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Hormone Expert: The Fastest Way to Insulin Resistance & the Big Lie About Calories! | Dr. Rob Lustig
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Insulin is the bad guy. I can't say it
any simpler than that. Yes, glucose is
bad, too. I'm not saying it's not.
Insulin's worse. Insulin is associated
with all of the diseases of metabolic
syndrome. Type 2 diabetes, hypertension,
dysipidemia, cardiovascular disease,
cancer, dementia. And why are we insulin
resistant? Because our mitochondria is
screwed. Mitochondria are fat. So the
lower the fat that you're eating, the
less well your mitochondria would work.
actually cause the insulin resistance.
This concept of calories is useless.
It's essentially garbage. Calories come
from bomb calorimeters. Our
mitochondria, not bomb calorimeters. So
there's leptin deficiency, there's
leptin resistance. Ultimately, the brain
sees the same thing. Not enough leptin.
But leptin deficiency is a total of 14
people in the world. Leptin resistance
is about 4 billion people. 14 people, 4
billion people. Which you think you
have? You got to fix the leptin
resistance. So, what causes the leptin resistance?
resistance?
Rob, why is excess insulin a problem and
how much is too much?
Why is excess insulin a problem? So,
let's talk about what insulin is.
Insulin is a hormone. It's made in one
place, works in another. It's made by
the beta cells of the pancreas. Works on
not quite every cell, but almost every
cell on the body. Now, for years, we
thought that insulin only had one job,
and that was to deposit glucose into cells.
cells.
Okay, that is
true, but it's way more than that. And
what it really is is it deposits glucose
and fatty acids into different types of
cells and the process
causes energy storage.
So it basically takes energy away from
the mitochondria that would burn it and
puts it in places where the mitochondria
can't necessarily get to it. And the
reason is because mitochondria
are like funnels
and you can basically fill a funnel
slowly in which case the funnel will be
able to direct the flow of uh the fluid
into the bottle you're trying to funnel
it into. But if you over stuff that
funnel and basically provide the liquid
or the even the solid too fast, what
will happen is you'll get it all over
the place. And ultimately your
mitochondria can only take energy at a
certain rate. And so insulin is the way
to divert energy away from the mitochondria.
mitochondria.
So the higher your insulin goes, the
more that's telling you that the
mitochondria are overwhelmed. And when
your mitochondria overwhelmed, that
causes them to be dysfunctional.
And the extra substrate is going to go
into a another storage form of chemical
energy which is not necessarily good for
you in the form of liver fat or you know
peripheral fat. And so high insulin
means energy storage rather than energy
burning. And what you want to be doing
is energy burning. So high insulin is a
bad guy in the story.
Insulin is high insulin is associated
with all of the diseases of metabolic
syndrome. Type 2 diabetes, hypertension,
dysipidemia, cardiovascular disease,
cancer, dementia, fatty liver disease,
polycystic ovarian disease. All eight of
those diseases are associated with high
insulin, i.e. insulin resistance.
That your insulin's not doing its job.
And the reason is because your
mitochondria are not doing their job and
that's why your insulin had to go up.
Okay. So the very top of this chain is
mitochondria becoming overwhelmed, too
much energy.
Let's talk about how they signal to the
body they don't want anymore and how
that leads to more insulin.
Well, I don't think we know how they do
that yet. We have some um uh you know
interesting uh clues to it though. Uh
when your mitochondria are in distress,
they send out distress signals and those
distress signals include mitochondrial
DNA. So you can find mitochondrial DNA
as a sign of mitochondrial um uh shall
we say exhaustion and also extracellular ATP.
ATP.
And that also is a sign that your cells
are on its last legs. It's kind of an
agonal event. And it basically tells the
body um I'm in trouble and it's time for
inflammation to help clean up the mess.
So this is work from Dr. Bob Navio at uh
University of California, San Diego, who
basically looks at mitochondrial uh
function and this concept of
salogenesis, which is the concept of
healing and how the mitochondria are
hooked to this concept of healing. And
it turns out that, you know, when your
mitochondria are not happy, they um they
they they tell you,
okay, so I'm just trying to piece this
together. we have too much glucose in
the system
or fructose in the system.
So either way with either one of those substrates,
substrates,
is insulin bringing that into the cell
to a point until the mitochondria say no more?
more?
Well, no. What's doing is insulin is
diverting it away from those cells so
that the mitochondria have a chance to basically
basically
burn it all the way through.
But doesn't the glucose need the insulin
to get into the cell?
Yes, that's the and that's the problem.
That is the problem. Certain cells need
insulin for glucose to get into the
cell. So, which cells need glucose to
get into the cell? Okay, the liver
and the fat tissue.
Now the muscle does not need glucose to
get into the cell because if the gluc if
if if muscle needed insulin to get
glucose into the cell then every type 1
diabetic would be paralyzed.
Now insulin does have effects on the
muscle, no question. But it's not for
glucose. It's for amino acids.
So insulin is necessary to get amino
acids into the muscle cell. And that's
for growth. In order to increase muscle
size, muscle mass, you need those u
amino acids to make the actin and the
meosin that basically make the muscle fibers.
fibers.
So insulin is very important for muscle
growth, but it is not necessary for
muscle burning.
Okay, let's take another cell besides muscle.
muscle.
So insulin's needed to get that glucose
into the cell. Mitochondria become overwhelmed.
overwhelmed.
Let's take brain as an example. There's
insulin made in the brain. There are
insulin receptors in the brain. So your
brain must need insulin, right? On the
other hand, if you have no insulin, your
brain still works fine.
Okay? As type 1 diabetics, they're not
unconscious. They're not comeosse.
Okay? In fact, glucose gets into neurons
without insulin. And the reason is
because insulin affects really only one
glucose transport, two glucose
transporters, glute 2 and glute 4. Okay.
Glute 5 is the fructose transporter.
Glute 3 is insulin independent and glute
one is insulin independent. Glute one is
the one that's in the brain. So in fact
your brain does not need insulin to get
the glucose into the brain. It goes in anyway.
anyway.
So what's insulin doing in the brain?
Why are there insulin receptors in the
brain? And are there insulin receptors
on all brain cells? No. Where are the
insulin receptors? They're in the hypothalamus.
hypothalamus.
They're in the vententral tegmental
area. They're in areas that are related
to food intake. So insulin is a driver
of food uh uh metabolism. It when your
insulin is working right in your brain,
it's one of the signals that tells you,
"Hey, I'm in the middle of metabolizing
a meal. Cut it out. Don't eat anymore."
So, it's part of the acute satiety response,
response,
but it's not forcing glucose into cells
like it is in say the liver or the
muscle or the fat. All right. Well,
let's take fat for example here. We'll
leave the brain aside too, muscle aside.
I just want to try and get most upstream
to understand the fundamentals here
where in my understanding insulin comes
in allows that glucose to get into the
cell and then it's going to go to the
mitochondria. But then I want to tie
this back to what we said before about
the mitochondria becoming overwhelmed.
Then it's going to signal, we're not
exactly sure how,
that we have enough energy here. I'll
have you take it. What the insulin did,
what the insulin did was it forced the
glucose into the cell, but it didn't
necessarily say go to the mitochondria.
It might be going to fat
for storage. It's basically taking the
uh the weight of the of what you're
bringing in and diverting it away from
the mitochondria so that the
mitochondria don't get even more
dysfunctional than they already are. So
insulin is driving energy away from
mitochondria, not toward mitochondria.
So it's going into cells, but it's not
going toward mitochondria.
Okay. So what takes it from somewhere in
the cell to the mitochondria?
The lack of insulin.
Um so the first step is glucose has to
be converted to pyrovate and that's and
that is the process called glycolysis.
So that gen generates a little bit of
ATP. There is a glucose uh uh uh uh
there's an enzyme that increases glucose
uh uptake into cells. That enzyme is
called PI3 kynise phosphotidal andositol
3 kynise. This is the enzyme that Luke
Canley at uh first at Harvard and then
at Cornell uh discovered and showed that
this is the primary way by that cancer cells
cells
snarf up glucose is that their P3 kynise
is turned on way high and they'll grab
all the glucose they can irrespective of
the insulin level. Okay. And so they're
not it's not necessarily insulin
dependent. The the PI3 kinace will grab
and snarf whatever glucose is floating
by. And the more PI3 kinace that's
activated, the more glucose will enter
the cell because cancer cells need lots
and lots of glucose because cancer cells
don't have functional mitochondria.
They ferment to make their ATP. they
don't burn it in mitochondria to make
their ATP.
So cancer cells and also fetal cells by
the way you know during pregnancy same
thing you don't you need ATP but you
don't necessarily
need um uh insulin to uh uh uh generate it.
it.
So uh insulin will come in uh sorry
glucose will come in sorry insulin
basically tells the cell don't send it
to mitochondria send it to storage.
Insulin is the energy storage hormone.
More insulin
more energy stored either as glycogen in
the liver and as fat everywhere else.
Okay let's talk about our fat cell here.
Somebody consuming too much sugar, too
many carbs,
blood sugar goes up, insulin goes up,
the fat cells getting this glucose
deposited within it,
fatty acids, right?
right?
Okay, explain that part. The fatty acid
on top of that.
So the fatty acids will be in the LDL
or in the VLDL, the triglyceride, either
or. And the glucose will be you know on
its own glucose circulating and the u
insulin will stimulate the glute for
transporter for glucose to get across
into the fat cell and then that glucose
can be turned into triglyceride in the
fat cell to increase fat stores.
In addition, the insulin will stimulate
another enzyme on the fat cell called
lipoprotein lipase. And that enzyme will
snarf and soak up and suck up
circulating lipid off LDL and VLDL
and throw it into the cell where it then
gets um uh turned into uh triglyceride
as well. So you have two things two two
different transport mechanisms in the
fat cell and both are insulin driven.
The glute 4 transporter is insulin
driven and lipoprotein lipase is insulin
driven. The glute 4 transporter is for
the glucose.
The lipoprotein lipase is for the fat.
Either way you're making more fat. So
insulin's really good at making fat.
Well, let's take the story even further.
Somebody's doing this over a long period
of time. Fat cells are continuing to get
That is the body's natural way of
storing energy. When does that become problematic?
problematic?
Right? So, how much fat is too much fat?
That's the question you're asking.
Well, first remember that there are
three fat depots in the body. Okay? The
fat depot that you're thinking about
right now and that we'll talk about this
moment is the subcutaneous or big butt
fat. But there are two other fat depots
that we have to deal with and we'll do
that after. Okay. The other one the
other two are the visceral fat or the
big belly fat and also the liver fat. So
we have big butt fat, big belly fat and
liver fat. And they're not all the same.
They have different qualities. They have
different regulatory mechanisms. They
have different stimuli. And they have
different blood supplies. And they all
do different things for your body or
against your body.
Before you get into this, let me set the
scene. We're taking in too much energy.
The body storing fat. You've talked
about these three different areas that
it can go into.
Does it go into one before the others?
Which fat depot it goes into depends on
the metabolic status of the individual
at the time the fat came in
that the energy came in. So I can't
answer that question because everybody's
different at at different times of the
day and at different points in their
life. And uh you know it's it's it's
much more complicated than one takes
precedence over the other. Now if you
are insulin sensitive
insulin sensitive
the preferential storage place will be
the subcutaneous or big butt fat. So in
an insulin sensitive person subcutaneous
fat will get the uh the energy first.
