Insulin

Some of the hard-core Atkins folks out there are saying, "What about the insulin response?"

See, when you OD on carbs, your body produces Insulin, a fat-storage trigger. This is because the carbs get converted into sugar which goes into your bloodstream, and your body wants to get your blood sugar down. Hence the insulin tells it to cart off some of that sugar and store it, to get it out of the way.

Atkins says that by avoiding carbs, you're avoiding the insulin response. No insulin = no fat storage, right?

Sort of. What Atkins doesn't tell you is two fold.

1. You need carbs. You just do. You need them for energy, you need them to feel good, your brain needs them to think. So the logic of this is like the logic of telling someone that since that crud in their car engine that's slowing down performance is oil buildup, they shouldn't put oil in their car.

2. There are other ways to limit the insulin response. If you mix the carbs, either with fiber or with protein or with both (as is preferable) you reduce the insulin response without eliminating the carbs altogether. Since the rate at which the carbs get absorbed is slowed down, your blood sugar doesn't spike as much, and you're okay.