"Every Day And In Every Way I Am Getting Better And Better"...
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© Mike McInnes, July 16th 2006
1. What is the fuel demand of the human brain?
The brain has no fuel store or reserve. Just to stay alive and conscious, you need 6 to 6.5 grams of glucose every hour.
2. What is the fuel or energy storage capacity of the liver?
Around 75 grams of glucose stored as liver glycogen.
3. How much liver glycogen do I need at rest just to stay alive?
During resting metabolism, the liver depletes at a rate of 10 grams of glucose per hour – about 6.5 grams of glucose to the brain and 3.5 grams to the kidneys and red blood cells.
4. How much liver glycogen is depleted during exercise?
During exercise, the liver depletes at a rate of up to 100 grams per hour, depending on intensity.
5. What fuel does the body use during rest for recovery and rebuilding of damaged tissues?
100% fat, primarily body fat.
6. So if my body burns primarily body fat for recovery during rest, why is it necessary to refuel the liver prior to sleep?
Because the liver must provide at least 10 grams of glucose per hour to the brain and other vital organs. If you eat an early evening meal, by bedtime the liver glycogen stores may be dangerously low.
7. What is the effect of going to bed with a depleted liver?
During the 8 hours of the night fast, the liver must also release 10 grams of glucose every hour. A depleted liver places brain metabolism at risk and puts the whole recovery process on hold. If the brain’s glucose supply is compromised, it is only a few minutes away from a coma.
8. So what happens if the liver runs out of fuel? How does the brain react?
The brain activates the adrenal glands to release stress hormones -- adrenalin and cortisol.
9. What are the roles of these hormones?
They mobilize alternative fuel stores (primarily free fatty acids and protein from muscle tissue). The protein is carried to the liver and converted to glucose to maintain fuel supply to the brain.
10. If the liver is not properly fueled prior to bed, does the chronic release of these stress hormones impact my health?
Yes. Such chronic release of adrenalin and cortisol during the night fast contributes to a series of degenerative conditions associated with the modern diet such as osteoporosis and insulin resistance that may lead to type 2 diabetes.
11. What happens if I refuel the liver prior to bedtime?
Refueling the liver prior to bed protects brain metabolism during the night fast, by maintaining a stable blood sugar.
12. Are there any other benefits that result from this?
With an energy-stocked liver and stable fuel supply, the brain will activate the pituitary gland.
13. Is that good? What is the role of the pituitary gland?
It is vital! The pituitary gland organizes release of recovery hormones during Slow Wave Sleep.
14. What is Slow Wave Sleep?
Slow Wave Sleep is recovery sleep, when the brain waves are at their slowest. This is when repair and maintenance of damaged tissues and construction of new cells gets underway.
15. So what is the fuel used to provide the energy for this recovery stuff?
Fat is the fuel used to provide this energy. This is primarily body fat as opposed to muscle fat.
16. Are there any conditions necessary for this to take place?
The body must have the resources available for this repair -- protein from the evening meal and a stable blood sugar that comes as a result of an optimally fueled liver.
17. What is the best method of refueling the liver prior to bed?
Honey is the best food for this purpose.
18. Why is honey the best food?
Honey contains a 1:1 glucose to fructose ratio. This is optimal.
19. How does this work?
After the fructose passes through the gut wall via its own specialized transport mechanism, it is acted upon by fructokinase and is taken from the portal circulation into the liver.
20. What about glucose?
Glucose also passes into the portal vein through its own transport system.
21. What happens next?
Fructose liberates the glucose enzyme, glucokinase, which has been locked in the liver cell nucleus. This allows glucose uptake into the liver.
22. What happens to the fructose in the liver?
The fructose is converted to glucose and stored as liver glycogen.
23. What happens to the glucose?
Glucose, with the assistance of fructose, enters the liver and is also converted to liver glycogen.
24. So you are saying that fructose and glucose together are better?
Yes! Fructose releases the enzyme, glucokinase, which facilitates glucose uptake into the liver.
25. Does this mean that fructose acts as a kind of glucose regulator?
Yes. When fructose activates glucokinase, glucose uptake into the liver is optimized (we call this the Fructose Paradox). Without glucokinase, glucose cannot be converted to glycogen in the liver.
