Nope. This is total garbage. No offense to you, you're just repeating the information.

The pancreas does not need to rest. It does not need to be restarted. Your body is producing quite a lot of insulin the entire time you're on phase one. Eating protein alone causes more insulin to be released than eating carbs alone. For that matter, whey protein causes more insulin to be released than any other type of protein.

I can go into more detail if you have specific questions but the bottom line is that you can go directly off phase 1 to any other type of diet. What Lolo said about carbs and indigestion is true but that is also highly dependant on the individual and how long one has been on phase 1.

John, I gotta say, I am completely shocked. Everything I thought is turned on its head! I googled just enough to see someone talk about something like that, but I am wondering if you could point me to a good source for that information? And also if you don't mind I'd like to know, just how do you know so much? Are you a researcher in this field, or how exactly do you have this much info? And related to that, you seem to have so much confidence in your knowledge...but there are always new studies that put some new spins on what everyone thought they knew.

I guess my question would then be: is there any point in limiting carbs on this diet (IP) other than that it simply lowers the number of total calories?

I would like to know the answer to this too especially the last part.
I am switching up plans for a couple of weeks to see how my body/scale reacts - yesterday I had just over a hundred grams of carbs and 1200 calories. I needed a break from IP

In the low carb community, whey protein is pretty well-known as being more insulin-stimulating than other sources of protein (casein, for example, is slower acting on blood sugar).

Where John & I differ on our info is this: He believes a calorie is a calorie and it is ALL about calories in/calories out. I tend to lean toward the carb restricted approach and have been interested in the (good) research available. There is also bad research so you have to know how to read research. Example: research on high-fat diets had subjects eating burgers & fries. We all know burgers and fries are high CARB/high fat. The carbs have been ignored in many of these studies trying to "prove" that high fat diets are bad for us.

I have read research exclusively on carb reduction, especially sugars and faster-acting grains. There seems to be MUCH success with a low carb but higher-fat diet (which doesn't restrict calories nearly as much as IP). Ketosis really does help with hunger-management, which can also help the dieter with the calorie restriction. However, severely carb restricted diets can be hard on thyroid/adrenals. My body definitely reacted to this.

Bottom line is this: If it works for you, do it. If it doesn't, keep looking for the plan that will give you the motivation-factor to work for you. IP P1 was the motivational factor for me for quite a while, until my thyroid needed a break.

I agree with John about the phase-off. However I chose to do it slowly b/c I wanted to maintain a smaller carb/calorie intake than I'd been doing prior to IP. IP teaches a way to maintain. I'm not sure it is the way I will maintain. But it is one way and can certainly work.

One of the biggest things I learned was the re-introduction of grains had some effect on my digestive system. From my reading (and putting it in simple terms), there are enzymes that sort of "hibernate" when the body doesn't need them. So if we introduce grains quickly, they don't digest efficiently, until the enzymes "wake up" and become available to digest them again. So, John is right, the pancreas really never "rests" nor be "restarted" but the grains/starch carbs caused my gut some havoc on days I had more. It is kind of like the body needs to "relearn" how to digest them again. It happens quickly (over a few days) but it explains how a carb binge can cause digestive upset.

I have no medical studies to cite, but I really doubt that you are secreting tons of insulin in Phase 1. I am a former diabetic who used to take a TON of insulin per day, and I know what it feels like when you have extra circulating in your blood system. Didn't happen in Phase 1 for me! Pre-IP I was taking 160 units of Lantus and 35 units of Apidra per day. Now I take nothing and my A1C is 5.1. I transitioned off IP starting August 31, so some time has passed with no increase in my fasting sugars.

I think whey protein causes an insulin spike, but it is less prolonged than what you get with carbs. My personal opinion is that low carb diets affect the liver a lot more than the pancreas. If you have any hidden liver problems, they will come out after a while on IP. I experienced the same Lisa did and we both seem to have some thyroid problems. So, maybe that is something to watch out.

Low carb/high fat has been researched more because it is Atkins. Also, the ketosis hypothesis started out from research on epilepsy. It has been used for years to treat children's epilepsy. Those diets worked better than any drug treatment and were even lower carb and higher fat than Atkins. They have no shifted to an Atkins-like diet. This already show that low carb has a significant effect on body physiology. Right now the research has shifted to cancer and because calorie restriction has been thought to be anti-aging, also to aging research. We will know a lot more about low carb/low fat versus low carb/high fat in a couple of years.

I concur with Lisa that calorie in/calorie out does not work in many cases. I found I can maintain perfectly on any type of diet, but loosing only works with low carb. It is known that thyroid hormones and sex hormones can regulate your metabolic rate. So, this makes perfect sense, since the levels of these hormones are also regulated indirectly in response to insulin. This may be more pronounced in women compared to men. Women have less muscle mass and have to deal with a genetic program that promotes weight gain among other things for child bearing.

IP wants to make money. Since they charge 3-4x more for almost the same products than other companies, they better come up with a good story line to make people believe they sell something special. I still think that low carb is sent from heaven for weight loss, although it simply does not work for me anymore. At some point health trumps weight loss.