1. Insulin and insulin resistance is the root cause of many illnesses.
- Diabetes, heart problems, stroke, may be even cancer
2. Insulin increases when we take carbohydrates
- Carbohydrates are nothing but sugar. They get converted into mono-saccharides before being absorbed in the small intestine.
- Every carbohydrate that is a digestible is a sugar - glucose, fructose etc.,
- Usually, in the entire blood stream there is about 5 grams of glucose
- However, when we take too much carbohydrates, there is phenomenal rush of insulin You have a problem.
- The cause for insulin resistance is empty calories - which is mostly carbohydrates and vegetable oils. And Americans mostly eat only these two.
- Insulin is the elephant in the room. Insulin resistance is the cause of all kinds of illnesses.
3. Thyroid
- Shows if one has metabolic syndrome
- TSH is the parameter to look for
- When your thyroid is not working, your brain sends a signal to thyroid to release huge amounts of TSH
- Ideally, TSH should be 1, plus or minus 0.5
- However, we see thyroid being an epidemic problem in the US. About 1 in 10 women have hashimotos thyroid disease.
- In human bodies millions of chemical reactions are taking place
- When thyroid goes out of balance, then there is a problem with all those millions of chemical reactions
- People on low-carb diet will have low free-T3 level but this parameter is not so important.
4. Exercise
- It is surprising how little stimulus you need to grow type 2 muscle fibers, get stronger and grow muscle mitochondria
- You can do this by doing body weight exercises in your living room.
- So many people spend inordinate time in preparing for exercise - taking a gym membership, driving to the gym, putting stuff in locker, and so on.
- Instead, people should just exercise in their living room for 10 minutes or so.
- What's more important is 'consistency'
- If you do body weight exercises you can hit muscle failure and grow type 2 muscle fiber, which is mitochondria. This will improve metabolism. This is proven to have tons of benefits.
- I like basic push and pull moves.
- You can exercise your entire body with 5 moves.
- Horizontal pushing move
- Horizontal pulling move
- Vertical pushing move (you need a bar or something to hang for this)
- Vertical pulling move
- Squat
5. Blood tests - important / basic ones
- Even before talking about blood tests,
- Waist-to-height ratio is huge and important parameter. Just check the waist circumference around the belly button to your height. It is a great indicator of insulin sensitivity. And it's free. It is one thing anyone should be tracking.
Tests that are useful
- Fasting glucose
- Thyroid - TSH
- Cholesterol - Triglycerides to HDL ratio
- Livers test - SGT, GGT, etc.,
6. Food
- Target is usually high fat, moderate protein, and low carbohydrate
- The first thing that you need is nutrient density.
- If your body is not getting what it needs, then you are going to eat until you get it.
- Turns out, you are what you eat. It's that important.
- In the US, we have completely destroyed diet, and the whole world seems to be following US.
7. Illnesses
- The way to avoid all kinds of illnesses
- It all comes back to insulin
- And it comes to what your diet, what you are eating
- You don't want to eat empty calories
- You want to eat nutrient rich diet
8. Fasting
- I think it is brilliant
- I am fan of intermittent fasting.
- There should be a time period when you are not eating anything.
- I think a minimum 12-hour fasting should be made mandatory for everyone
- Although I prefer 16-hour to 20-hour fasting personally
- Low carb people are automatically gravitating towards that
- I am not recommending more than 24-hour fasts, although I love Dr Fung. I am little worried about lean mass losses.
- And you can absolutely get away with eating carbohydrates when you are intermittently fasting. Because you are depleting liver glycogen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOoKd1QUD1c