26. Why is it important to optimize liver glucose or glycogen?
This is essential at a time when a well-stocked liver is necessary for repair and recovery during the night.
27. Does any of the glucose appear in the circulation?
Yes. Some glucose will pass through the liver circulation into the general circulation and cause a mild spike in blood sugar.
28. Does this cause an insulin spike?
Yes, a mild one.
29. Is this bad?
No. A mild spike in insulin is normal after food intake.
30. What is the effect of such an insulin spike at night?
Insulin activates sleep.
31. How does it do that?
Insulin promotes uptake of tryptophan into the brain.
32. What does that do?
In the brain, tryptophan is converted to serotonin.
33. Serotonin causes relaxation?
Yes. Serotonin plays a pivotal role in control of mood in human brain function.
34. What follows?
Serotonin is converted to melatonin when we switch off the light (darkness activated).
35. Then what happens?
Melatonin induces sleep.
36. Is that all that melatonin does?
No. Melatonin inhibits the production of insulin.
37. What is the result of insulin inhibition?
When insulin production is inhibited by melatonin, blood sugar is stabilized (blood sugar does not fall precipitously).
38. Does this complete the cycle started by eating honey before bedtime?
Yes. This cycle is critical for the maintaining a stable blood sugar during the night time fast. We call this the Honey-Insulin-Melatonin Cycle (HYMN).
39. Is the HYMN cycle essential for the body to recover and repair itself?
Absolutely! If the cycle is not completed and blood sugar stabilized, the adrenal glands will be activated and release those stress hormones which halt recovery.
40. What is the fuel available in the human body during rest?
There are two glucose stores -- liver and muscle glycogen, and two fat stores -- body fat and muscle fat. Muscle stores the bulk of the glucose (muscle glycogen) and other body tissues store the bulk of the fat (adipose tissue or fat).
41. What is the percentage of fuels utilized in the human body during rest?
At rest, the body gets 70% of its fuel from fat and 30% from glycogen or glucose.
42. Where is this fuel stored?
The fat comes from body fat stores. The glycogen or glucose comes from the liver.
43. Are you saying that during sleep, up to 70% of the fuel needed for metabolism comes from body fat? Is that correct?
Correct. During sleep, most of the energy we consume comes from body fat, a condition similar to hibernation in animals.
44. Amazing. How does that compare to the percentage of fats and glycogen utilized during exercise?
During moderately intense aerobic exercise, only 20% of the required fuel comes from fat.
45. Did I get this right - - during sleep, our bodies get 70% of the required energy from fat while during exercise only 20% of the required energy comes from fat?
That’s right! At rest, we burn 70% fat for metabolism. With light exercise, we might get 35% of our energy requirements from fat; with moderately intense exercise this drops to 20% and with intense exercise, we only get 10% or the required energy from fat.
46. Nobody told me this at the gym. Can you translate this into calories?
On average, one hour of moderately intense aerobic exercise on the treadmill will burn around 600 calories.
47. Sounds good, how many grams of fat does this burn?
Remember, we get only 20% of our energy from fat during moderately intense exercise. Twenty percent of 600 calories or 120 fat calories are burned in one hour of exercise. One gram of fat provides 9 calories so a total of about 13.3 grams of fat are burned in one hour of moderate aerobic exercise -- about half an ounce or 0.0485 pounds.
48. That’s not so good. Does all of the fat burned during exercise come from body fat?
No. Only half of the fat burned during moderate exercise comes from body fat stores. The rest comes from muscle fat. So one hour on the treadmill burns up less than quarter of an ounce or only 0.02425 pounds of body fat.
49. That doesn’t sound like much to me. But since you said we burn 70% fat during resting metabolism, does that mean that we can burn more fat during sleep than in the gym?
Yes, considerably more. And during sleep, the fat we burn is all body fat, provided of course that the liver is fueled by honey prior to bedtime.
50. How much fat can we burn during eight hours of sleep?
Well at minimum, an average 180 pound male will burn about 70 fat calories per hour or 560 fat calories during eight hours of sleep, thus consuming more than 60 grams or 0.1323 pounds.
