Low-carb info from the Drs. Heller
Posted March 13, 2006 at 8:41 pm
I mentioned the other day that I ordered the Drs. Hellers’ The 7-Day Low-Carb Rescue and Recovery Plan. The book is meant to help low-carb dieters who have gone off track. I picked it up just to see how their plan has changed over the years.
I’ve skimmed the book, and see that the Hellers are still recommending a lower-carb carbohydrate addicts approach similar to the one I read years ago. It’s different from Atkins or Protein Power in that the primary focus is not just on reducing overall carb intake.
Here are a couple of highlights that I found interesting. First, they make a suggestion similar to the one that I’ve heard from Neil Perricone (the cosmetics guy who recommends a lower-carb diet): save your carbs ’til later in the meal. The theory is that this can help minimize the insulin released in response to the meal, which helps reduce cravings and other blood sugar problems.
Another interesting claim they make is that saturated fat can cause an insulin response. So they, like South Beach, recommend avoiding fatty meats and anything with lots of trans-fats.
They also reiterate that sugar substitutes can result in problems, as the body can be “fooled” by the sweet taste into releasing insulin. If you aren’t consuming carbs with the drink, you may wind up with cravings.
They also make a case for reducing the frequency of meals with high-carb foods in them (they call it the “frequency factor”). The premise here is that the more low-carb meals we eat, the less likely our body will release more insulin than we need, and thus reduce all the resulting problems (like cravings). The benefit of this is that one meal a day (the “reward meal”) can have more carbs in it than you’d find on a traditional low-carb diet. But this isn’t an excuse to go overboard. They suggest that you keep the amount of your high-carb foods proportional to the amount of protein–and you’re not supposed to eat a whole cow in order to have more carbs!
I like that their approach doesn’t require you to count calories or grams of anything. And the book has some great advice for those who find it challenging to stick with this way of eating. This advice, which I think would work whatever way you choose to eat, has been repackaged into a new book called Healthy Selfishness.
March 14th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
Their point about having less frequent high carb meals is interesting in that it aligns neatly with the old body building credo of doing mostly low carb, but “loading” your carbs near the beginning of the day. So your breakfast would be your “heavy” carb meal, and your dinner would be much lower. I’ve heard several people with good results & fewer cravings going that route.
March 16th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
Another interesting claim they make is that saturated fat can cause an insulin response. So they, like South Beach, recommend avoiding fatty meats and anything with lots of trans-fats.
What evidence are they basing this on? Fat is metabolically neutral - doesn’t provoke a glucose response, ergo, doesn’t provoke an insulin response. Are they using mixed macronutrient percentages high in carbohydrate to support their contention?
Noakes et al just recently published a paper that clearly showed both fasting and post prandial insulin and glucose levels/responses were significantly lower in participants following a very low-carb, high saturated fat (61% total fat calories) diet compared with those following a very low-fat (20%) diet and a high unsaturated fat (30% total fat calories) - all groups consumed similar 20% protein.
March 16th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
Regina, here’s what they have to say (from p. 111-2):
They don’t provide any specific citations or notes, but the text does refer to these studies:
The one thing I like about the Hellers’ approach is that it seems to me that folks who are loathe to reduce their carbs to Atkins or Protein Power levels might find they could comply with the Hellers’ version.
That said, I do not believe that insulin is the only biochemical process that is related to a high carb intake. Those aspects of carb metabolism related to addiction-like pathways (e.g., serotonin, beta-endorphin, dopamine) may or may not be directly tied to insulin response.
I look forward to reading what you find out, either here or on your blog (I’ll cross-link if you choose the latter).
March 17th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Regarding the references of the Hellers - none were in the context of a dietary pattern with low sugar and high saturated fat intake….a high carbohydrate diet combined with a high saturated fat intake - disaster in the making……low carbohydrate intake with a high saturated fat intake - lower glucose, lower insulin. As I posted, Noakes et al just recently published findings comparing three different diets - very low carb with high saturated fat; very low fat and moderate fat high in unsaturated fat….only the low carb group had statistically significant lower glucose and statistically significant lower insulin (p=0.038 on the two combined; glucose was p=0.016 and insulin response was p=0.001