Low glycemic meals produce favorable leptin and insulin responses, resulting in lower food consumption

Low glycemic meals promote a post-meal environment that is favorable for reduced food consumption. This may be an advantage in the control of obesity and related disorders, including insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Low glycemic meals produce favorable leptin and insulin responses, resulting in lower food consumption.

In a recent study, metabolic effects of meals with varying glycemic index (GI) were evaluated. In a group of healthy volunteers, glucose, insulin and leptin responses to two contrasting breakfast cereals were measured. Leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells that indicates the degree of hunger to the hypothalamus of the brain. Lower leptin levels trigger a sense of satiety and decreased hunger.

Meals were provided on two separate occasions in random order after a 12-hour overnight fast, and consisted of 50 g of available carbohydrate from either Corn Flakes (Kellogg's), or Fiber One (General Mills). Blood samples were obtained at rest, and 30, 60, 90 and 120 min after eating. The GI was calculated from the glucose response to the test meal normalized against a 50 g oral glucose load.

The average GI for Corn Flakes was 125 and 49 for Fiber One. These meals were classified as high GI and low GI, respectively, and were significantly different from each other. The insulin response following the low glycemic meal was significantly reduced compared to the high glycemic meal. The high glycemic meal significantly suppressed circulating leptin levels compared to the low glycemic meal.

Lower insulin response and higher circulating leptin levels suggest that low glycemic meals promote a post-meal environment that is favorable for reduced food consumption; this may be advantageous in the control of obesity and related disorders, including insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Ann Nutr Metab 2007 Dec 10;51(6):512-518

Healthy for life program ‏/ Ray D. Strand, M.D.

Healthy for life program overview
‏/ Ray D. Strand, M.D.



When I first began trying to reverse insulin resistance in my patients, I tried to teach them healthy lifestyles in a classroom setting. I personally felt that if these people understood the principles and the scientific concepts involving insulin resistance they would automatically make these effective lifestyle changes. Well, to my chagrin most of the patients really did not do very well and therefore, the improvements in their health were not that great. Most of my patients were very sincere in their attempts to make these healthy lifestyle changes but met with all sorts of distractions and misconceptions and would quickly revert back to their old lifestyles.
About 8 years ago I decided to change my approach and simply counsel my patients individually in my office. This was a team effort between my two nurse practitioners and myself. We held our patients accountable by having them document everything they ate during the week, their exercise, and their consumption of the nutritionals. We then would see them back in my office each and every week for the first month and then every other week thereafter. This was an amazing eye-opener for me and my entire staff. When we made the patients become accountable and they realized that they had to write down everything they had been eating during the week, did we see some major improvements! My staff was also able to further educate my patients by simply pointing out to my patients where they were making mistakes and still spiking their blood sugars. Through this interaction my patients not only were learning these new concepts about healthy living but were now more effectively applying them to their own lives. The results were simply amazing! I have literally been able to see my patient’s health improve before my eyes. Individuals who are trying to make changes in their lifestyles want to know exactly what they need to do to improve their health. The more they would learn in the lay media and books, the more confused they would become. The Healthy for Life Program is cutting-edge and based entirely on medical research. This is why so many people have chosen to become involved with the Healthy for Life Program I have developed. Not only do they trust the information they are receiving but when they personally make these lifestyle changes they are having such tremendous results.
I have now developed this new web page http://www.releasingfat.com/, which I feel offers everyone a greater chance of success. This is literally my personal medical office online. The internet offers us a unique tool which will be even more effective in evaluating, documenting, encouraging, and holding individuals accountable than my approach in my medical office. Individuals anywhere in the world who truly desire to develop these healthier lifestyles that have a side-effect of permanent weight loss can now have lifetime success. This approach can be done in the privacy of their own home and where they receive professional guidance and support from my entire staff.
I want to explain how I am able, through this site, to help anyone around the world achieve these health benefits. Even though these lifestyle changes are simple and easy, we are all creatures of habits—some good and some bad. In order to effectively have victory over some of these poor lifestyles, you need to be motivated, encouraged, and held accountable. Over time, these new lifestyles become natural and eventually just a way of life. Out with the old habits and in with the new healthier habits. You will actually enjoy the freedom of not being addicted to fast food and all the high-glycemic and processed carbohydrates. You will enjoy the way you feel and your new energy level along with a sense of well-being. You will also not be discouraged when you begin to shed excess pounds of fat and realize that you are not even trying to lose weight. You will not weigh your food or count calories. If you become naturally hungry, you simply eat another low-glycemic meal or snack. That's correct, you will not go hungry on the Healthy for Life Program.

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Whey improves insulin response in type 2 diabetics

In type 2 diabetics, whey added to high-GI meals may increase insulin secretion and improve blood glucose clearance after a meal. This can be of significant benefit to those with reduced insulin secretion and/or compromised blood glucose regulation.

In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers evaluated whether supplementation of high-glycemic meals (GI) with whey proteins would increase insulin secretion and improve blood glucose control in type 2 diabetics.

Subjects with type 2 diabetes were served a high-GI breakfast and lunch supplemented with whey on one day, and lean ham and lactose on another day.

