Can Smell Trigger Insulin?

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #1

I cook from scratch twice a day everyday. Sometimes I cook more because I’m preparing for tomorrow.
Sometimes I’m cooking for my partner on a different diet too.
I’m smelling but resist tasting though I’d cook better if I could taste but I might be cooking for 3 hrs.
Can you see my concerns?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

According to Gary Taubes, there is a cephalic response to thoughts of food, especially sweet foods, that causes the pancreas to secrete insulin in preparation for the sugar load to come.

Are you cooking for non-keto household members? If you are tasting the meat and the blue cheese salad dressing, you’ll be fine. If you are baking bread and tasting the dough, or having spoonfuls of rice or pasta, there will likely be a problem.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #3

I don’t taste anything (wish I could check the sauce) because I fear it’ll trigger well before the mealtime. I do cook for a non keto partner but obviously no taste checks there… I’ve heard that chewing even without swallowing can cause the pancreas to swing into action.
But you think a little taste check might be OK?

#4

Nope, because I’m not afraid of Insulin, and you shouldn’t be either. The irrational fear of a hormone we need to live is the #2 stupidest fear that has spread through the keto world at pandemic levels. Chronically elevated Insulin is bad, it going up and down throughout the day (like it’s supposed to) isn’t an issue. Eat right, don’t worry about a hormone you can’t check without a lab test.

#5

In the way a drop of water can increase the volume of a lake, I guess.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #6

hmmm OK … though I have been avoiding the ‘going up and down throughout the day’ thing. No snacking etc … no?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #7

The way insulin is supposed to work is this: When we eat, insulin rises to help us absorb the food. Some of the food fuels the body’s immediate needs, and the rest gets stored in adipose tissue for use between meals. When the adipose tissue has enough stored, it secretes leptin to tell the brain that we can stop eating, now. After the meal, insulin slowly drops down again, and the fat stored in the adipocytes gets released to feed the rest of the body. This is particularly useful during the overnight fast between supper and the first meal of the next day.

When we eat too much carbohydrate, insulin rises too high, and it does a couple of things: first, it prevents the adipocytes from releasing fat by blocking the action of hormone-sensitive lipase. The prevents the breakdown of triglycerides, keeping them trapped in the cell, because they are too big to pass through the cell wall (the individual fatty acids and the glycerol can, but triglycerides cannot). Insulin also blocks the brain receptors that register the leptin, thus keeping us hungry. (This mechanism makes sense if you think of eating lots of berries in the fall to fatten up for winter.)

This is why the key to a well-formulated ketogenic diet is restricting our carb intake. Continually eating lots of carbohydrate throughout the day keeps insulin elevated to an unhealthy level. A low-carb/keto diet allows insulin to fluctuate normally, gently rising and falling throughout the day. As long as we keep our glucose (also known as carbohydrate) intake low, insulin will stay within the normal healthy bounds.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #8

Right OK, That’s taken things to another level for me … This suggests to me that low carb is far more important than IF. Perhaps I’m over simplifying again?
But yes, thank you, it does address my original concern. I’m trying not to undo all the good stuff I’ve done in the last 3 months, to find my boundaries if you like.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #9

Yes, because although we do get into ketosis and fatty-acid metabolism when we fast long enough, eating low-carb/keto keeps insulin lower for a greater part of the day, and therefore we stay in ketosis longer. Fasting on top of that can then be more useful.

Professor Bikman points out that fasting and a ketogenic diet are essentially the same metabolic state, it’s just that one is with food and the other is without.

#10

For me, avoiding insulin raises is important cause I have had insulin resistance for years and only discovered keto and fasting in the last 7 or so years…so, damaged metabolism.

I don’t have anything in my place that I can’t eat.

Antisocial I know. And yes smell and tastes of things can trigger insulin, you might google for research on it.

Best wishes.

(Donna Cuscito) #11

I started leg cramps when menopause began at 40… we lived on an Army base in MD… Dr put me on Quinine I believe 500mg a day… cramps stopped immediately…took them through 80’s then a dr in CA told me I had to stop because they were throwing off another test and could cause yada yada… cramps immediately started again… I’d get up in middle of night and take spoonfuls of mustard… drink cider vinegar… for a few yrs… living with now SPASMS… I begged dr in SC to get back on it… by now 2008… I’ve been taking 10 mg prednisone for 10 yrs… for Dermatomyositis ( look it up) and now on 500 mg Quinidine daily…had 3 hr bouts of spasms while taking Quinidine and she gives me a muscle relaxer to have on hand if they start out of nowhere…sheesh…made it to 80 and did I mention I have Type 1 1/2 diabetes… insulin dependent? :kissing_heart:…ask dr for quinine… I also drink DIET QUININE WATER… Reg has 22 sugars per cup I believe…

(Donna Cuscito) #12

As a person that had bouts of pancreatitis for 20 yrs… because drs wouldn’t listen to me… that i was sure I had a stone in bile duct… that you don’t even have to smell food to start pancreas working … just looking at it Can trigger páncreas to start producing insulin… Been there done that… hurts like hell when it tries and can’t do it because of a blockage…

(Rossi Luo) #13

My mom also has stone in bile duct, and the big one had been removed by surgery, but there are still some small ones left in it. I have bought TUDCA for her, I have no idea if it works. Could you please kindly give me some suggestions if you know?

(Robin) #14

Try magnesium citrate powder and salt in a glass of water, especially before bed if night time brings your worst cramps. Worked wonders for me.