I have tried every diet, and have been an advocate of the low-carb diet for quite a while. That included the “keto craze” and carnivore phase over the last decade.
Personally, I never succumbed to eating a high-fat keto diet, as the excess fat never made me feel my best. I also intuitively knew through every stage of my dietary changes that protein was important, and I still believe it is. That leaves the carbs.
Have I changed my mind about low carb food diets? Yes, partially.
Low Carb Facts to Consider:
- Most people are suffering from insulin resistance and low energy.
- Lowering the sugar and carb intake can take the pressure off of the system to help the insulin levels come down and reset if someone has insulin resistance.
- When someone adheres to a low-carb diet, they tend to eat more healthy protein and less processed foods.
However, the problem isn’t the carbs; it’s the other factors that have caused insulin resistance, and have broken our metabolism, which makes the excess carbs more “fuel to the fire”.
What is Insulin Resistance?
Insulin resistance occurs when cells struggle to effectively oxidize or burn glucose, leading to an accumulation of glucose metabolites and an increased presence of glucose within the cells, accompanied by lactate production. This forces the cells to depend on fatty acid oxidation.
The interplay of fatty acid oxidation and glucose buildup hinders cells from efficiently absorbing more glucose, resulting in elevated blood sugar levels. In other words, insulin resistance is not merely a standalone issue but serves as a symptom of an underlying concern—specifically, impaired energy production in the mitochondria.
Insulin Resistance vs Broken Metabolism
Insulin resistance is a symptom of a broken metabolism, and not the problem itself.
Let’s take a step back and realize the goal is to increase cellular energy, improve mitochondrial health, and increase ATP. The lack of cellular energy is what leads to disease, immune suppression, degeneration, and as a result, unexplained weight gain.
Insulin resistance is a symptom of metabolic disease; a lack of cellular energy due to mitochondrial dysfunction is what causes insulin resistance, which, in turn, creates an environment where the cells fail to properly use the carbs or glucose, and the glucose builds up. Regardless of how much insulin the body has, it becomes difficult to move more glucose into the cells, and, as a result, the blood sugar increases. Reducing carb intake does take the pressure off of the body to try to force more glucose into the cells, but it doesn’t cure the root problem: a broken metabolism.
The underlying problem is not eating too many carbs, but it is that the body cannot efficiently burn carbs, and that is what is causing the glucose and insulin levels to be elevated, resulting in weight gain.
How a Low-Carb Food Diet Affects Weight Loss
Initially, a low-carb diet is helpful for weight loss, by removing excess pressure on the body to store glucose when it cannot. Doing a low-carb diet for one to three months may help with weight loss, but long term it will backfire. Many people sticking to a low-carb, ketogenic diet for the long term experience negative effects like sleep disturbances, anxiety, drop in testosterone, reduced T3 and thyroid function, and reduced energy and exercise performance.
What Causes a Broken Metabolism?
To effectively achieve weight loss, the metabolism needs to be fixed, and the factors driving the broken metabolism need to be removed. The following issues contribute to a broken metabolism:
Stress
More than ever, people are experiencing heightened levels of perceived chronic stress. Stress is extremely detrimental to the metabolism in multiple ways:
- Stress causes Leaky Gut, which will then encourage the growth of endotoxins, malabsorption of nutrients that support a healthy metabolism, and a disruption in the production of “happy” hormones to help with stress.
- Stress causes the inactive T4 thyroid hormone to convert into reverse T3, which slows down the metabolism and encourages fat storage.
- The chronic release of cortisol may lead to increased fat storage around the belly causing visceral fat.
- Stress increases insulin resistance, independent of dietary sugar intake, and this will increase blood sugar regulation and promote fat storage.
