Book Review - part 2 - Always Hungry? by David Ludwig

Earlier this week I shared some thoughts about this book with you but there was much more I wanted to share than could fit in one post (unless I made it SUPER long and I didn't want to do that to you ;) ) so here is a continuation of my thoughts from the book and some excerpts that I thought you might appreciate.

As I mentioned in the last post, there are three phases in the program in this book but he also shares plenty of education about how our body uses food for fuel and how to use nutrition to make us healthy and trim. Most people think that means cutting calories but that simply isn't true. There is plenty of research that shows that cutting calories (also known as calories in/calories out) doesn't work - especially long-term.

When we begin to cut calories, the body launches potent countermeasures designed to prevent additional weight loss. The more weight we lose, the more forcefully the body fights back.

Insulin’s effects on calorie storage are so potent that we can consider it the ultimate fat cell fertilizer.

The problem is, cutting calories does nothing to address the underlying cause of weight gain. The Always Hungry Solution targets weight gain at its sources—fat cells stuck in calorie-storage overdrive. By decreasing insulin levels and calming chronic inflammation, we can reprogram fat cells to release excess calories. When this happens, hunger diminishes, cravings subside, metabolism speeds up, and you lose weight naturally.

If weight loss were simply a question of calories in and calories out, you could spend 20 grueling minutes on a treadmill, but a handful of raisins (just ½ cup) would negate all your hard work.

It has been proven that there is a direct correlation between high insulin levels and obesity. When you're eating a diet that is keeping your insulin levels high, your body stores that extra energy (glucose) that you're consuming as fat. So if we can do what's needed to keep our insulin levels low (eliminate the glucose) then our bodies will use the fat that we already have on our bodies as fuel and it won't be trying to feed those fat cells and make them larger.

Unfortunately many people don't want to put in the work to change their diet and they'd rather find a "magic" pill to do the work for them. Many are even turning to insulin injections to try to lose weight. This is the complete opposite of what we should be doing and so dangerous for our bodies!  We don't need more insulin - we need less. We have become so dependent on drugs in our society that it's the first thing we turn to.

We take caffeine to wake up in the morning, alcohol to calm down in the evening, and tranquilizers to rest at night. We need ibuprofen for pains, antacids for indigestion, and pills for erectile dysfunction. Many rely upon drugs to manage fatigue, irritability, anxiety, inability to focus, depression, and other mental symptoms. Could the right diet—by controlling insulin levels and calming chronic inflammation—help end this chemical dependency?

But isn't eating dietary fat bad for you? No! The right kind of fat is very good for you. You don't want to have a diet full of trans fats but if you're eating natural foods like avocados, nuts, olive oil, even butter (yes, butter is good for you!) then you're doing your body a favor. Check out this information about a study that was conducted to test it.

The DIRECT study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008,40 compared a conventional diet (low-fat), a Mediterranean diet (medium-fat), and an Atkins-type diet (high-fat) among 322 participants with high BMI. The intervention was conducted at a work site in Israel, where—in addition to standard nutrition education—participants received their main meal of the day according to dietary assignment. In this way, the researchers could be assured that the three groups actually ate differently. Spouses were also instructed in the diets, to increase support at home. The study lasted two years, allowing enough time to see longer-term differences emerge. Even though the dietary targets were not fully met, the findings of this remarkable study stand in stark contrast to the inconclusive outcomes of lower-quality research. Weight loss was greatest on the high-fat diet, intermediate on the medium-fat diet, and lowest on the low-fat diet—differences that were strongly significant from a statistical perspective. In addition, the higher fat diets produced more favorable changes in triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and, among participants with diabetes, measures of blood sugar control.

This is great news! All those low-fat products you see at the grocery store can be left on the shelves and you can go for the things that are full fat products. Those low-fat items are stuffed with fillers to make up for the flavor that's lost by removing the fat. And one of the main things they fill them with is sugar - something that's going to spike your insulin and also make you hungrier and have more cravings. If you eat the full fat foods, you'll feel full quicker, you'll be full longer, and you won't have cravings and binge eat things you shouldn't.

So if all of this sounds reasonable to you and you want to know how to make this happen but maybe you don't want to go full keto, this plan could be a good one for you. He takes you through three phases of eating to get you to a healthier, slimmer you and you can stay in each phase as long as you need/want to. Phase 1 is more restrictive on the carbs, phase 2 adds a little bit more in, and phase 3 allows even more. The book has a great meal plan laid out and offers daily suggestions for what to eat. The recipes for all of the meals are also included and it's very easy to follow along and do the program.

Because I like to follow a higher fat/lower carb diet (keto), I won't be following this plan but I do think it's a great plan for someone who doesn't want to give up as many carbs or wants to have a little more freedom with the carbs you choose to eat. For me it's easier to just eliminate a lot of it and only eat healthy vegetables and such for any carbs I consume but I know we all have different tastes and different things we want out of our food so I wanted to share in case this could be helpful to someone! If you give it a try, let me know how it goes!