Okay. Now,
how much fat can you gain before your
subcutaneous fat becomes a problem?
There is a limit. Everyone has a limit.
And once you go above that limit, then
you start getting into problems. On
average, about 10 kilos, 22 lbs.
So you can most people when they're
insulin sensitive can gain 22 pounds and
show no signs of metabolic mayhem
but at a certain point you reach a an asmtote
asmtote
a a peak and at that peak things then
start to decompensate. So why do they decompensate?
decompensate?
your fat cells snarfing fat or glucose
into the fat cell and building fat and
the fat droplet, the fat vacule gets
bigger and bigger and bigger and so your
fat grows. Your fat cells don't grow,
okay? I mean, sorry, your fat cells
don't multiply, they grow. Okay? You
don't make more fat cells. You grow the
fat cells you have. So the fat vacule in
each fat cell gets bigger and bigger.
And at a certain point, the perilipin
border that circles that fat vacule
where the fat's been placed
can't stretch wide enough. Kind of like
a balloon. Okay? Every balloon has a
point at which it can't hold the air
anymore and it bursts. Well, kind of
like that for a fat vacule. You put so
much in, you put so much in, you put so
much in, it gets bigger, bigger, bigger,
bigger, and finally the perilipin border
can't hold it all. And when that
happens, it starts leaking. And then the
fat that should be in the fat vacule now
ends up in the cytoplasm of that cell
and that chokes off the cell and now
that cell will die.
You have killed that fat cell. Well, now
you have basically a uh you know a uh a
grease uh um uh uh problem. Okay, you
got to clear the grease. Okay.
So, what do you do? You recruit that
fat, that dead fat cell with all those,
you know, uh with all those fatty acids
that have now spilled out and have
killed that cell. Okay. That has to
ultimately be um uh you know, you have
to call in the the cleanup crew and
that's the macrofasages. And so, that
recruits the macroofasages to come and
chew up all that grease and you know,
get it out of the body. Okay. In the
process, those macrofasages secrete
cytoines which basically bring more macrofasages
macrofasages
and so now you've got an whole
inflammatory process going on. And then
those macrofasages, those cytoines end
up in the bloodstream.
And the level of the cytoines like TNF
alpha and IL6 will go up.
The question is do they go up to the
point where they start affecting other organs
organs
and the answer is depends on how much
fat you're dealing with and it also
depends on the volume of distribution of
the liquid which happens in this case to
be blood. So the volume of distribution
of the peripheral you know blood system
of your body which is you know basically
you know all the blood is 6 L.
Okay. So you're basically increasing
protein concentrations, you know, these
inflammatory proteins in the blood and
you're putting it into a 6 L volume.
Well, 6 L is a lot of blood and so the
you know that you have to generate a
huge increase in those cytoines
before it will reach a concentration
that will ultimately affect the liver or
affect the brain or affect some other
part of the body in a negative fashion.
So in general
your subcutaneous fat can expand by
about 10 kilos
before the uh amount of cytoines that
are generated by those you know dying
fat cells reach a point that it causes
metabolic mayhem.
Okay, that's where your body wants to
put the fat, put the extra energy. Now,
Now,
there are two other places. There's the
visceral fat and there's the liver fat.
So, let's talk about each one of those
separately. Now, visceral fat.
What drives visceral fat accumulation?
What drives big belly fat accumulation? Answer,
Answer,
not calories.
The answer is cortisol.
Now, how do we know that? Okay, cuz in
general, big belly fat goes up when big
butt fat goes up, too. They go up
together. Okay, it's un it's rare for
one to be separate from the other, but
it happens. And that's the key is when
does it happen that the big belly fat
goes up and the big butt fat goes down?
And the answer is depression.
Depression, major depressive disorder.
So we have there are patients who are
admitted to the hospital to keep
themselves from themselves. Okay? They
are suicidal. They are major depressive
disorder. Life has lost all meaning and
they want to die. Okay? and we have to
admit them to the hospital, you know,
emerently usually to basically prevent suicide.
suicide.
You take those people, they're not
eating, they're anhydonic, they derive
no pleasure from food, they are losing weight.
weight.
Major depressive disorder results in
weight loss. It's one of the questions
on the Beck Depression Inventory.
do you have weight loss? And the reason
is because people who are depressed
don't eat. They're losing weight.
But you stick them in a scanner
and it turns out their visceral fat's
going up. At the same time, their
subcutaneous fat is going down.
So if visceral fat were due to food,
that wouldn't be happening.
Visceral fat is due to cortisol.
Cortisol increases visceral fat
accumulation. And anything that
increases your stress is going to
increase your visceral fat. Why does
this happen? Because your visceral fat
is much easier to lift the fat out of
than the subcutaneous fat. Subcutaneous
fat is kind of stuck there. It's very
hard to lift it out. That's why women
find it so hard to lose that big butt
even when they're dieting. Okay? They'll
lose it from their belly, but they won't
lose it from their butt because
subcutaneous fat is much harder to fish
it out. Metabolically active fat is the
visceral fat. And so when you're in a
stress situation,
that's your um go-to in terms of getting energy
energy
is the visceral fat. And the reason is
because the visceral fat drains directly
into the liver, drains through the
portal vein. Remember we talked about
the volume of distribution being 6 L for
the subcutaneous fat. Well, for visceral
fat, the volume of distribution is about
250 cc's.
quarter of a liter. So 6 L a quarter of
a liter 24 times the concentration.
So when you start um accumulating
visceral fat,
those cytoines come and they're
releasing those cytoines into the portal circulation
circulation
and the concentration is 24 times
greater because the volume of
distribution of the portal system is way
smaller than the volume of the general
systemic circulation. And that means
that your liver and your brain are going
to see higher levels of cytoines
for a smaller amount of fat that's been
been accumulated.
And so visceral fat is much more potent
as a driver of metabolic disease than is
subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat is a much
bigger problem and that's why stress is
such a an issue in our society because
it's generating visceral fat.
And then finally we have number three
liver fat. Now liver fat.
What makes liver fat? Two things. Sugar
and alcohol.
Sugar and alcohol make liver fat. Does
dietary fat make liver fat? Nah.
What about other foods?
Branch chain amino acids can make liver
fat too, you know. So, lucine isolucine
veene. So, shall we say low quality protein?
protein?
Branch chain amino acids like what is in
protein powder. So, you need those to
make muscle. But when you're not making
muscle, then those end up becoming liver fat.
fat.
uh Chris Nuggard at Duke University for
you know demonstrated this very nicely
is that branch chain amino acids are
part of the problem of liver fat. So
what makes liver fat? Glue uh fructose
alcohol and branch chain amino acids.
You know what that's called? That's
called ultrarocessed food.
So ultrarocessed food drives
calories, therefore subcutaneous fat.
Okay. Does it drive visceral fat? Not
specifically, except that people who are
stressed often try to find solace in
their stress by eating ultrarocessed
food. So it becomes an indirect driver
because of the cortisol which increases
your appetite and then finally it
generates liver fat directly.
Now how many kilos or pounds of liver
fat can you store before you see
metabolic mayhem?
I would be guessing I'll say quarter pound.
pound.
Half a pound. Half a pound. Okay.
Quarter of a kilo. Half a pound. So 10
uh 22 lb of subcutaneous fat equals
about 4 lb of visceral fat equals about
a half a pound of liver fat in terms of
causing problems causing metabolic
problems. So which is the worst?
Sounds like liver.
Liver fat's the worst. And what makes
liver fat? Ultrarocessed food
and alcohol.
And alcohol. Well, that's ultrarocessed.
Okay. So, so it depends on which Fat
Depot. It depends on what the driver is
and it depends on your metabolic status
when it happens. So, not a simple
calculus. It's not something where you
say, "Oh, this then that." You know, you
have to know who the patient is, and
that will tell you where the fat's going
to go.
All right, that was brilliant. I want to
follow up in a lot of different areas here.
here.
Starting with visceral fat. So we know
cortisol is the root cause there.
But if somebody is taking in a lot of
carbs, a lot of sugar,
is there some overspill
from subcutaneous fat? Now, I shouldn't
say overfill because that's two
different systems, but if the body's overwhelmed,
overwhelmed,
can that build up with an abundance of
energy as well? secondarily.
Oh, absolutely. Cuz insulin will drive
energy into visceral fat, but cortisol
is the big driver. But remember, when
you have high cortisol, you're going to
eat a lot.
That's what happens in Cushing syndrome.
Okay? Cushing syndrome is
hypercortisolism and you end up with
this enormous big belly. You end up with
muscle wasting. You end up with thin
arms and legs, but you end up with this
huge big belly. And the reason is
because the cortisol directed all the
fat, you know, all the energy to the
visceral fat.
Okay. Earlier you mentioned the fact
that our fat cells with the subcutaneous,
subcutaneous,
they don't actually multiply. They just
grow in size. Isn't there some of
multiplication? Yeah, explain that.
They multiply till age two.
Okay. So, no multiplying once you're an adult.
adult.
Yeah. Right. Basically, you're you're
done. Now having said that, having said
that fat cells don't multiply but there
are things called patiposytes.
Now they look like fibiberblasts
but they're padatyposytes
and in response to insulin and cortisol
those piatices can turn into fat cells.
So in that way you can grow your fat but
it's not like it's not because they
divided. They're already there. They're
just kind of stringy little wispy things
until they get hit with the hormones
that basically get them to, you know,
finish their differentiation and then so
they can become fat cells. But there's
no cell division that goes on past age two.
two.
So they're kind of like atyposites in obeyance.
obeyance.
They're kind of like, you know,
emergency atyposites, but they're there.
They're just not dividing.
They're waiting to be ballooned up by
the right hormonal environment.
Kind of like having a spare tire that
doesn't have any air in it.
It's there. God forbid you should need
it, but you got to put some air in it
for it to work.
Let's zoom back and talk about our
thesis as a whole. So, we're having too
many carbohydrates, too many sugars.
We're raising insulin.
You talked about the chronic diseases
associated with that throughout the
body. But let's get into physiology
wise. What's actually happening there?
Every cell in your body has a point in
time in its life when it wants to grow.
And every cell in your body has a point
in time when it wants to burn.
growth, burn, growth, burn. Now, the
substrate for both is glucose. Glucose
causes growth. Glucose causes burning.
That's true. But there's a switch in the
cell that determines, am I going to grow
or am I going to burn?
Now, let's do a little thought experiment.
experiment.
Each of us starts out as a one cell, a
zygote. Okay? sperm and egg meet, you
get a zygote. One cell. Now that one cell
cell
becomes two.
Those two cells become four.
Four cells become eight. Okay? Eight
cells become 16. Okay? You starting to
get to an embryo, right? And then and
there's a doubling and a doubling and a
doubling and a doubling and you end up
with a baby. And then that baby has to
then become an adult.
Okay? So you start out with one cell
and that has to become an adult of 10
trillion cells.
So you go from one cell to 10 trillion cells.
cells.
How many doublings does it take to get
from one cell to 10 trillion cells?
