All mammals have a complex regulatory system for appetite, metabolism, and fat storage.  There are over eighty hormones involved in the system.  The Western diet is high the carbs fructose and glucose.  Fructose causes a fatty liver (NAFLD) which mucks up the regulatory systems leading to the IR, & that to obesity, T2D, CVD, etc.  Glucose and proteins raise insulin levels, and insulin causes cells to burn glucose and thus to STORE FAT!  IR causes excess fat storage.  Causes:  The reactive sugar fructose (1/2 of sucrose) goes to the liver to be metabolized, and there through glycation it damages the liver cells.  This causes IR in the liver and thus excess fat storage (NAFLD) there.  The liver now fails to properly help regulate blood glucose to cause in IR in muscles, fat cells, etc. which causes their excess fat storage there and other tissues.  Excess fat in the pancreas causes T2D.  Fat tissue produces the hormone leptin which control the amount of fat.  On an energy restricted diet leptin functions to maintain current weight by increasing appetite and reducing metabolism.  Even after losing weight, this system functions to restore the fat—the yo-yo diet.  Goals:  to metabolize the excess fat in the liver and pancreas which reset the regulatory system by curing T2D, IR & also leptin resistance.  To do this requires both fasting & sugar-carb restriction.  Follow the dollars and you will find out why we have the high sugar (151 lbs. US average 2000) western diet and the wrong advice (diet & exercise)--for long version.

Fix:   Short-term or alternate day fasting with very low carb & high fat  diet to metabolize fat metabolizing mode.      

   Fructose by glycation damages the liver and high glucose via insulin causes fat storage in liver (the 1-2 punch)

Fructose glycation damages liver >>>IR in liver >>> NAFLD >>> IR in muscle and fat tissues >>>>  excess fat storage

T2D and obesity are cured with fasting.  For example in the first 2-weeks following bariatric surgery over 80% with T2D are cured before major weight loss.  With low carb diet and alternate day-fasting the cure takes 2-12 months.

Simple fix:  it starts with supermarket.  For B) & C) just buy wholesome, very low net-carb foods (on food label, carbs minus fiber) with low glycemic (table).  The goal is to stay in the fat burning mode by fasting and low digestible carbs.         

A)  Good health:    lower carbs, cut sugars, and take JK short fast at least once weekly and follow JK food table.

B)  Insulin resistant, obesity:   JK short fast daily and the New Atkins Diet (replace carbs with fats for energy). This diet is low carbs to start, with no other limits; later increase carbs.  JK has added several healthful modifications, at link.  

C)  T2D and morbid obesity:   start with B) and if after 4 months the fasting glucose and HbA-1c are still high then fast every other day for 24 hours.  Burning the excess fat in the liver and pancreas is the fix.  Watch Dr. Jason Fung lectures at “diabetes” on video page.  The more you learn, the more committed you will become to curing T2D and obesity.

I recommend for B) & C) a gradual approach to the low carbs induction phase of the New Atkins diet:  start with quitting sugars and adjusting to that while gradually cutting net carbs to 30 grams daily—it starts in the supermarket and family support. I & others find fasting quite easy.  Stop eating at 7 PM or earlier, and continued to 11 AM or later.  For hunger nibble leafy vegetables, and drink tea, coffee black and bullion soups. 

JK short fast:  extending the beneficial nighttime fat burning to produce ATP (the energy molecule) to midday.  Because of not eating at night serum glucose is low, thus little insulin is secreted by the pancreas.  The body must metabolize fat to produce ATP.  There is no loss in energy when fat burning and alertness and mood are good because of the production of catecholamines—neural transmitters—when fat burning.  Fasting hastens weight loss, and also burns liver & pancreas fat to cure IR and T2D.  We are a social, loquacious animal; therefore watch the diet documentaries at my website. 

The best source on what to eat for health, for diet, and related topics.  In the rh section are articles which lay out the evidence for what is found there and dja has journal articles on rancid fats, diet, etc.  Important are Part 5 on supplements, Part 6 which covers many of the topics here, and Part 10 on the New Atkins diet.  The large Videos library with brief descriptions has links to YouTube.  It confirms the claims here--and other major health topic.  The links to ABC, CBC, and BBC national networks expose what U.S. corporate media hides about diet.  Knowledge is part of the cure.   

