Dr. Ron Rosedale - the role of insulin

[moremuscle]

Hi buddies,

Those of you who know me from the GF Kitchen know that I am rather fond of the paleolithic diet and the evolutionary theory behind it. I know some of you have been inspired by some of the articles and books we've studied on the subject so I thought I would share with you the following link to a four part article written by Dr. Ron Rosedale about metabolism and the role of insulin in our health. I think the four part text is from a speach he has given at some point in the past. There is also a book written by Rosedale - I've forgotten the title, OOPS. I will find it for you if you are interested.

As far as I can see from reading only part one of the above mentioned article Dr. Rosedale's theory is very much in accordance with that of the Eades in their book "Protein Power".

I think many of you will find the text interesting since it talks about aging, talks about auto-immune diseases, the immune system, common colds, the role of medications given to treat symptoms rather than the underlying cause etc etc.

The text is on Dr. Mercola's site - please just skip Dr. Mercola's comments at the top if you're annoyed by his self promotion. LOL!!

I found the reference to the article by way of a site about evolutionary fitness (another one of my true loves). Dr. Arthur De Vany is currently writing a book about the subject, evolutionary fitness. If you are interested you can read more about his book on his blog. www.arthurdevany.com

Happy reading!!

http://www.mercola.com/2001/jul/14/insulin.htm#

Love,
Karen

[jenilake]

Hi Karen,

I have always liked Dr. Mercola's ideas. Thank you for this article.
This is very interesting!

Love, KathyP

[Peggy]

Karen,

I think the book is the "Rosedale Diet".

http://www.ediets.com/news/article.cfm/ ... code_12738

Pips

[moremuscle]

Kathy,

I am so glad you found this article interesting. I do too. I am facinated with the thought that aging is actually a disease; something going on in the body that is less than perfect - nutritional/hormonal imbalances. I cannot stop being amazed at how powerful a tool our diet is if we become knowledable about what we actually do to our bodies when we choose to consume certain foods and not others etc.
I realize that time goes and we get older as time goes; but many of the diseases that we get as we age are apparently not inevitable - we can do a lot to prevent or repair damage already done by becoming more knowledgable about our diet and making some different choices.

I need to stop writing and get on with the reading instead. I still haven't read part 3 and 4.

Peggy, you are right about the book title. Thank you for your skillful research. You are a true librarian - it's in your blood, isn't it?!

Love,
Karen

[starfire]

I just took time to read the articles, Karen. Very interesting theory. I plan to check into it further. Also to read part 2-4.

Love, Shirley

[moremuscle]

Hi Shirley,

Glad you are enjoying the Rosedale Article. I read part 3 and 4 last night; did you?

One of the things that struck me was when he wrote that it isn't just glucose but also the other sugars like for example fructose that are bad for us and elevate the insulin and create insulin resistance in us. I recall a discussion we had about the other sugars versus glucose in the GF Kitchen - back then I think the consensus was that fructose (found for example in fruit) was not as bad as glucose. According to Rosedale apparently not so. Polly and Tex do you guys remember that discussion? And then furthermore Rosedale writes in this casual style article that eating a potato is like eating a big lump of sugar - yes, that is what he said.
Insulin makes the body store energy as fat. Insulin also makes it impossible to burn fat. Did you notice those statements? Of course he explains it all - the explanations are the harder part to understand and to remember. I find it interesting to think of insulin and it's role as an evolutionary adaptation to the environment - and we are not talking about modern environment like 21st Century style American living. We are talking about the periodic feast and famine that our paleolithic ancestors experienced. During feast (good hunt or good season for gathering) the body produced insulin which made it store energy as fat - during famine the body had the fat store that it could start to tap into.

Thank you for the feed back, Shirley.

Love,
Karen

[Peggy]

Peggy, you are right about the book title. Thank you for your skillful research. You are a true librarian - it's in your blood, isn't it?!

Love,
Karen

More like a bloodhound never been a librarian

Hugz,

[mle_ii]

Hi Shirley,

Glad you are enjoying the Rosedale Article. I read part 3 and 4 last night; did you?

One of the things that struck me was when he wrote that it isn't just glucose but also the other sugars like for example fructose that are bad for us and elevate the insulin and create insulin resistance in us. I recall a discussion we had about the other sugars versus glucose in the GF Kitchen - back then I think the consensus was that fructose (found for example in fruit) was not as bad as glucose. According to Rosedale apparently not so. Polly and Tex do you guys remember that discussion? And then furthermore Rosedale writes in this casual style article that eating a potato is like eating a big lump of sugar - yes, that is what he said.
Insulin makes the body store energy as fat. Insulin also makes it impossible to burn fat. Did you notice those statements? Of course he explains it all - the explanations are the harder part to understand and to remember. I find it interesting to think of insulin and it's role as an evolutionary adaptation to the environment - and we are not talking about modern environment like 21st Century style American living. We are talking about the periodic feast and famine that our paleolithic ancestors experienced. During feast (good hunt or good season for gathering) the body produced insulin which made it store energy as fat - during famine the body had the fat store that it could start to tap into.