When whey was included in the meal, insulin responses were significantly higher for both breakfast and lunch than when it was not included. In addition, blood glucose response was significantly reduced after lunch with the inclusion of whey.

In type 2 diabetics, whey added to high-GI meals may increase insulin secretion and improve blood glucose clearance after a meal. This can be of significant benefit to those with reduced insulin secretion and/or compromised blood glucose regulation.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 82, No. 1, 69-75, July 2005

The Enemy - Free Radicals

In the process of creating energy within the furnace or fireplace of a cell, occasionally a charged oxygen molecule is created called a free radical.

A free radical is an oxygen molecule that has at least one unpaired electron in its outer orbit. This literally gives the molecule an electrical charge, which creates very rapid movement as it tries to find an electron from the tissue around it. If it is not readily neutralized by an antioxidant, it can go on to damage the cell wall, vessel wall, proteins, fats, and even the DNA nucleus of the cell.

The medical and scientific literature has shown us beyond a shadow of a doubt that the root cause of over 70 chronic degenerative diseases is the result of oxidative stress from excessive free radicals. These are diseases like heart disease, diabetes, strokes, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration, and the list goes on and on. These diseases concern us, and we would certainly like to avoid them. You will learn in this blog why taking nutritional supplements gives you the best opportunity to prevent or delay these diseases.

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is Reversible‏ ‏/ Ray D. Strand, M.D.

I have personally documented over 50 patients in my practice that had type 2 diabetes mellitus that were not only able to control their diabetes and get off their medications, but were also able to totally reverse their diabetes.

Now not everyone who has diabetes is able to reverse their disease. However, after firmly establishing the healthy lifestyles promoted in the Healthy for Life Program (http://www.releasingfat.com/), many of my diabetic patients were able to reverse their disease. This was documented by the fact that their fasting blood sugar, glucose tolerance test, and their hemoglobin A1C (a measure of the amount of sugar in a red blood cell) all returned to normal off of all diabetic medication.

Now it took my diabetic patients a minimum of 18 to 24 months on the Healthy for Life Program to accomplish this goal. This gives great hope to so many of my patients who are just becoming diabetic. It allows them to significantly slow down the aging process. Just think what you can do if you firmly establish these new, healthier lifestyles that improve insulin resistance before you become diabetic. I personally believe that the Healthy for Life Program is the answer to the diabetes and obesity epidemics.

RAY D. STRAND, M.D.

Specialist in Nutritional Medicine

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Treating Insulin Resistance‏ ‏/ Ray D. Strand, M.D.

One develops insulin resistance as the result of their poor lifestyles. When you combine the All-American diet with inactivity, you slowly become less and less sensitive to your own insulin. Over time you develop insulin resistance. Since it is our poor lifestyles that get us into this problem, it makes common sense that firmly establishing healthy lifestyles could get us out of this situation.

I spent three years researching the medical literature in regards to insulin resistance. The result of that research was my book Healthy for Life [Real Life Press 2005].

My research showed that there was a triad of healthy lifestyles that all improved insulin sensitivity from a different mechanism. When you firmly establish these healthy lifestyles, you give yourself the absolute best chance of reversing insulin resistance and “tipping back” into a normal metabolic state.

I have established an online 12-Week Healthy for Life Program located at http://www.releasingfat.com/ to help my patients and any one who wants to become more proactive in protecting or regaining their health. It is really a behavioral modification program designed to take my patients by the hand and guide them into these new, healthier lifestyles that improve insulin sensitivity. My patients are excited when they learn that they never have to go hungry, they feel great, have more energy, their health parameters improve, and they begin losing weight and are not even trying. Even if you have a strong family history of diabetes, I personally feel that you can prevent becoming diabetic over 90% of the time by just living a healthy life.

RAY D. STRAND, M.D.
Specialist in Nutritional Medicine


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Vitamin C and E Supplements Lower Diabetic Retinopathy Risk

Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness. It occurs when diabetes damages tiny blood vessels inside the retina (the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye). There may be an association between the use of vitamin C and E supplements and a reduced risk of diabetic retinopathy.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined 1,353 type 2 diabetics who were diagnosed from 1993 to 1995. Data from these subjects revealed no association of diabetic retinopathy with vitamins C and E from food alone, but a decreased risk was found among those who reported long-term (> 3 years) use of vitamin C or E or multivitamin supplements. Compared to those who did not report supplement use, long-term supplement users experienced a two-fold reduction in the risk of developing diabetic retinopathy.

Although there had previously been evidence of this association from in vitro, animal, and short-term research, this was the first epidemiologic study on retinopathy to show the same protective effect associated with supplemental vitamin C and vitamin E.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 79, No. 5, 865-873, May 2004

Early Signs of Insulin Resistance ‏/ Ray D. Strand, M.D.

When I began to appreciate the serious consequences of insulin resistance, I had a tremendous advantage over the clinical researchers who were located in the major medical centers of our country. I had been doing annual physicals in the police department, fire department, and sheriff department and all of their employees for over 20 years.

