Jesús Vázquez, doctor and health expert: "It's not fat or carbohydrates that make you gain weight. It's insulin that makes you gain weight."
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Dr. Jesús Vázquez , with extensive experience in metabolic health, clarifies a widely held misconception about being overweight. In his opinion, neither fats nor carbohydrates are directly responsible for weight gain. What makes the difference is insulin , a key hormone that regulates whether the body stores or consumes energy. As he states, "the real cause of weight gain is insulin, not fat or carbohydrates." If this hormone is present in the blood, the body cannot access its reserves.
According to Vázquez, most plant-based foods contain carbohydrates, although absorption rates vary. When these carbohydrates raise blood glucose, the body must react to prevent cellular damage. This is when the pancreas secretes insulin , facilitating glucose entry into cells and immediate use as energy. The excess is stored as fat , after filling liver and muscle glycogen stores.
@nutri.vazquez It's not fat that makes you gain weight, nor carbohydrates. ➡️What makes us gain weight is insulin. ➡️Our body is either filling up stores or emptying them. There's no more. And the one that gives the order to store is insulin. If there's insulin, there's no way to use the store, only to store, save. 🥗All foods of plant origin, except oil, are a source of carbohydrates, with more or less and with greater or lesser absorption rates. ➡️Excess glucose in the blood is harmful to cells, so the pancreas produces insulin to remove it from the blood. 🤔And how does it do this? First, it encourages it to enter the cells to be used as immediate energy, and the rest to the stores: liver glycogen and muscle glycogen, and the rest to fat storage. This is physiological and normal. ‼️‼️The problem is when we are producing insulin non-stop because I keep snacking on a piece of fruit, a cookie, a piece of bread... Insulin is constantly giving the order to store, so the stores overflow. ➡️The liver and muscle have a limit, but the fat does not! So stop snacking between meals, leave your pancreas alone and allow it to empty its stores. ➡️Don't snack, don't eat five meals, don't always have insulin giving the order to store, to gain weight, because you already know what's going to happen. #nutrivazquez #health #nutrition #wellness # #tips #insulin #carbohydrates #nutritiontips #nutritionist #weight ♬ original sound - nutri.vazquez
The real problem, the specialist explains, arises when people eat food constantly throughout the day. Even if it's in small amounts— a piece of fruit , a cookie, a piece of bread—each intake stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin. If this hormone remains active continuously, the body only receives orders to store. Muscle stores have a limit, but fat tissue does not , which makes it easier for weight to increase unchecked.
To break this vicious cycle, Vázquez recommends reducing the number of meals a day and eliminating snacking between meals. “ It's essential to allow the pancreas to rest and give the body time to access what it already has stored,” she emphasizes. Fat is only burned in the absence of insulin . Therefore, it's not just a matter of what you eat, but how often you eat. Controlling insulin spikes is key to maintaining a healthy weight .
El Confidencial