Adipocytes (lipocytes) fat cells compose adipose tissue & secrete hormones resistin, adiponectin, leptin and apelin.  

ATP, Adenosine TriPhosphate (adenosine with 3 phosphate molecules (PO4) attached), transfers chemical energy within the cell through the loss of one of its phosphate groups.  In the mitochondria ADP returns to the high energy state ATP 3(PO4) through absorbing energy from the metabolism of carbohydrates & fats.  ATP provides the energy for over 90% of the biosynthesis:  for muscle contraction, hormones, collagen, etc. and for intra and intercellular active transport.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes cigarettes and a high sugar diet by causing  endothelial dysfunction of the artery walls.  These cells permit pathogens to colonize in the artery walls to cause inflammation, atherosclerosis, and CVD.

Carbohydrate (carb):  fiber, fructose, glucose, glycogen, starch, sucrose, lactose, net carbs (total carbs minus fiber):

Fiber, vegetable fiber, roughage,  the carbohydrate component not broken down by digestive enzymes, but some is by gut bacteria.  Fiber has more than ten sugar units.  It lowers the insulin spike when consumed with refined carbs. 

Fructose (fruit sugar) a monosaccharide; main sources are fruits, the disaccharide sucrose, and high fructose corn syrup.  Fructose is only metabolized in the liver.   Fructose is a net 15 more reactive then glucose and by glycation damages proteins throughout the body to cause age related chronic diseases. In the liver it causes IR and NAFLD. 

Glucose a monosaccharide is the main energy storage molecule for plants; in humans 1-2-lbs is stored as long-chain glycogen a backup energy source stored in muscles, fat and liver cells.  Glucose is as one half of sucrose, and is also obtained from the hydrolysis of the digestible starches.  Glucose and fat are the main sources for production of ATP.

 Starch is long chains of glucose units (polysaccharide) that is produced mostly by green plants for energy storage. 

Sucrose, table sugar, a disaccharide produced by plants that is hydrolyzed in the stomach into the sugars fructose and   glucose, the forms which are absorbed, circulated in the blood, and active transported into certain cells. 

Glycation:  a process where a monosaccharide (simple sugar) randomly attaches to mainly proteins, and this adversely affects their functions, thus glycation is a major cause of our chronic age-related diseases. 

Fat (Free Fatty acids and triglycerides): up to 24 carbon molecules with an organic acid or glycerol molecule on end.

Incretin: class of hormones secreted by the stomach and intestines which causes insulin secretion and produces satiety.

Insulin: a gateway hormone is produced by the pancreas.  Its main function is to have cells absorb glucose and store fat.  Insulin also regulates other hormones including leptin.  Low insulin is the cause of type 1 and 2 diabetes. 

Insulin resistance (IR):   a condition of higher than normal amount of blood insulin to manage blood glucose due to a diminished response to insulin by various tissues.  The pancreas then releases even more insulin to lower blood glucose.

Ketogenic diet (very low carbohydrate diet):  it forces the body to rely upon just fats to produce ATP to cause weight loss without restricting calories.  It is named refers to the ketones produced in this metabolic natural process

Leptin:  produced by fat cells is in part regulated by insulin.  Leptin in the brain suppresses appetite and it also regulates metabolism.  Leptin is responsible for the 25% reduction in metabolism plus increased appetite that eventually occurs during an energy-restricted diet.  Leptin functions to maintain fat storage and to restore weight even years later.  

Lipids are a group of naturally occurring fat like molecules including waxes, sterols, fats, phospholipids, and others.

Metabolism in reference to diet refers to the metabolic conversion of mainly either fat or carbohydrate into the energy molecule ATP mostly by the mitochondria.  Under conditions of starvation proteins also can be used to make ATP.

NAFLD (Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease):  the accumulation of fat by liver cells sufficient to significantly downgrade their various functions.  The NHANES survey 2011 found NAFLD in 30% of adult population—similar % for Europe. 

Type-2 diabetes (T2D): occurs when the pancreas fails to produce enough insulin to lower glucose to its normal range; it results from chronic IR and the accumulation of fat in the pancreas which eventually causes the decline in insulin.