The bioenergetic theory of health posits that cellular energy creation is necessary for good health, and that most chronic disease is due to a lack of available energy. The most efficient pathway for the cell to create energy uses glucose as a fuel. Glucose is delivered to the cells through the blood.
The most energy-intensive organ in the body is the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain. The CNS is critical to life, so it must always have enough energy. Because of this, the body has an intricate system for managing the amount of glucose available, to ensure that the CNS always has enough fuel to create plenty of energy. In a person whose cells are readily able to create energy from glucose, this system works well. However, problems can arise when the body's cells are not converting glucose to energy because the pathways for doing so are blocked.
The amount of glucose in the blood is always changing. Cells pulling glucose from the bloodstream to create energy cause blood glucose to fall. The more energy that is required, the faster glucose is used. To compensate, the body rations glucose, and replaces it in the bloodstream in several ways, in an attempt to make sure the CNS never runs out. This system is primarily managed by four hormones: insulin, glucagon, adrenaline and cortisol.
Efficient energy creation by the CNS is so important that many of the body's other cells are only allowed to use glucose for fuel when there is plenty in the bloodstream. This rationing is primarily controlled by insulin. Insulin is released when blood glucose rises, and these cells respond to insulin by taking up that glucose, using it to create energy or storing it (mostly in the liver and muscles) as glycogen. As blood glucose falls, the body first stops the insulin release, which signals these cells to stop using and storing glucose, and start using fats to create energy. This is a less efficient energy creation pathway, triggered by the body in an effort to conserve glucose for its most important cells.
As blood sugar continues to fall, the body releases glucagon, which converts stored glycogen back into glucose. Next, adrenaline is released, which speeds up the conversion of glycogen into glucose and releases more fats into the bloodstream for cells to use as fuel. Lastly, cortisol is released. Cortisol triggers the body to convert proteins into glucose, a process called gluconeogenesis. These proteins can come from food, or from the breakdown of the body's structural components, or both. Glucose is so important as a fuel that the body will break itself down to make sure there is enough.
The end state of a body that doesn't have an external source of glucose is one of
From a bioenergetic health perspective, glucagon, adrenaline and cortisol are stress hormones. Stress is when a body senses that it needs more energy than it has available, due to high mental or physical demands. The body responds to this condition by releasing these hormones, which generally lower metabolism and raise fuel levels to try to equalize energy supply and demand. This is a normal and healthy physiological reaction. However, it is not healthy as a chronic condition. One of the goals of a bioenergetic diet is to avoid this condition, so that the body can consistently run in a state of high energy supply. When a healthy person eats carbohydrates, the body breaks them down, the glucose from them absorbs into the bloodstream, insulin is released, energy production rises and the stress hormones fall. In such a person, glucose and insulin reduce stress.
In a growing number of people, blood sugar regulation is dysfunctional. In such people, the body releases insulin in response to rising blood sugar, but blood sugar falls very slowly or not at all. As more carbohydrates are eaten, blood sugar and insulin continue to rise. This condition is commonly called insulin resistance, on the assumption that the fundamental problem is that cells aren't responding to insulin, and are not able to take up glucose because of that "resistance".
The bioenergetic theory of health holds that the primary pathways by which cells create energy can become blocked. When this happens, the cell either creates energy with glucose using a slower pathway, or creates energy with fats and doesn't use glucose at all. This leads to backups of glucose in the cell, which in turn backs up the glucose in the bloodstream. Insulin is ineffective not because cells are resistant to its signals, but because the cells can't process the glucose fast enough, or at all. Insulin resistance is not an insulin signalling problem; it is a cellular energy creation problem. The key to fixing these issues is to remove the blocks and enable the cells to process glucose quickly to create ample energy.
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