51. Not bad. Can I increase this by exercising during the day?
Yes. By including 30 minutes of resistance exercise in your daily routine, you can increase your metabolic rate during recovery sleep. Keep in mind that this increased metabolism will increase fat metabolism at night.
52. Will exercise during the day increase fat metabolism at night by a lot?
Oh yes. The literature refers to EPOC, or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption or “oxygen debt” as it used to be called.
53. And this is primarily fat metabolism?
It is almost certainly 100% fat metabolism. Your brain metabolic rate does not alter in the post exercise period. After exercise, your liver and muscles may be depleted of fuel stores, so it follows that the increased metabolism must depend on extra body fat for fuel.
54. Sounds too good to be true, can you prove it?
It already has been proven. There are dozens of studies on EPOC that validate this. If you are curious, put “post exercise oxygen consumption” in your favourite search engine and enjoy the reading.
55. What determines the proportions of fuels used during exercise?
The fuels burned during exercise are determined by the intensity of the exercise and length of the exercise period.
56. No other factors, such as what we eat or how we train?
Training, over time, will increase the proportion of fat relative to the amount of glucose burned during exercise. This effect is limited, however, and on any given occasion, it is the intensity of the exercise that is the determining factor. What we eat or do not eat prior to exercise has no effect on fat metabolism.
Of course, if the liver is not pre-stocked or fueled with glycogen prior to prolonged exercise, we will degrade more protein from muscle tissue. Fat metabolism will be unaffected, contrary to popular opinion.
57. No way round this? Isn’t there any way to get our bodies to burn more fat during exercise?
Not really. We can optimize fat burning during rest. This is body fat metabolism as we have repeatedly said. But the human body has no mechanism for optimizing fat burning during exercise like it does at rest.
58. But we do burn some fat during exercise?
Yes, some. Less than 20% of our required fuel energy during moderately intense aerobic exercise comes from fat. During exercise, we primarily burn glycogen or glucose and as the glycogen is depleted from liver, protein is degraded from muscle tissue to produce more glucose. During rest, we burn body fat.
59. So the notion that exercise burns body fat is a myth?
For the most part, yes. It is true that during moderately intense aerobic exercise, as much as 20% of the energy required comes from fat, but only half of that or 10% comes from body fat.
60. I have heard that we can release extra fat during exercise by using a metabolic stimulant, such as caffeine. Is that true?
Caffeine will increase adrenalin levels which will decrease insulin levels and increase the amount of circulating free fatty acids. However, the resulting effect on fat consumption will be minimal as there is always more fat available than required during exercise. We still rely primarily on glycogen or glucose as fuel for aerobic exercise.
61. What happens to the extra fat in the circulation if we release more?
Most of it (90%) will be returned to fat stores post exercise, but as insulin levels rise, some will stick to blood vessels and pose a risk for heart disease further down the line.
62. So extra fat available to contracting depleted muscles will not result in more fat being oxidized?
Not one gram. I have seen a study increasing the amount of fat in the blood by a factor of 20 with no significant increase in oxidation.
63. Can we go back to bedtime and see what occurs when we do not fuel the liver? What exactly happens?
As the liver becomes depleted of glycogen stores, the brain activates release of adrenalin and cortisol.
64. What does adrenalin do?
Initially it releases any remaining glucose from the liver. Adrenalin is also responsible for the release of free fatty acids into the blood stream.
65. Anything else?
Adrenalin increases the heart rate and drives up blood pressure. Adrenalin is called the “fight or flight” hormone. Over time, chronic overproduction of adrenalin will contribute to the development of heart disease.
66. What about cortisol?
Cortisol is a very powerful glucocorticoid hormone or steroid. Its main job when the body is under stress is to make sure there is enough fuel (glucose) to meet the energy demand. It does this by degrading muscle protein so that it can be turned into glucose for the brain. Chronic overproduction of cortisol can be very harmful to the body.
67. Does Cortisol do anything else?
Yes. It degrades bone which can lead to osteoporosis, causes insulin resistance which can lead to type 2 diabetes, and suppresses hormonal production which can lead to lowered sperm count and infertility. In addition, increased cortisol levels are associated with memory loss, depression, gastric ulcers, poor immune function and obesity.
