Is Elevated Insulin the Cause or Effect of Obesity?
The carbohydrate hypothesis, in its most popular current incarnation, states that elevated insulin acts on fat cells to cause fat storage, leading to obesity. This is due to its ability to increase the activity of lipoprotein lipase and decrease the activity of hormone-sensitive lipase, thus creating a net flux of fat into fat cells. I'm still not sure why this would be the case, considering that fat tissue becomes more insulin resistant as body fat accumulates, therefore insulin action on it is not necessarily increased. Total fat release from fat tissue increases with total fat mass (1), demonstrating that insulin is not able to do its job of suppressing fat release as effectively in people who carry excess fat. But let's put that problem aside for the moment and keep trucking.
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Catered Paleo Dinner with Yours Truly
Gil Butler, organizer of the Western Washington Paleo Enthusiasts group, has organized a catered "paleo" dinner on Sunday, October 9th. He will be screening the first episode of "Primal Chef", Featuring Robb Wolf and others. He invited me to give a short (20 minute) presentation, which I accepted. There are still roughly 30 spots remaining [update 9/21-- the event is full].
The event will be in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle and the price is $15.76 per person. I will not be paid for this talk, it's just an opportunity to share ideas and meet people.
Click here to register.
The event will be in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle and the price is $15.76 per person. I will not be paid for this talk, it's just an opportunity to share ideas and meet people.
Click here to register.
Book Review: The End of Overeating
The End of Overeating was written based on the personal journey of Dr. David A. Kessler (MD) to understand the obesity epidemic, and treat his own obesity in the process. Kessler was the FDA commissioner under presidents George HW Bush and Bill Clinton. He is known for his efforts to regulate cigarettes, and his involvement in modernizing Nutrition Facts labels on packaged food. He was also the dean of Yale medical school for six years-- a very accomplished person.
Kessler's book focuses on 1) the ability of food with a high palatability/reward value to cause overeating and obesity, 2) the systematic efforts of the food industry to maximize food palatability/reward to increase sales in a competitive market, and 3) what to do about it. He has not only done a lot of reading on the subject, but has also participated directly in food reward research himself, so he has real credibility. The End of Overeating is not the usual diet book baloney.
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Kessler's book focuses on 1) the ability of food with a high palatability/reward value to cause overeating and obesity, 2) the systematic efforts of the food industry to maximize food palatability/reward to increase sales in a competitive market, and 3) what to do about it. He has not only done a lot of reading on the subject, but has also participated directly in food reward research himself, so he has real credibility. The End of Overeating is not the usual diet book baloney.
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