Lovin' It Low Carb

We Citizens of the Twenty-First Century have known for a long time that our circulating levels of the hormone insulin is an Adipose Signal (Fat Switch) which tells our bodies to store fat or burn fat. Low insulin levels in your bloodstream is your body’s way to turn your internal Fat Switch to burn mode. Likewise, high insulin levels puts you in fat storage mode. Although we talk about Type 2 Diabetes as a disease of sugar metabolism, and we typically monitor glucose levels more closely than insulin, controlling insulin and insulin resistance is one of the main goals of treatment.

In yesterday’s post, Leptin: The Master Fat Switch, I told you how I first heard of leptin and learned that leptin is like a Master Fat Switch that not only regulates fat, but exercises some control over the insulin switch as well. So, I started reading about Leptin and how to control this Master Fat Switch through nutrition and lifestyle. If leptin is new to you, I am glad to report that those of us who are suffering with insulin-resistant obesity may have another chance to reverse our insulin resistance by addressing leptin resistance directly!

From the first book I read, The Rosedale Diet, I learned a new method of meal timing. Specifically, that I should be waiting at least 4-5 hours between meals, and stop snacking — even so called “healthy snacking” — between meals. If you read yesterdays post, you know that I found noticable improvements in symptoms in only one week! I was really impressed.

Next, I wanted to read The Leptin Diet: How Fit Is Your Fat?, by Byron J. Richards. But my library didn’t have this book, so I googled around a bit to see if Byron Richards had a website where I could learn the basics of his leptin program. His website is called Wellness Resources.

Richards’ program is radically uncomplicated. I love the simplicity of it. He has only 5 rules to follow, and all 5 of them are very straightforward. Everybody can clearly understand them. Furthermore followers of many different types of diets could follow these rules without completely violating their high/low fat/carb consciousness. Even the highest carb adherent could reduce their carb intake without becoming a whole-hog Low Carber, right?

Here are the five rules:
1. Do not eat after dinner
2. Eat three meals a day
3. Do not eat large meals
4. Eat a high protein breakfast
5. Reduce the amount of carbs eaten

As a Low Carber, I pretty much followed rules 4 and 5 already. When I started reading about leptin resistance I was eating 4-6 meals a day, following conventional wisdom that eating frequent small meals causes less drastic increases in blood sugar than eating fewer larger meals. I think I was probably following rule 3 about 80% of the time, but I was definitely not following rules 1 or 2.

Richards has another book, coauthored with his wife, which was first published in 2002 and is now in its third edition: Mastering Leptin: Your Guide to Permanent Weight Loss and Optimum Health (Third Edition) , by Byron J. Richards and Mary Guignon Richards. I haven’t seen this book, but judging by the Amazon blurb and reviews, it was one of the first books written for the public that explained the discovery of leptin and gave a thorough explanation of leptin and its functions and actions.

His newer book, The Leptin Diet: How Fit Is Your Fat? is about one-third the length of his eariler work, and focuses on the diet he developed to deal with leptin problems.

Either of these books may be profitable for further reading. I have not read either one yet, so I cannot give a personal recommendation, but it seems to me that Byron Richards might be a guy who actually knows. Here is what I recommend: First try the website, and see if that is enough for you. If you want more, consider trying The Leptin Diet book (140 pages). It should have a more detailed explanation of the diet and how it works to improve your leptin activity. For more information or for an in-depth, scientific exploration of leptin and its functions, go for Mastering Leptin (400 pages).

I regret not monitoring my glucose levels more consistently. As it is I have to guess a little bit to share my great results with you. After four weeks eating 3 meals a day, my fasting blood glucose was down about 50 points. Instead of typically seeing a number between 250 and 300, I was seeing a number between 200 and 250. That is still too high, but it was moving in the right direction. And it was moving faster than I had seen it move in a couple of years.

I’d say that this leptin diet trial was a huge success! It is even a bigger success if you consider that I celebrated my 47th birthday during this month of experimentation, and indulged in more than one high-end dessert. And still my fasting glucose dropped to a better level than I had seen in at least 2 years. I consider this meal timing thing to be very successful!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Stay tuned… Next, my fasting blood glocose dropped another chunk of 50 points in only one week. Check out my next post to see how I did it.

Lovin’ It Low Carb
Ramona Denton