68. You used the words “. . . Power and Efficacy of Honey” in the title of this piece. What does honey have to do with all of this?
Honey refuels the liver in a very efficient way and in doing so, activates sleep, promotes recovery (fat burning) physiology and reduces production of stress hormones.
69. I think I understand what you are saying. But if this is all true, why hasn’t anybody recommended this before?
You have to go back to the first few questions and answers. Many of these facts have been known for a long time by a few. But mostly they have been ignored by the medical community. You must remember that medicine is all about treatment of disease, rather than health and wellness. Much of this information is not taught in medical school. And even if it were known and applied by physicians in their practices, many folks prefer a pill to following a discipline of good eating and moderate exercise.
Some of the information contained in the Hibernation Diet is just plain revolutionary, e.g., you can lose weight while you sleep.
70. This is just too hard to believe. It must not be true. What proof do you have?
The proof lies in two areas. First, the worldwide medical and nutrition literature is gradually and increasingly validating the principles presented herein. (It shouldn’t surprise you that in the United States, we are way behind many other countries in studies that validate the “power and efficacy” of honey in health and medicine.) And second, every day there are hundreds of people who are discovering that the facts presented in The Hibernation Diet are valid. Anecdotes are not in themselves proofs, but hundreds of anecdotes together lead to proofs.
There is nothing in these principles that can hurt you. Why not try it for two weeks and see for yourself.
71. Hard to believe. Is there anything else that medicine has missed?
Yes, the treatment and cure for morning sickness.
72. Morning sickness? I’m not pregnant!
Millions of people suffer from it, regardless of sex, but are unaware of the connection to poor liver fueling the previous night. In pregnancy it will cause both nausea and vomiting. The condition is directly related to low blood sugar which is the result of not fueling the liver prior to bed. Along with chronic overproduction of the adrenal glands, glucagon, another hormone released when the blood sugar is low, is released from the pancreas. Glucagon causes nausea, decreases appetite and the result is low fuel intake in the morning hours.
73. Is this in any way connected to Beckham's vomiting episode and so-called dehydration, as you termed it? [For our American readers, Beckham is an English football (soccer) player who became quite incapacitated in a big match.]
Yes, most certainly. There are no references to dehydration causing nausea and vomiting in the literature. Quite the opposite. Nausea with vomiting can cause dehydration if extreme and more especially if accompanied with diarrhea.
Dehydration will not cause nausea and vomiting.
74. What did then cause Beckham's nausea and vomiting episode? Is this something like “second half” hypoglycemia?
Of course. England’s football team always performs poorly in the second half as a result of poor liver fueling prior to the game, a condition known as second half reactive hypoglycemia.
75. Can you explain?
It really is very simple. If you fail to fuel the liver optimally prior to the game, your liver will be depleted by half time. Blood glucose may be stable and the player may feel OK, but this is at the expense of protein breakdown from muscle. At half time they consume high glycemic carbohydrates, orange cakes, and sugary drinks. Some 60-70 grams of glucose will be absorbed rapidly and blood sugar will rocket upwards. This is dangerous and a tidal wave of insulin will be released to deal with this. Remember, the body is now at rest, so insulin will be released. This will take fifteen minutes or so. The players then take the field with blood sugar falling and no liver fuel to replenish, except for degraded muscle.
76. I see. So poor concentration, slow reaction times, late tackles, overheating from adrenalin, frustration, yellow and red cards and no possibility of taking a successful penalty kick are the result of a depleted liver and a falling blood sugar?
Correct.
77. So are you saying that high glycemic carbohydrates and sugary sports drinks are not effective?
Absolutely!
78. Are you saying that this could be avoided with optimum liver fueling with honey?
Yes, honey at half time would do the trick, but there is more to it than that. There is preparation in the previous days, carbo-loading for both muscles and liver and on the day of the game, and (for the liver) in every hour prior to the game. Remember the liver depletes at 10 grams every hour during resting metabolism and this is significant.
