- Restriction of carbohydrates through the elimination of sugar and grains and the limitation of starch.
- Real meals based on whole, nutrient dense food.
- Prioritization of nutrient dense foods, rather than energy dense foods. Therefore, adequate protein is priority number one. Protein foods come first, while fats and carbohydrates come second. Adequate protein is needed to maintain and grow lean muscle mass. Having a higher muscle to fat ratio is metabolically protective.
- Adequate fasting times that promote a balance between anabolic (fuel storage) and catabolic (fuel burning) states. Fasting too much or too little can be problematic.
The main goal you are seeking on these diets is the control of blood glucose. You want to lessen blood glucose disparities between highs and lows.
Diet Overview
I do not recommend any specific diet on this blog. The only dietary must that I recommend is the restriction of carbohydrate. Specifically, sugar, grains and starches. The rest is up to you. This is because there are so many individual variants, as far as food sensitivities and tolerances go, that everyone will have to make their own decisions, as to what they want to include or exclude from their diet.
There are many carbohydrate restricted diets out there to choose from. There is a lot of information online about each one. You can choose Atkins, Whole 30, South Beach, Primal, Paleo (without all the sugar), Ketogenic and all its variants, Protein Power, NSNG (No Sugar, No Grain), LCHF (Low Carbohydrate/High Fat) and all its variants, Zero Carb and everything in between. The list is endless, as most of these diets have multiple interpretations, which differ in what foods can be included or not, but they all have one thing in common: carbohydrate is no longer used as the main fuel source for the body. This allows the body to mobilize fatty acids for fuel.
The ideal macronutrient ratio for a human being is low carbohydrate, moderate fat and adequate protein.
Processed, manmade, foods disrupt this ideal ratio. These “foods” use refined, isolated, concentrated and unhealthy ratios of these macronutrients. This causes for these foods to be mostly energy dense, in the form of carbohydrate and/or fat. Protein is expensive, so when these foods contain it, it is a cheap, plant based, non-bioavailable and incomplete version.
Therefore, it's very important to eat whole foods, in their natural state. Whole foods have the macronutrients in their proper ratios. This complete macronutrient profile is what signals proper satiety, hormone balance, basal metabolic rate and allows you to fast.
You can buy all your food organic and pastured, if you like and are able to financially afford it, but it is not required. To fix metabolism, you will only need to concentrate on the macronutrient composition of your meals because that's what affects blood glucose regulation.
Macronutrients
I recommend the Ketogains Macros Calculator. Here is a page that details how to use it properly. This calculator has provided the most successful results for users.
If you do not have access to a scale that can calculate your body fat percentage, then you can get an estimate using the US Navy Body Fat Calculator. You can also use this visual chart to estimate body fat. It has been shown to be more precise than body fat calculators.
Macronutrients are very individualized. Age, activity level, hormonal status, body composition, goals and tolerances, all have to be taken into consideration when making a calculation. Even then, a trial and error period is necessary to determine if your calculation is achieving results and is sustainable. If not, you have to go back to the drawing board and tweak your macros further. Remember, results speak louder than any recommendation on a chart, graph or calculator.
You cannot expect to achieve results using someone else's macros, as these might not work for you, as an individual. There are no universal "magic macros" that work for everyone. So, if you see someone who is having success, asking what their macros are is useless. Instead, you will get more useful information asking them what their lifestyle is like.
A good starting point to begin your journey is:
Macronutrient Composition
Read ingredients - Bring your glasses to the market if you have bad eyesight. Do not read labels, nutritional facts, descriptions or any other information, except for the ingredients list. The ingredients tell you everything you need to know about what you're really eating. Make sure that your food does not contain any added sugars, proteins, seed (vegetable) oils, flavors, starches, gums, grains, etc. If you have any doubt about any ingredient, Google it on your smartphone to determine exactly what it is. Preferably, do not buy any product if you don't know what the ingredients are, where it came from or what it is. For this reason, stay away from boxed, bagged, canned and “ready-made” foods.