PUFAs
Polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) are fats found in processed foods, fake butter, salad dressings, fried foods, chicken, pork, nuts, seeds, seed oils, and fatty fish. The main culprit is Linoleic Acid (LA). These fats contribute to a broken metabolism, destroyed mitochondria, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
They have multiple double bonds in their carbon chains which is different from saturated fats. They inhibit energy production, drastically increase energy demands, and decrease the efficacy of energy utilization. As well as being structurally weak, they convert into harmful inflammatory compounds, and are highly susceptible to damage. The consumption of these oils leads to mitochondrial dysfunction, primarily with the electron transport chain and this is essential for creating ATP and energy. Furthermore, they cause reduced fatty acid beta-oxidation which means the body becomes less efficient at using fat for fuel, and the body prioritizes burning carbohydrates as fuel. So, the body becomes less efficient at using fat as energy, and also makes the fat cells bigger.
Iodine Deficiency
Iodine deficiency is the number one cause of mitochondrial failure; without sufficient iodine, the mitochondria only produce 2 ATP, and with iodine, they produce 36. ATP is true cellular energy which translates into a healthy metabolism.
Inside the cells, iodine increases energy and metabolism; outside the cells, iodine helps:
- Reduce inflammation and histamines
- Devitalize viruses, bacteria, and other foreign pathogens
- Clean the liver
- Regulate hormonal balance
- Detox all 100 trillion cells in the body of toxins such as fluoride, bromide, chlorine, lead, mercury, xeno-estrogens, and radiation
- Alleviate symptoms from spike protein
- Regulate blood sugar
Radiation
Radiation from non-ionizing and ionizing sources has been shown to:
- Increase insulin resistance
- Increase oxidative stress
- Attack DNA
- Compromise the nervous, endocrine, and hormonal system
- Increase oxidative stress and free radical damage
- Cause digestive issues
- Lowers the metabolic rate
- Increase fat storage
- Reduce ATP production and energy
Xeno-estrogens
Xeno-estrogens are rampant in our food, water, and environment, and they mimic estrogen in the body. They encompass herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, plastics, parabens, and more. Not only do they cause mitochondrial decline, but they disrupt the hormonal balance in the body leading to disease, low energy, and weight gain. As the body wants to protect its organs from these toxins, it stores them in new and larger fat cells, promoting weight gain.
Leaky Gut
Due to the toxins in processed foods, linoleic acid, excess estrogens, and other toxins, the gut is dramatically altered and compromised. These metabolic poisons lead to a decrease in cellular energy production in the mitochondria, which then leads to decreased carbon dioxide production in the intestines. This low level of carbon dioxide in the large intestine promotes the growth of pathogenic disease-causing bacteria known as facultative anaerobes.
These bacteria have large amounts of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) embedded in their cell membranes. When they die, the LPS, known as endotoxin, is released. This is another detrimental poison to the metabolism, and will greatly decrease the mitochondria’s ability to produce energy. When the gut is compromised like this, complex carbohydrates feed the problem and make things worse.
However, when the metabolism is fixed by removing the poisons, the mitochondria produce sufficient energy, and the healthy bacteria in the gut are restored, complex carbs become healthy for the gut.
Processed Foods
Processed foods are full of toxins, GMOs, artificial flavors and sweeteners, refined sugars, and various starches. These ingredients destroy the gut, causing endotoxin production which destroys mitochondrial function. The lack of nutrients and the hyperpalatable taste in these foods cause overeating to make things worse and lead to weight gain.
MSG
A significant number of processed foods contain MSG, to enhance the flavor of the food. It has been connected to increasing appetite, lowering metabolic function, and increasing weight gain.
Fluoridated Water
Yes, water can break your metabolism. Fluoride, like bromide and chlorine, is not only a toxin your body wants to store in its fat cells, but it also competes with iodine at the cellular level; iodine is essential for an optimal metabolism and thyroid function, and iodine deficiency is the number one cause for mitochondrial failure. So, as fluoride comes into the body, it kicks out precious iodine, lowers ATP production, inhibits mitochondrial health, and can lead to weight gain.
