Insulin Resistance and Popular Diet Plans

I've been perusing various popular approaches to health and weight loss and have been struck by how little attention is paid to insulin resistance.

Dr. Fuhrman, for example, is all over PBS and has a vegan approach that involves veggie/fruit smoothies. He sweetens them with Medjool dates. I actually bought some dates because everyone seemed to be excited about them. Then I read the label and my jaw dropped to the floor. 29 grams of carbohydrate per serving. They might as well tell me to drop a Snickers bar in the blender and just add in some flax seed to make it healthier and I would do better!

So I said to my husband, "Don't eat more than two of these, they are pure sugar." (In fact, I had a hard time finishing one, they are sweeter than candy.)

My husband said, "I just had seven. Is that bad?"

Short answer, yes!

Now, we can go back and forth about how the fiber in the fruit blunts the insulin spike of consumption, but the reality is, anyone with severe insulin resistance who eats that much sugar, even if it's from 'healthy' fruit, is going to gain weight and travel further down the pre-diabetes highway to diabetes. Which is why I find these popular doctor diets that ignore the nuances of insulin resistance to be irresponsible.

But I don't know how many people are like me. Maybe I'm the only one with severe insulin resistance? I couldn't follow Dr. Fuhrman's plan without significant modification. And let's face it, smoothies that combine vegetables and fruit, need a lot of sweetener to make them palatable.

I can handle a wild blueberry/spinach smoothie, but only if I add in things like Stevia, cocoa powder and cinnamon. The concoction has an unoffensive taste, which is about the most complimentary thing I can say about it. And it's still too carby for me. I make them every so often because Dr. Alternative recommends them and I agree that smoothies enhance the absorption of nutrients. But they don't help me lose weight. In fact, the opposite. They trigger my malfunctioning insulin response. I tend to eat more on smoothie days.

Dr. Fuhrman also likes to use cashews. A lot. Like in every recipe. If you are allergic to nuts, you are SOL on his eating plan. Also, I'm not such a huge fan of pureed cashews in everything I eat.

For me, this is a plan that has significant barriers to entry for the average person. I have the books and a DVD, so I have really looked at it in detail. The changes are so dynamic and the equipment you need to do it is so expensive, well, I'm amazed he's built an audience at all.

If I wasn't insulin resistant, I would probably have a strong tendency toward 'Furhmanization', but that's just me. No one else I know would do it--considering I can't even get the people in my life to go to a whole foods demo, I fail to see where these legions of fans are coming from. Where I live, everyone still thinks McDonald's is a food group.

Then we have Dr. Mercola's diet which is very similar to Dr. Furhman's, but entry is phased. I like phases. I think gradual transitions are really effective, but his are too long and confusing. Plus, anyone with insulin resistance needs to start at the most restrictive phase three, the earlier phases just waste time. Mercola is also into juicing and making smoothies, which, again, is quite expensive.

So Drs. Furhman and Mercola have diets that only people with money can follow. And only if you have natural ascetic leanings (most of us don't) and aren't insulin resistant (which most of us are).

I'm surprised these guys don't hold juicer giveaways as a marketing ploy. Especially Dr. Mercola, who has the distinction of being one of the spamiest physicians I've ever seen online. He wants me to sign up every thirty seconds and pay for access to this and that. His website makes me feel like I'm in a Medical Las Vegas.

Okay, so I've ripped apart the diets, but how do you know if you are insulin resistant? Here's my rule-of-thumb: If you have done Weight Watchers (most of us have at one time or another) and did it perfectly (i.e. you killed yourself trying to lose weight) with little to no results, you are insulin resistant. You can pay to have the blood work done, but inability to lose weight despite serious effort is pretty much text book. If you don't cut the flour and sugar and severely limit fruit, you will never lose weight.

A lot of money and a blender won't change that.

Tired Monday

I must be getting better if my body can finally muster the energy for PMS. I'm about a week late, I assume due to the stress of illness.