79. Are there no other fuels that the body can use to replenish the liver during exercise?
Yes there are -- lactate, pyruvate and glycerol -- but these are half glucose molecules, drawn from the glucose pool, and doubled up in the liver to make glucose. However, they are not significant during exercise and the only significant fuel to make new glucose is degraded muscle.
80. It seems from this discussion and these principles that there are strong parallels between the overnight body recovery during rest and exercise?
Yes. There are strong similarities. In both, the brain is at risk -- overnight because the liver reserves are so small, and only just sufficient to last for the night assuming optimal fuelling prior to bed AND during exercise because contracting muscles are in effect 'stealing' from the brain fuel store, the liver.
81. You said that during exercise, blood sugar may be stable as a result of muscle being degraded and converted to glucose. Does this give a false picture of what is happening to my blood sugar?
Yes. Blood sugar levels are a static indicator of glucose metabolism but may be a poor indicator of the underlying state of body recovery. For instance, an athlete undergoing intensive workouts during the day who fails to take honey prior to bed will not recover during the usual rest period. His recovery mechanisms will be functioning under stress during the night fast. Given efficient production of stress hormones, and trained athletes do possess such potential, blood sugar may be high in the morning, at the expense of degraded muscle. This is known as 'The Dawn Effect'. Diabetics are aware of it. Upon rising with an elevated blood sugar, he may feel like Superman and go off on an early morning training run. When the liver is depleted this would be a foolish enterprise indeed. The result would be the release of more stress hormones which degrade more muscle just to keep the brain going.
82. The athlete may even think he is degrading more fat as a result of not fueling prior to the run?
They often do. This is a widely accepted myth.
83. Is the problem during exercise that of maintaining fuel supply to the brain?
Yes, but remember that the body maintains fuel supply to the brain as a top priority, most particularly during exercise and during the night fast.
84. On a philosophic level, why do you think the brain has no fuel store?
There are a number of theories about this. If the brain had a store of glycogen it would solve a great many of our physiological problems. However when you store glycogen it forms a gel with water. One gram of glucose carries 3 grams of water, so the volume is large. If the brain had a glycogen store, say the size of the liver, I calculate it would be some 25% larger. Already at birth the size of the new infant's head is a problem. If it were 25% larger we would have to be born at seven months and as a species not survive. I am not sure if this is the definitive answer but it will suffice until a better theory emerges. It certainly makes sense to me.
85. Let’s return to this thing about honey. Honey contains 80% carbohydrates, with around 40% being glucose and 40% fructose. How do you answer the nutrition “experts” that advocate a low carbohydrate diet? Isn’t all sugar the same regardless of its source?
Equating honey with refined sucrose and high fructose corn syrup is a silly prejudice. The biology of honey is very different. Refined sucrose and high fructose corn syrup cause insulin resistance, obesity and heart disease, or syndrome X. This is nothing to do with the biology of honey, which as I have already explained, when taken at the correct times, optimizes liver glycogen, stabilizes blood glucose, reduces production of stress hormones and improves recovery (fat burning) physiology.
86. Have you met much resistance to the recommendation of using honey as part of a valid diet and health regimen?
Yes, but it is important to come back to the principles stated in the first few answers at the beginning of this paper. Most experts are unaware of them. In effect they are 'liver blind' with respect to the role of liver glycogen in human metabolism. They offer knee jerk opposition and when confronted with the science, offer little meaningful response.
87. Why is providing an abundance of fuel for the liver such a problem?
Well there is no general awareness of the importance of maintaining adequate liver glycogen. If physicians, exercise physiologists, nutritionists, athletes and coaches are not aware of it, one can scarcely expect the public to be conscious of this.
88. Any other reason?
Over the past 100 years, there has been a significant change in dietary habits. A century or so ago, when we were more of an agrarian society, carbohydrate intake was primarily from grains, which are devoid of fructose. In post agrarian times including our modern era, carbohydrate intake is dominated by sucrose (white sugar) and high fructose corn syrup -- more than 150 pounds of it per person per year on average! That is why our modern society experiences such a high incidence of the largely adrenal driven diseases, referred to in #67. The excessive intake of sucrose and high fructose corn syrup activates high insulin overproduction which drives sugar into the cells where fat is synthesized and stored. Liver glycogen for normal metabolism is not produced and stored as needed. Failure to form liver glycogen results directly in overproduction of the adrenal hormones. And the cycle continues in a downward spiral, with predicable results on our health and wellness. It really is quite simple.
