If you hunt around used books stores you’ll find some old
paperback books written by people who claim to have beaten various
kinds of cancer.
One of these cancer survivors was a doctor who appeared on the Oprah
show relating his story of how he survived deadly pancreatic cancer
by using the Japanese Macrobiotic diet. Many women have written
books tracing their victorious breast cancer journey.
In each case these survivors triumphed over cancer through the use of some sort of unusual diet. Though the diets varied, they all had one common factor – they all have eliminated or severely restricted refined carbohydrate consumption.
Insulin plays a major role in both your risk of being diagnosed with cancer and should cancer get a foothold in your body, if your blood insulin level is high the cancer cells will respond to the insulin by growing and spreading more quickly and more widely.
Doctors call the spread of cancer cells metastasis and for a cancer patient that’s a very bad thing. Cancers that are contained and haven’t yet spread can be hopefully detected and effectively treated before they spread.
A Greek study conducted by the University of Athens Medical School came to the conclusion that those who stuck to the Mediterranean diet most closely had a whopping 22% reduction in their cancer risk.
Depression Risk
How does the diet affect the human mind? Research psychiatrists conducted a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry that found that those who ate a Mediterranean Diet were much less likely to develop psychological depression.
Heart Disease Risk
The Lyon Diet Heart
Study found that those on the diet reduced their risk of heart
disease by 70%. The study was so successful it was terminated early
so that all the participants could benefit from the diet.
Weight Loss
Many medical researchers feel that the Mediterranean Diet is
as good as or better than any other weight loss diet. One study
compared a low-carbohydrate diet with the Mediterranean Diet. In the
end those on the low-carb program lost 12lbs while those on the
Mediterranean program lost 10lbs (while enjoying much more palatable
foods).
Parkinson’s Disease Risk
And if all that isn’t enough, a 2008 study found that the
diet also reduced the risk of Parkinson’s disease 13%.
Obesity, Once Again Insulin is the Key Factor
Insulin is heavily involved in both weight loss and weight gain. When it comes to weight insulin works both sides of the street.
First if your insulin level is too high your
ability to burn fat and convert it into energy is shut down.
Even if you diet and exercise you’ll lose little or no weight and be
left wondering why. And if that’s not enough, insulin also
stimulates the liver to increase the storage of fat making it much
easier to convert excess calories into new fat cells.
Insulin makes sure that any excess calories you might consume are
quickly and efficiently stored as fat and not burned to satisfy
energy demands.
This effect is why as you age and your insulin resistance builds,
you will usually find it harder and harder to lose weight as time
passes.
The pounds pile on faster and easier with each passing year. It’s not a lack of will power. Your insulin is to blame.
If you consume a diet rich in refined
carbohydrates, your insulin level will almost certainly be elevated.
This makes you body into a carbohydrate burning machine. It runs on
the carbohydrates you consume and makes sure that it keeps your fat
cells safely stored away for future use.
If you want to lose weight the hidden key is to get your insulin
level down which in most people will dramatically reduce hunger and
at the same time convert their carbohydrate burning body into a fat
burning one.
Always remember this: fat people are carbohydrate burners while lean people are fat burners.
This is why the Atkins Diet works so well. After a few days on the Atkins diet your insulin level will inevitably fall and this will cause your appetite to drop making adherence to the diet much easier to maintain. ■