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Robert Lustig, MD gives an example of how excess insulin makes you tired, hungry and fat

Some researchers have said that insulin is not the cause of obesity, so Robert Lustig, MD gives and example of how excess insulin makes you tired, hungry and fat in this in this 15 minute video interview.

"The people who object to this… are saying that injecting insulin is different then normal physiological insulin production."

"It has everything to do with it, and I'll show you how. Let's take you, Andreas [the doctor doing the interview], your nice and thin."

"Let's say you eat 2000 calories per day and burn 2000 calories per day. You feel good."

"Are you going to gain weight, lose weight, or stay the same? You're going to stay the same, right? Right, because you burn what you eat, and nothing is stored."

"Now, let's do a little experiment. I am going to put an IV in your arm… I'm going to follow [you around], and every time you reach for food, I'm going to pump you full of extra insulin that you don't want, and don't need. I'm going to over-insulinize you just like we do with our type 1 diabetics."

"You wake up in the morning and you start out the day eating 2000 calories just like before, but now, because of the excess insulin… 500 of those 2000 [calories] go straight the fat. You are now 500 calories heavier. Now you only have 1500 calories to burn, but your body wants 2000 calories… It's called starvation."

"How do you feel when you're starved? Crappy, tired, slothy, you sit on the couch, you don't want to do anything, you don't want to exercise… and, of course, you're hungry. So in a world of free access to food... what are you going to do? You're going to eat [those 500 calories that your body wants.] So now you're eating 2500 calories rather than 2000. But I'm still pumping you full of insulin, so 100 of those 500 [additional] calories goes straight to fat."

"So now you're 600 calories heavier, and you're only up to 1900 calories to burn, so you still don't feel great, so you go to a doctor and you say, 'Doc, I don't get it. Every time I get on the scale, I weigh more. How come I'm so fat?'”

"And the doctor tells you, 'I know why you're fat. Because you're a glutton and a sloth.'"

"Because they're looking at the... outcome of that biochemical process, not the cause."

"The cause [of gluttony, sloth and weight gain was the excess insulin that I was pumping you full of], where is the outcome was a change in your behavior [increasing your calorie intake to make up for those calories that were lost to fat.]"

"The problem was [caused by] too much insulin, not gluttony and sloth."

Author Gary Taubes talks about the exact same thing in his book “Why We Get Fat”.

Lustig says that he believes the increase in obesity in the past 25 years is mostly due to an increase in fructose consumption which causes insulin resistance, which raises insulin levels, which causes the body to convert more calories into fat, which makes people tired and hungry, and makes them fat.

Lustig says that the idea that people have gotten fatter due to a lack of will power is not correct.