The impact of Fruit on “belly fat.”
Neil Burchill
Neil Burchill is extremely knowledgeable, experienced, and passionate when it comes to nutrition and lifestyle. He’s seen firsthand the positive impact it has on peoples lives. Neil draws from his over 20+ years of experience as a nutritional consultant, personal trainer and business owner, soldier in the Canadian Navy and full-time firefighter.
For as long as I’ve been a Nutritionist, there has been the back & forth debate regarding fruit sugar & its association to body fat.
Let me begin by saying I’ve had tremendous results with hundreds of diabetic clients by applying this secret I’ve discovered working with the head of endocrinology in my region, just a few years back.
What we discovered is that fruit, the whole food version (fructose bound with pectin)… has a dramatically different impact on insulin & the conversion of fructose to triglyceride when consuming on a low starch diet. I mean, it literally was a game changer.
Approximately twenty percent of starch based Carb sources are contained in the liver. And up to eighty percent is delivered into the bloodstream & then partitioned into the muscle tissue if there’s need, fat cells if there isn’t.
With may of us in this day and age not having the daytime sustained movement of gathering, hunting, farming & manual labour to support, our muscles tend to have little to no room for that type of fuel volume introduced multiple times through the day.
Fruit however is in most cases is broken down entirely by the liver & because of its fructose, is also stored in the liver to be released Precisely as needed to regulate the glucose demand s of the autonomic systems such as the brain, lungs, heart, nervous system, etc…
The liver is tasked with regulating the blood glucose levels for all these systems. Literally everything we use without consciously thinking about it. Starches however, regulate the conscious part of us, the musculoskeletal system. Anything we need to consciously activate is involved in movement.
Insulin is a fat storing hormone that can store excess blood glucose into fat cells as easily as any other substrates, if not easier.
An individual with only a moderate activity level, while consuming a moderate to low starch intake can make a dramatic difference in their blood glucose levels, decreasing the need for large releases of insulin. Thus promoting fat burning and preventing the storage of insulin driven belly fat.
That’s right! When you visit your dr. & they measure your waistline to determine diabetic risk factors, it’s because increased belly fat actually indicates exposure to that exact issue…
Now hold on to your grapefruits… this is where it comes together.
Fruit has an indirect impact on blood glucose. Fructose is prioritised by the liver as it is the only organ that can metabolise it. Therefore the starch based glycogen your liver stored from Rice, grains, tubers, etc… is promptly released “kicked out” of the liver into the bloodstream to make room for the high priority pectin bound fructose just introduced into your digestive system. Subsequently causing an unexpected & unnecessary elevation of blood glucose levels & promoting storage.
Someone looking to lower their starch intake to promote the shedding of excessive body fat should incorporate fibrous fruit between meals to support the liver’s management of blood glucose regulation & not just focus on the starch driven muscle glycogen stores.
When you can regulate a master hormone like insulin you can better regulate your belly fat, your weight & positively impact your health.
inSight Nutrition & Lifestyle, Fredericton, New Brunswick
Get in touch: neil@insightnl.ca or Contact Us here
Providing nutrition and lifestyle advice for clients in Fredericton, NB and across the world, Neil Burchill brings a wealth of knowledge and insight from his real life experiences struggling with sustainable nutrition, lifestyle and fitness challenges.
