Part Four, Insulin, Good Carbs, Enzymes, Proteins, & Weight Loss

By James Walker CCS, STM, BioSig, Master Trainer

So after reading Parts One, Two, and Three about insulin, it’s interaction with sugar, and influence on health, you can begin to see the relationship between them and a developing pattern. The next natural progression of the relationship leads to Part Four, insulin’s effect on weight loss.

The Two Weight Loss Theories

There are two basic theories of weight loss, one is the Calorie Count Theory and the second is the Chemical Reaction Theory. The Calorie Count Theory, also called the Thermodynamic Theory, says that If you consume less calories than you burn off then you’ll lose weight! Or if you consume more calories than you burn off then you’ll gain weight! Essentially it’s mathematical, fifteen hundred calories eaten vs. one thousand calories burned off equals a five hundred calorie deficit, thus causing a imbalance, or weight gain.

Whereas the Chemical Reaction Theory, called the Energy Balance Theory, says that everything you do involves a chemical reaction, muscle movement, eating, digestion, energy expenditure, insulin release, sugar utilization, fat formation, fat loss, hormonal response, metabolic rate, etc. Essentially every cells, organs, blood, muscles, amino acids, enzymes, hormones, neurotransmitters, genes, or body function is a result of some chemical reaction or response. By knowing and understanding this you can attain better health and weight management.

How Good Carbs, Enzymes, Fat Cells, and Proteins, Promote Weight Loss

First of all, good carbs produce less insulin but allow glucagon, a hormone that responds to protein, enabling fat to be released from storage sites to be burned as energy. Likewise, by controlling or reducing insulin levels, carnitine is not suppressed, the amino acid that escorts fat into cells, so it can be converted into a burnable fuel.

There are two other important enzymes that are essential for fat-storage or fat-release, lipoprotein lipase and hormone sensitive lipase. Lipoprotein lipase is stimulated by insulin, and stores fat by breaking down triglycerides in the blood stream and putting the fatty acids in fat cells, making you fatter. Where as the hormone sensitive lipase, is stimulated by glucagon, which pulls the fatty acids out of the fat cells and releases it into the blood stream to be used as energy for exercise, making you leaner. So, insulin stimulates lipoprotein lipase and inhibits hormone sensitive lipase, causing weight gain. Glucagon inhibits lipoprotein lipase and stimulates hormone sensitive lipase, causing weight loss.

Actually, fat cells try and protect themselves to stay fat by releasing protective hormones, which make weigh loss more difficult. The hormones estrogen and resistin are two of these. The greater the amount of fat cells, the greater the amount of resistin released into the body. Resistin seems to promote insulin resistance, LDL cholesterol, and inflammation.

In addition, fat cells release another substance called tumor necrosis factor (TNF-Alpha 1), that help destroy tumors, but in the circulatory system it inhibits insulin from lowering blood sugar. So the pancreas will secrete more insulin to correct this, thus making weight loss more difficult. As fat cells try to protect their existence, if you lower your carb intake you’ll lower the amount of fat protecting hormones in your blood stream. This will reduce the amount of fat in fat cells, putting them out of business, and promoting weight loss.

Insulin-resistance causes cells to stop making insulin receptors, that are responsible for putting sugar and fat into cells, referred to as down-regulation. There is so much insulin that the cells stop sending out receptors. By bringing insulin down with low or good carbs, weight loss begins, and the cells start to bring back the insulin receptors. Thus allowing sugar and fat to be transported back into their cells to be used as fuel, called up-regulation. Up-regulation is an indication that the cells are becoming more insulin sensitive, which improves as you lose weight.

Since protein has minimal effect on insulin release but more on glucagon, weight loss results, including an increased metabolic rate. Protein consumption raises metabolic rate through increased HCL secretion and elevated body heat. This process, called thermogenesis, often lasts several hours after digestion. Also, when protein is consumed the intestines secrets a hormone called cholecystokinin (CCK) which tells the brain when you are full, which takes about 20 minutes. The CCK hormone recognizes protein and fat very well but not carbohydrates, which makes it very easy to over eat carbs.

Interestingly, up to the first thirty grams of protein from the daily intake may be used to help detoxify cells, the next thirty plus grams may help the immune system, and additional metabolic functions. For women and weight loss, protein intake is crucial, fifty grams taken before noon, will significantly enhance and increase their fat loss.

In summary, controlling insulin is the primary goal of good carb, protein, and fat eating. The end result being, improved health and weight loss, particularly fat loss. By controlling insulin you control your blood sugar, which is aided immensely by exercise. Remember up to 80% of blood glucose is stored in muscles so it’s a key component to promote insulin sensitivity and prevent insulin resistance.

My tag line is ‘Train Smart, Safe, and Results Driven’ but I will end by saying ‘Eat Smart, Healthy, and Insulin Control Driven’!