Diet Sodas
Although diet sodas have no calories, people who drink artificially sweetened sodas are more likely to experience weight gain than those who drink non-diet sodas. They also have twice the risk of developing metabolic syndrome. Once again, this is due to the toxic ingredients degrading mitochondrial health, and lowering cellular energy. Moreover, as the body consumes the “sweet” drink with no calories, it is expecting calories to come in which induces an increased appetite.
Spike Protein
The dysregulation of the ACE2 enzyme receptor in the liver caused by spike protein contributes to an accumulation of Angiotensin 2, resulting in the following potential effects:
- Water retention
- Insulin dysregulation and unexplained weight gain
- Increase in antidiuretic hormone levels
- Oxidative stress
- Inflammation
- Hormonal imbalance, potentially leading to weight gain
- Leaky Gut
- Increased histamine intolerance
- Increased oxalate production
- Increased amyloid production
Spike protein exacerbates the effects of the above issues, as it compromises the detox pathways.
Copper Deficiency
An increase in processed foods, coupled with the spike protein, has increased copper depletion in the body. Copper plays an essential role in controlling uric acid, and preventing insulin resistance and weight gain through various mechanisms, including:
- Blocking the Polyol Pathway: Copper inhibits the polyol pathway, a metabolic process responsible for converting glucose into sorbitol and fructose. In the absence of copper, uric acid levels rise, which causes insulin resistance and unexplained weight gain to increase.
- Regulating Triglycerides and Liver Fat: Copper helps maintain healthy levels of triglycerides and prevents the accumulation of fat in the liver. Excessive buildup of fat in the liver is a contributing factor to the development of insulin resistance.
- Managing Iron Levels: Copper is essential for regulating iron levels in the bloodstream, addressing the root cause of oxidative stress. Reduced oxidative stress leads to lower uric acid levels and a decreased likelihood of developing insulin resistance.
Top Supplements to Fix the Metabolism For Weight Loss
Acceleradine® Iodine
Acceleradine® Iodine is an essential supplement in combating iodine deficiency, a prevalent issue affecting a notable percentage of the United States population. Iodine deficiency results in only 2 ATP per mitochondrial versus 36, and is the number one reason for mitochondrial failure and slow metabolism.
With inadequate iodine intake, the thyroid gland’s function is compromised. Unfortunately, the modern diet lacks sufficient iodine, and even iodized salt offers minimal iodine content while being depleted of minerals, and contaminated with microplastics. Iodine is necessary for the synthesis of thyroid hormones T2, T3, and T4. Acceleradine® Iodine stands as the most effective supplement for optimal metabolism and weight loss due to several key factors:
- Single Atom Iodine: Acceleradine® provides a singular atom of iodine that is easily absorbed by all cells in the body, ensuring adequate iodine levels for proper metabolism and fat burning. Most iodine supplements only have 10 to 20 percent absorption, whereas Acceleradine® achieves 100% absorption.
- Increases ATP: Acceleradine® increases ATP in the mitochondria by 18 times, from 2 ATP to 36 ATP. ATP is the root source of metabolism.
- Cellular Detoxification: Acceleradine® aids in detoxifying cells from the heavy metals, toxins, and radiation that inhibit a healthy metabolism and weight loss.
- Displacement of Halogens: It displaces harmful substances like fluoride, chlorine, and bromide from cells, which are known contributors to hypothyroidism, slow metabolism, and other chronic diseases.
- Prevents Toxic Overload: By high-dosing Acceleradine®, the iodine displaces toxins and prevents new toxins from attaching to cells’ receptor sites, further safeguarding against detrimental effects.
- Alleviates Spike Protein Side Effects: Acceleradine® may assist in alleviating the damage caused by spike protein, which has been linked to exacerbating slow metabolism and weight gain.
- Blood Cleansing: It aids in cleansing the blood, facilitating the liver’s detoxification process and effectively eliminating toxins associated with weight gain.