Probably less than we think because when
we start getting up there
it's an exponent. So, it's 2 to the what
equals 10 trillion?
I don't know. I'm just assuming it's
like the penny doubling thing where it
seems like it's nothing and then
eventually it's just like flips on a
dime. I'm assuming similar kind of thing.
thing.
So, how many is it, Jesse?
35.
You're not not too bad. Way closer than
most. 41.
2 to the 41 doublings gets you to be an
adult. You go from zygote to adult. 41
dlings. Now, some of those will have
occurred in uterero and some of those
will have occurred after birth.
Now, how many of them how many of the
doublings occurred in uterero and how
many of the doublings occurred after
birth? So, I need two numbers that add
up to 41.
Okay, I'll say
39 and two.
Not quite, but you got the right idea.
Okay, it's 36 and five.
So 2 to the 36 gets you to a newborn
and then the last five gets you to an
adult. People freak out when you think
about that, but I mean I'll I'll do it
for you. Okay, standard baby 7 lb. Okay,
first doubling 14 lb. Second doubling 28
lb. Third doubling 56 lb. Fourth
doubling 112 lb. Fifth doubling 224 lb.
So adult with metabolic syndrome. Okay.
So 2 to the 41 36 in uterero and five
after birth.
Kind of cool, huh?
When you think about it. So
there has to be a method for the body to use
use
to go from
growth in uterero
to slowing down growth and ultimately
burning as an adult.
How does that happen? And the answer is
whole bunch of hormones.
Okay? But ultimately there are three
enzymes in each cell that determine
which way the glucose goes. Those three
enzymes, we mentioned one of them
before. PI3 kynise, that's the spigot
that lets the glucose in. The second
one's called AMKase.
That's the fuel gauge on the cell to
tell it whether or not it needs to burn
because ATP is running out.
And if ATP is not running out then you
won't send it and you might send it to
growth instead the glucose. And then the
last one is called mTor mamalian target
of raprapamy. And what that enzyme does
it determines whether the cell's ready
So if your cell is in burning mode, your
PI3 kinace is low, your AMP kynise is
high and your mTor is low.
Conversely, if you're in growth mode,
then it's the opposite. Your PI3 kynise
is high, your AMP kynise is low, and
your mTor is high. So you have burning,
you have growth, and those three enzymes determine
determine
which way the glucose is going to go. Is
it going to growth or is it going to
burning? Okay? And it can't do both.
It's got to do one or the other. Okay?
Think of it like a cord of wood. Okay?
You can do two things with the cord of
wood. You can burn it in a fireplace for
heat, or you can build furniture, but
you can't do both.
Okay, one or the other. And these three
enzymes determine which way it's going
to go. So if you're in growth mode, you
grow. If you're in burning mode, you
burn. And the three enzymes have to be
in synchrony with each other in order to
do that. What if those three enzymes are
not in synchrony? What if they're off?
What if they're not doing exactly what
growth or burning would dictate
everyone? So basically you've got three
enzymes two veilances high low or on off
that means you have two to the three
permutations you have eight permutations
one of them is growth one of them is
burning that means there are six more
every one of those is a chronic disease
it is the dynamy
of those three enzymes that lead to the
chronic disease and so the question is
what did that and the answer is that's
our envirment environment. That's our nutrition.
nutrition.
Turning those on or off. It turns out
those three enzymes are all kinases.
They're all phosphorolatable.
So that's what a kynise is. You get
phosphate put on it and it changes the
enzyme, changes the activity. Okay? So
kynise can turn on, can turn off based
on its phosphorilation status. Well,
what determines the phosphorilation
status? the metabolic status inside the
cell reactive oxygen species
which your mitochondria make. So when
your mitochondria make ROS's it tells
those three enzymes to go one way and
not the other way. So everything is in
concert as long as those three enzymes
are doing what they're supposed to all
at the same time. When they go when they
fall out of synchrony that's when you
end up with disease.
And those are determined by what the
mitochondria is doing. Fix the
mitochondria. Fix the whole thing.
I had asked about insulin
and its contribution to the chronic
diseases. Connect that piece with what
you just said. Well, so when your
mitochondria are not working, the
insulin is going to basically have to go
up in order to divert the glucose away
from the mitochondria, the pyrovate away
from the mitochondria to go to something
else. So the pyrovate can be used in the
Randall cycle to make uh uh proteins or
it can be used in the denovo lipogenesis
to make lipids or it can be used in the
um uh pentos phosphate shunt to make
ribos for DNA. Okay. So you can grow the
cell. Yeah. I mean you can sorry you can
you can you know grow the cell so it can divide.
divide.
Okay. Now you don't want the cell to
divide if you're supposed to be in
burning mode. That's what happens in
your coronary arteries. You get coronary
artery smooth vasc vascular muscular um
uh growth. That's what makes the uh the
coronary artery that much uh thicker and stiffer.
stiffer.
And then it's a lot easier for a plug,
you know, for a thrombus to come, you
know, plug it up and now you have a
heart attack.
Okay. In addition, that insulin is a
growth factor. And so when the insulin
goes up, it causes glands to grow. And
when glands grow, much more chance for a
tumor to develop. So there's your breast cancer.
cancer.
Okay? And insulin causes diversion of
energy in the brain away from neurons
because the insulin receptors are on
astraytes. Okay? And so they end up
storing glycogen. And when they store
glycogen that starts the phosphotau
thing and that's been associated with Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's.
So the more insulin,
the more growth
and the more growth when it's not
supposed to grow, the more risk for disease.
disease.
In this whole thesis of too many carbs,
too much sugar, raising the insulin,
there's a double-edged sword here. We
just talked about the insulin piece and
the damage it can cause, but elevated
blood glucose can cause small vessel
damage as well. Bring that piece in. So
glucose is like grains of sand. Okay?
The higher your blood glucose goes, the
more grains of sand you got. Okay? Now,
if you only have a couple grains of
sand, like you've got liquid going, like
no big deal. Okay? But what if you have
a lot of grains of sand and you have
liquid going? it might actually damage
the inside of your um of your uh vascule.
vascule.
So high glucose causes
uh dysfunction of the internal vascule
especially small vessels. So causes
microvascular disease causes
retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy,
you know problems in the eye, problems
in the nerve, problems in the kidney. So
high blood glucose due to say type 1 diabetes
diabetes
will take its toll irrespective of
insulin or not. But
But
high blood insulin will cause
macrovascular disease because of that
growth that we just talked about
irrespective of the glucose.
So they do two different things to the vascule
vascule
and they're both bad, but they're
different. So the high blood glucose
causes small vessel disease. The high
blood insulin causes large vessel disease.
disease.
And usually you end up with both because
that's what diabetes is, is high blood
glucose and high blood insulin. So you
end up with both.
So there's type two diabetes for you.
What's I've always found interesting as
a pediatrician, you know, we always had
type 1 diabetes. You know, that was
always in our portfolio, but now we have
type 2 diabetes too, which we never had.
You know, when I entered medical school,
type 2 diabetes in children was unheard
of. It was reportable. Now it's
one-third of all patients.
Okay? And it happened on my watch. And
so when I learned diabetes, I learned
type one.
And what we learned was that it took
years and years and years of high blood glucose
glucose
to affectuate that microvascular disease problem.
problem.
But what was interesting was when type 2
diabetes came around.
We could see patients in clinic,
pediatric patients, adolesccents who
didn't have diabetes yet, but they had
high blood insulin. They had insulin resistance.
resistance.
They were obese, but they were not
diabetic. They had normal blood
glucosis. They had normal glucose
tolerance. So, it wasn't from hypoglycemia,
hypoglycemia,
but they already had albumin in their
urine. They had micro albuminura.
They already had the renal the kidney manifestation
manifestation
of insulin acting on the kidney.
and they were adolescents,
not 40 years later. They were already
kids. They were just kids and they
already had signs of insulin damage.
So people think diabetes is because of
high blood glucose. They think that all
the damage is due to the high blood glucose.
glucose.
That is wrong. That is a mistake. That's
because they didn't live through it like
I did.
In fact, in 2008, the group at um at uh
Joselyn, okay, Suda Biddinger was the um
uh first author, but this was in Ron
Khan's lab, developed my favorite mouse
in the whole world. I love this frigin
mouse. Best mouse ever. Okay, this mouse
basically sends everybody back to
medical school because it is so paradoxical.
paradoxical.
It is so out of line with everything we
learn in medical school. And it's true.
And you know, I mean, it's because what
we teach in medical school is wrong.
Okay? And this is the mouse that proves
they're that they're wrong. Okay? This
mouse is called the Padurkco mouse. P O
D I R KO.
What is it? It is the insulin receptor
has been lifted genetically out of the
kidney of this mouse. Okay. The rest of
the mouse is perfectly fine.
Wild type mouse everywhere except the kidney.
kidney.
No insulin receptor in the kidney.
So this animal has normal glucose
tolerance because the beta cells work fine.
fine.
This animal has normal liver because the
liver works fine. This animal has normal
brain because the brain works fine.
But this animal has the worst diabetic
nephropathy, worst diabetic kidney
disease of any animal model on the planet.
planet.
Normal blood glucose,
worst diabetic nephropathy.
If glucose is the cause of the kidney
disease, how does this animal that has
normal glucose have the worst kidney disease?
disease?
That's why everyone has to go back to
medical school to figure that out.
Okay. And the answer is because it's not
the glucose that caused the damage.
It's the insulin.
So these animals have normal insulin,
but the insulin is not working at the
kidney. And so they end up with diabetic
nephropathy. They end up with diabetic
kidney disease.
That's telling us that it's the insulin
that's the problem. And that's why these
adolescents who don't have diabetes yet
have micro albuminuria which is the
first sign of of the you know transition
to metabolic syndrome to to diabetic
kidney disease even with normal glucose.
So insulin is the bad guy. I can't say
it any simpler than that. Yes, glucose
is bad too. I'm not saying it's not.
Insulin's worse.
Hence why I opened up with that and
we've been focusing on it.
Well, insulin's a good thing to focus on.
on.
What's the youngest you've seen somebody
acquire type 2 diabetes? And the reason
I asked that is because in our world,
it's common knowledge that insulin
resistance can go on in the background
for a decade or even more.
Oh, yeah.
Before somebody becomes type 2 diabetic.
So I would assume
in kids it would still take a period of
time before they get to that point. So
what's what's the youngest you see?
Age five. Wow.
Wow.
I've seen a 5-year-old type 2 diabetic. Crazy.
Crazy.
Yeah. Now there are genetic forms of
type 2 diabetes which are you know even
earlier like for instance rebs and
mendenhole and leprechonism. Okay. They
have genetic defects in the insulin receptor.
receptor.
So they have basically, you know,
insulin receptor deficiency to start
with. They're like the pedural mouse
many times over because it's in every
organ. Okay? And you find those out like
in the normal newborn nursery because
they're they're sick as hell. And their
blood glucose ends up in the hundreds.
And when you measure their insulin, it's
also in the thousands. Okay? But the
insulin because there's no receptor to
bind to can't bring the glucose down.
Those babies, the leprechauns
especially, they die by age one. Okay?
Nobody, nothing can save them. Okay? We
haven't figured out how to fix those
babies yet. And I took care of those
babies, you know, as a pediatric
endocrine, you know, endocrinologist.
