You’ve probably heard of the Glycemic Index (GI), which is a measure of the rise in glucose after eating. But sadly, it’s only used to rank higher-carb foods. To remedy this gap, in this article, we’ll dig into the Glycemic Index data to help you find foods and meals that will keep your blood glucose …
The food insulin index can provide powerful insights to help you optimise your food and meal choices to stabilise your insulin and blood glucose. For people with diabetes who need to inject insulin, the food insulin index can also improve the accuracy of their dosing calculations by considering the insulin response to protein and fat. …
The insulin response to carbohydrates is well known. But many people are surprised to learn that dietary protein also provokes an insulin response. Because high insulin levels are associated with poor metabolic health, some worry that consuming ‘too much protein’ will adversely affect their health, make them fat or even lead to a shorter life. …
I’ve recently been having some ‘robust discussion’ on social media around what I think amounts to the Carb-Insulin Model vs the Protein Leverage Hypothesis of obesity and diabetes. I wanted to unpack and juxtapose the similarities and differences between the two models and explain why I feel the protein leverage hypothesis is a more elegant, …
Read moreThe Carb-Insulin Hypothesis vs Protein Leverage Hypothesis of Obesity
I’ve been banging on for years about insulin and how it’s not the bad guy in hopes of getting the keto community to listen. People often think they’re fat because their insulin levels are high. However, the reverse is true; your insulin levels are high because your body has more energy to hold in storage …
Read moreGlucagon vs Insulin: The Accelerator and Brake Pedal for Your Metabolism
It’s no wonder that so many people believe: I recently attended and spoke at a low-carb conference with my son. After listening to many speakers over the two days, my 16-year-old son Mike asked, ‘why does everyone here believe insulin is evil?’ In December 2021, Mike was diagnosed with type 1. If he did not …
Insulin resistance is ‘an impaired response of the body to insulin resulting in elevated levels of glucose in the blood’. Sadly, while this definition tells us what insulin resistance is, it does little to help us understand the root cause and how to reverse it. This article dives deeper into the root cause of insulin …
Read moreWhat Is Insulin Resistance (and How to Reverse It)?
Over the past few years, people in the fasting/low-carb/keto communities have been told that: Is Fat a ‘Free Food’ Because #Insulin? However, the problem with thinking in terms of ‘insulin toxicity’ comes when we add the belief that carbohydrates and protein will raise insulin (i.e. the Carbohydrate Insulin Hypothesis of Obesity) and hence dietary fat …
Many people still believe the primary role of insulin is to push energy into fat cells when you eat carbs. This flawed logic goes a bit like this: eat carbs -> boost insulin –> get fat But the reality is: in the fullness of time, all food elicits an insulin response to varying degrees, the …
Background Protein doesn’t significantly raise blood sugars, at least compared to carbohydrates. At the same time, it is generally acknowledged (at least by people with Type 1 Diabetes) that protein requires insulin to metabolise. Managing the blood glucose response to protein is a challenge for diabetics, particularly if they are minimising carbohydrates and hence may …
Read moreBlood Glucose, Glucagon and Insulin Response to Protein vs Carbs