Carbohydrates don’t get into your bloodstream through your stomach; they’re absorbed by your intestine. The faster they leave your stomach and enter your intestine, the faster they hit your bloodstream and the more insulin your beta cells have to secrete to keep your blood sugar from spiking. If you reduce the speed your stomach empties, you’ll reduce the amount of insulin you produce.
At the outlet of your stomach is a valve—the pyloric valve. It controls how fast food leaves your stomach and enters your intestine. If you close this valve, you reduce the speed with which carbohydrates enter your intestine. One way to close your pyloric valve is to eat some fat. As soon as fat enters your intestine it activates a nerve circuit that closes the pyloric valve and slows stomach emptying.
It doesn’t take much fat to do that—a handful of nuts or a slice of cheese will do it. If you consume some fat 10 or 15 minutes before a meal, you’ll still be hungry, but because food will leave your stomach slower, you’ll fill up faster and stay full longer. The carbs you eat won’t cause your blood sugar to shoot up as much as they otherwise would, and your beta cells won’t secrete as much insulin. As you know, less insulin means less belly fat.
A new type of diabetes medications, called GLP-1 analogs, acts in part by closing the pyloric valve and slowing the absorption of carbohydrates into the bloodstream. In addition to treating diabetes, they promote weight loss, particularly from the abdomen. These medications are sometimes prescribed for losing weight. Studies show that patients who lose weight with this type of drug lose more fat from their abdomen than folks who lose the same amount of weight by just cutting calories.
There’s no substitute for restoring your body’s responsiveness to insulin by activating your leg muscles and avoiding high glycemic load foods. However, there are some medications that help.
