Diet to Regulate Insulin Secretion for Fat Busting

Insulin secretion and its regulation has a significant influence on how our metabolism is carried forward. Metabolic processes like carbohydrate breakdown to generate energy, fat metabolism and protein metabolism are all linked to each other via insulin. Insulin as we know through previous post is our passport / visa to let glucose molecules enter our cells so as to produce energy by their breakdown, if there is a surge of sugar or carbohydrates in the intestine the insulin would gush in the blood stream in high concentration leading to a sudden drop in the blood glucose level. The sudden rise and fall of blood glucose leads to the body responding to the effect of hunger or in some extreme cases similar to starvation. In order to combat this hunger pang the body immediately gorges on to the first sight of food. Another surge another ping pong effect of glucose and so on and so forth. This ping pong effect of glucose and insulin secretion in the blood stream results in an imbalanced carbohydrate metabolism which then gets converted into fat by entering the fat metabolism. When excess of glucose gets converted into fat it means the body is storing the fat as adipose tissue and of course making you gain excess baggage. We do know now about Insulin resistance due to fat deposition on the organs.

In order to curb the imbalance in insulin secretion and metabolism the food that you eat and the duration that you maintain between two meals is the deciding point. The first meal of the day is the most important one and hence it is called breaking a fast from the previous day. The time period between your previous dinner and breakfast is easily nothing less than 9 - 10 hours and thats a longtime to be without any source of energy to the body. If now you eat a meal loaded with sugar or carbs, fat or a combination of both be certain you have just tilted the balance haywire. Remember on an empty stomach never give into a sugar surge but balance it with equal or just a little bit more portion of lean protein food. Protein molecules help control the sudden surge of insulin into te blood stream due to meal loaded with carbs. Choosing food in equal or double portion like chicken, egg white, soy, cottage cheese (skim), skim fruit/ plain yoghurt (non sweetened), beans, sprouts, and a handful of greens to go with it helps you balance the sugar - insulin levels that come along with the breads/ pasta, lactose, coffee/ tea added sugar, fruits, and root veggies like mash/ sweet potatoes. This was about breakfast but there is another time and most important time of the day when your body needs a handsome portion of protein before it needs those carbs, its the exercise time. 

Usually people eat judicious amount of carbs and simple sugar drinks an hour before workout but it usually translates into sudden spurt of insulin during exercise. Now of course you need to have adequate amount of glucose in the blood while exercising but if you're loaded the insulin secretion will cause one more of its side effects that you do not wish to occur. When insulin is secreted in heavy concentration it does not permit fat breakdown to take place but the opposite. The logic to this is that when you have ample of energy source as glucose in the blood the insulin's priority becomes glucose to enter the cells as energy source and it can do this successfully and completely if it haults fat catabolism for a while. Why do we workout ? So that we burn the excess fat and build up on muscular strength, and this won't happen if you let insulin surge just before the workout. My ideal pre workout snack is 250 ml of fruit shake with added 5 gm of whey protein and 1 tsp of honey or I just bite a whole wheat or soy bread 2 egg whites sandwich with 500 ml of water a hour before exercise. Keep drinking sufficiently balanced mineral and glucose drink upto 250 ml till the end of the workout. This will ensure hydration and a balance of the nutrient and energy flow to your muscles. If your workout is before breakfast you are lucky but even if it isn't stick to the plan. 

Make sure each of your meal breakfast, lunch and dinner aren't over burdened with fat and carb but are equally balanced with lean proteins. Do not out balance any one nutrient of the three (carb, fat, protein) in your meals and you should be fine. Like the Cinderella story I'd like to inform you that you can have any lean protein but before you down that piece of chicken, turkey, lean meat, fish, egg white or cottage cheese and beans there is one thing you cannot do with it.....you can't load it with fat, fry it or else the magic will disappear.

Wish you wellness.

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