By Dr. Adam Carter, DPT ,CF-L2, CSCS
The remainder of this month I want to focus on one of my arch nemesis. Diabetes!!! I have many close friends and family as well as an innumerable amount of patients which are afflicted with this problem. I want to start by giving you all a potentially different way to look at why our body stores fat and a few ways to take advantage of that fat storage system for the betterment of your overall health. As I’m sure most of us understand, fat storage is a survival mechanism. It is meant for times when food is scarce and without this system our ancestors likely would never have survived. Body fat gets a bad rap for the most part but it is vital to most mammals. But in today’s western world, where there is rarely a shortage of food (for many anyways), it actually ends up causing more harm than good. The reason for this is because we never give our body time to use these stored calories. You see when you eat from the moment you wake to the moment you sleep your body runs primarily off of those “new” calories rather than using the stored calories. The result? Weight gain. The answer? STOP EATING!!! It really is that simple. When we stop eating, our blood sugar drops, our sugar stores in our muscle and liver drop, and our body is forced to use the calories it has stored. The result? Weight loss.
I read a book recently that told the story of a Scottish man who went 382 days without eating. He was medically supervised of course. AND he weighed in at over 400lbs. This man survived on water, a multi-vitamin, and essential minerals. When it was all said and done he weighed 185lbs. A number which still holds true today. This is just one of many stories about people turning their life around by simply using the body fat they have stored rather than continuing to feed themselves every single day. The first step to beating DM2 is to stop relying on sugars to fuel daily activities and give your body a chance to burn your stored calories. Some people call this fasting. Some call this time restricted feeding. Whatever the verbiage, the most important thing to remember is that we do not need to consume calories from the moment we awake to the moment we sleep. I would suggest a gradual progression for the length between meals until you become comfortable going 16-24 hours without food. Now obviously if you have diabetes or other metabolic syndromes you need to check with your primary physician prior to making dietary changes. If anyone has questions shoot me a DM or post in the comments section.
Until then...
KEEP IT MOVING!!
AC