26 • If IAm So Smart, Why Can’t I Lose Weight? The problem is that most of us with weight issues have way too much of it in our blood, way too often. Insulin is a fat storage hormone. Its job is to store fat. When it is present in our blood, we do not burn fat; we are in storage mode. The more insulin, the more storage, the more fat on our body, period. OK, you say, so how do I decrease the level of insulin in my blood? I'm so glad you asked! The best way to answer that question is to ask another one. What causes us to have high levels of insulin? What are we doing and eating that is making insulin high and making our bodies overfat? Eating. Every time you eat, your insulin goes up. So let's say you eat breakfast at 8 a.m. Your insulin goes up to accommodate the food. It uses up some of the food for fuel and stores some of the food as fat for later. Then later comes. It's about 10:30 and you feel a little hungry. Insulin is low. This would be the perfect time for your body to access some fat for fuel. But we usually block that from happening by having a little snack. Insulin goes up and we are back in storage mode. No fat accessed for fuel. So it's 10:30 a.m. and we already have more fat stored than we did when we woke up.