Jeff wrote:
> I would think this type of eating would more closer mimic the natural
> eating habits of the H-G.,  feast and famine.  The body sucks up what it
> needs when available rather than eating 2-3 "meals" per day with much
> excess.

Yes, here's an excerpt on the waves of insulin release from
The Carbohydrate Addict's Healthy Heart Program, p127-130.

"From start to finish it's important to complete your Reward Meal within 60
minutes.  This might seem like an odd recommendation.  Most heart
health-enhancing programs put limits on what you can eat and on how much you
can eat, but you have probably never been given a maximum limit on how long
you can eat.

The reason for a time limit is simple but important.  Every time you eat
high-carbohydrate foods, your body releases insulin in two waves.
Scientists call this the biphasic (two-phase) release of insulin.  The first
wave, or phase, which is basically an on-off mechanism, starts within a few
minutes of tasting or just seeing, smelling, or thinking about food.  This
release of insulin depends on how often you have eaten high-carbohydrate
foods in the previous 12 to 20 hours and how much of them you ate.

If you have been snacking on high-carbohydrate foods or beverages often
throughout the day and/or if you have been eating great quantities of them,
your body assumes that each new meal or snack will also contain more
high-carbohydrate foods.  In order to handle this anticipated
high-carbohydrate intake, your body releases high levels of insulin.

You have probably experienced the effects of this first wave of insulin
release after taking a bite or two of food and suddenly finding that you
were hungrier than you thought your were before eating.  This quick jump in
hunger as well as the intense pleasure that the food gave you is often
evidence of your body's first wave insulin.

For a moment, think back to Guideline 1.  The purpose of one Reward Meal
each day is to give you the carbohydrates that you need for good nutrition
while making sure that the first phase of insulin release is kept as low as
possible.  Your body wants to conserve as much energy as it can while
getting you the nutrition you need.  The hormone insulin is designed to help
you save.  Just as a nursing mother's body will produce more milk the more
her baby suckles, your body will produce more insulin the more often you eat
high-carbohydrate foods.

If, as per Guideline 1, you have high-carbohydrate foods only once each day,
then, when you begin to eat high-carbohydrate foods at your Reward Meal,
your body will no longer expect a high-carbohydrate meal and will have far
less insulin in reserve to release.  Guideline 1 helps you keep the first
phase of insulin release low.  Lower insulin levels usually means both lower
insulin resistance and lower insulin-related heart disease risk factors.

The second phase of insulin release, however, is not a preset amount.  The
amount of insulin that is released in the second phase does not depend on
how much high-carbohydrate food you have had at previous meals but rather on
how long you continue eating high-carbohydrate food at this particular meal.

The second phase of insulin release is your body's fail-safe mechanism.  If
you had lived in prehistoric times, it would have helped you if you had
suddenly come across high-carbohydrate foods (a patch of ripe berries, for
instance).  You would have needed insulin in order to handle the high sugar
content of the fruit.  At that time, as now, your body assumes that the
longer it takes you to eat, the more you must be eating.  So as a backup,
your body has the ability to release extra insulin on the spot should you
need it.  This second phase of insulin kicks in if your high-carbohydrate
meal lasts for an extended time.

Chances are you have experienced the effects of this second phase of insulin
release at times when meals have continued for extended periods - at
leisurely restaurant meals, family celebrations, or holidays, for example.
At these times you may have eaten until you were satisfied only to find that
as you continued to eat, you became less satisfied than you had been before.
You may have felt that the more you ate, the less satisfied you were.  You
might have eaten to the point of being uncomfortable and felt less satisfied
or "finished" than you had felt earlier in the meal.

This is usually evidence of insulin's second wave.  It reaches its peak at
about 65 or 70 minutes after you start eating, and it is the very reason
that Guideline 2 is needed.

If you finish your Reward Meal within 60 minutes, your insulin levels will
most likely remain far lower than if you had continued eating past the
one-hour limit.  Guideline 2 helps ensure that you finish your meal before
the second wave of insulin reaches its peak.  As you finish your meal, your
body is then able to sense that no more insulin is needed, and at the meal
and afterward.  Once again, less insulin means less insulin resistance and
lower risk for insulin-related heart disease.

Although both phases of insulin release may have made a great deal of sense
in prehistoric times, today, with high-carbohydrate foods available 24 hours
a day, every day of the year, we can no longer afford to continuously tell
our bodies that it is time to eat."

Rob