The Transition of Low Carb Model of Obesity into Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity (CIM)

Around 2002, the Banting/Atkins Low Carb model of obesity transitioned into the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity (CIM).

Like, when no one noticed the transition from the model of “A calorie is a calorie” into the model of “Calories In Calories Out (CICO), no one noticed the transition from the Low Carb Model into the Carbohydrates-Insulin Model of Obesity.

The Carbohydrate-Insulin model of obesity (CIM) looks the same as the Low Carbohydrate model of obesity but, in reality, is not the same. But for the general population, it seems just more scientific. Even Banting/Atkins diet followers were unaware that the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity (CIM) differed significantly from the Low Carb model.

The Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity (CIM) is far more similar to the Calories In Calories Out (CICO) model and far less similar to the Banting/dr. Atkins Low Carb model.

The Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity (CIM) is far more similar to the model of Calories In Calories Out (CICO) and far less similar to the Banting/dr. Atkins Low Carb model.

According to the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of obesity (CIM), a high-carbohydrate diet produces:

1) increased hunger (increased hunger causes eating more, eating more causes weight gain). 2) postprandial hyperinsulinemia. 3) promotes the deposition of calories in fat cells instead of oxidation in lean tissues. 4) slows the metabolic rate.

The founders of the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model don’t mention from where they got their inspiration for creating such a model, but it seems obvious that they were inspired by the examples of unexplained weight loss in people affected with Type 1 diabetes before they start insulin therapy and, in many cases, (not always) it is followed with weight gain after insulin therapy.

The fact that not everyone with Type 1 diabetes experiences unwanted weight gain after insulin treatment didn’t hinder the founder of the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity from creating the theory that Insulin causes weight gain.

The theory is expressed in many different ways depending on the sources, but all have misled the general public to think that Insulin causes weight gain.

Here below are just a few sources that promote the false belief that Insulin causes weight gain.

1) Insulin causes weight gain when the cells absorb too much glucose and the body converts this into fat. – source: Medical News Today

2) Insulin administration increases fat mass… -source; PubMed

3) When people eat food containing carbohydrates…. sugar levels rise, the pancreas produces insulin, a hormone that prompts cells to absorb blood sugar for energy or storage. - source: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Before the Carbohydrates-Insulin Model of Obesity, the occurrence of weight gain in some people following insulin treatment and the weight gain among people with Type 1 diabetes was regarded as unexplainable weight gain.

It was regarded as unexplainable because not all people with Type 1 diabetes experienced unwanted weight gain after starting with insulin therapy and the other reason was that weight gain can’t be explained by the model of “A calorie is a calorie” or by the model of “Calories In Calories Out (CICO),” nor it could be explained by the Banting/Atkins Low Carbohydrates Model of weight loss.

The Carbohydrates-Insulin Model of Obesity gives the (false and dangerous) explanation that Insulin causes weight gain of the fat mass.

Before the Carbohydrates-Insulin Model of Obesity, a condition called diabulimia was non-existent. (Diabulimia is a condition when people with type 1 diabetes deliberately give themselves less Insulin than they need or stop taking it altogether, hoping to prevent weight gain or to lose weight.)

The Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity is the only cause of diabulimia and is the only cause of the epidemic proportion in the prevalence of diabulimia among people affected with Type 1 diabetes.

Original Low Carb Model (Banting/Atkins) didn’t give a basis for pharmaceutical intervention/weight loss pills or weight loss surgeries/bariatric surgeries.

The Banting diet, and later on the Atkins diet for weight loss, advocated a certain way of nourishing the body (restricting the food rich in carbohydrates in favour of the food that is rich in fat and protein).

The diets for weight loss, based on the “Carbohydrates-Insulin Model of Obesity (CIM),” advocate a certain way of starving the body by restricting food rich in carbohydrates in the overall diet (voluntary starvation).

Introducing the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity diminishes the popularity of the Banting/Atkins diet, and it is solely responsible for the cause of diabulimia – the condition unknown before the Carbohydrates-Insulin Model of Obesity.