Thank you for the feed back, Shirley.

Love,
Karen

I like some of the stuff he wrote, but some I don't agree with, especially this statement that you mentioned "Insulin makes the body store energy as fat. Insulin also makes it impossible to burn fat." Insulin does good things as well, and if this were 100% true I wouldn't be burning the fat I have been the last few weeks. A positive is that insulin is anabolic, meaning that it is also used to build muscle tissue (as well as fat). The hard part is getting insulin to drive energy into mucle building instead of fat building. That's why most body builders who bulk up get fat, they cannot control where the energy is driven so it is driven into making muscle and making fat.

Though it costs some money I highly recommend reading Lyle McDonald's Flexible Dieting book and his Ultimate Diet 2.0 book. He goes into how insulin works among other hormones and how to use them to your advantage by manipulating them. He also talks about why insulin does what it does in the feast and famine example you gave.

[moremuscle]

Hi Mike,

I've never heard about Lyle McDonald's "flexible Dieting" before - sounds interesting. Is he a bodybuilder or where does his interest spring from?

I think you are right that insulin has some positive aspects - muscle building may be one. As a bodybuilder I have never attempted to bulk up - I have always stayed lean even while building muscle. It is my opinion it is much too hard to loose unwanted fat, so I try not to bulk up at all. Of course now that I am on the paleo diet I get very few carbs and most of them are vegetables or fruit so I probably don't get huge spikes in insulin very often. I have lost a little weight in the last few months but I think it is because I don't have time to eat as much as I did before we opened the new store - stress related loss of appetite. It will get better.

Have you read the "Rosedale Diet" or just the 4 part article?

Love,
Karen

[mle_ii]

Hi Mike,

I've never heard about Lyle McDonald's "flexible Dieting" before - sounds interesting. Is he a bodybuilder or where does his interest spring from?

I think you are right that insulin has some positive aspects - muscle building may be one. As a bodybuilder I have never attempted to bulk up - I have always stayed lean even while building muscle. It is my opinion it is much too hard to loose unwanted fat, so I try not to bulk up at all. Of course now that I am on the paleo diet I get very few carbs and most of them are vegetables or fruit so I probably don't get huge spikes in insulin very often. I have lost a little weight in the last few months but I think it is because I don't have time to eat as much as I did before we opened the new store - stress related loss of appetite. It will get better.

Have you read the "Rosedale Diet" or just the 4 part article?

Love,
Karen

This guy is like one of the tops when it has to deal with leptin/insulin/dieting/etc. It's been his lifelong hobby I swear and he's read pretty much everything related to the body and nutrition. I wish I would have found him to begin with. The flexible dieting is great. A lot of problems with most diets is once people get to the weight they want they gain it back, he goes into how to maintain and what you need to make sure to do during "non stupid" types of diets to maintain muscle and lose fat. You can learn more here: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/ I will warn you that his writing style, especially on the internet, can turn folks off, but this guy knows his stuff.

I've only read the 4 part article, but I have heard reference to his Diet book and his Mastering Leptin book. Both of those references weren't very supportive of some of his ideas. One being that he has folks not eating enough protein while dieting, this has been a lot of problem with most diets. Most are geared towards "weight" loss and not "fat" loss as they should be. Skimping on protein while loosing weight is a recipe for muscle loss. :( He also mentions something about not snacking between meals, I suppose for folks that are eating junk between meals this might be a good thing, but eating more than the 3 squares a day increases metabolism. Though if you are maintaining then this probably isn't an issue.

[moremuscle]

Mike,

Thank you so much for the link to the body-recomposition site. I took a quick look at it - I really like what I saw. I love his style of writing - I'm going to enjoy this site very much when I have a little time at hand. I have food ready in the kitchen right now (just came back from the gym. My husband and kids plus a cousin who is spending the week with us are coming back right now from Putt-Putt Fun Place. I've gotta go.

Mike, guess what - I am so excited about my work outs. I've gotten back to working out 5-6 days a week now and I'm working out with a trainer 2 times a week now. Just started with the trainer on June 1st. I am still running for cardio - sometimes outside, sometimes on the treadmill. Working on getting my speed up and my endurance too - I would like to run a 10K in April. For now, my longest run is between 4 and 5 miles. I need to get in the car and measure the distance.

More later!!

Love,
Karen