"Roger Zoul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
Quoted message said:More effective than what? Using GI? I ask because everywhere else you're
comparing GL to simple carb count and I fail to see how even GL could be
better than maintaining sufficiently low total carbs. In fact, since it
can be more compliciated, it seems mostly less effective in actual use.
What I meant, and sorry because I obviously didn't make myself clear, was
that using GL is more effective for slowing or preventing onset of insulin
resistance than it is for correcting it once it's developed. I wasn't
comparing it with GI.
There is quite a bit of evidence that even if people eat a high carb diet,
it is not very likely to trigger significant insulin resistance so long as
the diet is made up of high-fiber, unrefined or minimally processed
high-carb foods. It is also helpful if the diet isn't hypercaloric on a
regular basis. And a relatively low fat intake, especially saturated fat,
appears to help avoid insulin resistance. This is the kind of high carb diet
many people in less developed parts of the world eat, and they seem to do
rather well on it, despite the high carb content. If we'd all eaten like
that since childhood, most of us wouldn't need to be here on asdl-c.
The problem is that instead of brown rice and beans and vegetables, with a
little fish or chicken or an egg occasionally, we grew up eating a lot of
refined sugar and grain products, often ate a lot of fat along with it, and
not so much in the way of high fiber foods, including vegetables. That's a
recipe for creating insulin resistance, especially when it is hypercaloric
and there's not a lot of exercise.
The mistake a lot of high-carb proponents make is not understanding that
because third-worlders do well on their version of a high-carb diet, which
by definition has a relatively low glycemic load, adoption of such a diet
will not necessarily be an effective "cure" for those who have already
developed significant insulin resistance on a high-GL SAD diet.
There are several reasons why it doesn't work very well. One is compliance.
People who have developed insulin resistance/hyperinsulimia will tend to
overeat starches even on low-GL foods. Their excess insulin release
continues to be triggered by even the low-GL foods, and that makes them
hungry and they also will tend to have problems even sticking with those
foods, because the insulin makes them crave the sweet refined foods. The
result is often periodic binging that (1) keeps the insulin resistance level
high, and (2) inhibits weight loss and regain of insulin sensitivity.
Reduced carb diets do a much more effective job of getting off the
destructive eat carbs - excess insulin - hunger - eat more carbs - excess
insulin - hunger merry-go-round, allowing some degree of endocrine function
to occur.
Secondly, most third-worlders are doing well to get *enough* calories, so
that habitual overeating is less of an issue than it is for us.
Third-worlders who become affluent enough to overeat tend to add refined
foods and more meat and fat, rather than just more unrefined carbs and
veggies. And they get fat and sick, just like we do when their diet becomes
more like the SAD.
Third, most third-worlders tend to get a *lot* more exercise than most of
us. And even with higher GL diets, getting a lot of exercise and not eating
hypercalorically tends to greatly lower the chance of developing insulin
resistance.
[Note: I should mention that is is not *impossible* to increase insulin
sensitivity via a high-carb low-GL diet, even in persons with severe insulin
resistance. If the person can stick to it for several weeks, keeping fat
very low, and resisting all the impulses to overeat starches and to binge on
"forbidden" high fat and/or refined and/or simple sugar-laden foods, then it
may insulin levels often do drop, and hunger also, leading to easier
compliance. There are lots of websites that do record successes for people
who have adopted high carb-low fat-low GL diets, including individuals with
PCOS who have dramatically lowered measured insulin levels. But I tried it,
as I believe you did also Roger, and it didn't work for me over the long
run, and I personally never felt really well on that kind of diet. I think
it's a lot harder than lc, and not as effective for people with really
entrenched insulin resistance. However, we lc'ers would be in denial if we
tried to claim the high carb-low fat-low GL method doesn't sometimes work,
for some people.]
HG
