Alcohol and The Obesity Code

I recently finished reading The Obesity Code and was blown away by the powerful systems-thinking Dr. Fung applied to the discussion of obesity. I appreciated his multifactorial lens, but was a little shocked the book did not have a more detailed discussion of alcohol's potential impact on the body / obesity, especially from the perspective of hormones. There was mention of which alcohols were lower on the glycemic index, but not much more than that. When thinking of major cultural/behavior shifts with modern diet over the decades, I wonder if we are not paying enough attention to the role of alcohol. I'm curious what other people think and whether there are well known theories / studies about it.

Answer

Not to say that much smarter people can not add more, but I think a lot of it comes from the view of to him in the context of the book was trying to be simple. Put something in your body, get insulin, do not put things in your body, no insulin. The more hours a day without insulin, the better your body responds. Alcohol is pretty complex and to try to tackle it probably would take a more detailed approach and take away from the message. Alcohol is food, and it effects your insulin, treat it as such. Just guessing of coarse.

Answer

Not sure if this is agenda pushing, or looking for actual data. If the latter, I’m down 80lbs fasting OMAD or a four-to-five hour window most days, using ketosis and careful macro counting. Stronger and leaner at 53 than ever in my life, but still drinking alcohol every night with my wife and (much) more on weekends. For me, the biggest impact is sleep quality and recovery. If I over do it, the effect is measurable in elevated heart rate at night and energy the next day.

But alcohol is not a boogeyman. It has a cost, and a benefit, and it’s possible to make tremendous progress on overall fitness while consuming a rather large amount of it.