What is the Montignac Diet
The Montignac diet, named after its creator - Michel Montignac - is a food philosophy that seems to impose few restrictions. It is not, in fact, a "low-calorie" diet, but a food style that tries to adapt to all cultures, applying food choices based on the glycemic index of foods, in order to control body weight.
- lasting reduction in body weight,
- reduction of cardio-vascular risk factors
- diabetes prevention. Michel
Montignac defines his method as "the only perfectly balanced diet": losing weight without eating less, but certainly better!
History
The Montignac method seems to have a long history; since the 80s its founder has conducted studies and in-depth studies on the glycemic balance conferred by foods.
Michel Montignac is a world-renowned nutritionist and author of numerous texts translated into different languages and marketed in many countries; in Europe it has sold over 18 million copies.
How does it work
Michel Montignac makes the struggle against hyperinsulinism his strong point; he tries to show that it is not the caloric amount that significantly affects weight control, but a hormonal type of organic dysfunction. According to this principle, two foods containing carbohydrates in similar quantities with different glycemic indexes can contribute (with the same energy) to the increase or reduction of body weight.
Analyzing the theories of the "pioneer" of the glycemic index, the message arrives strong and clear:
insulin makes you fat!
Well, to avoid misunderstandings and the spread of misconceptions, it will be my concern to investigate the functioning of insulin and the influence of diet on its release with greater objectivity.
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone that performs an anabolic function, ie it promotes the deposit and synthesis; it is involved in the restoration of glycogen reserves and adipose reserves, promotes muscle protein synthesis and in parallel inhibits the catabolism (consumption) of all three of these substrates / tissues. Leaving aside (but not omitting) the importance of this hormonal mediator for energy recovery, for the entry of glucose into insulin-dependent cells, therefore for LIFE, I believe it is obligatory to point out that although insulin has storage functions, its release is limited to the post-prandial moment and in physiological conditions its haematic presence is reduced proportionally to the glycaemia. In the absence of DISMETABOLIC DISEASES, the insulin response is absolutely weighted with the index and glycemic load of the meal, therefore, THE RELEASE OF INSULIN IS NOT AN ENEMY TO FIGHT!
Index and glycemic load
Although Montignac was the first specialist to focus on the choice of low glycemic index foods, readers do not remain informed by the popular emphasis that promotes the method. The glycemic index certainly influences insulin release, but it is a requirement that subordinates to other 2 similarly priority concepts (not present in the Montignac guidelines):
- The glycemic LOAD, that is the QUANTITY of carbohydrates introduced, which in dietetic practice corresponds to the food portion of: cereals and derivatives, potatoes, fruit, etc.
- The percentage of SIMPLE carbohydrates introduced through "processed" foods that, due to their "carbohydrate refinement" (as well as increasing the risk of dental caries) are characterized by a very high rate of absorption and metabolization of carbohydrates. The recommended amount of simple carbohydrates should be around 12% of total calories.
In glycemic terms:
- Respecting the consumption of adequate food portions and in keeping with the dietary need of the consumer
- Taking care not to excessively distort the complex glucides / simple glucides ratio (8: 1)
the evaluation of individual glycemic indexes plays a decidedly less important role; the key to a correct diet is equally constituted by the choice of food and portion management.
Scientific studies
That said, among the bibliographic sources of the Montignac diet it is possible to find a scientific study by the scientist B. Jeanrenaud; the experimental one describes the correlation between hyperinsulinism and obesity defining them directly proportional.
The publication finds a practical confirmation of this theoretical concept by artificially reproducing hyperinsulinism in the animal and obtaining, with the same caloric balance, a weight increase in the subjects with the greatest exogenous administration.
The reading key of the study could be completely different
First of all, the experimental focuses on the effect of pharmacological hyperinsulinism, therefore NON-PHYSIOLOGICAL, in relation to the increase in body weight. Being an anabolic hormone, it is clear that, for the same caloric balance, those who possess PATHOLOGICAL levels of insulin suffer the relative fattening effects; pity that (excluding hereditary dysmetabolisms) hyperinsulinism is NOT a physiological condition! The overproduction of this hormone is caused by hyperglycemia induced by the REDUCTION OF PERIPHERAL SENSITIVITY, typical of overweight or obese subjects.
It is not the PHYSIOLOGICAL insulin that generates obesity ... but it is obesity (induced by a SCORRECT diet) that reduces insulin sensitivity causing it to become CHRONIC ; it is fair to say that hyperglycemia associated with hyperinsulinism facilitates the adipose deposit ... but it is an easily avoidable eventuality by intelligently managing the food portions.
Critical issues
Ultimately, it is not correct to demonize insulin by giving it the role of a fattening hormone, because at physiological levels, it has no side effect; moreover, in physiological conditions, and guaranteeing adequate portions, even foods with a high glycemic index do not significantly affect hyperinsulinism and adipose deposits.
According to the Montignac method, by consuming only carbohydrates with a glycemic index of less than or equal to 35, the insulin response is SUFFICIENTLY LOW to allow the activation of the slimming enzyme, the triglyceride-lipase, and thus trigger weight loss.
Also this positive effect on the metabolism is subordinated to the food portions; although with a low glycemic index, a dish of lentils does not generate the same insulin response as 2 lentil dishes! Furthermore, agree that by favoring the PHYSIOLOGICAL activation of triglyceride-lipase it is possible to optimize the reduction of adipose reserves, but if the enzyme is already physiologically active, it certainly cannot increase perpetually.
It is possible to state that the Montignac diet could prove to be an effective method in the treatment of dysfunctions such as the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, in which it is essential to reduce CHRONIC hyperglycemia as much as possible without adopting a low-carb diet.
On the contrary, in healthy subjects, totally excluding foods with a high glycemic index, replacing them with others with a low glycemic index, CONSIDERED BY CONSUMPTION PORTIONS, could be an unjustified limitation.
