Remember the story of Paul Revere's ride as a child in elementary school? He was the patriot who alerted the militia with the famous phrase "the redcoats are coming, the redcoats are coming!". In this 4th and final installment of this series How To Turn Your Body Into a Fat Burning Machine you are going to learn of an equally significant phrase in your fat body history lesson: "the glucose is gone, the glucose is gone!".
OK, that intro was a little bit corny, but it makes me smile every time I think about it. If Insulin, the fat storing hormone, is our enemy, then Glucagon is one of our closest allies in the Adipose Revolutionary War. Insulin and Glucagon are like Lex Luther and Superman, The Joker and Batman, Osama...well, you get the picture. Actually, both of them serve a very important function in the body of keeping the blood glucose levels stable. If it weren't for Insulin you would be blind and diabetic and if it weren't for Glucagon you'd probably never wake up from your sleep at night and go into a coma. So in reality it's probably not fair to depict Insulin as such a bad guy. Maybe Batman and Robin would be a better characterization, with Glucagon being Batman and Insulin being Robin; but who really wants to be Robin? Alright, moving on...
Glucagon is a hormone secreted by the pancreas, the same organ that creates Insulin; so think of the pancreas as the Batcave. Glucagon's primary role is to elevate blood glucose levels when it gets too low after not eating for a few hours. When the blood glucose gets too low the body screams "the glucose is gone, THE GLUCOSE IS GONE! Then it turns on the spotlight to signal Batman and summon him from his fortress. Glucagon goes to work first in the liver where glycogen is stored. Remember this from yesterday? When you eat too many carbs, your body boxes it up and puts it away in the closet for later use? Well, now it's time for action because you haven't eaten in a few hours and the body needs help with energy. Glucose is like the many cool gadgets hidden in the basement of Wayne Manor which attach to Batman's belt that he uses to fight crime (this is really going too far isn't it?). Well what if Alfred were to retire or pass away and Batman didn't have anyone to create any more gadgets? What would Batman do? He would have to find another source of his inventions. That's what Glucagon does, it finds other sources of glucose. Since the liver and muscles are the only places to store glycogen, it must find an alternative source; that's where your fat cells come into play!
Your body's preferred fuel source is glucose, but if the glucose is gone, what else can your body use? It can use fat cells and turn them into ketones! This little process is like Batman outsourcing his tools to Apple or something and them giving him an Ipad10 in return! (ok this has just gotten goofy now) So it's not the preferred source of fuel for the body, but now you're really turning your body into a fat burning machine, LITERALLY! It's burning off fat for ketone bodies and this is why you feel a little sluggish in the morning or on a severely restricted carb diet like the Atkins diet in the first 2 weeks. This sounds like great news, right?! You're probably saying to yourself "all I have to do is not eat any carbs and I'll burn the fat away"! Slow down there Robin. Your body ALSO breaks down muscle tissues into amino acids for fuel as well. So as your body is eating away at it's fatty tissue, it's also eating away at your muscle which is in effect slowing down your metabolism. That's why fasting or severely restrictive calorie diets is a bad idea. This is like one of Bruce Wayne's supermodel girlfriends spending away all of his millions of dollars which are funding the research and development firms that create the cool toys for Batman. The key is to keep blood glucose levels steady.
How do we keep even blood glucose levels?
Step 1. Eat low glycemic index carbs to prevent insulin levels from spiking
Step 2. Eat small frequent meals throughout the day to keep blood sugar levels from dropping too low causing you to over eat, thus spiking your insulin levels
Step 3. Eat balanced meals. Always have a protein source with a meal, crackers are not a snack. Tuna and crackers is a better choice
Step 4. Exercise often. Exercise helps regulate all of these systems. This is the glue that binds.
I hope you enjoyed this blog, this was the most fun one to write. If you enjoyed it, please follow, share it on facebook and let me know!
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