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What You’ve Been Told About Insulin and Fat Loss Is Wrong (BV# 35) — Key Takeaways

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What You’ve Been Told About Insulin and Fat Loss Is Wrong (BV# 35)

Jay Feldman Wellness1h 5mOct 29, 2026

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Insulin is an essential anabolic hormone that lowers stress-driven catabolism and supports metabolic health—eating carbohydrates does not inherently cause fat gain, and insulin resistance can be reversed on a high-carb diet.

Key takeaways

Type 1 diabetics without insulin lose lean tissue, not beneficial fat loss

Type 1 diabetics without insulin lose lean tissue, not beneficial fat loss

  • Elevated metabolic rate in uncontrolled diabetes comes from protein breakdown, gluconeogenesis, and high glucagon.
  • The 1984 study authors attributed increased energy expenditure to increased protein turnover.

Insulin raises metabolic rate in non-diabetics, opposite of Bickman's claim

Insulin raises metabolic rate in non-diabetics, opposite of Bickman's claim

  • The 1984 paper Bickman cites showed insulin increased energy expenditure in insulin-sensitive control subjects.
  • Metabolic rate only dropped in type 1 diabetics because insulin suppressed pathological catabolic stress hormones.

Fat loss doesn't correlate with insulin levels across diets in 12-month trial

Fat loss doesn't correlate with insulin levels across diets in 12-month trial

  • The DietFits trial found no association between insulin secretion and fat loss on high-carb vs low-carb diets.
  • Kevin Hall's metabolic ward studies showed similar fat loss despite 40-50% lower insulin on low-carb.

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In this video

  1. 1mintro
  2. 2mdoes insulin really slow your metabolism and make you fat?
  3. 8mthe study doesn’t support Ben Bikman’s claims
  4. 17mwhy suppressing insulin isn’t the goal
  5. 21mBen Bikman is wrong about insulin and fat storage
  6. 27mthe carb-insulin model ignores the research
  7. 36mwhy lowering blood sugar and HbA1C doesn't mean you've fixed insulin resistance
  8. 43mAndrew Huberman says to wait 90 minutes after waking before drinking coffee, is he right?
  9. 55mhow to avoid stress effects from coffee and afternoon energy crashes
  10. 59mare you relying on stress hormones to stay alert and productive?
  11. 1h 3mfive years on keto: what changed when he started eating carbs again?

“The carb insulin model was a nice pet theory, but hasn't ever played out in the research.”

— Jay Feldman

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