Finally Science Confirms the Secret Key to Weight Loss

[colinjn]

But Misinterprets the Results!

Here are some quotes from a commentary in Dr. Mercola's Newsletter (http://www.mercola.com/forms/subscribe.htm?aid=CD35) :
"This is one of the most important posts I have written on health so I want you to carefully read this....
...What the Boston researchers specifically found was that those who secreted high insulin levels had a far more difficult time losing weight than those who secreted low levels of insulin....
...The reason 200 million Americans are overweight is not because of flawed genetics that cause them to make excessive insulin. Hypersecretion of insulin is an effect -- NOT the cause. The reason 200 million are overweight is because they have impaired insulin receptor sensitivity....
...Once your body releases insulin it immediately starts to inhibit your fat-burning hormone called hormone-sensitive lipase. This hormone is responsible for releasing fat into your bloodstream to be utilized as fuel. Once this enzyme is inhibited, your body is unable to burn fat and will then begin utilizing amino acids from your muscle and carbohydrates as fuel.

This will cause you to become abnormally hungry, which further feeds this vicious cycle.

The key is to have LOW levels of insulin so your body can produce large amounts of hormone-sensitive lipase and burn fat all day so you can look thin and slim....

Click here for the rest of the article. (http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Finally-Science-Confirms-the-Secret-Key-to-Weight-Loss-19046.aspx?aid=CD35)

[tom sawyer]

From this article:

"How do your insulin receptors stop working effectively?

Very simple.

This is a natural consequence that occurs when you don’t exercise and move the way you were designed to."

My Take:
Insulin receptors get burned out by constant over-bombardment with the hormone. They weren't designed to receive so much signal so often. Its like hearing, if you are constantly exposed to loud noise eventually your hearing deteriorates.

Even the panel in the Charlie Rose discussion last night, all admitted that exercise plays a smaller role in weight loss than diet. One of them called it more of a "condiment", I thought that was appropriate.

They did state that exercise has effects over and above simply burning additional calories. It is thought that to some limited extent, exercise may be able to reset the muscle's sensitivity to insulin to some extent. So in this respect, Mercola has a point. But I think he overstates the importance of this aspect of insulin resistance. There are plenty of people exercising and not losing weight.

[64dodger]

If you eat carbs you will produce insulin.

It is very simple.

[colinjn]

I agree with both of you. It is interesting that he considers this one of his most important statements. The Lipase/Insulin relationship is interesting. As you say 64, eating less carbs is the best way. But also watching the protein levels may be important.
Colin

[colinjn]

WOW there must have been something to that article. The Mercola site was hit with a denial of service attack that shut him down for 4 hours. This article (Here is a link (http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Finally-Science-Confirms-the-Secret-Key-to-Weight-Loss-19046.aspx?aid=CD35) ) seems to have been the point of attack.

Also, my last post was pretty short. My keyboard decided to pack it in just as I tried to post it. I could only get 1 letter every two seconds. Hopefully everything is fixed.

A thought on Mercola's view on exercise. I recently discovered a great way to exercise without damaging anything and in a way that seems almost too easy. I bought a cellerciser and must admit it is amazing. I put a post about it on my blog. Here is a link to my post. (http://practicalanswers.blogspot.com/search/label/exercise%20machine) You are welcome to read about it there since it is a bit off topic on this thread.

Colin