When I would see one of these individuals who had develop prediabetes or diabetes, I could look back at years and years of physicals and labwork that I had done. There was a very typical pattern that was evident and I became very familiar with the early signs of insulin resistance. I then began to look for these earlier signs of insulin resistance in all my patients.

Elevated Blood Pressure - I became concerned when there blood pressure was greater than 130/85.
Low HDL or good cholesterol - I became concerned when women had an HDL less than 50 or men less than 40.
High Triglyceride Level - I became concerned when this level began to rise even if it was still in the normal range. I would do a ratio and divide their triglyceride level by their HDL cholesterol, which was an indirect measure of insulin levels. I became concerned when this ratio was greater than 2.
Expanding Waist Size - I became concerned when women had a waist size greater than 32 to 33 inches and men had a waist size greater than 36 to 37 inches.

RAY D. STRAND, M.D.
Specialist in Nutritional Medicine

Treat Prediabetes / Ray D. Strand, M.D.

Over 50 million people in the United States alone have prediabetes. In August of 2008 a consensus conference involving the American College of Endocrinology convened in Maryland. Dr. Handelsman, chair of the consensus conference said, “We felt we had to come out with some type of recommendation for how to treat these patients who had prediabetes.” Dr. Daniel Einhorn, medical director of the Scripps Whittier Institute for Diabetes in La Jolla, California stated, “Nothing else matches intensive lifestyle management in reducing the complications of prediabetes.”

Here are the first major recommendations for the treatment of patients who fall into this category of having prediabetes. Previously, physicians have been advised to just follow these patients and when they develop diabetes to begin their treatment. What is interesting is the fact that when this conference looked at all the evidence that was available from our previous clinical trials, aggressive lifestyle management was the absolute best way to treat these patients. Drug use was just not near as effective in reducing the complications of prediabetes as were lifestyle changes.

RAY D. STRAND, M.D.
Specialist in Nutritional Medicine

Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes / Ray D. Strand, M.D.

Eighty percent of diabetic patients today will die prematurely from a cardiovascular event like a heart attack, stroke, or ruptured aneurysm. This was true in 1970 and is true today. In spite of all our medication and present treatments for diabetes, we have not been able to change this horrible statistic. Now it is true that we are able to decrease the risk of what is referred to as microvascular disease like diabetic retinopathy and neuropathy. However, we have not been able to decrease the risk of major cardiovascular disease. Why is this happening?

As you have been learning in prior Health Nuggets, our arteries begin aging much faster than they should as soon as you develop insulin resistance. It may be 10 to 15 years before you actually develop diabetes. Clinical trials have shown that the day we actually diagnose a patient in our office as being diabetic that 60% of them already have major cardiovascular disease. Now that they are diabetic, their arteries will actually begin to age even faster. Physicians are behind the eight ball and are really intervening with their traditional treatments too late. The answer to this dilemma is to begin treatment earlier before the patient actually becomes diabetic.



RAY D. STRAND, M.D.
Specialist in Nutritional Medicine

What Causes Inflammation of Our Arteries? / Ray D. Strand, M.D.

The first question people should ask themselves is "What actually causes inflammation of my arteries?" If heart disease and aging of my arteries are results of low-grade inflammation over a prolonged period of time, then it would make logical sense to try to avoid those things that cause that inflammation.

• Dr. Ross listed several different causes of inflammation of our arteries in his review article found in the New England Journal of Medicine:
  "Oxidized" or "Modified" LDL cholesterol-NOT native LDL cholesterol

• Excessive free radicals created by high blood pressure, diabetes, central obesity, elevated or rapidly rising blood sugars, and from a fatty meal.


• Elevated homocysteine levels (this is a byproduct of protein metabolism that is primarily the result of vitamin B deficiency).


• Elevated levels of insulin due to insulin resistance.
  

When I treat a patient who has suffered a heart attack or has had coronary by-pass surgery, my goal is to eliminate all the causes of inflammation. The next several "Health Nuggets" will discuss this health concept.

RAY D. STRAND, M.D.
Specialist in Nutritional Medicine

High GI Diet Associated with Rapid Progression to Type 1 Diabetes in At-Risk Kids

Dietary factors may trigger or exacerbate the autoimmune disease process. A recent observational study found that a high GI diet increased the rate of progression to type 1 diabetes in at-risk children with high levels of islet autoimmunity. Islet autoimmunity is the development of antibodies made by the immune system that attack insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. These antibodies are considered a strong predictor of type 1 diabetes.

The Diabetes Autoimmunity Study in the Young (DAISY) follows 1,776 children at increased genetic type 1 diabetes risk. Diet is collected prospectively via parent-reported food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). 89 children developed islet autoimmunity and 17 subsequently developed type 1 diabetes during follow-up. The study found that more rapid progression to type 1 diabetes in children with islet autoimmunity was associated with higher dietary glycemic index, and marginally associated with glycemic load.

The authors concluded that higher dietary glycemic index is associated with more rapid progression to type 1 diabetes in children with islet autoimmunity. This is perhaps due to increased demand on the -cell in the pancrease to release insulin. Further study is needed to confirm this finding and identify the underlying biologic mechanism.

Source: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism; 5 August 2008