89. Why do the grains not fuel the liver optimally?
The answer lies in an enzyme called glucokinase. Glucokinase is a very fickle hormone, a very lazy hormone. It spends most of its time locked away inside the nuclei of liver cells. It will not act until liberated by fructose. This phenomenon is well documented in the literature and is known as the Glucose Paradox. Grains are essentially starch and are quickly converted into glucose in our bodies. This glucose, in our modern diets, presents the portal circulation with a large glucose dose. But without fructose to liberate glucokinase, little glucose is taken into the liver. When the liver is provided with fructose and glucose together, the fructose liberates the glucose enzyme, and allows for optimal liver uptake of glucose which is then converted to glycogen. We call this the Fructose Paradox.
90. Is it possible to overdose on honey?
Of course it is, but very difficult to do so. A child who consumes a 16 to 32 ounce soft drink containing high fructose corn syrup with his/her hamburger will consume up to 100 to 200 grams of sugar at one sitting. Try consuming 200 grams of honey. It is virtually impossible.
Honey has its own inbuilt safety factor. It really is very, very difficult to consume excess honey.
91. Are there other sources of the 1:1 ratio of glucose/fructose found in honey?
Yes, all fruits, vegetables and most natural fruit drinks.
92. Why honey before bedtime?
If you wanted to invent a safe, healthy food, ideal for replenishing the liver prior to bed to optimize the body’s recovery mechanisms, it would be honey. Nature provides it, thanks to the amazing bee and the patient husbandry of the beekeeper, so we need not invent it.
93. What about eating honey in the morning?
In fact, that is a good idea! Even with a fueled liver prior to bedtime, it will be depleted by morning. Honey will liberate glucokinase and prime the liver. So take it with cereal and fruit. You will leave the house with stable blood glucose, good liver glycogen plenitude, your concentration levels will be excellent, your stress hormones under control, and you will work at your peak level. Honey is food for thought, literally.
94. It seems as though the concept of honey is about to change in the human diet?
Yes, I think this is really a return to the past. It has been recommended for stomach ailments and multiple other human conditions for centuries. Honey reduces production of the stress hormone cortisol, and cortisol is a risk for gastric ulcers. Honey is powerfully anti-infective and is known to inhibit the growth of the helicobacter bacteria, known to cause ulcers. Honey promotes growth of the probiotic bacteria essential for good intestinal tract biology.
95. Can you sum this up in one sentence?
Honey optimizes liver glycogen storage via fructose and glucose uptake, honey activates sleep via the insulin – melatonin (HYMN) cycle, honey promotes optimal body recovery (fat burning) during the night fast and honey promotes good health via prevention of overproduction of the adrenal stress hormones.
© Mike McInnes, July 16th 2006
REFERENCES
The fuel capacity of the liver. (The fact that the liver depletes at around 10 grams per hour is a critical metabolic reality.)
Murray R, Mayes P, Granner D, Rodwell V, Harper’s Biochemistry, Appleton Lange, p. 172, Connecticut, 1988.
Metabolism, Coffee C, Fence Creek Publishing, p. 130.
Frayn K, Metabolic Regulation, Blackwell Publishing p. 214.
Salway J, Metabolism At A Glance, Blackwell Publishing p. 22.
Coffee C, Fence Creek Publishing, p. 130, 1998.
The rate of depletion of the liver during resting metabolism.
Tuch B, Dunlop M, Proietto J, 2000 Diabetes Research. Harwood Academic Publishers, Amsterdam p.15.
Nutrition & Metabolism, Blackwell Publishing 2003 Edition. Gibney M, Macdonald I, Roche H, p. 87.
The fuel used to furnish the energy required for recovery during sleep.
Blanc S, Normand S, Pachaudi C, Fortrat JO, Laville M, Gharib C,. “Fuel homeostasis during physical inactivity induced by bed rest”. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2000, 85, 2223-2233
The hormones released to maintain blood glucose, in the event of a depleted liver.