You know, they're rare, but they come,
you know, I would say probably one every
five years, you know, so I've taken care
of like three of them. Okay, they're
always always disasters.
But that's not what's happening in most
people. Most people it's insulin
resistance occurring not because of a
genetic defect but because of some
functional defect. And that functional
defect is usually mitochondrial dysfunction.
dysfunction.
Okay, so insulin's the bad guy today.
We mentioned the fact that this can go
on in the background for over a decade
causing disease silently in the background.
background.
Given that, what are some symptoms
people can look to
without going to the doctor to realize
if they're in that period of say 10, 15
years where things are a show
behind the scenes? And then objectively
when they go see their doctor, what
testing can they have done to see where
they're at on the spectrum, right?
So the question is, how do you diagnose
high insulin? And the answer is by lab
tests. But are there s signs or symptoms
that will tell you that? And the answer
is yeah, there are a few. There are a
few. Okay. So the first of course is
increasing waist circumference.
That'll tell you you're insulin
resistant. Okay. The second is insulin
doesn't just bind to the insulin
receptor. Insulin also binds to the
epidermal growth factor receptor, the
EGF receptor. This is on your skin and
it's particularly prevalent on extensor
surfaces of the skin. So like your
knuckles or the back of your neck or
behind your knees or in the cleavage
areas like under your uh bra strap,
okay? Or under the mammary gland, okay?
And what will happen is it will thicken
it up. Okay? Look like sort of like um
um alligator skin. Okay. And often uh
it'll change color. It's particularly
noticeable in African-Americans.
Okay. And so this has a name. It's
called aanthosis nigricans. Aanthosis.
When I was a med student in 1976.
Robin's pathology textbook had one
sentence on athtosis nigricans.
Okay. It was rare. I never saw it in
pediatrics all through my residency.
And now every kid in America has it if
you know where to look.
And so what that's telling you is that
the insulin level in the blood is high
because that's a manifestation of
insulin binding to this epidermal growth
factor receptor on the skin. So when you
see that, you don't even have to draw
the blood. You already know you got a problem.
problem.
And I would point this out to parents in
clinic. I would say to the mom, say,
"Mom, come over here. Look at the back
of the neck." Okay. What do you see? Oh,
rash. It's not a rash. Okay. Okay. You
um or ring around the collar. A lot of
them think it's ring around the collar.
I say, "Have you ever tried to wash it
off?" And they say, "Yeah, doesn't come
off." I said, "Right. Doesn't come off."
And so then I would go to the computer
and I would type in aanthosis nigricans
and so all the images would come up. I
say does that look like yours kid? Oh
yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I explained to them
this is extra insulin working on the
skin. This is a sign of high insulin. So
I don't even have to draw your kid's
blood and I already know what the
problem here is. Okay. And here's the
problem lady. Okay.
Your kid eats insulin's high straight to
fat. Your kids eats insulin high
straight to fat. Kid grows bigger bigger
bigger bigger until finally could get so
huge, so gargantuan, so enormous that
your pancreas, which makes the insulin
in your in your abdomen can't even make
enough for as big as your kid will have
gotten. Your kid basically your kid will
have outgrown its insulin supply. his
insulin supply. And when that day comes,
there won't be enough insulin to the
fat. Then the blood sugar stays in the
blood, starts to rise, and now you got
type two diabetes. That's where this is headed.
headed.
So she goes, "Oh my god, that's
terrible." I go, "Yes, it is. But the
good news is you're here and we could do
something about it if you choose to." Of
course, I won't choose to, right? I say,
'Well, the only thing we can do is get
the insulin down.
Get the insulin down. And the mom say,
'Well, how do you do that? I go, best
way, don't let it go up.
So, what makes it go up? Of course, she
doesn't know. I go, two things. Refined
carbohydrate and sugar.
That's what makes insulin go up, which
is true, by the way. Oh, branch chain
amino acids also make it go up, but
that's a little too much for them at
that point. But that's basically how we
handled all these patients,
you know, basically explaining to them
the clinical manifestations that we
could show them
linked to the pathophysiologic process,
linked to interventions that we know are successful.
successful.
And when they see it on their own kids'
neck and they see that it's a thing on
the computer, okay, it goes away. You
know, the belief system aspect of it
goes away and they start understanding
that they have to start taking in
factual information and that they
actually have to do something
lifestyle-wise to change their uh to to
to change their uh kids trajectory in
terms of metabolic risk.
And I would say 50, you know, based on
our clinic data, 50% of the time that
That wasn't always enough, but it was
enough a lot for an adult that's
noticing they have a lot of belly fat.
They're figuring they're
on this continuum we've been talking
about of insulin resistance.
They come to see you. What's the full
panel of objective tests you do on them
to see where they're at?
We do a bunch of tests, but um you know
the the the best tests are the most
expensive and we don't usually do those
and some of them are research you know
only. So we don't do those. So what do
we do? You know, I mean when when they
come in what what labs do we draw? Okay,
basically here's what we draw. draw a
fasting insulin.
We draw a hemoglobin A1C, but that's the
last thing to change. We draw a fasting
glucose, but that's even, you know,
later to change. Okay. Uh we draw um a
lipid panel and specifically we're
looking at apoan triglycerides
and we also draw an ALT alanine amot
transansferase because that tells us
about liver fat.
That's sort of the basics. That's the
basic package of the lab tests that we
draw. Oh, oh, I forgot. We also draw
uric acid.
And the reason for that is because sugar
makes uric acid go up and uric acid
increases risk for hypertension and gout.
gout.
So, we basically, you know, do cheap,
simple tests that are easily available
that insurance will cover.
And that gives us, I would say, 90% of
what we need to know.
Now, is there more to do? Sure.
But in general, that's enough. You know,
you know, we can get in the weeds on
what the other stuff is. But, you know,
in general, that that's that's what we
can do and that's what insurance will cover.
cover.
Let's come back to fructose. We
mentioned it was one of the three
culprits when it comes to liver fat
along with branch chain amino acids and alcohol.
Let's talk about physiology of fructose
entering the body, the liver and beyond.
You consume fructose.
Okay, first thing is something sweet
hits the tongue. Message goes tongue to
brain. Sugar's coming. Message goes
brain to pancreas. Sugar's coming.
Release the insulin.
Now, if the something sweet turned out
not to be fructose, but to be say an
artificial diet sweetener,
you still get the message release the insulin.
insulin.
Okay? So, keep that in mind. Okay? Sweet
alone generates the insulin, you know,
part of the insulin response. Now, the
rise in the blood glucose will be the
rest of the insulin response. But you
know the sweet alone will have primed
the beta cell to release insulin. So you
get that even before the uh food gets to your stomach.
your stomach. And we can prove that because there's a
And we can prove that because there's a phenomenon called the syphalic phase of
phenomenon called the syphalic phase of insulin secretion.
insulin secretion. You take a patient, you admit them to
You take a patient, you admit them to the hospital overnight.
the hospital overnight. They wake up in the morning, they're
They wake up in the morning, they're fasting, their blood glucose is 70,
fasting, their blood glucose is 70, everything's fine, right? You bring a
everything's fine, right? You bring a tray of food into
tray of food into the room and you let them look at it.
the room and you let them look at it. You let them smell it, but you don't let
You let them smell it, but you don't let them eat it.
them eat it. Got it? And then you take the tray out
Got it? And then you take the tray out of the room.
of the room. What happens to the blood glucose?
What happens to the blood glucose? Nothing. because they didn't eat
Nothing. because they didn't eat anything. What happens to the blood
anything. What happens to the blood insulin? It went up.
insulin? It went up. The more obese, the higher it went up.
The more obese, the higher it went up. But the insulin went up not because the
But the insulin went up not because the glucose changed, not because they ate
glucose changed, not because they ate anything, not because there were
anything, not because there were calories to work on. The insulin went up
calories to work on. The insulin went up because the brain
because the brain thought the food was coming.
syphalic phase of insulin secretion well known dates back you know to the 1970s a
known dates back you know to the 1970s a guy at University of Indiana by the name
guy at University of Indiana by the name of Terry Pley did this work you know way
of Terry Pley did this work you know way back when okay I actually worked on a
back when okay I actually worked on a disorder of that brain to pancreas
disorder of that brain to pancreas connection called hypothalamic obesity
connection called hypothalamic obesity that's how I got into the obesity
that's how I got into the obesity business in the first place with brain
business in the first place with brain tumors that basically
tumors that basically um uh destroyed that area of the brain
um uh destroyed that area of the brain that controls energy, metabolism, energy
that controls energy, metabolism, energy balance, and food intake. And so these
balance, and food intake. And so these kids would become massively obese after
kids would become massively obese after their brain tumor. And I was at St. Jude
their brain tumor. And I was at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and I was
Children's Research Hospital, and I was I was charged with figuring out how to
I was charged with figuring out how to help them. Okay, 350 400 lb. Okay, these
help them. Okay, 350 400 lb. Okay, these were kids who were normal weight and
were kids who were normal weight and height until their brain tumor
height until their brain tumor and then all hell broke loose and I had
and then all hell broke loose and I had to figure out what to do for them. And
to figure out what to do for them. And what we did was we gave them a drug that
what we did was we gave them a drug that suppressed insulin release
suppressed insulin release because we postulated that their problem
because we postulated that their problem was that the brain thought they were
was that the brain thought they were starving because that area of the brain
starving because that area of the brain was dead. And so their vag nerve, which
was dead. And so their vag nerve, which was telling the pancreas what to do, was
was telling the pancreas what to do, was telling it generate more insulin because
telling it generate more insulin because we can't see the leptin level. We can't
we can't see the leptin level. We can't see that you know that that energy
see that you know that that energy balance is normal. We think this b that
balance is normal. We think this b that the patient is starving. Therefore
the patient is starving. Therefore release more insulin and so the insulin
release more insulin and so the insulin levels would go skyhigh and that would
levels would go skyhigh and that would drive everything into fat. But we
drive everything into fat. But we couldn't fix that because the brain was
couldn't fix that because the brain was you know that area of the brain was
you know that area of the brain was dead. So what we did was we basically
dead. So what we did was we basically stopped the pancreas from making extra
stopped the pancreas from making extra insulin and lo and behold they started
insulin and lo and behold they started losing weight. But even more
losing weight. But even more importantly, they started exercising
importantly, they started exercising spontaneously. These were kids who sat
spontaneously. These were kids who sat on the couch, ate Doritos, and slept.
on the couch, ate Doritos, and slept. And now, because we got their insulin
And now, because we got their insulin down,
down, they had energy to burn instead of to
they had energy to burn instead of to store.
store. And so, they started being much more
And so, they started being much more active. And the parents would say, "Oh
active. And the parents would say, "Oh my god, I got my kid back." And the kids
my god, I got my kid back." And the kids would say, "This is the first time my
would say, "This is the first time my head hasn't been in the clouds since the
head hasn't been in the clouds since the tumor.
tumor. We reversed their metabolic mayhem by
We reversed their metabolic mayhem by getting their insulin down.
