Why Eating Less Doesn’t Work

“Weight loss is easy. Just eat less.”

Over the years, we must have said that to hundreds of patients, even though only a few were successful. We now know why. This conventional advice- eat less, exercise more- only works if your metabolism is in balance. For everyone else, the divide between wanting to eat less and actually managing to do it can be as wide as the Grand Canyon. If your metabolism is out of balance- as it is for 90 percent of the patients we see- calorie cutting and portion control will only make you hungrier, more tired, and eventually fatter.

Here’s why. If you reduce calories the way the U.S government and many medical establishments suggest, you do so mostly by reducing fat. That means you’re still consuming most of your calories from carbohydrates. All of the carbohydrates you eat turn into blood glucose, and, right now, your body probably does not handle blood glucose effectively. Until you fix your metabolism, a high carbohydrate diet will cause blood glucose to quickly rise, which will cause your pancreas to pump out the hormone insulin, which will direct 85 percent of excess glucose into fat cells, causing blood glucose to drop and resulting in hunger, and starting the cycle all over again.