In my previous post Traditional Food*, I explained how what we think of as a "traditional" diet is a nationalist propaganda campaign that's making us sick. In this post I'll go into the biological mechanisms.

There are four substances that the body can metabolize: carbohydrates, fats, protein and alcohol.

In this post I'll focus on how modern carbohydrate-heavy foods (like pasta, bread and rice) are related to insulin resistance. This doesn't mean that seed oils are good for you, or that the industrial revolution hasn't changed how people consume meat. Seed oils are bad for you and people today don't eat meats the way peasants did—they ate organs and other stuff that gets fed to animals today. Alcohol is just a poison you can metabolize.

With that out of the way, it's time to learn about insulin resistance.

Insulin & Resistance

Your blood has glucose dissolved in it. Blood glucose is important because your brain relies on glucose to function. If there wasn't glucose in your blood, then you'd die. However, too much blood glucose causes problems too. Precisely what problems hyperglycemia causes isn't important right now. Instead, what matters to this post is [...]

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Outline:

(01:04) Insulin & Resistance

(04:37) How diet changed

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First published:
November 29th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ofyphDp67uiSYLywS/insulin-resistance-and-glycemic-index

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“Insulin Resistance and Glycemic Index” by lsusr

LessWrong (30+ Karma)