Industry Figure Tom Chappell

(Back to Parts One, Two, Three, or Four)

Well, it’s pretty obvious what this has been leading up to, isn’t it?

The only thing that can cause fat loss is a low insulin level, and to do that, you have to restrict carbohydrates. You can either do that by restricting total calories, or by restricting carbohydrates specifically, but you’ll be a lot happier if you focus on the carbohydrates.

Remember our fellow omnivores, the rats? They have an uncanny ability to eat what they need. If given a choice between sugar and diet sweetener, they’ll eat about 50/50 at first, but by the third day, they’ll have dropped the diet sweetener for the sugar. Furthermore…

…rats whose adrenal glands are removed cannot retain salt, and will die within two weeks on their usual diet, from the consequences of salt depletion. If given a supply of salt in their cages, however, or given the choice of drinking salt water or pure water, they will choose either to eat or drink the salt and, by doing so, keep themselves alive indefinitely. These rats will develop a “taste” for salt that did not exist prior to the removal of their adrenal glands. Rats that have had their parathyroid glands removed will die within days of tetany, a disorder of calcium deficiency. If given the opportunity, however, they will drink a solution of calcium lactate rather than water — not the case with healthy rats — and will stay alive because of that choice. They will appear to like calcium lactate more than water. And rats rendered diabetic voluntarily choose diets devoid of carbohydrates, consuming only protein and fat. “As a result,” Richter said, “they lost their symptoms of diabetes, i.e. their blood sugar fell to its normal level, they gained weight [as opposed to being emaciated], ate less food and drank only normal amounts of water.”

…from Good Calories, Bad Calories (Knopf, 2007), by Gary Taubes, p. 430

How low-carb do you have to go? That pretty much depends on you, and how insulin-resistant you are.

For my own part, I’d have to admit that ever since trying the (low-carb) Zone diet in 1997, and seeing the miraculous weight loss, without hunger, I have always restricted my carbohydrates when trying to lose weight, even if I wasn’t on an official diet — it was always there, in the background, guiding my food choices, and producing positive results.

And, given what we’ve been discussing, it’s easy to understand why it works: with few carbohydrates to provoke an insulin response, there’s nothing to prevent the fat cells from releasing their energy stores. Add to that a sufficient quantity of protein and fat being ingested, and there is plenty of fuel available for the other non-fat tissues. So, no hunger, a revved-up metabolism, and plenty of weight loss.

But, is a low-carb diet safe, or sustainable? Well, let’s start out by saying this: the fewer carbohydrates you eat, the leaner you will be. Now, whatever level you can sustain, that’s your own business. It’s not even controversial anymore to advise a dieter to stay away from the ‘white’ foods: sugar, flour, bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, and beer (it’s…white-ish). Eat as little of those as you can, and your hunger will be lower, and you’ll lose weight faster.

As for the safety, we’ll have a look at that next time.

Continued in Part Six…