And that's just at the level of the tongue.
tongue. Okay. So now
Okay. So now the fructose goes further down gets into
the fructose goes further down gets into the stomach. Okay. It doesn't do
the stomach. Okay. It doesn't do anything in the stomach but then goes
anything in the stomach but then goes into the dadum.
into the dadum. And then the question is what happens to
And then the question is what happens to it there?
it there? And several things happen to it there.
And several things happen to it there. The first is that
The first is that your intestinal cells
your intestinal cells can actually turn fructose into fat.
can actually turn fructose into fat. Intestinal denovo lipogenesis. And so
Intestinal denovo lipogenesis. And so about 10% of the fructose load will get
about 10% of the fructose load will get turned into fat in the intestine
turned into fat in the intestine right away and get absorbed through the
right away and get absorbed through the lactals and into the lymphatic system
lactals and into the lymphatic system and come out and it's ky they're
and come out and it's ky they're kyomicrons and they get circulated and
kyomicrons and they get circulated and they go to the liver and they get
they go to the liver and they get cleared
cleared just 10% of the fructose load
just 10% of the fructose load but that leaves 90% of the fructose load
but that leaves 90% of the fructose load still there. And what happens then?
still there. And what happens then? So there's an enzyme in the intestine
So there's an enzyme in the intestine and it's called TXNP. TXNIP, thod
and it's called TXNP. TXNIP, thod thyroid inhibitory protein. Thyroidxin
thyroid inhibitory protein. Thyroidxin inhibitory protein. And this enzyme
inhibitory protein. And this enzyme basically
basically ratchets up the ability to absorb
ratchets up the ability to absorb fructose.
fructose. So, if you've never seen fructose and
So, if you've never seen fructose and you get a big bolus,
you get a big bolus, you don't absorb it. And the reason is
you don't absorb it. And the reason is because you haven't activated this
because you haven't activated this enzyme yet. And so, you end up with bad
enzyme yet. And so, you end up with bad diarrhea.
diarrhea. And pretty much anybody who goes crazy
And pretty much anybody who goes crazy on Halloween knows about bad diarrhea.
on Halloween knows about bad diarrhea. It's because they hadn't activated
It's because they hadn't activated enough of their TX nip. Okay? But if you
enough of their TX nip. Okay? But if you had Halloween every day,
had Halloween every day, then you wouldn't get diarrhea. you'd
then you wouldn't get diarrhea. you'd get fat instead. And it's because you
get fat instead. And it's because you ratcheted up your TXNIP. This is work
ratcheted up your TXNIP. This is work from Richard Lee at Harvard of this
from Richard Lee at Harvard of this whole TXN thing. Okay? that increases
whole TXN thing. Okay? that increases fructose absorption at the level of the
fructose absorption at the level of the intestine. And then that fructose goes
intestine. And then that fructose goes to the liver
to the liver and the glute 5 transporter in the liver
and the glute 5 transporter in the liver will suck that fructose out of the
will suck that fructose out of the portal system
portal system to a point. There's a limit to how well
to a point. There's a limit to how well that glute 5 transporter will work. If
that glute 5 transporter will work. If you over
you over uh uh stimulate, if you basically, you
uh uh stimulate, if you basically, you know, drink a 20 ounce Coke, which has
know, drink a 20 ounce Coke, which has way too much fructose for the u for that
way too much fructose for the u for that glutive transporter, then the liver will
glutive transporter, then the liver will grab what it can, but it can't grab
grab what it can, but it can't grab enough. And so you will end up with a
enough. And so you will end up with a serum fructose level that will be pres
serum fructose level that will be pres present in the peripheral circulation.
present in the peripheral circulation. So normally your fructose level in your
So normally your fructose level in your blood is zero because it doesn't make it
blood is zero because it doesn't make it past your liver. It goes intestine to
past your liver. It goes intestine to liver and goes, you know, and that's it.
liver and goes, you know, and that's it. But if you overwhelm your liver's
But if you overwhelm your liver's capacity,
capacity, then you will end up with a fructose
then you will end up with a fructose level. So what happens if you do that
level. So what happens if you do that and you drink that 20 oz Coke? Turns out
and you drink that 20 oz Coke? Turns out there are fructose receptors on beta
there are fructose receptors on beta cells and that makes them secrete more
cells and that makes them secrete more insulin because they have to clear it.
insulin because they have to clear it. And that's like a real disaster because
And that's like a real disaster because now you've got everything going wrong.
now you've got everything going wrong. But what happens in the liver to the 85%
But what happens in the liver to the 85% or so that gets cleared by that glute 5
or so that gets cleared by that glute 5 transporter goes into the cell. Fructose
transporter goes into the cell. Fructose gets converted to fructose 1 phosphate
gets converted to fructose 1 phosphate by the enzyme fructokinace.
by the enzyme fructokinace. And fructose 1 phosphate then gets
And fructose 1 phosphate then gets chopped up into two two three carbon
chopped up into two two three carbon fragments. and then they get turned into
fragments. and then they get turned into pyrovate at the level of the
pyrovate at the level of the mitochondria. They do not uh get turned
mitochondria. They do not uh get turned into glycogen.
into glycogen. So fructose does not go to glycogen.
So fructose does not go to glycogen. Glucose does go to glycogen. Fructose
Glucose does go to glycogen. Fructose does not go to glycogen. Fructose goes
does not go to glycogen. Fructose goes to the mitochondria. And that's one of
to the mitochondria. And that's one of the reasons why the mitochondria get
the reasons why the mitochondria get overwhelmed
overwhelmed because there's too much pyrovate at the
because there's too much pyrovate at the level of the mitochondria for the
level of the mitochondria for the mitochondria to handle because there was
mitochondria to handle because there was too much fructose coming into the cell
too much fructose coming into the cell in the first place.
in the first place. And so that's when the mitochondria go
And so that's when the mitochondria go don't do that and send that pyrovate off
don't do that and send that pyrovate off to become citrate then ail coa and then
to become citrate then ail coa and then that ail coa becomes malanil coa and the
that ail coa becomes malanil coa and the malanil coa then gets turned added two
malanil coa then gets turned added two carbon fragments at a time and you end
carbon fragments at a time and you end up with um fatty acids. That's how you
up with um fatty acids. That's how you end up with triglyceride. That's how the
end up with triglyceride. That's how the fructose becomes triglyceride. It goes
fructose becomes triglyceride. It goes to pyrovate first, then tries to enter
to pyrovate first, then tries to enter the mitochondria, can't. Gets thrown off
the mitochondria, can't. Gets thrown off as citrate. The citrate becomes acoa,
as citrate. The citrate becomes acoa, then malanil coa, and then fatty acids.
then malanil coa, and then fatty acids. Then those fatty acids get packaged with
Then those fatty acids get packaged with like the microsal transfer protein. And
like the microsal transfer protein. And now you have a VLDL. Now you have a
now you have a VLDL. Now you have a triglyceride molecule. And that
triglyceride molecule. And that triglyceride molecule can leave the
triglyceride molecule can leave the liver and increase your serum
liver and increase your serum triglycerides and serve as a substrate
triglycerides and serve as a substrate for either obesity or cardiovascular
for either obesity or cardiovascular disease. Or that triglyceride molecule
disease. Or that triglyceride molecule won't make it out of the liver at all
won't make it out of the liver at all and will precipitate as a lipid droplet
and will precipitate as a lipid droplet and now you have fatty liver disease.
and now you have fatty liver disease. And when you have fatty liver disease
And when you have fatty liver disease that generates the insulin resistance
that generates the insulin resistance and now your pancreas is going to make
and now your pancreas is going to make more insulin to make the liver do its
more insulin to make the liver do its job.
job. So, you've got the high insulin,
So, you've got the high insulin, you've got the fatty liver,
you've got the fatty liver, and you have the metabolic mayhem.
and you have the metabolic mayhem. Let's come back to the leptin piece.
Let's come back to the leptin piece. Make sure we all understand that.
Make sure we all understand that. Let's first talk about in a normal
Let's first talk about in a normal healthy body how that works and then how
healthy body how that works and then how insulin
insulin blocks
blocks leptin and how that works in the brain
leptin and how that works in the brain for somebody that's insulin resistant.
for somebody that's insulin resistant. So this is actually work I did um I'm
So this is actually work I did um I'm published in this u quite a while ago.
published in this u quite a while ago. Um so there's this hormone leptin. We
Um so there's this hormone leptin. We discovered leptin in 1994.
discovered leptin in 1994. Okay. And what leptin does is it's a
Okay. And what leptin does is it's a signal from the fat cell to the brain.
signal from the fat cell to the brain. Hey, I have enough energy on board. I
Hey, I have enough energy on board. I don't need to eat so much. I can also
don't need to eat so much. I can also engage in expensive metabolic processes
engage in expensive metabolic processes like puberty, pregnancy.
like puberty, pregnancy. Okay. No leptin, no puberty. No leptin,
Okay. No leptin, no puberty. No leptin, no pregnancy.
no pregnancy. Leptin is a permissive factor for
Leptin is a permissive factor for using energy for expensive stuff that
using energy for expensive stuff that costs energy because the leptin's
costs energy because the leptin's telling the brain, "I got it. Don't
telling the brain, "I got it. Don't worry. I got your back."
worry. I got your back." All right. Now, leptin deficiency,
All right. Now, leptin deficiency, therefore, is read by the brain as
therefore, is read by the brain as starvation.
But these people aren't starving. They're
these people aren't starving. They're fat.
fat. Why do they keep gaining weight? If
Why do they keep gaining weight? If leptin tells your brain you have enough,
leptin tells your brain you have enough, why doesn't it stop you? It should, but
why doesn't it stop you? It should, but it's not. Something's broken with the
it's not. Something's broken with the negative feedback. The servo mechanism
negative feedback. The servo mechanism is not not working because the leptin is
is not not working because the leptin is not telling the brain what's going on.
not telling the brain what's going on. That's called leptin resistance.
That's called leptin resistance. So there's leptin deficiency, there's
So there's leptin deficiency, there's leptin resistance. Ultimately, the brain
leptin resistance. Ultimately, the brain sees the same thing. Not enough leptin.
sees the same thing. Not enough leptin. But leptin deficiency is all a total of
But leptin deficiency is all a total of 14 people in the world. Leptin
14 people in the world. Leptin resistance is about 4 billion people.
resistance is about 4 billion people. 14 people. Four billion people. Which do
14 people. Four billion people. Which do you think you have?
you think you have? All right.
All right. 14 people, you know, we can give them
14 people, you know, we can give them shots of leptin
shots of leptin and we're replacing the leptin that's
and we're replacing the leptin that's missing and that make basically fixes
missing and that make basically fixes the problem. But if you have leptin
the problem. But if you have leptin resistance, giving extra leptin is not
resistance, giving extra leptin is not going to do anything because you already
going to do anything because you already got enough. It's just not working. You
got enough. It's just not working. You think it's going to work better from a
think it's going to work better from a bottle than it will be from your
bottle than it will be from your bloodstream. Forget about it.
bloodstream. Forget about it. You got to fix the leptin resistance. So
You got to fix the leptin resistance. So what causes the leptin resistance? And
what causes the leptin resistance? And this is the research that I've done. We
this is the research that I've done. We showed that insulin blocks leptin
showed that insulin blocks leptin signaling
signaling in the brain. Insulin blocks leptin
in the brain. Insulin blocks leptin signaling.
signaling. So the higher your insulin goes, the
So the higher your insulin goes, the less well your brain sees leptin.
less well your brain sees leptin. Now,
Now, that is the cut in the servo mechanism.
that is the cut in the servo mechanism. That's what basically turns a negative
That's what basically turns a negative feedback into a positive feedback. That
feedback into a positive feedback. That insulin blocks leptin.
insulin blocks leptin. Now, here's the question of the ages.