Rang H, Dale M, Pharmacology, Churchill Livingstone, “Control of Blood Glucose”, p. 498.
Rang H, Dale M, Pharmacology, Churchill Livingstone, “Glucocorticoids”, p. 510.,
Rang H, Dale M, Pharmacology, Churchill Livingstone, “Sympathomimetic Agonists”, p. 204.
The role of the pituitary gland during recovery.
Oxford Dictionary of Sport Science & Medicine. Ed Michael Kent, 1998 2nd ed. P. 389 (NC).
Slow Wave sleep and its role in recovery.
Sherwood L, Human Physiology, Brooks/Cole 2001, p. 160 (NC).
The best food for refueling the liver prior to bed.
Journal of Medicinal Food, “Natural Honey Lowers Plasma Glucose, C-Reactive Protein, Homocysteine, and Blood Lipids in Healthy, Diabetic, and Hyperlipidemic Subjects: Comparison with Dextrose and Sucrose”, Apr 2004, Vol. 7, No. 1: 100-107, Noori S. Al-Waili.
The role of fructose in optimizing liver glycogen.
”The Glucose Paradox”, Katz J, McGarry D, J Clinical Investigtion. Vol. 74, Dec 84, 1901-1909.
Coffee C, Fence Creek Publishing, p. 163, “Translocation of Glucokinase by dietary Fructose”.
The significance of insulin driven uptake of tryptophan into the brain (HYMN Cycle).
Cangiano C, et al, Biochem Int, 1983 Nov 7 (5): 617-27 “Stimulation of insulin transport across the blood-brain barrier”.
The conversion of tryptophan to serotonin.
Rang H, Dale M, Pharmacology, Churchill Livingstone “Biosynthesis of 5-HTP”, p. 218.
The conversion of serotonin to melatonin.
Concise Oxford Medical Dictionary, p. 399.
The activation of sleep by melatonin.
Concise Oxford Medical Dictionary, p. 399.
Inhibition of insulin by melatonin
Horm Res 1974 Jan 5(1):21-28 “Melatonin inhibition of insulin secretion in the rat and mouse”.
Inhibition of insulin prevents a fall in blood glucose.
Concise Oxford Medical Dictionary, p. 337.
The partition and selection of fuels at rest.
Frayn K, Metabolic Regulation, Blackwell Publishing. “Integration of Carbohydrate, Fat and Protein Metabolism in the Whole Body”, p. 151-191.
Blanc S, Normand S, Pachaudi C, Fortrat JO, Laville M, Gharib C,. “Fuel homeostasis during physical inactivity induced by bed rest”. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2000, 85, 2223-2233.
Burstzyn P, “Physiology for Sportspeople”, Metabolism, p. 31-62, Manchester University Press.
Fat as the fuel of resting and low level exercise.
McLelland G, “Fats to the Fire”, Comparative Biochem and Physiol, Part B 139 , 2004, 443-460.
Brooks G, Mercier J, 1994, “Crossover Concept”, J. Appl Physiol 76, 2253-2261.
Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) induced by resistance exercise.
Schuenke M, et al, “Effect of an acute period of resistance exercise on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption: Implications for body mass management”. Eur J Appl Physiol, Vol 86 No 5, Mar 02.
The relative proportion of fuels selected during exercise.
Wolfe R, “Metabolic interactions between glucose and fatty acids in humans. The glucose-fatty acid cycle reversed”. Am J Clin Nutr, 1998:67 (suppl) : 519S-26S
McLelland G, “Fats to the Fire”, Comparative Biochem and Physiol Part B 139 , 2004, 443-460.
The morning sickness concept resulting from poor liver fueling at night.
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Foreword to The Hibernation Diet by Dr Ron Fessenden MD, MPH
(As published in the new US Edition):
Rarely in medicine and healthcare do revolutionary therapeutic discoveries occur. In my lifetime of 60 + years a few significant revolutions in medical treatments come to mind. The synthesis of corticosteroids for oral administration, the discovery of penicillin and the subsequent widespread use of antibiotics, the synthesis of H2 antagonists used for the treatment of peptic acid disease and other GI ailments, the application of computer technology in radiology and imaging (CT scanning and Magnetic Resonance Imaging), the use of coronary angiography in the treatment of coronary vascular disease - - are a few that deserve mention. The occurrence of truly revolutionary discovery in medicine is measured in years if not decades.
