But even if diabetes runs in your family, you still may be able to con-
trol the problem with the proper lifestyle factors.
In addition to causing even more carbohydrates to convert and
store as fat, excess insulin can lower the blood sugar too drastically.
Since the brain exclusively relies on glucose for fuel, this can result in
impaired mental function, including loss of memory, reduced concen-
tration and other cognitive function. Low blood sugar also often
results in hunger, sometimes only a couple of hours, or less, after the
meal. Cravings, often for sweets, are frequently part of this cycle, and
resorting to snacking on more carbohydrates maintains the cycle. And
if you don’t eat, you just feel worse. Eventually, the fat-storage
deposits get bigger.
High insulin levels also suppress two important hormones:
glucagon and growth hormone. Glucagon has the opposite effect of
insulin and is produced following protein consumption. While
insulin promotes storage, glucagon promotes the utilization of fat and
sugar for energy. Growth hormone is also important for sugar- and
fat-burning, the regulation of minerals, and amino-acid action on
muscle development.
If your goal is to burn more body fat, improve your health and
increase human performance, you must eliminate refined carbohy-
drates, and determine how much natural carbohydrate your body can
effectively metabolize. This will vary from person to person. Before
discussing how that is accomplished, let’s look at some other impor-
tant aspects of carbohydrates and insulin.
Measuring the Insulin Response
The glycemic index (GI) is an indicator of how much your blood
sugar increases after eating specific carbohydrate foods. However, it
must be noted that glycemic index is only a very general measure of
responses to food, and individual variation is not considered in stud-
ies of foods and their glycemic effects. High-GI foods, which produce
the greatest glucose response, include bagels, breads, potatoes, sweets
and other foods that contain refined flour and sugar. Many processed
cereals, especially those containing the sugar maltose, which has a
very high GI, produce an even stronger glucose response. Even foods
you may think are good for you can trigger high amounts of insulin,
32 • IN FITNESS AND IN HEALTH