- Alleviates Estrogen Dominance: Acceleradine® regulates estrogen production while also cleansing the body of the excess estrogen.
Accelerated Thyroid®
Accelerated Thyroid® stands out as the most comprehensive natural thyroid supplement designed to optimize thyroid function. It combines grass-fed thyroid glandular with essential peptides, amino acids, and vital nutrients crucial for thyroid health. Accelerated Thyroid® is made with the ancient herbal Ayurvedic formula Kanchanara, which is renowned for its detoxifying and thyroid-supporting properties, along with supplementary amino acids essential for optimizing thyroid function.
Enhanced with scalar frequencies, Accelerated Thyroid® offers additional benefits:
- Emotional and Physical Well-being: It aids in clearing emotional and physical shock from the body, promoting overall well-being.
- Thyroid Health: Scalar frequencies work to enhance the overall health of the thyroid, ensuring its optimal function.
- Detoxification: Accelerated Thyroid® assists in detoxifying the body from halogens, heavy metals, and radiation, further supporting thyroid health.
- Balance: Scalar frequencies help balance the thyroid and parathyroid glands, contributing to overall hormonal equilibrium.
Accelerated Thyroid® provides multifaceted benefits, including:
- Prevention of fatty liver which further helps with metabolism and weight loss
- Accelerated wound healing
- Strengthening of connective tissue and bones
- Mood elevation
- Enhanced digestion
- B12 production
Accelerated Fast®
Accelerated Fast® offers multiple benefits beyond simply increasing metabolism and fat burning. By enhancing ATP production in the mitochondria by 5 to 10 times, it not only boosts metabolism but also helps with weight loss. Furthermore, it helps gently cleanse the liver daily, reducing fatty liver and detoxing the toxins that inhibit metabolism.
Additionally, since the liver is pivotal in the conversion of T4 to the active T3 thyroid hormone, a cleansed liver optimizes this conversion process to enhance thyroid health and the metabolic rate. Accelerated Fast® plays a crucial role in suppressing cravings for sugar and processed foods. These cravings for processed foods, which can lower ATP levels, energy, and metabolism, are effectively curbed by the ketogenic state induced by Accelerated Fast®. As the body transitions into ketosis and begins utilizing its fat stores for fuel, it experiences a consistent and sustainable source of energy, leading to an optimization of the conversion from T4 to T3 thyroid hormones. This optimization further accelerates metabolism.
On the contrary, reliance on glucose for energy and calorie restriction can trigger the body’s survival mode, leading to the conversion of T4 into reverse T3. Reverse T3 slows down metabolism, promotes fat storage, and signals to the body that it is under threat. By promoting ketosis and optimizing thyroid hormone conversion, Accelerated Fast® effectively supports metabolic health and overall well-being.
Accelerated Scalar Copper®
Accelerated Scalar Copper® is a crucial supplement that harnesses the power of copper, an essential trace mineral vital for the synthesis and metabolism of thyroid hormones. It is the only copper supplement with 99% absorption, and enhanced with scalar frequencies for increased efficacy.
Here are key aspects of the relationship between copper, metabolism, and weight loss:
- Enzymatic Reactions: Copper acts as a cofactor for various enzymes involved in the synthesis and metabolism of thyroid hormones. These enzymes are pivotal in converting thyroxine (T4) into triiodothyronine (T3), the active form of thyroid hormone. By facilitating these enzymatic reactions, copper supports optimal thyroid function.
- Thyroid Hormone Binding: Copper can bind to thyroid hormones, notably thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG), a protein responsible for transporting thyroid hormones in the bloodstream. Fluctuations in copper levels can impact the binding and transportation of thyroid hormones, potentially influencing thyroid function.
- Oxidative Stress: Copper plays a critical role in antioxidant defense mechanisms, aiding in the neutralization of free radicals and mitigating oxidative damage. Oxidative stress has been linked to thyroid dysfunction, and copper’s involvement in antioxidant processes may indirectly contribute to maintaining thyroid health.
