Page 24 - BTC Debunking the diet

In 1863, some 15 years before his death, he wrote and self-published a book
called “Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public.” In case you were
wondering, darlings, corpulence is a really fancy English word for being fat.

In the booklet, which became a smash hit, he outlined the eating plan he
followed: avoiding sugar, saccharine matter (sugary foods), starch, beer,
milk and butter.

The magic bullet

Cutting back on the carbs helps to induce a process called ketosis. In a
nutshell (such an overused phrase, we know), it means that the body burns
fat instead of sugar that it has converted from carbohydrates. This promotes
fairly rapid weight loss.

The body is a very smart machine, but it also operates as a managed system,
which makes it predictable to some extent. When the calorie intake is
reduced, the body compensates by burning away the excess that has been
stored. But when the body senses a change in diet, what it often does is drain
off the excess water and start to burn away muscle instead of fat. This does
not lead to sustained weight loss.

Additionally, if the body senses that it is being starved of nutrition, it will
want to hold onto energy deposits and will continue to store instead of burn.
But if the source of energy is removed – in this case, carbohydrates – then
the body has no choice but to start ketosis.

Ketosis begins the process of fat burning faster, so the experts say, which
leads to rapid weight loss if you’re very overweight.

The pros

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This booklet © 2019, Rob Rodell, all rights reserved.