Did you know your body is more efficient at transforming carbohydrates into fat than storing dietary fat? This surprising fact goes against the common belief about weight gain and health, sparking a new perspective on our metabolic processes.

For decades, conventional wisdom has told us to limit fat and eat more carbohydrates. Yet metabolic disease rates continue to skyrocket worldwide.

What if our fundamental understanding of metabolism has been backward?

Dr. Paul Mason, a sports medicine physician from Sydney, presents compelling evidence that insulin resistance, not dietary fat, is the root cause of our most common chronic diseases. His research challenges the conventional understanding of metabolism and disease.

The Root Cause Hidden in Plain Sight

Metabolic syndrome affects millions worldwide and is diagnosed through five criteria: blood glucose levels, blood pressure, triglyceride levels, HDL cholesterol, and abdominal circumference. Exceed the threshold on three, and you have the condition.

But these five seemingly separate measurements share a common thread.

"If you go back and look at each of those five diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome, they all relate to the action of insulin," Dr. Mason explains.

Insulin resistance, as Dr. Mason's research reveals, is the root cause of metabolic disease, with each criterion reflecting insulin's compromised functionality in the body. Understanding this crucial role of insulin resistance empowers us to take control of our health. When insulin doesn't work correctly, your body compensates by producing more, creating a cascade of harmful effects.

Blood sugar rises because insulin can't effectively remove glucose from circulation. Blood pressure increases because insulin tells your kidneys to retain sodium, drawing fluid. Triglycerides climb, and HDL falls due to fatty liver disease, which is strongly associated with insulin resistance.

Even central obesity—that stubborn belly fat—is primarily an insulin-driven condition.

"It's tough for the body to store fat if you don't have high insulin levels," Dr. Mason notes. "People with type 1 diabetes, who can't produce insulin, literally waste away. Type 2 diabetes, associated with high insulin levels, correlates with obesity."

The Carbohydrate Fat-Making Machine

Many are unaware that our bodies can convert carbohydrates into fat through de novo lipogenesis. Often overlooked metabolic pathway sheds light on why carbohydrate-rich diets can lead to significant fat storage, challenging the widespread belief that eating fat directly leads to fat accumulation.

The liver is a warehouse, storing about 100 grams of glucose as glycogen. Once those stores fill up, excess carbohydrates transform into triglycerides.

These newly created fats are then stored in your abdomen, hips, thighs, and liver—all under insulin's direction.

This process happens more efficiently than storing dietary fat as body fat, contradicting the conventional wisdom that eating fat makes you fat.

Reversing Type 2 Diabetes Through Diet

The medical establishment often presents type 2 diabetes as a progressive, irreversible condition requiring lifelong medication. Dr. Mason challenges this view.

Dr. Mason's work offers a beacon of hope, showing that type 2 diabetes can be reversed through dietary changes, not just managed. When patients eliminate carbohydrates from their diet, blood glucose levels normalize, but something remarkable happens. Rapid health improvements are not just a possibility, but a reality.

"The interesting thing is that it's possible to reverse insulin resistance," Dr. Mason explains. "If you can reverse insulin resistance, then you can restore a normal ability to deal with carbohydrates that people used to have in their younger years when they were more metabolically healthy."

Dr. Mason performs Kraft tests on his patients, measuring glucose and insulin levels over two hours after consuming glucose. Many patients who adopt low-carbohydrate diets show restored metabolic function—their bodies handle glucose normally again, even when consuming carbohydrates during the test.

"In those patients, I think it's safe to say you reversed their diabetes," he states, offering hope and inspiration to those struggling.

This doesn't mean returning to poor dietary habits won't cause problems again. But it does challenge the notion that diabetes can only be managed, never cured.

Beyond Blood Sugar: The Brain Connection

The implications of insulin resistance extend far beyond diabetes and obesity. Emerging research links it to conditions previously considered unrelated to metabolism, including dementia.

Dementia is increasingly recognized as "type 3 diabetes" due to insulin resistance in the brain. When brain cells cannot effectively use glucose due to insulin resistance, they become energy-starved, leading to cognitive dysfunction.

The brain comprises only 2% of body weight but uses 20% of the body's energy. This metabolic intensity makes it particularly vulnerable to energy disruption.