- Alleviates Anemia: Anemia is due to copper deficiency and leads to lower ATP and metabolism through the following ways:
- Decreased Oxygen Delivery: Anemia reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, leading to tissue hypoxia (oxygen deprivation). In response, cells may shift to anaerobic metabolism, which produces ATP less efficiently than aerobic metabolism.
- Mitochondrial Dysfunction: Mitochondria are the cellular organelles responsible for ATP synthesis through oxidative phosphorylation. Anemia-related oxygen deprivation can impair mitochondrial function, reducing ATP production efficiency.
- Altered Metabolic Pathways: Anemia may disrupt metabolic pathways involved in ATP production. For example, the pentose phosphate pathway, which generates reducing equivalents for ATP synthesis, may be affected by oxidative stress associated with anemia.
- Increased Energy Demand: In some cases, the body may compensate for anemia-related tissue hypoxia by increasing metabolic rates and energy demand. This can place additional strain on ATP production pathways.
Additional Supplements For Optimizing Metabolism and Weight Loss
Accelerated Ancient Salt®
Accelerated Ancient Salt® offers many benefits to mitochondrial health and weight loss, by enhancing the volume of fluid both inside and outside cells, aiding in various aspects of bodily function. It is the only salt that is full of 62 minerals and has been hand-mined without explosives. Here are some of its key advantages:
- Liver Support: Accelerated Ancient Salt® helps clean the liver, promoting optimal liver function. It facilitates bile production and aids in breaking down fats, contributing to liver health and detoxification processes.
- Apoptosis Support: This specialized salt supports apoptosis, the programmed cell death essential for maintaining cellular balance and eliminating damaged or unhealthy cells.
- DNA Repair: Accelerated Ancient Salt® plays a role in inducing DNA repair mechanisms, helping to maintain genomic integrity and minimize the risk of DNA damage.
- Excess Estrogen Detoxification: It assists in eliminating excess estrogen from the body, contributing to hormone balance and overall well-being.
- Intracellular Hydration: It provides the needed sodium and potassium to optimize the sodium-potassium pump that shuttles nutrients into the cells and the toxins out of the cells.
- Digestive Health Improvement: By encouraging improved bile production and aiding in fat breakdown, Accelerated Ancient Salt® promotes digestive health and facilitates nutrient absorption.
Due to the scalar frequencies, Accelerated Ancient Salt® holds a negative charge to pull out the positively charged parasites, undigested fats, and toxins.
Sara Banta’s Liver Flush Detox Cleanse
If the liver isn’t optimized, mitochondrial health and metabolism will suffer. The liver is where the inactive thyroid hormone T4 converts into the active thyroid hormone T3; this is the root of a healthy metabolism. In addition to optimizing thyroid health and metabolism, the Liver Flush Detox Cleanse may help:
- Lower insulin resistance and uric acid
- Optimize protein and fat metabolism
- Alleviate inflammation
- Optimize thyroid hormones
- Detox the body of radiation, toxins, and excess estrogens that inhibit mitochondrial health
- Reduce fatty liver
- Alleviate the negative effects of spike protein
How to Eat for Optimal Weight Loss
Prioritize Eating Wild Animal Protein
Below I lay out a plan for how to incorporate carbohydrates back into the diet. Throughout every step, it is important to prioritize eating wild animal protein for its various benefits, such as:
- Providing the most nutrients out of any food available, in a time where the soils are depleted of nutrients
- Supporting lean muscle growth. Muscle contains more mitochondria and ATP than any other tissue in the body to support a healthy and fast metabolism
- Helping to stabilize blood sugar and improve insulin resistance
- Providing constant stable energy when paired with the appropriate amount of carbs
- It doesn’t contain sulfur, oxalates, lectins, or histamines, which all disrupt detoxification pathways, and inhibit metabolism
- Increasing the thermic effect where the body increases its metabolism to break down protein
- Regulating a healthy appetite and curb cravings for the wrong sugars and processed foods
Exclude Sulfur Vegetables
Consuming sulfur-containing foods can overload the body’s sulfur detoxification pathways and heighten histamine responses. Foods like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, onions, garlic, and egg yolks fall into this category. It’s crucial to remain vigilant about hidden sulfur in certain medications and supplements.
