The Croissant Diet Specification
The central tenet of the croissant diet is that a primary regulator of whole body energy flux is the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fat. The secondary tenet is that starch is a great delivery vehicle for saturated fat.
Corollary: It’s the PUFA, stupid. Probably also the MUFA. Replacing PUFA and MUFA with SFA can go a long way towards fixing one’s metabolism.
My primary inspirations for The Croissant Diet were the protons thread at the blog Hyperlipid, where Peter has worked out the mechanism of action whereby saturated fat causes fat loss, Valerie Reeves thesis where she made mice very thin by feeding them a mixed diet high in stearic acid, my education at the French Culinary Institute and my studies of the traditional diets of dairy cultures in France, the US and Asia.
All fats are a blend. If the mitochondria in your fat cells are metabolizing (oxidizing) a blend of fat that is sufficiently high in long chain saturated fats and low enough in unsaturated fats, enough free radicals will be formed to shut down insulin signalling in the fat cell. Insulin flips a switch in the fat cells that turns off fat burning mode and turns on fat storing mode. If insulin signalling is blocked, the fat cell stays in fat burning mode and energy (fat) will be lost from fat cells.
