Blood Sugar
I once had an argument with a medical student. She
proclaimed that the Atkins would kill you because the human body will expire if
not given carbohydrates. She outweighed me by probably forty pounds. I lifted
my shirt, pointed to my (lean and muscular) midsection and said “If Atkins
killed me then I must be in heaven”.
Most people do not understand that diet is what shapes
your physique. You will not exercise your way to leanness, we all have known
the fat chick who works out religiously for ninety minutes a day who never gets
any thinner. In fact, for the very
overweight, most forms of exercise are usually quite detrimental to weight loss.
Greece, today, is the shortest nation in the EU. It wasn’t
always this way. We can see in the fossil record that before agriculture was
introduced to the region the average height of males was a smidge over six
feet. Once agriculture was introduced and the average height plummeted to about
five feet from which it has been ever so slowly recovering to today’s average height
of about five and a half feet. The funny thing is that it would seem on the
surface that this switch to an agrarian society was just due laziness on the part
of the hunter gatherer tribes. In fact this switch to an inferior food source
was actually more labour intensive than hunting and gathering. So why did
people do it?
The human brain uses some very interesting mechanisms for
rewarding certain types of behavior. The Ventral Tegmental “Reward” System uses
neurotransmitters so chemically similar to opiates that when opiates are
consumed they trigger the receptors meant to be activated by the endogenous “reward”
neurotransmitters. What this means is that when you do something that pleases
your brain it releases endorphins which for all practical purposes are
morphine, you become addicted to brain morphine and then repeat the behavior to
get more, like a crack head stealing cars for crack money.
Starch is very calorically dense and easy to digest so
the metabolic cost of digestion is very low, your brain likes this. As well,
the brain can run on only a few things: glucose (sugar), glutamine (an amino
acid) and ketone bodies (converted fat). The gut competes for glutamine and the
manufacture of ketones requires a large metabolic cost so the brain prefers
glucose as its primary fuel source and rewards you with brain morphine for
getting it.
So why did the Greeks switch to agriculture even though
it was clearly bad for them and more work to do? They were, and are (like the rest
of you), addicted to brain morphine. Carbohydrates are, in essence, drugging
you.
Others have known this for a long, long, long time. In
fact the use of processed carbohydrates is woven into the very essence of
statecraft. You’ll notice that the Ceasar’s were pictured as wearing crowns of
wheat. Wheat was, and still is, used as a means to keep the populous at large
docile, estrogenic and disinterested. Why do you think that most beer is made
with wheat (like it was in ancient Egypt) and advertised to be synonymous with
large public sporting (gladiatorial) events? This topic is much larger than I
am interested in delving into at this juncture, so let’s get back to body composition.
Plant lignans as of late have been promoted widely as a
type of cancer reducing estrogen blocker, functioning much like the drug
clomiphene citrate. This only shows just how far doctors have their heads
wedged up their asses. The reason people have estrogen aggravated cancers is
because their endogenous estrogens are out of balance resulting in high
estradiol levels because of unmitigated aromatization. So why are the naturally
produced estrogens out of whack? Progesterone deficiency.
Hormones
Progesterone is the key to unlocking the body’s hormone
puzzle. Estrogen is a progesterone antagonist which means if you have high estrogen
levels you will have a low progesterone levels. This would normally be okay but
as with everything there is much more to this than is readily apparent. You see
by consuming phyto (plant) estrogens and through exposure to xeno
(petrochemical) estrogens, your total estrogen load is grossly out of whack.
Compounding this issue is the fact that xeno estrogens don’t really biodegrade,
so their levels just keep building up and up and up. Sensing the elevated
estrogen levels your pituitary gland shuts down progesterone production
wrongly.
Progesterone is critical to the proper functioning of
your hormonal system. When progesterone levels are low the body produces two enzymes
to convert hormones into super potent but damaging versions of themselves. The
first is aromatase, this enzyme converts testosterone into estradiol, a super
estrogen implicated in estrogen aggravated cancer and the growth of breast
tissue in men (gynocemastia, by aggravating prolactin). The second enzyme is
5-alpha-reductase which converts testosterone into dihydrotestosterone, a super
testosterone that causes all of the masculine traits associated with high testosterone
levels such as male pattern baldness, body hair growth, deep voice, acne and
muscle density.
This story keeps getting better. Testosterone is made
from progesterone and progesterone competes with the adrenal glands for
pregnenalone. So this means: proper progesterone production = reduction in
stress hormones via competition for pregnenalone = higher testosterone levels =
balanced estrogen levels through mitigation of aromatase = lowered negative hormonal
side effects = suppression of prolactin. Progesterone also increases thyroid
function and helps heal a wide range of gallbladder issues.
It should be noted that plant foods also contain phytic
acid or phytate (salt form) which interferes with the absorbtion of zinc,
magnesium, calcium and iron. Zinc is a powerful aromatase inhibitor and
magnesium is critical to the liver in the detoxification of estrogen. A
deficiency in either of these metals is enough to switch the hormones into an
estrogen dominant state and suppress progesterone. As well the World Health
Organization has stated that Zinc and Magnesium deficiency is the most
widespread nutritional deficiency in the world.
What does all this have to do with weight loss? Your
hormones control your body, they control how much fat is stored and where. Eating
too much plant derived carbohydrates destroys the proper functioning of the
hormonal system and results in a plethora of problems not the least of which is
weight gain.
There are variations on this theme, certain populations
are more able to tolerate plant foods. People who’s genetic lineage is more
equatorial can handle more plant foods but still nowhere close to the amounts
they consume. The long and short of it is this: humans, to be optimally
healthy, need to eat meat. A lot of meat. If you’re white or native American,
most of your total caloric intake should be in the form of meat and fat. Do Atkins,
or if you’re an athlete, the Anabolic Diet and stop eating wheat entirely. Many
people will lose a pound a day for the first ten days after dropping wheat. As well you could check out ProgestroPro because, as I have stated, you probably have a progesterone deficiency.
This article could keep going on and on. The issues
covered in here are at the crux of our modern health dilemma. There are many
types of treatment modalities, nutrition tips and so much more to be said on
all of the topics covered here but I hope this very brief introduction will
help you into a place where you can deal with your malfunctioning brain,
terribly poisonous diet and whacked out hormonal system in a calm and efficient
manner being assured that you have a grasp on what exactly is happening and
approximately why.
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| I just couldn't resist this one. |