Now, here's the question of the ages. Why would God do that to us?
Why would God do that to us? What's in it for him for this to have
What's in it for him for this to have occurred as a you know a standard
occurred as a you know a standard phenomenon that only seems to create
phenomenon that only seems to create disease
disease that insulin should block leptin.
that insulin should block leptin. And the answer is we think
And the answer is we think evolutionarily you know thinking like
evolutionarily you know thinking like God now okay there are actually two
God now okay there are actually two times in your life when you actually
times in your life when you actually have to gain weight
have to gain weight and they are puberty and pregnancy.
and they are puberty and pregnancy. [Music]
[Music] If you don't gain weight during puberty
If you don't gain weight during puberty during puberty species dies out.
during puberty species dies out. If you don't gain weight during
If you don't gain weight during pregnancy
pregnancy species dies out.
species dies out. So if your leptin worked right all the
So if your leptin worked right all the time,
time, you could never gain the weight
and the species would die out. So, doesn't it make sense that the same
So, doesn't it make sense that the same hormone that's driving the weight gain
hormone that's driving the weight gain peripherally should be the same hormone
peripherally should be the same hormone that's blocking the leptin signaling to
that's blocking the leptin signaling to keep you eating
keep you eating centrally
centrally that they would be yolked together
that they would be yolked together so that insulin
so that insulin can tell the body and the brain store
can tell the body and the brain store and keep eating.
and keep eating. Because if insulin didn't block that,
Because if insulin didn't block that, then you would store and you'd stop
then you would store and you'd stop because the leptin would go up and that
because the leptin would go up and that would reduce your food intake and so you
would reduce your food intake and so you would never gain the weight. You would
would never gain the weight. You would be the 97 lb weakling on the beach,
be the 97 lb weakling on the beach, never being able to bulk up and
never being able to bulk up and therefore never being able to actually
therefore never being able to actually reproduce either.
So insulin blocking leptin actually makes perfect evolutionary sense. And
makes perfect evolutionary sense. And the reason is because we're only
the reason is because we're only supposed to be insulin resistant during
supposed to be insulin resistant during puberty, which by the way is a normal
puberty, which by the way is a normal part of puberty. Insulin resistance and
part of puberty. Insulin resistance and also during pregnancy. And insulin
also during pregnancy. And insulin resistance is a normal part of
resistance is a normal part of pregnancy.
pregnancy. The problem is we're insulin resistant
The problem is we're insulin resistant 24/7, 365,
24/7, 365, not just during puberty and pregnancy.
not just during puberty and pregnancy. And why are we insulin resistant?
And why are we insulin resistant? Because our mitochondria is screwed. And
Because our mitochondria is screwed. And why are mitochondria screwed?
why are mitochondria screwed? For all the reasons we've already
For all the reasons we've already discussed, the fructose, the alcohol,
discussed, the fructose, the alcohol, the branch chain amino acids, all the
the branch chain amino acids, all the extra calories. The good news in all
extra calories. The good news in all this,
this, all roads lead back to insulin.
all roads lead back to insulin. And it's a very straightforward process
And it's a very straightforward process to bring that back down. You've already
to bring that back down. You've already mentioned it.
mentioned it. That's not fair. That's not It is not
That's not fair. That's not It is not straightforward. If it was
straightforward. If it was straightforward, it would be easy. It is
straightforward, it would be easy. It is not easy.
not easy. Okay, I'm not saying it's easy, but it I
Okay, I'm not saying it's easy, but it I do believe it's straightforward when
do believe it's straightforward when people have the right information. We
people have the right information. We got to lower the sugars, get rid of
got to lower the sugars, get rid of them, and get rid of processed foods.
them, and get rid of processed foods. Ultrarocessed foods, the bad guy. I also
Ultrarocessed foods, the bad guy. I also want to talk about some of these foods
want to talk about some of these foods that are in a gray area,
that are in a gray area, especially for people that are
especially for people that are metabolically unhealthy like fruit.
metabolically unhealthy like fruit. But the obvious first step is the two we
But the obvious first step is the two we started with there. get rid of those.
started with there. get rid of those. Bring the blood glucose down, bring the
Bring the blood glucose down, bring the insulin down, regain your leptin
insulin down, regain your leptin signaling
signaling and prevent chronic disease and the
and prevent chronic disease and the conditions associated with the elevated
conditions associated with the elevated blood sugar like small vessel disease.
blood sugar like small vessel disease. So, it all leads back to this.
So, it all leads back to this. I'm going to call it a simple strategy,
I'm going to call it a simple strategy, but people don't have the right
but people don't have the right information unless they're tuning into
information unless they're tuning into something like this.
something like this. Well, indeed. You know, the bottom line
Well, indeed. You know, the bottom line is if you think a calorie is a calorie,
is if you think a calorie is a calorie, you're screwed.
you're screwed. It's that simple. Because then you're
It's that simple. Because then you're just going to monitor calories. You're
just going to monitor calories. You're not going to be monitoring your
not going to be monitoring your carbohydrate. You're not going to be
carbohydrate. You're not going to be monitoring your fructose. You're going
monitoring your fructose. You're going to say, "Well, carbohydrate and
to say, "Well, carbohydrate and fructose, they're four calories per
fructose, they're four calories per gram. Fat is 9 calories per gram.
gram. Fat is 9 calories per gram. Therefore, if I'm trying to eat less
Therefore, if I'm trying to eat less calories, I should eat more
calories, I should eat more carbohydrates than fructose and less
carbohydrates than fructose and less fat." Wrong.
fat." Wrong. But that's what we did for, you know,
But that's what we did for, you know, basically 60 years.
basically 60 years. is exactly that. And things only got
is exactly that. And things only got worse.
worse. And that's why they got worse
And that's why they got worse because we basically induced
because we basically induced mitochondrial dysfunction. By the way, m
mitochondrial dysfunction. By the way, m you know what mitochondria are made of?
you know what mitochondria are made of? Bacteria. Ancient bacteria.
Bacteria. Ancient bacteria. Ancient bacteria. But what are they made
Ancient bacteria. But what are they made of?
of? Fat.
Fat. Fat. That's right. They are fat. Okay.
Fat. That's right. They are fat. Okay. Mitochondria are fat. Okay. when you
Mitochondria are fat. Okay. when you take mitochondria and you you know do a
take mitochondria and you you know do a chemical analysis on you know what the
chemical analysis on you know what the structural components of mitochondria
structural components of mitochondria it's fatty acids
it's fatty acids okay so the lower the fat that you're
okay so the lower the fat that you're eating the less well your mitochondria
eating the less well your mitochondria would work
would work actually cause the insulin resistance
actually cause the insulin resistance so you know we got this all backwards in
so you know we got this all backwards in the you know 1940s50s60s7s8s
the you know 1940s50s60s7s8s 90s all the way up. And the reason is
90s all the way up. And the reason is because we thought fat was the bad guy.
because we thought fat was the bad guy. Turns out fat is not the bad guy. Trans
Turns out fat is not the bad guy. Trans fats are the bad guy. No argument there.
fats are the bad guy. No argument there. And trans fats were everywhere. And they
And trans fats were everywhere. And they were they just called those fat. Trans
were they just called those fat. Trans fats are basically poison.
fats are basically poison. Okay. Trans fats are not even
Okay. Trans fats are not even metabolizable because you can't break
metabolizable because you can't break the trans double bond. So you can't even
the trans double bond. So you can't even turn them into energy.
turn them into energy. So you know this concept of calories is
So you know this concept of calories is useless. It's essentially garbage
useless. It's essentially garbage because calories come from bomb
because calories come from bomb calorimeters. You know that's the
calorimeters. You know that's the measurements. We are not bomb
measurements. We are not bomb calorimeters. Our mitochondria are not
calorimeters. Our mitochondria are not bomb calorimeters.
bomb calorimeters. they, you know, depends on,
they, you know, depends on, you know, what they're made of, depends
you know, what they're made of, depends on what comes in, depends on whether AMP
on what comes in, depends on whether AMP kynise is activated or not, depends on,
kynise is activated or not, depends on, you know, a whole bunch of things that
you know, a whole bunch of things that have nothing to do with calories but
have nothing to do with calories but have to do with the, you know, uh,
have to do with the, you know, uh, orbiters of metabolic health.
orbiters of metabolic health. And you know all those previous
And you know all those previous investigators you know in the past
investigators you know in the past basically ignored all of that and
basically ignored all of that and basically led us down a primrose path to
basically led us down a primrose path to destruction.
destruction. So
So insulin is the monitor. It's the arbiter
insulin is the monitor. It's the arbiter of whether you've got a problem or not.
of whether you've got a problem or not. Because when your insulin is low, that
Because when your insulin is low, that means your mitochondria are working.
means your mitochondria are working. Because you don't need to divert energy
Because you don't need to divert energy away from the mitochondria because they
away from the mitochondria because they can take what's coming in. The funnel is
can take what's coming in. The funnel is flowing.
flowing. But when your insulin goes up, that
But when your insulin goes up, that means your mitochondria can't take it.
means your mitochondria can't take it. So what do you need to do? You need to
So what do you need to do? You need to take the load off.
take the load off. Well, what's the load?
Well, what's the load? refined carbohydrate and sugar.
refined carbohydrate and sugar. Insulin's the new calorie.
Insulin's the new calorie. Instead of bringing our calories down,
Instead of bringing our calories down, let's bring insulin down.
let's bring insulin down. I That's what I've been saying for the
I That's what I've been saying for the last um
last um uh 18 years.
uh 18 years. No, I guess I can't trademark that then.
No, I guess I can't trademark that then. No, afraid not. I can't trademark it.
