The Vicious Cycle: From Fat to Fatter ■^35such as heart disease or osteoporosis—that feed on this vicious cycle.
The underlying cause of the so-called diseases of aging is always a de-
rangement in the cellular signals, the instructions that tell your body
how to turn energy into life.
■ (^) IT BEGINS IN THE WOMB
When does the vicious cycle begin? It may shock you to learn that it
may begin as early as in the womb, before you are even born. If an ex-
pectant mother eats the wrong diet—that is, one deficient in good fat
and loaded with high sugar carbohydrates—she could be passing on
metabolic problems to her children, making them more vulnerable to
becoming diabetic. The sad truth is that she is probably eating the diet
recommended to her by her doctor! Animal studies have shown that in-
sulin resistance, a precursor of type 2 diabetes, can be passed from an
expectant mother to her child, and even worse, can alter the insulin
sensitivity of the baby’s eggs, thus possibly affecting the developing
baby, and could affect that baby’s children as well.
If you are insulin resistant, you are almost always leptin resistant,
and if you are leptin resistant, you are a sugar burner, not a fat burner.
If you are not burning fat, you are storing fat and getting fat. Is there
any wonder why so many children today are overweight and obese? As
of yet, there have not been any studies showing whether or not leptin
resistance can be passed on this way, but there are clues that this is also
true.
Whether or not you may be born with a tendency to develop leptin
and insulin resistance, your diet is the primary force that will determine
your destiny. If you eat the right food, your tendencies will stay sup-
pressed. If you eat the wrong food, you will grow into an overweight, sick
child or adult. Sadly, most kids are fed a diet almost opposite to what I
recommend. From an early age, kids are put on a high carbohydrate diet,
heavy in cereal, pasta, crackers, potatoes and fruit desserts. This sugar-
loaded feast is then washed down with gallons of fruit juice. The diet I
just described is not what is considered “junk food”; in fact, most parents
and medical professions would consider it to be a wholesome diet. Why?