In doing several health-format radio shows, I've been amazed to hear what many obstensibly knowledgable authorities consider "insulin resistance." Almost all of them have the concept backwards!

That is, they seem to think that the starches make the insulin hormone "insensitive" and ineffective at stimulating the body's fat cells to release fat to be burned as carbohydrate.

Actually, the reality is far different, but become obvious only if you are knowledgable about the effects of lectins. Take "wheat-germ agglutinin" (WGA) for example. This lectin binds to the insulin receptor on the fat cell irreversibly. But rather than "blocking" the effect of insulin, WGA actually STIMULATES the insulin receptor non-stop. The reason the stimulation is continuous, is that regular insulin is under "feed-back inhibition" that is, after a certain amount is made, it is turned off and the circulating insulin is gradually degraded. WGA on the other hand is not subject to degradation or inhibition, so it continually stimulates the insulin receptor to pull sugar out of the blood and convert it into stored fat.

This is why the ABO diets can achieve good weight loss results if lectins particular for a blood type are avoided for 3-6 weeks. Given enough time, eventually some of these insulin-mimicking lectins will gradually dissappear or the fat cells will regenerate new, "clean" insulin receptors.

So, in essence, "insulin resistance" is not a "lack" of insulin activity, but rather a non-stop, uncontrollable "overactivity" of the fat cell's insulin receptor.

Thought you all should know.

Peter