No, afraid not. I can't trademark it. Um, but that's that's been my stickick,
Um, but that's that's been my stickick, you know, for a long time now is get the
you know, for a long time now is get the insulin down any way you can
insulin down any way you can and it works, you know, if you if you
and it works, you know, if you if you can do it, but you have to understand
can do it, but you have to understand what causes it in order to be able to do
what causes it in order to be able to do it. You brought up trans fats there. I
it. You brought up trans fats there. I want to go back and do a 101.
want to go back and do a 101. When we have that double bond, it goes
When we have that double bond, it goes from cyst to trans.
from cyst to trans. luckily now banned in the food supply,
luckily now banned in the food supply, but they can still sneak them in if
but they can still sneak them in if they're under a certain limit.
they're under a certain limit. Where I want to focus though is on
Where I want to focus though is on making them in the kitchen.
making them in the kitchen. That's where I want to go. So talk about
That's where I want to go. So talk about what oils people are using or fats and
what oils people are using or fats and how they can go about making them in the
how they can go about making them in the kitchen so they can avoid that.
kitchen so they can avoid that. Basically, any fat that you use for
Basically, any fat that you use for cooking
cooking can be a trans fat.
can be a trans fat. except lord.
except lord. Except animal fat. Animal fat is
Except animal fat. Animal fat is triglyceride. Animal fat is saturated
triglyceride. Animal fat is saturated fat. Well, if it's saturated fat, then
fat. Well, if it's saturated fat, then there's no double bond. If there's no
there's no double bond. If there's no double bond, there's no way to turn a
double bond, there's no way to turn a cis fat into a trans fat. So, basically,
cis fat into a trans fat. So, basically, there are two kinds of fats. There's
there are two kinds of fats. There's saturated and there's unsaturated.
saturated and there's unsaturated. And there's polyunsaturated. But, you
And there's polyunsaturated. But, you know, ultimately, they're all in the
know, ultimately, they're all in the same category. They have a double bond
same category. They have a double bond in them. somewhere. Now, the double
in them. somewhere. Now, the double bonds are helpful in some cases because
bonds are helpful in some cases because there are hormones and cytoines and
there are hormones and cytoines and factors in our body that need those
factors in our body that need those unsaturated fatty acids to build
unsaturated fatty acids to build specific inflammatory and or metabolic
specific inflammatory and or metabolic machinery.
machinery. Okay. In addition, uh uh omega-3s which
Okay. In addition, uh uh omega-3s which are highly unsaturated. Okay. help
are highly unsaturated. Okay. help membrane fluidity and help neuronal
membrane fluidity and help neuronal transmission. Really important and
transmission. Really important and necessary for your brain, you know, to
necessary for your brain, you know, to to work, right? Okay. So, God knows we
to work, right? Okay. So, God knows we need unsaturated fatty acids.
need unsaturated fatty acids. Saturated fatty acids though won't
Saturated fatty acids though won't uh have no double bonds.
uh have no double bonds. So, you can heat a saturated fatty acid
So, you can heat a saturated fatty acid to any level you want and that will not
to any level you want and that will not turn into a trans fat because there's no
turn into a trans fat because there's no double bond to flip. When you put enough
double bond to flip. When you put enough heat across a double bond, it'll flip.
heat across a double bond, it'll flip. It'll go from a cis to a trans just like
It'll go from a cis to a trans just like that. Okay?
that. Okay? And virtually all of the fats that we
And virtually all of the fats that we cook in, because they're oils,
cook in, because they're oils, pretty much anything that's an oil and
pretty much anything that's an oil and not solid
not solid has double bonds.
has double bonds. So then the question is, are there
So then the question is, are there certain oils that are more likely to
certain oils that are more likely to flip than others? And the answer is yes.
flip than others? And the answer is yes. The more double bonds that are in the
The more double bonds that are in the fat, the more likely one of them will
fat, the more likely one of them will flip. And if they flip, they they're
flip. And if they flip, they they're flipping to become a trans fat. So the
flipping to become a trans fat. So the amount of heat you put across that
amount of heat you put across that double bond will dictate whether or not
double bond will dictate whether or not you're creating trans fats in your own
you're creating trans fats in your own cooker at home, in your own skillet. And
cooker at home, in your own skillet. And that's a problem. And that's one of the
that's a problem. And that's one of the reasons why smoke point became an issue.
reasons why smoke point became an issue. So, what is the um uh uh what is the fat
So, what is the um uh uh what is the fat we cook in the most but has the lowest
we cook in the most but has the lowest smoke point?
smoke point? Olive oil.
Olive oil. Olive oil is terrific. Olive oil is
Olive oil is terrific. Olive oil is wonderful. Olive oil solves a lot of
wonderful. Olive oil solves a lot of problems except for one.
problems except for one. It can heat it high.
It can heat it high. Olive oil was not meant for frying.
Olive oil was not meant for frying. Olive oil was not meant for sautéing.
Olive oil was not meant for sautéing. Olive oil was meant to be used room
Olive oil was meant to be used room temperature on a salad.
temperature on a salad. Okay? And the minute you put um heat
Okay? And the minute you put um heat across that double bond in olive oil,
across that double bond in olive oil, it's going to flip. So you can turn
it's going to flip. So you can turn olive oil into a poison with enough
olive oil into a poison with enough heat. Okay. There are other fatty, you
heat. Okay. There are other fatty, you know, the fatty acids that we use.
know, the fatty acids that we use. There's, you know, um, uh, uh,
There's, you know, um, uh, uh, polyunsaturated fatty acids like canola
polyunsaturated fatty acids like canola oil. They'll turn into trans fats, too.
oil. They'll turn into trans fats, too. And they often have two double bonds
And they often have two double bonds instead of one. Okay? Omega-3s have
instead of one. Okay? Omega-3s have three double bonds. You definitely don't
three double bonds. You definitely don't want to heat omega-3s. In fact, you
want to heat omega-3s. In fact, you don't want to use omega-3s for energy at
don't want to use omega-3s for energy at all. You want to use omega-3s for their
all. You want to use omega-3s for their neuronal um, stabilization properties.
neuronal um, stabilization properties. Okay? So, you take those, you know, as
Okay? So, you take those, you know, as omega-3 pills or you eat fish. Okay? But
omega-3 pills or you eat fish. Okay? But you don't necessarily want to, you know,
you don't necessarily want to, you know, heat the hell out of them. Okay. Then
heat the hell out of them. Okay. Then there are mediumchain triglycerides like
there are mediumchain triglycerides like coconut oil. Okay. And those are
coconut oil. Okay. And those are triglycerides. Those are saturated fat,
triglycerides. Those are saturated fat, but they're shorter.
but they're shorter. So they can be heated high. So a lot of
So they can be heated high. So a lot of that's why a lot of the paleo people use
that's why a lot of the paleo people use coconut oil because you're not going to
coconut oil because you're not going to turn those into trans fats. Okay. The
turn those into trans fats. Okay. The problem with medium chain triglycerides
problem with medium chain triglycerides is they're absorbed a different way.
is they're absorbed a different way. They're absorbed through the portal
They're absorbed through the portal vein, not through the lactals and the
vein, not through the lactals and the lymphatics like we talked about. They
lymphatics like we talked about. They don't get turned into the kyomicrons.
don't get turned into the kyomicrons. They go straight to the liver. And so if
They go straight to the liver. And so if your liver is having a problem,
your liver is having a problem, um mediumchain triglycerides will hit
um mediumchain triglycerides will hit them hardest fastest and that can be a
them hardest fastest and that can be a problem. So it's not like an automatic
problem. So it's not like an automatic that mediumchain triglycerides are good.
that mediumchain triglycerides are good. Depends. Yes. No. Um then you have omega
Depends. Yes. No. Um then you have omega sixs. Omega sixs are you know what's in
sixs. Omega sixs are you know what's in seed oils.
seed oils. And the problem with omega sixs is they
And the problem with omega sixs is they are the precursors to arachidonic acid.
are the precursors to arachidonic acid. And arachidonic acid is the precursor to
And arachidonic acid is the precursor to thromboxines, lucatryins and icosenoids.
thromboxines, lucatryins and icosenoids. Okay. And those are all the things that
Okay. And those are all the things that are necessary for inflammation.
are necessary for inflammation. So, when you add a lot of omega sixs,
So, when you add a lot of omega sixs, you have an increased risk for
you have an increased risk for inflammation.
inflammation. So, we talk about omega 6 to omega-3
So, we talk about omega 6 to omega-3 ratios. Bottom line is if you're
ratios. Bottom line is if you're consuming too many omega sixs, you're
consuming too many omega sixs, you're setting yourself up for inflammatory
setting yourself up for inflammatory response. In addition, in addition,
response. In addition, in addition, omega sixs are usually what are used in
omega sixs are usually what are used in frying
frying and so you get a lot of trans fats. So
and so you get a lot of trans fats. So you can because those omega sixes, you
you can because those omega sixes, you can flip those double bonds. They have a
can flip those double bonds. They have a higher smoking point and they're cheaper
higher smoking point and they're cheaper like soybean oil. Okay? And so you will
like soybean oil. Okay? And so you will use those in friars
use those in friars and that will increase the risk
and that will increase the risk and so uh of metabolic disease because
and so uh of metabolic disease because you've basically turned those omega sixs
you've basically turned those omega sixs into trans fats. So, number one, they're
into trans fats. So, number one, they're precursors to inflammatory uh cytoines,
precursors to inflammatory uh cytoines, and number two, they can be easily
and number two, they can be easily flipped trans fat-wise, and they're
flipped trans fat-wise, and they're cheap, so we use them in friars. So,
cheap, so we use them in friars. So, omega sixes tend to be problematic.
omega sixes tend to be problematic. And then, of course, trans fats
And then, of course, trans fats themselves are, you know, the absolute
themselves are, you know, the absolute worst because they're already bad.
worst because they're already bad. So different fats, different effects,
So different fats, different effects, different risks, everything's different,
different risks, everything's different, you know. So the food industry will tell
you know. So the food industry will tell you a carbohydrate is a carbohydrate, a
you a carbohydrate is a carbohydrate, a sugar is a sugar, a calorie is a
sugar is a sugar, a calorie is a calorie, a fat is a fat, a protein is a
calorie, a fat is a fat, a protein is a protein.
protein. Garbage. Absolute trash. They tell you
Garbage. Absolute trash. They tell you that to assuage their own culpability
that to assuage their own culpability for what they're putting into the food
for what they're putting into the food supply.
supply. But you have to practically be a
But you have to practically be a nutritional biochemist to figure this
nutritional biochemist to figure this all out,
all out, which of course is why things are so
which of course is why things are so screwed up.
screwed up. Whether it be olive oil or one of the
Whether it be olive oil or one of the seed oils like canola,
seed oils like canola, are they ever heated in processing?
are they ever heated in processing? And if so, wouldn't they have to
And if so, wouldn't they have to mark trans fats on the label? I would
mark trans fats on the label? I would assume those would be formed in
assume those would be formed in processing and then they'd have to label
processing and then they'd have to label it. Explain that part.
it. Explain that part. They don't have to label it because they
They don't have to label it because they didn't start with trans fats, but they
didn't start with trans fats, but they can make them. So, there is a uh machine
can make them. So, there is a uh machine at your local ultrarocessed food
at your local ultrarocessed food manufacturer and it is called an
manufacturer and it is called an extruder.
extruder. Okay? It's what makes Cheetos. Do you
Okay? It's what makes Cheetos. Do you ever wonder how you got from corn to
ever wonder how you got from corn to Cheetos? That's how in an extruder. And
Cheetos? That's how in an extruder. And in order to force the stuff through to
in order to force the stuff through to give it that puffy, you know, cheesy
give it that puffy, you know, cheesy flavor thing, you know, and make these,
flavor thing, you know, and make these, you know, long, you know, things that
you know, long, you know, things that look like, you know, little orange
look like, you know, little orange poops. Um, you have to force them
poops. Um, you have to force them through at high temperature through an
through at high temperature through an extruder.
extruder. And that extruder has such high
And that extruder has such high temperatures that they can take the fat
temperatures that they can take the fat in the you know in the in the recipe and
in the you know in the in the recipe and because of the high heat they can end up
because of the high heat they can end up on the other end as trans fats because
on the other end as trans fats because you didn't add them to start with they
you didn't add them to start with they don't have to report them at the end.
don't have to report them at the end. So if you look at the bag it won't say
So if you look at the bag it won't say whatever trans fats were acquired during
whatever trans fats were acquired during processing.
processing. Nope.
