonder I went through life obese. It is no wonder about the failure of diets rate.

Omega 6 oils are evil, as are the people who promote them, and there spawn. In the Buddhist tradition, looking at ones livelihood is one of the areas of examination. All employment dealing with poisons are discouraged. That would include Monsanto, farmers of all the omega 6 feed stocks, processors, Mezola, and Rusty Butz. 

Anything that contains Omega 6 oil should probably be given up. Or at least anything that does not have at least 1/2 as much omega 3 as 6. That may be why braised beef is more filling than roasted beef... some of the oils have drained out... mainly omega 6 in partly grain finished beef, like is typical in Alberta.

Insulin resistance occurs at a cell by cell level, as each individual cell becomes full of glucose/glycogen. This is normal. What is not normal is eating starch to the point that all the muscle cells are full, and most (all ?) the fat cells are full. That is what medicine defines as insulin resistance.

Excess fat accumulation appears to be the first step toward diabetes. To much glucose and Omega 6 oils are the sure method of getting there. Sugars and grains provide to much glucose, plain and simple.

Cravings are correlated with the first signs of insulin rise in my case. How about that. Eat less than 50 grams of carbs and no (little) omega 6 and have no cravings. How about that.

What causes Cravings

What causes cravings for foods? N=1 test to find what cause my food cravings.

The dieting theory
This theory says we crave the foods we deny ourselves. No. When I am on low carb, eggs&potato & vitamins, fish and mayo, beef & greens, the cravings are gone.

The blood sugar theory
our blood glucose levels are likely to be low, triggering a high-calorie craving. 

No relationship to BG as measured

The memory theory
Our food cravings are often associated with pleasant memories and occasions. My childhood was rough. Not much pleasure.

The wisdom of the body theory
This theory suggests that our body craves what it needs. This may be true for some cravings, but it's difficult to lay too much credibility on this theory if you think your body needs a litre of ice cream. No chancie

The stress/anger/boredom theory
semi-retired, happy, not bored, craving. No.

The chronic stress theory
semi-retired.

Crap. It physical. Seems to relate to fats. If I add fats, burgers instead of beef, bacon, pork instead of beef, the cravings come back. This diet is low reward after a few days, but oh well.

Mineral or vitamin deficiency. Well I take a wide range, and this narrow diet removes the cravings. Not likely.   

Throughout my weight loss, my diet was mainly as above with variations.

Two insulin theory is as good as any explanation.