Diets often fail in the long-term. Here are some of the reasons why.
Most of us have a long story to tell about our experience with dieting. Maybe you can point to one event that set you off on this very long road (you had no idea then just how long). Or you might not remember a time when you weren’t trying to lose weight.
I was 14 when I got on the treadmill (literally and metaphorically). According to my GP and his BMI chart, I was obese. That was the beginning of thousands of hours spent obsessing about how I was going to get to the magical weight of 55-59kg—and then stay there.
At first, I had a lot of what felt like success. I would lose the weight and it would stay off as long as I stuck to whatever regime I was on. But in the end I was always hungry, the weight would come back, and then I would start again. And it would be harder each time. I had to eat less food and exercise more, until eventually I basically had to starve myself to see any effects at all.
I really, really (I mean really) tried to be healthy. But after years on variations of low fat/high carb diets, my weight fluctuating like a yoyo, I developed metabolic syndrome.
That’s a group of conditions that often occur together — abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood triglycerides, low levels of HDL cholesterol, and insulin resistance. (It’s like collecting all the tokens you need to win the grand prize. Yay for me!)
As if the consequences of any one of those isn’t bad enough, having the lot puts you at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, stroke, hypertension, fatty liver and heart disease. And it’s linked with inflammatory disorders (like joint pain), cancer and dementia.
So, faced with all of that, what’s a girl to do? I kept being told to lose weight to address these very real health problems, but trying to lose weight had brought me to this point in the first place.
The problem was that the way I was being told to feed myself was having the opposite effect. Why? Because not all bodies function in the same way. (That sounds ridiculously simple, and yet somehow it’s a concept we fail to get our heads around, time and time again.)
“Healthy” doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone
The one-size-fits-all concept doesn’t work when it comes to diet. (Actually, I can’t think of any situation where it really does, least of all clothes. Maybe kaftans?)
My body, for example, functions differently to those that aren’t insulin resistant or predisposed to become insulin resistant.
If you’re insulin resistant, you can control your portions and restrict your calories as much as you like (or don’t like), but still not lose weight. You could even gain weight.
Here’s a very simplified explanation of what I mean.
The pancreas produces a hormone called insulin, which allows your body to use the sugar from carbohydrates for energy, or store it for later. It has to keep the amount of sugar in your blood at precisely the right level — not too high, not to low. Without insulin, your cells can’t use that sugar, and your liver and muscles can’t store it.
My body had stopped responding to insulin. So, if I ate something high in carbohydrates and high in sugar, it didn’t allow my cells to use it, and my liver and muscles couldn’t store it and use it as fuel for later. It could only be stored in my fat cells.
So, even if I went on a really strict diet — for example: Special K with skim milk for breakfast, an apple for morning tea, a salad sandwich for lunch, and some steamed veggies and a piece of meat for dinner — I wouldn’t lose any weight.
The fact is, even on that particularly boring diet, I was still having too many carbs for an insulin resistant person.
Can you imagine restricting yourself like that with no discernible difference? Well, actually, of course you can. You’ve been there.
How do you know if you’re insulin resistant?
You might never feel full, constantly crave food, feel very lethargic and have trouble concentrating. You may be carrying your faithful friend, belly fat, and have high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels. (There are no cute terms for those unfortunately.) You may be very overweight (though you can be insulin resistant and not be obese).
The best way to find out for sure is to go to your GP, get a blood test and have your insulin levels checked. Ask for a glucose tolerance test, and the HbA1c test, which shows what your blood sugar levels have been doing for the last three months (as opposed to a test which only tells you what your blood glucose levels are at the moment you take the test).
Why me? Why you?
Well, there isn’t any known single cause of insulin resistance. Maybe you don’t get much exercise, you lead a stressful life, or you have polycystic ovary disease.
You might be genetically disposed to insulin resistance, and you could have been eating too much sugar for years without realising it. (That can really sneak up on you, even when you think you’re being healthy.)
Some ethnicities are more vulnerable to insulin resistance than others, and traditional foods — which are an important part of daily and cultural life — can be a contributing factor. For instance, a vegetarian diet that includes rice, bread and legumes is problematic when it comes to insulin levels.
That’s because, as far as your body goes, sugar is not the only, well, sugar. Things like legumes are full of starch, which in your body turns to sugar.
It definitely isn’t fair. And, let’s not get carried away here, it’s still not like eating your body weight in cake. (That’s definitely the less sensible option.) But unfortunately it still has a really big impact.
So, you’re insulin resistant. What now?
Here’s the good news — you can reverse or at least reduce the effects of insulin resistance. Any diet that controls your blood sugar spikes is going to help you. What does that mean?
- It means mostly a low-carb, high-fat, protein diet. (That doesn’t mean you get no carbohydrates. There are enough carbs available from above-ground vegetables, like broccoli and cauliflower.)
- It means avoiding pasta, rice and bread. Things like grains and wheat can really spike your blood sugar levels — exactly what you’re trying to avoid.
- It means choosing a full fat product vs a low-fat product.
Hang on, what?
Yes, it’s not a typo. Low fat products usually have more sugar. (Something needs to compensate for the resulting loss of flavour!)
- It means avoiding packaged foods. If you can’t avoid them, then put on your granny glasses and check the labels for added sugars.
When you eat anything with sugar, or that converts to sugar, that’ll spike your blood sugar level, you’ll eat more, you’ll feel hungry more quickly, and then you’ll crave more sugar. Rinse and repeat.
It seems extreme, but it’s only for a while, until your blood sugar level stabilises
When you’re trying to reverse insulin resistance, you have to make some initial, drastic changes.
That’s because you need to stabilise your blood sugar levels. If you’re still consuming sugar or things that turn to sugar, even just a little bit, you’ll still get that spike-and-crash-and-crave cycle going on.
Once you achieve that stability, you’ll start to naturally eat less, and you’ll have fewer cravings.
How long that takes depends on your individual circumstance. Michael Mosley’s blood sugar diet can reverse insulin resistance in eight weeks if you’ve only had type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes for a little while. But it can take longer if you’ve gone undiagnosed for years and are carrying a lot of weight.
It’s very important before you make any changes like this to work with your GP and get your levels checked. Insulin drugs also have to be monitored, because changing your eating habits this way will affect the amount of insulin you need to take.
It starts off as a diet, but you’ll get to a point where you don’t have to think about it
Once you stabilise your blood sugars the hormones that control hunger, which were damaged after years of having too much sugar in your system, will start working again.
This has two effects that will make it all feel worthwhile:
You will feel full, and you won’t be a slave to those constant cravings any more. You’ll be able to eat because you’re hungry, or because you want to, but not because you’re driven uncontrollably.
And you will never have to subject yourself to the misery of calorie counting again. It’s an end to all of those wasted hours, days, weeks, and even years spent rationing your food as if you were in a time of famine (while cruelly watching others eat without a care).
Is there anything harder than being both the prisoner and the person holding the keys? Artificial portion control and calorie counting are impossible rules to live by. They create a totally unhealthy relationship between you and food — the very thing you need to survive. Instead of something nurturing and beautiful, it becomes about guilt, fear, shame, blame and so many things that should never be associated with food, and can never help anyone.
The evidence is in: It’s time to stop blaming yourself
If I sound passionate about insulin resistance (certainly not a phrase I ever dreamed I’d say) it’s because I am.
Research is constantly challenging the way we look after our bodies, so why do we insist on sticking with out-dated ideas when it comes to diet and health?
If you’re interested in finding out more for yourself, the list of articles at the end of this post is a good place to start. If you would like some guidance to help you with your own personal goals, please get in touch and we can work towards them together.
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