Breathing is still not super great. Lots of pressure and tightness--often can't 'pinch an inch' on my chest. I continue to need to go slow--that includes not talking so much because that makes me pant. But I'm trying to stick with just the albuterol inhaler and not do the nebulizer. So far so good.

In the name of stupidity necessity, I plan to hit 4 stores later today to get some errands dealt with while the hubby is home to drive me around and pick me up if I fall down.

Hallelujah the hubby is home. OMG. So glad to have another sane adult (we have a surplus of crazy living with us) home to help out.

I haven't weighed myself, finding that to be counterproductive during PMS, but my stomach is quite flat and I would estimate about a 10lb weight loss. I have no appetite. Even being on steorids. None. I even forgot to feed the toddler a few times--I just don't care about food. So it's back to forcing myself to eat at regular intervals. Fortunately, my appetite likes salad this time.

Stopping Steroids and Staying Fat Against My Will

I stopped the steroids today. I will miss feeling normal. I can't believe how huge a help they were with that cold (which has put the hubby on antibiotics as of today). I took 10 mg total the day of the wedding, an extra 5mg at dinner and wow! I could enjoy myself without a lack of energy holding me back.

This maybe means that the 5mg I was taking for the cold was too low a stress dose. Except last time, 10mg seemed like too much. But that cold was not as bad as this one...?

So far today, feeling blech.

Headache. Cranky. Tired.

Doesn't help that I've gone back to strict low carbing at the same time. Would really really like to lose weight this year and GET IT DONE ALREADY.

Oh my God, I'm so sick of trying to lose weight. The only magic trick in my metabolism's repertoire is not gaining weight. I can't seem to trigger loss unless I have an adrenal crisis.

At least my body is taking the crisis loss as the new set point--whatever I do, the number is the same. Too bad it's not a million pounds less than the last one.

And I've decided, after reading other people's holiday gain reports, that it is weird I didn't gain weight. Like ANY weight. I ate pints of ice cream and nothing.

Christmas Eve, I essentially had one bite of everything so I could save room to eat a quarter of a pumpkin pie for dessert. And then have more. Nothing. Not even water weight, which has happened never.

The steroids eliminated the anti-hunger for the most part. I didn't meet a carb I didn't eat for over a week. Nothing, even though I was on steroids almost the entire time.

WTF is that about? And why can't I leverage that dynamic into weight loss??????????????????

I'm not any where near my goal weight either. So it's not the usual slow down you see for the last 10 pounds.

So anyhoo, I stopped steroids and I'm still fat, but can eat pretty much whatever I want without gaining. Hide your pies.

Some Good-ish News

No weight loss, but I have shrunk enough to:

1. Wear those jeans I was talking about, I think, last Fall. I recall writing something about needing to lose a little bit more weight so they would fit better. That didn't happen, but they fit me now.

2.See that my arms are smaller. I can tell by the fit of some shirts that used to be tight. Thanks to genetics and steroids, I have underarm acreage that, given enough momentum, could be used as a weapon. It's not unusual to have issues with fitted blouses as the arms are out of proportion. So this was a welcome change.

I credit 1&2 to the idea that I've been replacing fat with muscle.

3.Go shopping in my closet for a fancy outfit to wear dancing. A nice knee length flared skirt that spins beautifully on the dance floor, and a lightweight cardigan set.

Given how often I take steroids and how little control I seem to have over my weight, I buck conventional wisdom and hold on to both the skinny and fat clothes. I'll purge stuff that I don't love or that won't keep (dress pants, for instance, do not store well), but I keep my favorites.

Between pregnancy and steroids, this strategy is paying off. I haven't had to buy many clothes.

With one caveat, I recently decided to invoke Murphy's Law of Weight Loss Plateaus by purchasing some pants that will fit me now. I've tried to hold off, but I haven't lost any weight in almost a *swear word* *swear word* year. I need some clothes. Some of the stuff I've been wearing is not holding up. Jeans are durable, but not if you wear the same pair every dang day.

I figure, once I have clothes that fit, the weight will change. Because isn't that how it always goes? Now, whether the scale goes up or down depends on how perverse Murphy's Law is that day.