Even more rarely do revolutionary nutritional discoveries gain acceptance among the medical community. In spite of our exponentially expanding knowledge base in human physiology and cellular biology, changes in the way we eat, i.e. diet, seemingly take generations to gain credence in the medical literature.
There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is the fact that doctors know little about nutrition. (Ask your physician how many nutrition courses he/she had in medical school!) Nutrition is all about wellness. Medicine is all about disease and its various treatments. The prescription of appropriate nutritional therapy is relegated to second place behind medication regimens, surgical interventions, or even psychotherapy in some cases. Nutritional counselling is not covered by most insurance plans and thus not deserving of attention by practitioners or patients. A physician who practices wellness and focuses on nutritional advice often resorts to “selling” nutritional supplements and vitamins, thereby earning a dubious comparison to a “medicine man” peddling his wares from a horse drawn wagon. And finally, when confronted with the reality of lifestyle diseases (obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and even some cancers), most patients ask, “Can’t you just give me a pill, Doc?” rather than face the necessity of change in eating habits. Many doctors are all too willing to comply. . .
Mike and Stuart McInnis, in their short book, The Hibernation Diet, have challenged the conventional wisdom of professional nutritionists and lifelong dieters alike. Their premise - - that you can lose weight while you sleep - - is based on one overlooked, yet none-the-less valid, physiologic principle. The human body consumes stored fuel (or fat) differently during an approximate eight hour sleep cycle than it does during the balance of our awake state. That simple principle is, I believe, a signal event - a significant revolutionary “discovery” in the science of nutrition during our generation.
Mike and Stuart are not “medicine men”. They are not trying to sell you a pill or a supplement. They offer no gimmicks or fads. Nor do they engage in calorie counting. They simply advocate sound and balanced nutritional habits along with moderate resistance exercise as the keys to healthy living. And by challenging a myth that has existed for more than a generation - - you should not eat anything in the hour or two before bed - - with hard data from direct observational studies, they advance a principle that, at best, needs to be tried by thousands stuck in the latest fad diets of today, and at least, deserves longer term population studies.
Their principles are simple to understand and apply which encourages easy adoption by the general public. There is nothing in the Hibernation Diet that can hurt you, unless of course you conclude after careful reading that we should all mimic bears and sleep for the better part of the winter. [Don’t try it. Our bodies store fat and burn it during sleep all right, but they do not have the capability to suspend or slow critical organ functioning for sustained periods of time!]
By pointing out a principle that has been overlooked in the United States, one can expect challenges by the established experts in nutrition, exercise physiology and medicine. That principle – that the human body burns more fat during sleep than it does during vigorous aerobic exercise – has plenty of documentation in the literature outside of the US. In time, the experts in the US will catch up after they have completed their own studies - - we are not very accepting of professional studies done elsewhere.
Acceptance of the principles advocated in the Hibernation Diet will not come overnight. It took Dr. Adkins nearly a generation for his principles of balanced protein and carbohydrate intake to gain credence in the medical literature. His single handed attack on the “dietary fat hypothesis” of the ‘60s continued for more than 30 years before medical researchers admitted that fat was not the problem - - excess carbohydrate that triggered excessive insulin production was! But that is another story for another day. . .
Fortunately, acceptance by the experts in not required for you to experience the results offered by The Hibernation Diet. All you need is a little honey and eight hours of sleep or so each night. What could be simpler? Most of us (and I include myself) that have taken Mike and Stuart’s suggestions about “fueling” the liver before bedtime have noticed positive results within 2 weeks. Though results will vary from person-to-person depending on metabolism and genetics, I am convinced that most who try The Hibernation Diet will be pleasantly surprised at the results. “You can have more energy and lose weight while you sleep!”
Ronald E. Fessenden, MD, MPH
October 2006
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