On Sat, 13 Dec 1997, Paul F. Getty wrote:

>   A lowcarb diet keeps insulin levels low, but in a
> >nondiabetic there's always plenty of insulin present, and dietary
> >protein causes insulin surges comparable to carbohydrates.  So if
> >there is a caloric surplus, there *is* insulin present to do the
> >job of storing body fat.
>
> Todd,
> I thought insulin was only released with carbohydrate intake....at least
> that's what I learned reading Protein Power and CAD and Sugar Busters.  Are
> they not telling us the whole story, to get their point across that carbs
> are bad and protein is good?  Or did I miss something.  I feel I need to
> get my insulin down and hoped eating less carbohydrates would do it.

If you look again at Protein Power (I unfortunately don't have my
copy handy) you will find a table that shows the insulin and
glucagon responses to various macronutrients.  Also, most
physiology textbooks document this.  Protein and carbohydrates
*both* cause insulin to be released.  Carbs cause somewhat more
insulin secretion than protein, but *both* are powerful insulin
"secretagogues", to use the term that the academics seem to like.
The mixture of carb plus fat causes the highest insulin surge.

The difference is that carbs stimulate little or no secretion of
glucagon, whereas protein causes a substantial release of
glucagon.  The insulin surge is immediate, whereas the glucagon
surge doesn't appear for two hours or so after the meal.
Ideally, you want the glucagon surge to balance and counteract
the effects of the insulin surge.  If you are eating too many
carbs relative to protein, it won't.  So the key is *balance*.

The point that I was making is that in a normal human being, even
on a low-carb diet there is plenty of insulin available to
convert store excess calories as fat.  In a diabetic this is not
the case, however.

If you have insulin resistance, your insulin receptors are not
very efficient, so the insulin builds to higher serum levels and
hangs around longer, making it harder for the glucagon to have
any effect.  Since saturated fat apparently causes insulin
resistance, large meals of protein and saturated fat are going to
cause weight gain, especially for a person already disposed to
insulin resistance (such as myself).  This is why Atkins
recommends the "fat fast" for people who have reached weight loss
plateaus.  The idea is to reduce the protein and therefore keep
the insulin as low as possible.  Of course if the fats are
saturated insulin resistance will still be there, but fat doesn't
stimulate release of insulin or glucagon, and if you're not
eating much of anything but fat there won't be much insulin
around for your receptors to resist anyway.

Of course, you can't stay on a "fat fast" forever, and when you
end it you will still have the insulin resistance to contend with
as you add protein back into your diet and experience insulin
surges again.

In terms of paleolithic eating, I think this means that an
insulin resistant person who wants to remain compliant with the
diet probably needs to place heavy emphasis on marine protein
sources and monounsaturated fats.

Todd Moody
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