Avoid Amyloid Proteins
Eliminate foods rich in amyloid proteins, such as chicken, pork, turkey, and conventionally raised beef. Amyloids contribute to histamine intolerance, and oxalate formation, and enhance the growth of spike protein in the body, intensifying inflammation, gut issues, pathogenic load, and insulin dysregulation.
Eliminate Oxalate Foods
Remove foods high in oxalates, including spinach, almonds, berries, kale, and most nuts from the diet. This step helps alleviate the burden on the system, reduces the histamine response, and improves sulfur detoxification.
Avoid High Histamine Foods
By excluding the aforementioned foods, the histamine burden on the body is diminished. This allows the digestive system to heal, promotes insulin regulation, and helps alleviate symptoms associated with histamine intolerance and sulfur buildup in the body.
Lower Fat Intake
It is essential to eliminate the PUFAs from the diet as much as you can as they will only lower the metabolism, wreak havoc on the gut, increase endotoxins, and derail your progress. Additionally, you need to lower your overall fat intake to less than 30%; taking in more fat will trigger your body to store the carbs as fat.
How to Slowly Incorporate the Right Carbs
Step One
I recommend following a lower-carb diet including the foods listed in the Accelerated Food Guide for one to three months depending on the severity of the broken metabolism.
With the help of the Acceleradine® Iodine, Accelerated Thyroid®, Accelerated Fast®, Accelerated Ancient Salt®, Accelerated Scalar Copper®, and the Accelerated Food Guide, the ATP and mitochondrial health will improve, inflammation will reduce, and the gut will become balanced. Gut healing supplements should also be considered. The goal is to fix the metabolism through supplements and diet, and then incorporate the right sources of carbs back into the diet.
Step Two
Incorporating Sara Banta’s Liver Flush Detox Cleanse will optimize fat and protein metabolism, improve thyroid hormone conversion for better metabolism, and improve detoxification of all of the toxins that lead to insulin resistance and weight gain.
Step Three
Now that the metabolism is fixed, you can start incorporating the right carbs slowly. Make sure that your fat intake is less than 30-35%; otherwise, when fat intake is too high, glucose gets shuttled into glycolysis, lowering ATP from 36 to 2. This will increase fat storage, lower energy, and lower the metabolism.
Adding carbs outlined in the Accelerated Food Guide slowly will allow for the upregulation of enzymes that increase carb utilization and conversion to energy. Beginning with easily digestible carbs like fruits won’t lead to intestinal irrigation or endotoxin production. As mentioned above, if your gut isn’t healed and you have microbial overgrowth, then you are producing endotoxin, and complex carbs or fermentable foods will feed the endotoxins.
Additional Tips
If you experience bloating or gas, that means you haven’t healed your gut yet and may need to utilize the Daily Gut Health Bundle to complete the healing.
Depending on your activity level, age, and metabolic improvement, the increased amount of carbs will vary. Listen to your body. If you gain 2 to 5 pounds in a day, that is a sign that whatever you ate inflamed your body, and it doesn’t mean you gained all of that weight in fat. However, if you are bloated, experience dips in energy, or high heart rate, that is a sign you need to possibly lower the carb amount and increase your protein.
Sara Banta
Sara Banta is a Stanford University Graduate with a Degree in Economics and Psychology, and a certified Natural Supplement Expert & Graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Sara is the Founder of Accelerated Health Products and host of the health & wellness podcast, Accelerated Health Radio.
