Understanding Blood Glucose, Insulin and Fat Storage
Ben Bikman earned his Ph.D. in bioenergetics and as a scientist and professor at Brigham Young University has focused on better understanding the origins and consequences of metabolic disorders, including obesity and diabetes. He has given particular emphasis to studying the role of insulin.
Dr. Bikman is the author of Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease—and How to Fight It. (Commission Earned). He's also among my personal Health Sherpas.
I think the whole video with Dr. Bikman is excellent and worthwhile, I've cued it to start where he begins describing the essential role of insulin in fat accumulation:
Here are a few of the relevant truth bombs he dropped on the relationship between blood sugar (glucose), insulin and fat storage:
On its own, glucose isn't going to stimulate the lipogenic (fat-creating) machinery: It has to come with insulin, and of course in the body it does. If glucose has come up, insulin is as well, and insulin is now telling the fat cell what to do with the glucose. It's telling every cell what to do with all nutrients....
It is impossible for an organism to store fat unless insulin is elevated over fasting levels. It cannot happen. Now, am I saying that insulin is the only cause for fat gain? No. But it must be part of the equation. There can be, in contrast, no fat growth unless insulin is up, and there can be no fat loss unless insulin is down....
What people don't appreciate is that when insulin is low, there are multiple variables that create this metabolically elevated state, which makes it easier to be lean. And that is, one, an actual increase in metabolic rate, from head to toe. Metabolic rate is, we know, in humans that have just low insulin (not type 1 diabetic, zero levels) low insulin vs. high insulin, based on meals, the metabolic rate will differ by 300 calories per day. And so this is the person who has this 300 calorie per day wiggle room, because their metabolic rate is simply higher when insulin is low, and my lab has studied some of the mechanisms for that.
And two, when your body is making ketones, ketones are a very unique fuel. First of all, they have about the same caloric value as glucose does, so ketones are energetic molecules. They have a calorie load to them. But when someone has ketones, or they're in ketosis...remember, a ketone is an energetic molecule, and they are breathing them out or urinating them out. So when someone's in ketosis they are exhaling ketones and urinating ketones. Every little molecule of a ketone is an energetic...is a calorie, that if we were just trying to invoke the laws of thermodynamics, as they are improperly invoked, we would say that you either have to burn it as energy, so exercise more, or you have to put less in the system, or eat less.
Well, when you're in ketosis you've introduced this third mechanism, which is waste. You are literally wasting energy from your body. And so yes, absolutely, calories matter. In that sense the laws of thermodynamics are relevant: you have to account for the energy. It's just that when you try to account for the energy in the complexity of the human body, not to mention the complexity of having to wrestle with hunger, which I think is a vastly overlooked aspect...Calories matter, but if you're trying to understand human obesity just through a caloric lens, you will miss it. All you will do is promote hunger, and that will generally result in a short-lived success.
You have to consider the role of insulin, because it matters, absolutely. There can be no fat gain in a human without elevated insulin, it is impossible. There can be no fat loss in a human unless insulin is low. It's impossible. But yes, calories matter, energy matters. But so too does insulin. We must invoke both of these variables to truly understand.
This is why HELPcare and HELPcare Clinic advocate both a ketogenic diet and fasting for those looking to restore metabolic health and lose weight.
Limiting carbohydrates (sugars and starches) keeps blood sugar stable and prevents insulin spikes, and maintaining a narrow eating window (perhaps 6-8 hours per day) means that you have prolonged periods of low insulin.
That enables your fat cells to release fatty acids to be metabolized into ketone bodies in your liver. Those ketone bodies in your bloodstream can be used to fuel your body and, as Dr. Bikman noted, can be exhaled or excreted in your urine.
Whether you burn these calorie-laden ketone bodies as fuel or waste them in breath or urine, they are diminishing your fat stores.
In HELP: The Health, Energy & Longevity Plan, Dr. Dave Strobel and I have distilled insights from Dr. Bikman and others, as well as from Dr. Strobel's clinical experience and scientific understanding, into a workable plan for reversing metabolic syndrome and restoring health.
I hope you'll request your free copy and apply it in your life. We get great joy from hearing stories of people who had previously struggled with health and weight issues, and who have applied the strategies in HELP to make meaningful improvements.
If you want some extra support, we offer HELPcare Community, which also includes video learning modules from Dr. Strobel. It's a tribe to go with you on the journey. HELPcare Coach gives you personal help and encouragement as you navigate the path.
Learn more about our various support options.
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Excellent explanation in shorter form. Thank you for posting this.
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