Losing weight is hard enough without your doctor constantly warning you about the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
It’s a fact that the typical American diet – with its overload of processed sugars and carbohydrates – causes insulin resistance and diabetes.
But now, new research proves what I’ve been telling patients for years…
Excess fat itself isn’t necessarily a diabetes risk factor.
I know that’s the opposite of what you’re likely to hear from mainstream doctors these days.
But researchers at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, have shown that excess fat can be “rehabilitated” and even help prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.1
In their recent study, published in Diabetologia, the researchers looked closely at how insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas respond to exposure to excess sugar and fat.
As expected, beta cells exposed to high sugar levels secreted much less insulin than usual.
But unexpectedly, they also discovered that fat allows beta cells to adapt to excess sugar, helping them secrete normal insulin levels and support healthy blood sugar levels.
There is a catch, though…
To enable fat cells to become beneficial to insulin-producing beta cells in your pancreas, they have to be mobilized as a source of energy.
Mobilize Fat To Fight Diabetes
Here at the Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine, I use two highly effective methods for mobilizing your fat cells and shedding excess pounds simultaneously.
- Follow a ketogenic diet: This is one of the most effective ways to use your fat store as an energy source. Keto is high in animal fat and protein and very low in carbs. When you eat this way, no starches trigger the extreme insulin response. And since your body doesn’t have starches to burn for energy, you burn fat instead. Following a Keto diet is effortless. Carbs should never make up more than 5% or 10% of your total calorie intake. The easiest way to start is by avoiding all processed foods. Also, avoid grains like rice, corn, and wheat-based products, like breakfast cereals, cereal bars, bread, pizzas, and sweetened food. Instead, load up on proteins. Grass-fed beef, organic meats, pastured chicken, eggs and wild-caught fish are your best sources of protein. You should also avoid trans fats and vegetable oils like corn, sunflower, safflower, soy and canola. Instead, choose fats like olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, butter, ghee and heavy cream.
- Add exercise: I recommend my PACE exercise program for mobilizing and burning fat cells. PACE stands for “Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion” and it’s far more efficient than most exercise programs because it shifts the focus of your workout from “how long” you work to “how intensely” you exert yourself. PACE uses brief but vigorous routines of increasing intensity to help increase the strength and capacity of your heart and lungs, as well as burn fat. Studies show it works up to 18 times better than light exercise, such as the kind of walking your doctor might suggest.2 You can choose any exercise that will make you stop and pant for breath – and it can be done in as little as 12 minutes per day! It could be as simple as going up and down the stairs, jumping rope, biking or swimming. The most important thing is to increase your challenge gradually over time.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
References:
1. Maechler P, et al. “Glucolipotoxicity promotes the capacity of the glycerolipid/NEFA cycle supporting the secretory response of pancreatic beta cells.” Diabetologia. 2022 Apr;65(4):705-720.
2. Adapted from: von Ardenne M. “Oxygen Multistep Therapy.” Thieme. 1990. p. 144