I have been
eating and moving according to primal/paleo principles since November 2009,
though did not get the full benefit until I stopped taking olanzapine, a
so-called atypical antipsychotic. I had been taking this drug for eleven years,
as it was prescribed by my GP as a mood stabilizer. I had allowed myself to be
convinced by Eli Lilly that I was bipolar and that Zyprexa (the trade name) was
a safe and effective prophylaxis against recurrence of bipolar mania and that I
would have to take olanzapine and suffer the not inconsiderable side effects
for the rest of my life. But I then found out why people tended to gain weight
while taking it. The
abstract does not mince words:
We
conclude that olanzapine impairs glycogen synthesis via inhibition of the
classical insulin-signaling cascade and that this inhibitory effect may lead to
the induction of insulin resistance in olanzapine-treated patients.
In layman's terms, that means diabetes. It also means that any glucose that you don’t need
to burn right away gets turned into fat. I took my last tablet some time
towards the end of May 2010. It took nearly a year for my metabolism to heal. I
experienced withdrawal symptoms for about three months afterward (head sweats
at night, insomnia, paresthesias) and I still experience paresthesias if my
stress levels are elevated.
The reason
I mention the olanzapine angle is that stopping it and allowing my metabolism
to repair itself has allowed me to fast on a regular basis, an essential yet
often downplayed part of primal/paleo, and the centerpiece of two
strength-training regimens, Leangains and Eat-Stop-Eat. I have been following the Leangains protocol for a month now,
and have noticed strength gains, as well as a noticeable shrinkage of what its
designer, Martin Berkhan, calls “stubborn fat”, which for me has been a
macaroni-fueled companion around my middle since I was nine. I even went on a
16-mile hike in a fasted state yesterday, and I plan to do the same thing
tomorrow.
I am
convinced that fasting is as essential to recreating what Dr. Kurt Harris calls the “evolutionary metabolic milieu”, or EM2, as avoiding what he
terms the “Neolithic agents of disease”, primarily gluten grains, industrial
seed oils, legumes and some kinds of dairy. Oh, and refined sugar in all its
forms and guises, including fruit juices. But another very important difference
between hunter-gatherers (and other
animals in the wild) on the one hand, and all agricultural and to some extent
pastoral peoples on the other, is that, with our pantries, larders and fridges
we can satisfy hunger immediately, whereas a hungry paleolithic hunter or a
wolf needs to go out and hunt for dinner. That is why that it may be that for humans, being
hungry on a regular basis is as essential to our health as evolved mammals as
sub-freezing temperatures are for some plants (lupines, for example). But as we
live in a zoo of our own devising, it is awfully difficult to resist the temptation
to toss oneself a marshmallow…
