Why Excess Weight Kills

Of the many factors causing more than 40 percent of Americans to die of heart attacks and 35 percent to become diabetic, the strongest are eating too much and exercising too little.

Being Fat Makes You Even Fatter
Having diabetes is one of the strongest risk factors for heart attacks and premature death. Before insulin can do its job of driving sugar from the bloodstream into cells, it must first attach to special hooks on cells called insulin receptors. Only then can insulin drive sugar into cells. When fat and muscle cells fill with fat,
• these cells fail to respond adequately to insulin,
• blood sugar levels rise,
• insulin levels also rise,
• insulin converts sugar to fat,
• more fat deposits in fat and muscle cells, and
• you become even fatter.

How Being Fat Blocks Insulin Receptors
After sugar enters a cell, it can be 1)Used for energy, 2)Stored as muscle sugar called glycogen, or 3) be converted to fat. Once a muscle cell fills with glycogen, no more sugar can be stored in that cell so what is not burned for energy is converted to fat.
•The cell then fills with fat,
• fat blocks insulin receptors,
• sugar is prevented from entering cells,
• blood sugar levels rise,
• sugar sticks to the outside surface of cell membranes, where
• sugar is converted to sorbitol,
• which destroys the cell to cause
• Blindness, deafness, MI, stroke, kidney failure, and all the other side effects of diabetes.

How Exercising after Fasting Prevents Diabetes
More than 90 percent of diabetes is caused by fat blocking insulin receptors so a diabetic cannot respond adequately to insulin. Emptying muscle cells of their stored fat helps them to respond to insulin and clear sugar from their bloodstreams. One major key to preventing and treating diabetes is to empty cells of fat. Contracting muscles burn mostly fat and sugar for energy. Muscles have only a limited amount of sugar stored in them and a virtually unlimited supply of fat. If you can exercise long enough to reduce the stored sugar called glycogen, in muscle cells, your muscles will be forced to use their stored fat. Emptying muscle cells of fat helps them to respond better to insulin. Exercising after fasting empties cells of glycogen rather quickly. This forces muscle cells to burns fat. This empties fat from muscle cells to increases a cell’s response to insulin, which lowers high blood sugar levels (Journal of Physiology, November 2010)
Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss and Health

Exercising Muscles Do Not Need Insulin
Furthermore, contracting muscles can draw sugar from the bloodstream without requiring insulin. Resting muscles cannot do this. The maximum effect lasts during exercise and up to one hour afterwards and disappears completely at around 17 hours. That’s why you have to exercise every day to have your muscles respond maximally to insulin. (Am J Clin Nutr 2008(July);88(1):51-57. J Appl Physiol 2005;99; 338-343 & 2005;8750-7587. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 1983;245(5). Journal of Applied Physiology, February 2010).

Dietary Factors That Cause High Blood Sugar
Eating sugared foods and drinks can cause a high rise in blood sugar levels that damages cells and sugar in drinks are far more damaging than sugar in food. When you eat, the pyloric sphincter at the end of your stomach closes to keep food in your stomach. Then food is mixed in your stomach and must stay there until it is converted to a soup that is squeezed into the intestines. Sugared drinks pass readily into your intestines to cause a high rise in blood sugar. Sugared foods take much longer to raise blood sugar levels. For example, fruit juices and sugared soft drinks enter the intestines immediately to cause a rapid rise in blood sugar (JAMA, August 25, 2004). Furthermore sugared drinks increase diabetes risk, while fruits decrease risk (Am J Clin Nutr, 2008 (July);88(1):51-57)

Losing Weight Is More Important than Reducing Cholesterol and Saturated Fat
High blood pressure and cholesterol are two major risk factors for heart attacks and premature death. A diet that gets you to lose weight is more effective in preventing diabetes and heart attacks than all other factors. A study from the University of Toronto put people with high blood cholesterol levels on three different diets:
1) Fruits, vegetables, and nuts,
2) fruits, vegetables and nuts plus grains and low-fat diary products and
3) the National Cholesterol Therapeutic step-2 diet that is very low on saturated fat and cholesterol and is recommended by many doctors to treat high cholesterol and blood pressure (Epidemiology: March 2006;17(2):128-130). After just two weeks, people who ate only fruits, vegetables and nuts had the greatest drop in the bad LDL cholesterol because it restricts calories the most.

Drop in LDL/HDL after two weeks on 3 diets
1) Fruits, vegetables, nuts: LDL -33%; LDL/HDL -24%
2) Fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains & low-fat dairy: LDL -23% LDL/HDL -12%
3) National Cholesterol Therapeutic step-2 diet LDL -7% LDL/HDL -5%

Eating only fruits, vegetables & nuts is the most effective way to lower high cholesterol and blood pressure. It makes it very difficult to meet your needs for calories, and is the same as what humans’ ancestors ate 4 to 7 million years ago. Human ancestors had to spend all their time foraging and eating and often died in their teens because they couldn’t get enough food. If you go on this diet, chances are thst you will be eating all the time just to meet your needs for calories. Adding low-fat diary products and whole grains, barley, oats and dried beans to a fruit-vegetable-nut diet yields a low saturated fat and low cholesterol diet: the basis of therapeutic diets. However it is much less effective than the fruit-vegetable-nut diet that forces a person to limit calories.

Restricting Calories More Important than Restricting Saturated Fats and Cholesterol
Saturated fat raises cholesterol only when you take in too many calories. If you reduce your caloric intake by one third and ate nothing but fatty meats and diary products, your blood cholesterol level will drop (European Heart Journal Supplements, 1999;1(S):S19-S23). Saturated fats are broken down in your liver to 2-carbon units. Ingesting excess calories causes your liver to make cholesterol and blood cholesterol rises. If not enough calories are available, these 2-carbon units are burned for energy and do not raise in cholesterol (Brit J of Spts Med. July, 2008).

Saturated Fats from Plants Do Not Raise Cholesterol
Saturated fats in meat and chicken raise cholesterol and are associated with increased risk for heart attacks. However, saturated fats from plants (coconut, palm and palm kernel oils) can raise cholesterol a little but have not been shown to increase heart attack risk (Am. J. Clin. Nutr. August, 1981).

Summary
The most effective way to help prevent heart attacks and diabetes is to prevent extra fat from being deposited in your cells. You can exercise more and eat less. A healthful diet includes:
• Unlimited: fruits, vegetables, whole grain, beans, seeds & nuts.
• Moderate: fat-free or low-fat diary products, fish & poultry
• Restrict: red meat; sugared beverages (including fruit juices) & foods; processed foods and fried foods.

Knowledgeable nutritionists today recommend a diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables and nuts and restriction of
• excess calories,
• refined carbohydrates,
• red meat,
• fried foods and
• (for non exercisers) salt.

Additional references