Insulin

[anniem]

Hi every one

Can i ask a stupid question cause i still do not understand i think (know) that insulin raises the sugar leves which makes us hungry (i think) so is this only bad if it makes us hungry and we eat more than we should. Or can we have something that raises our insulin like maybe caffeine and if we do not eat anything it does not matter.

Sorry i am still confused. Even if we get hungry from something raising our insulin levels but we do not eat just cause we are hungry we wait until meal time there should not be a problem.

Sorry if i sound silly but just want to get it right.

Thanks

Annie

[kagiesen]

The body produces insulin to get rid of the sugar (gycogen, I think) in the blood after you've eaten something sugary and/or carbohydrates.

If you're a diabetic, the body can't produce enough insulin to break down the sugar, hence you need to inject it, and measure exactely what you eat to know how much to inject.

In our bodies, the process doesn't appear to work too well. When we eat sugar/carbs, that 'triggers an inulin response' (so far so good, that means we're not diabetic), however, the response will be OVER-production. So as more insulin than necessary is released, the blood sugar lever gets reduced too much, ie you become hypoglycemic, that is under-sugared. Your body then thinks it needs to top up that sugar level and sends you the signal, eat some sugary carbs stuff immediately, the carving.

So if you want to avoid the craving which makes us eat bad stuff, you need to get insulin production under control. At the end of it, the insulin produced should exactly match what we ate, so that we're neither under- nor over sugared. That state is what Cohens is trying to achieve, the equilibrium.

Caffeine I don't think impacts on the insulin, but it can still make you hungry. It's difficult to wait when you're under-sugared, as a matter of fact, it's DANGEROUS as you can at its worst fall into a hypoglycemic shock (faint or become unconscious, that can happen to diabetics if they inject too much insulin). So the trick is to avoid becoming under-sugared, so for you to avoid things that trigger an insulin response. It's not about hungry, it's about cravings and your body being at risk when you're under-sugared.

Katrin

[anniem]

Thank you

that was well explained now i know what is going on

thanks

Annie

[lessfatty]

Originally Posted by anniem

Hi every one

Can i ask a stupid question cause i still do not understand i think (know) that insulin raises the sugar leves which makes us hungry (i think) so is this only bad if it makes us hungry and we eat more than we should. Or can we have something that raises our insulin like maybe caffeine and if we do not eat anything it does not matter.

Sorry i am still confused. Even if we get hungry from something raising our insulin levels but we do not eat just cause we are hungry we wait until meal time there should not be a problem.

Sorry if i sound silly but just want to get it right.

Thanks

Annie

Sorry you have the horse before the cart so to speak.

Insulin is your bodies response to the dangerous problem of too much sugar (glucose) in your blood, just ask a diabetic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin

Lets say you eat a big bowl of Spaghetti (garlic, grilled eggplant and fresh tomato please) with 2 bread rolls. After digesting for 15 or 20 minutes during breaking down the starches in the spaghetti and bread to sugars and then absorbed to your blood stream, the body will simply have to much sugar flowing around in the blood to meet your bodies current needs. So the body releases a signal ( chemical signals are called a hormones) to "make fat", this make fat signal is called insulin.

Modern humans have been around for at least a couple of hundred thousand years living in a near perpetual state of starvation, its only in the last 50 years has even 1/3 the worlds population been able to eat an near unlimited amount of energy rich food.

The regular ongoing daily high load of highly refined sugars (including flours, potato's, rices) is simply not something our bodies are evolved to handle, in the short lived and brutish world of our ancestors it was a special day or week at most. The 3 times a day or more constant "firing" or "triggering" of the insulin response, results in build up of insulin resistance in our bodies with our bodies then increasing insulin levels even higher, the feeling of low energy and getting fat even if we are not eating much and in a state of hunger for more cabs is simply the outcome of the mis-match between what our bodies really need and our modern diet. Welcome to the first worlds current obesity epidemic.

Higher Insulin triggering lowering our blood sugars by the "lets make fat now" response in our bodies. Having a lower levels of insulin over significant periods of the day is where we need to be in order to lose weight, how can we lose weight if our bodies are frequently getting the "make fat" signal?

[Tuberose]

thanks for the wonderfully informative posts!

i know that the erratic blood sugar level due to irresponsible & unhealthy eating habit had partially led me to countless binging & overeating sessions. with this understanding, recently i've been researching on low glycemic index (GI), low carb & diabetic friendly diet plans to prepare myself for the life after cohens.

following a sensible low GI diet is to consume nutrient dense food that could release energy & sugar slowly so that the food could keep us fuller & for a longer period, and keep our blood sugar level stable. this diet allows comsumption of carb, but only complex or "good" carbs like whole wheat or grainy pasta, bread, etc. so post-cohen's, my plan is on non-indulgence days, i'll limit to taking good carbs once a day. i do not intent to eliminate carbs from my diet as it's essential for the brain functions. and also i intend to take up exercising again once i feel up to it, so taking carb would be important to give my energy level that extra boost i really hope this plan will work well for me!

[anniem]

Hi lessfatty and tuberose,

Thank you for your replies i will print it out and go over and over it so i get it into my head. Thans for the explanation it helps alot.

Tuberose, i also am going to buy a low GI book as i think it is a great idea, well done to you both for all your efforts and keeping on track.

Annie