"If there was any organ in the body that was going to be susceptible to a metabolic disease, it was going to be the brain," Dr. Mason notes.

The solution? Ketones—produced when the body burns fat—can cross into the brain and provide energy to insulin-resistant brain cells. This explains why some patients with cognitive decline show remarkable improvement on ketogenic diets.

A fascinating study compared ethnically identical populations in Nigeria and Indianapolis. Despite the Nigerian population carrying the highest rate of the ApoE4 gene (associated with Alzheimer's risk) globally, they experienced dementia at less than half the rate of their American counterparts.

The difference? Metabolic health.

Arthritis: An Inflammatory Connection

Osteoarthritis, commonly considered simple "wear and tear," also shows surprising connections to metabolism.

Studies demonstrate that a 10% body weight reduction can reduce knee arthritis pain by 30-50%—far more than expected from reduced mechanical stress alone.

Dr. Mason explains that fatty liver disease increases the production of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), enzymes that break down joint cartilage. When patients lose weight, their first fat comes from the liver.

"Even before you lose the potbelly, you're reversing fatty liver disease," he explains. "You reduce the amount of fat in the liver; the body makes fewer MMPs, which means there's less breakdown stress on your articular cartilage."

The result? Stronger, more resilient cartilage that better protects underlying bone, reducing pain significantly.

Dr. Mason works with an orthopedic surgeon who finds that 30-50% of patients scheduled for joint surgery cancel after losing weight on a ketogenic diet—their pain resolves without surgical intervention.

Challenging Nutritional Dogma

Dr. Mason questions several longstanding nutritional recommendations:

Salt restriction: "The Australian dietary guidelines removed any upper limit for sodium intake for individuals in 2017," Dr. Mason notes. The claimed restriction benefits were minimal—only about a 2mm Hg reduction in blood pressure.

Fish oil supplements: A University of New South Wales study found significant oxidation in every commercial fish oil sample tested. Dr. Mason recommends getting omega-3 fats from fresh food sources like grass-fed beef and fresh fish instead.

Protein and bone health: Far from harming bones, high-protein diets have been shown to help reverse osteoporosis. "Bone is mineralized protein," Dr. Mason explains. "40% of the dry weight of bone is protein."

Vegetable oils: These oils contain bonds prone to rapid oxidation. When consumed, these oxidized fats get absorbed and delivered throughout the body, with the liver receiving the highest concentration. Evidence suggests they contribute significantly to fatty liver disease and insulin resistance.

The Seven-Day Challenge

Dr. Mason offers a simple challenge: Eliminate sugar and seed/vegetable oils from your diet for seven days.

"The changes and benefits of healthy eating can be incredibly rapid," he explains. "In a week, we've seen that you can remove 30% of the fat from people's liver."

He suggests increasing salt intake (after consulting with your doctor) to avoid symptoms like dizziness that can occur when transitioning to a lower-carbohydrate diet.

The results? Rapid weight loss—often a kilogram or more of actual fat, not just water—improved energy, reduced inflammation, and better mental clarity.

"You don't have anything to lose," Dr. Mason concludes. "And once you start seeing the benefits, you might not want to stop."

A Paradigm Shift in Medical Treatment

Dr. Mason expresses frustration with a medical system focused on medication rather than nutrition.

"Medical training is not about giving sound nutrition advice and then de-prescribing," he explains. "It's about pulling out the prescription pad and increasing the dose or adding something else."

He describes the satisfaction of helping patients reduce or eliminate medications as their underlying metabolic health improves through dietary changes.

"Do you know how satisfying it is actually to stop medications? To have patients come in and say, 'I don't need this medication anymore. I don't have any reflux. I haven't taken any anti-inflammatory this month because I have no more knee pain.'"

This approach represents a fundamental shift from managing symptoms to addressing root causes—from treating disease to restoring health.

The evidence Dr. Mason presents challenges us to reconsider our understanding of chronic disease. The solution to our most common health problems isn't found in more sophisticated medications or technologies but in returning to fundamental principles of human metabolism.

By addressing insulin resistance through dietary changes, we may hold the key to reversing conditions previously considered irreversible—transforming not just individual lives but potentially the trajectory of public health.