I’ve read about this for years and buy it. Yet the traditional thinking is so ingrained – to lose weight we must eat less and exercise more. Even doctors have bought the Kool Aid. It just ain’t so. Our bodies aren’t designed that way.

Simply, when you take in less calories, your body’s metabolism slows to match the loss. And exercise, while healthy for us, does not impact weight loss unless you’re spending more than two hours a day at the gym vigorously sweating.

Our hormonal system, working in concert with our metabolism, is primed to keep our body at our set weight. It is higher for some than others. Why? I’ve not read that far in Dr. Fung’s book yet. But unequivocally, The Obesity Code, explains why the conventional motto of “eat less, move more” doesn’t work and why insulin is the prime culprit.

Take almost anyone with type 2 diabetes who’s been put on insulin and you’ll find their weight goes up. Yet we ignore it and still tell people to lose weight and it’s their fault if they’re not. So, the prime remedy for lowering blood sugar is insulin, yet insulin is a fat storage hormone. If you’re insulin resistant you’ll have higher than normal levels of insulin circulating in your blood stream. What’s it doing? Beside lowering your blood sugar it’s storing your unburned carbohydrates as fat.

The solution I know of is to eat a low carbohydrate diet which requires less insulin. Less insulin, less insulin resistance and less fat storage. But I’m sure I’ll learn more before I finish the book. Just a snippet, page 86:

Dr. Fung’s last chapter is about his strategy that’s helped his patients overcome insulin resistance: fasting. Periods of not eating let insulin and insulin resistance decrease, and of course it cuts calories. But if there’s one theme throughout this book it’s this: calories don’t make us fat and cause chronic illness, insulin resistance does. I agree.