I hate to say I am trying to lose a bunch of weight because I am not, so I hesitate to even put this in the "weight loss" section of my blog, however, it most closely relates AND if thats my body's "ideal" than I will be happy to lose a few pounds. I am pre-diabetic or insulin resistant and I am noticing since the birth of Jaxxon who is now 1 month old, that, although I am under pre pregnancy weight by a small amount, I am having issues with belly fat which I have never had much trouble with. I started looking around online about insulin resistance and belly fat and found a few books and websites that I started reading up. I went straight to Amazon and bought the books and have already finished one and am working on another 2 about weight loss, belly fat and insulin resistance. What I have found through all my reading is that our bellies are our insulin meters(of course you can get it confirmed through a simple blood test or find out on accident like I did) and if we tend to carry weight around the middle(I never used to), it is almost sure that we have some amount of insulin resistance. Of course, insulin resistance can make weight loss difficult and can cause a whole host of other issues which can lead to PCOS(have this mildly and need progesterone to stay pregnant because of it as my ovaries are so cystic they don't produce enough progesterone on their own). It can also cause many other hormone imbalances beyond this. Now I blogged a while back about overexersicing and how I was stopping that. I have also learned that doing that can help push you into insulin resistance and I have to wonder if I didnt end up this way from so much overexercise over the years. Also, I learned that the low fat epidemic closely relates with the rise in diabetes. As they removed more and more fat from foods and we were all taught to follow low fat diets, many Americans became and are becoming diabetic and overweight. Obesity and diabetes is sort of a chicken/egg theory because being a tad overweight can cause insulin resistance but also just eating a higher carb diet where you have sugar ups and downs all day can lead to insulin resistance and once you have that, you have a recipe for fat storage and then with fat, you become more insulin resistant and then you end up a full blown diabetic which in turn makes it very difficult to lose weight and reverse the diabetes because insulin is the hormone that causes fat storage. Funny enough, in my reading, I am finding that fat is the ONLY type of food that does NOT cause an insulin spike when we eat it and therefore cannot make you fat because insulin opens the fat cells. Fat is not typically stored as fat either because of the way our bodies process food. Sugar/carbs are stored most readily as fat because they also cause the highest spike in insulin and blood sugar which opens up fat cells and they grab on and get bigger.
This whole process is like a downhill spiral as once you get diagnosed with diabetes they will give you the ADA diet and you will get even sicker as it is a pretty high carb plan which only leads your body into yo yo sugar levels all day. Carbs, especially with low fat and moderate or low protein will cause sugar levels to go up and down like a bouncing ball which causes higher insulin, more resistance and the need for more drugs to help the diabetes. The book I just finished is by Dr. Schwarzbien and she recommends a very interesting approach to insulin resistance. She says to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day, each meal contains about 15g of healthy carbs only, a portion of fat(i.e butter, sour cream, etc), a portion of meat and a veggie. The snacks are 7 g or so of carbs with protein. A handful of nuts or a string cheese with an apple, stuff like that. Basically the lower carbs and higher fat and protein help slow the carbohydrate digestion and fuel your body in a way that it can rebuild lean muscle as you do light strength training and walking for work outs. With more lean muscle, your body can start eating up its own fat stores. As your metabolism starts on this cycle, insulin stabilizes and belly fat melts off and your body will become the correct shape and composition. Weight shouldnt be the matter here but if you are overweight, you should slowly see your body go back to its ideal size regardless of calories in this "diet".
Dr. Schwarbien started her career working as an endocrinologist for diabetics and figured all this out by accident as she watched patients who followed the "ada diet" perfectly and getting sicker and then other patients who "cheated" and ate higher fat/protein were loosing weight and getting off diabetes meds and slowly she perfected this plan of eating which ended up working on all her patients. She extended all her knowledge to everyday people and helps people with a variety of issues and this diet has helped a lot of people with an array of health issues or just ones who needed to drop some weight and she has written several books. I am fascinated by her findings and her stories in the book I read thus far and I am willing to give it a try for healths sake. I do NOT want to become full blown diabetic like my grandma and dad. Here's a sample of the diet, my day one. I will try to post stats, a day of meals and how well I am sticking to it once a week.
Thus far I am on day one:
Breakfast: Spinach and blue cheese omelet(1 egg) cooked in real butter and a tangerine
Snack: 23 almonds unsalted
Lunch: Cheesy chicken salad with olive oil and vinegar for dressing, 5 baby carrots and an apple
Snack: String cheese and an orange
Dinner: Brat with sauer kraut, 1/2 a whole wheat bun, sauteed veggies(olive oil and kosher salt)
Because I nurse, I will add a snack at bedtime as well or I will starve to death so I will have some cottage cheese(carb and protein in one
Of course 8-10 glasses of water and NO caffeine or alcohol and a vitamin and fish oil
Stats for day 1
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 133 lbs
Waist: 30.5"
Hips: 38.75"
Bust: 36.5"
Arm: 10.5"
Thigh: 22"
WHR: Waist(30.5) divided by Hips(38.75) = 0.787096774
Waist to Height Ratio is ideally less than .50, but most beautiful at 39.5 for women, Mine is: 46.9 bleh
The ideal waist to hip ratio size aesthetically is going to be .70, but health wise its also linked to better fertility, lack of insulin resistance and better overall health according to many Drs and experts so while I would love to get to .70, I am doubting I will~! Who knows though