Nope. Wow. I didn't know that. What about
Wow. I didn't know that. What about oils? like canola oil because I've heard
oils? like canola oil because I've heard they do some pretty crazy stuff
they do some pretty crazy stuff processing those oils including
processing those oils including deodorizers and go through a whole
deodorizers and go through a whole process.
process. So we don't know enough about what what
So we don't know enough about what what happens to those and what ultimately you
happens to those and what ultimately you know whether it changes their their
know whether it changes their their character and whether it changes their
character and whether it changes their functionality and whether it changes
functionality and whether it changes their metabolic risk. But yeah I mean
their metabolic risk. But yeah I mean you have to do a whole lot of things to
you have to do a whole lot of things to all these oils to make them even
all these oils to make them even palatable. Um uh I am not unfortunately
palatable. Um uh I am not unfortunately an expert in that. So I don't know all
an expert in that. So I don't know all the things that are done. What I do know
the things that are done. What I do know is that what happens to food in your
is that what happens to food in your kitchen is possibly more dangerous than
kitchen is possibly more dangerous than what happens to food at the food
what happens to food at the food processor.
processor. Question regarding the seed oils.
Question regarding the seed oils. if they're unheated.
if they're unheated. You're no expert on what they're doing
You're no expert on what they're doing in processing, but would you use them in
in processing, but would you use them in your own kitchen without heating them?
your own kitchen without heating them? Things like canola oil. Yeah, I do. I
Things like canola oil. Yeah, I do. I mean, you know, I'm I'm careful with
mean, you know, I'm I'm careful with them. I tend to use more olive oil and
them. I tend to use more olive oil and avocado oil and sesame oil and peanut
avocado oil and sesame oil and peanut oil. I would say those are my four go-to
oil. I would say those are my four go-to oils in general for um preparing food
oils in general for um preparing food and cooking.
and cooking. There's people talking about a
There's people talking about a connection between the seed oils and
connection between the seed oils and insulin resistance. Have you ever seen
insulin resistance. Have you ever seen that in the research?
that in the research? Well, so the question is what happened
Well, so the question is what happened to the seed oils? Were they heated or
to the seed oils? Were they heated or what? There is a terrible movie going
what? There is a terrible movie going around on on Vimeo or on the internet.
around on on Vimeo or on the internet. It might be on YouTube too. and it's
It might be on YouTube too. and it's called the big lie
called the big lie and it's all about seed oils and it's
and it's all about seed oils and it's basically four talking heads talking
basically four talking heads talking about seed oils that seed oils are the
about seed oils that seed oils are the the devil incarnate.
the devil incarnate. Okay, I think that
Okay, I think that spent seed oils that is seed oils heated
spent seed oils that is seed oils heated up to ridiculously high levels either
up to ridiculously high levels either because of sautéing or frying or
because of sautéing or frying or extrusion.
extrusion. Okay, those are the, you know, those are
Okay, those are the, you know, those are terrible.
terrible. But I'm not sure that an omega6 fat
But I'm not sure that an omega6 fat at baseline
at baseline is
is truly the bad guy.
truly the bad guy. Okay. Um, I think that, you know, this
Okay. Um, I think that, you know, this requires a fair amount of nuance and you
requires a fair amount of nuance and you sort of have to know what happened to
sort of have to know what happened to the seed oil before it got to your mouth
the seed oil before it got to your mouth in order to be able to say anything. And
in order to be able to say anything. And that's not what this movie says. And so
that's not what this movie says. And so I'm a little worried that, you know,
I'm a little worried that, you know, this is misinformation. And I don't
this is misinformation. And I don't think it's disinformation. I think
think it's disinformation. I think they're, you know, the people who are in
they're, you know, the people who are in this movie are telling you what they
this movie are telling you what they know. But I don't think it's necessarily
know. But I don't think it's necessarily correct.
correct. All right, let's come back to the
All right, let's come back to the practical here and get into a little bit
practical here and get into a little bit more nuance before we wrap up. We've
more nuance before we wrap up. We've already been clear about sugars, refined
already been clear about sugars, refined carbs, ultrarocessed carbohydrates.
carbs, ultrarocessed carbohydrates. I mentioned things like fruit.
I mentioned things like fruit. for somebody,
for somebody, okay, we'll get into the details here,
okay, we'll get into the details here, but for somebody right now who is
but for somebody right now who is metabolically unhealthy,
metabolically unhealthy, I know there's fiber and I want to get
I know there's fiber and I want to get your opinion there on how that protects
your opinion there on how that protects the body. We've talked about it before,
the body. We've talked about it before, but let's talk about it again.
but let's talk about it again. And then for somebody that's healthy
And then for somebody that's healthy versus metabolically unhealthy,
versus metabolically unhealthy, we've made it clear the processed carbs
we've made it clear the processed carbs are out. For me, even the whole food
are out. For me, even the whole food carbs would be out in that case if
carbs would be out in that case if somebody's metabolically unhealthy. But
somebody's metabolically unhealthy. But I'll have you share your thoughts.
I'll have you share your thoughts. Fiber
Fiber is what we haven't talked about. I think
is what we haven't talked about. I think fiber is the bee's knees when it comes
fiber is the bee's knees when it comes to metabolic health. I think fiber is
to metabolic health. I think fiber is the answer to
the answer to much of what's ailing us. And the
much of what's ailing us. And the problem is we're not consuming
problem is we're not consuming nearly enough. Why is fiber important?
nearly enough. Why is fiber important? Because fiber is the food for the
Because fiber is the food for the bacteria, food for the microbiome.
bacteria, food for the microbiome. Everyone's talking about microbiome
Everyone's talking about microbiome dysfunction. That's right. I agree.
dysfunction. That's right. I agree. Okay. The easiest way to get your
Okay. The easiest way to get your microbiome to, you know, behave is to
microbiome to, you know, behave is to feed it because if you don't feed your
feed it because if you don't feed your microbiome, your microbiome will feed on
microbiome, your microbiome will feed on you.
you. So, does fruit have fructose? Sure, very
So, does fruit have fructose? Sure, very little. But it has some. But the fiber
little. But it has some. But the fiber in the fruit made that fructose
in the fruit made that fructose unabsorbable
unabsorbable and so the bacteria in your intestine
and so the bacteria in your intestine got it whereas you didn't.
got it whereas you didn't. So the fiber is actually the antidote to
So the fiber is actually the antidote to the fructose. So that's why fruit is
the fructose. So that's why fruit is good, but juice is bad because once you
good, but juice is bad because once you strain out the fiber,
strain out the fiber, then the intestine absorbs it just as
then the intestine absorbs it just as fast as it would if it was a soda. So
fast as it would if it was a soda. So when you eat it whole, when you eat it
when you eat it whole, when you eat it with its fiber,
with its fiber, that fructose basically is not for you.
that fructose basically is not for you. And that's why fruit is actually
And that's why fruit is actually associated with reduction in type 2
associated with reduction in type 2 diabetes. Whereas fruit juice is
diabetes. Whereas fruit juice is associated with an increase in type 2
associated with an increase in type 2 diabetes. The only difference between
diabetes. The only difference between the fruit and the juice is the presence
the fruit and the juice is the presence of fiber.
of fiber. Because the fiber is what's actually
Because the fiber is what's actually mitigating the type 2 diabetes.
mitigating the type 2 diabetes. So if you ate your fiber and we have
So if you ate your fiber and we have data on this, cardiovascular disease
data on this, cardiovascular disease goes down, cancer goes down, diabetes
goes down, cancer goes down, diabetes goes down. So we need to eat more fiber.
goes down. So we need to eat more fiber. We need to eat more both soluble and
We need to eat more both soluble and insoluble fiber.
insoluble fiber. Fruit luckily has both.
Fruit luckily has both. Yes, it has a little bit of fructose. So
Yes, it has a little bit of fructose. So what? Eat all the fruit you want. Just
what? Eat all the fruit you want. Just eat it whole. Don't put it in a smoothie
eat it whole. Don't put it in a smoothie machine.
machine. Don't juice it. And for God's sake,
Don't juice it. And for God's sake, don't drink the fructose in a soda. I
don't drink the fructose in a soda. I know you got to go here, but we'll end
know you got to go here, but we'll end on this. We've really hammered home the
on this. We've really hammered home the two categories of food we need to avoid.
two categories of food we need to avoid. The other lever I think is important to
The other lever I think is important to mention is fasting.
mention is fasting. Basically, I think that intermittent
Basically, I think that intermittent fasting is good
fasting is good for certain people.
for certain people. Okay, who are those people? And the
Okay, who are those people? And the answer is the people with liver fat. And
answer is the people with liver fat. And the reason is because intermittent
the reason is because intermittent fasting gives your ch your liver a
fasting gives your ch your liver a chance to get rid of the fat it
chance to get rid of the fat it accumulated.
So if your liver has fat in it, intermittent fasting is a good way to
intermittent fasting is a good way to get rid of it.
get rid of it. If you don't have liver or fat, then
If you don't have liver or fat, then intermittent fasting is basically
intermittent fasting is basically neither here nor there.
neither here nor there. Neither good nor bad.
Neither good nor bad. So know what your liver is doing and if
So know what your liver is doing and if your liver has fat in it and you can
your liver has fat in it and you can find out from your physician because you
find out from your physician because you can look at your ALT, you can ultimately
can look at your ALT, you can ultimately have a liver ultrasound or you know MRI
have a liver ultrasound or you know MRI or worse or you know pancreatic sorry um
or worse or you know pancreatic sorry um uh what's it called? fiber scan. Um, you
uh what's it called? fiber scan. Um, you know, there are ways to find out, but if
know, there are ways to find out, but if your liver has fat in it, then you might
your liver has fat in it, then you might consider inter intermittent fasting or a
consider inter intermittent fasting or a ketogenic diet in order to basically
ketogenic diet in order to basically give the liver a chance to lose the fat
give the liver a chance to lose the fat it accumulated.
it accumulated. All right, Rob, we're going to end it
All right, Rob, we're going to end it there for today. I'm going to link up
there for today. I'm going to link up your website, your social media, your
your website, your social media, your books, everything in the show notes.
books, everything in the show notes. Really enjoyed this. Thank you.
Really enjoyed this. Thank you. Oh, you're very welcome, Jesse. You
Oh, you're very welcome, Jesse. You know, we we we we went deep today. Yeah,
know, we we we we went deep today. Yeah, covered a lot of new stuff that I
covered a lot of new stuff that I haven't heard you talk on. Thanks again.
haven't heard you talk on. Thanks again. My pleasure.
My pleasure. Now that you're done, you're going to
Now that you're done, you're going to want to stick around here and catch this
want to stick around here and catch this other incredible episode. You don't want
other incredible episode. You don't want to miss it. I'll see you over there.
to miss it. I'll see you over there. Ultimately, it's not what's in the food,
Ultimately, it's not what's in the food, it's what's been done to the food that
it's what's been done to the food that matters. Everything fructose does to the
matters. Everything fructose does to the mitochondria is designed
mitochondria is designed to inhibit its functioning. Its
to inhibit its functioning. Its metabolic health
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