Carbohydrates - All above ground vegetables can be eaten. You can add some butter or extra virgin olive oil to them. They can be cooked or eaten raw. Frozen vegetables are fine, so long as they do not have added spices or sauces. All raw nuts and seeds and their butters are allowed. The only fruits allowed are low sugar fruits like olives, avocados and night shades (zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers). Lemon and limes can be used as garnish or for marinades. If you are actively trying to lose weight and stabilize blood glucose, stay away from “vegetables” that grow below ground, as these starches are not real vegetables, but roots and/or tubers.
Fats - Unrefined, unfiltered, animal, fruit or nut fats can be eaten. Make sure that your fats are of good quality, grass-fed or pastured, cold pressed, unrefined and/or virgin. This is the only food that you want to make sure is of the best quality. Good quality fats are easily available now in most grocery stores and at competitive prices. Olive oil should be domestically grown only and have the Olive Oil Council seal, to ensure its real olive oil and not a blend.
Proteins - All animal proteins, of any animal, can be eaten. This includes muscle and organ meats. Meats are not required to be "lean”, but they can be if you prefer them. You also can eat animal derived products, like eggs and dairy. All dairy should be full fat and used as a condiment only. All meats should be bought fresh, raw and from the butchers section. Stay away from pre-prepared, pre-cooked, pre-marinated, frozen, boxed, bagged or processed meats.
Electrolytes
You must track your electrolytes carefully. If you do not, you will not only suffer through uncomfortable symptoms, that might cause you to drop your diet, but you can even end up with serious, irreversible damage and/or a trip to the emergency room. Here is a recommended electrolyte guide.
Carbohydrate restricted diets lower insulin levels and this can act as a diuretic, since insulin retains water. For this reason, you must be extra cautious about your electrolytes and make sure that you are keeping them in balance. Electrolyte depletion can occur before it can be detected in the bloodstream. Don’t guess or assume: know, track and supplement.
This release of stored water and electrolyte depletion, can have serious consequences for people with pre-existing conditions like kidney disease and hypertension, or people taking the medications that treat these conditions. Therefore, it is very important to discuss any changes in diet with your healthcare professional, before implementation.
Salt - Salting your food liberally, to taste, is very important. Adequate salt intake is different for everyone, since we all retain sodium differently, so you will have to listen to your body for any symptoms that can suggest sodium depletion. Headaches, lethargy, dizziness upon standing, heart palpitations and weakness can be signs of an electrolyte imbalance, that must be addressed through electrolyte supplementation, since in many cases, consumption of salt may not be enough.
Do not consume salt in isolation, as salt itself causes more dehydration. You need to make sure you are having enough salt and water.
Conventional table salt is not recommended, because it is highly processed, refined and contains added ingredients. This processing depletes the salt of most of its trace minerals. Iodine is added back into the salt, to mitigate what was depleted through processing, but this synthetic iodine is not well absorbed by the body.
Most conventional table salt is also mixed with fillers, such as dextrose, which is cheap corn sugar. For this reason, you should always check the ingredients of your salt. Pink Himalayan salt, sea salt, kosher salt and Celtic salt are better choices because they are not as refined and don't contain added ingredients.
Water - The release of stored water from lower insulin levels can put you at risk for dehydration, but too much water is just as bad as too little, as you can be depleting your electrolytes further. Though everyone is different and will require different amounts, a good starting point is at least 1.5 liters of water, every day; more if you are highly active and/or in high temperatures.
The important thing to keep in mind is to drink adequate amounts of water. This is done by drinking to thirst, but never go thirsty.
Extras
People always ask about artificial sweeteners, but on this blog, they are not recommended. Here are some reasons why sweeteners should not be a part of your new lifestyle:
Sugar alcohols do not raise blood glucose. Only glucose raises blood glucose and sugar alcohols are not glucose, but many sugar alcohols are converted back into glucose by the body. Others require no conversion and are used, by the body, in the exact same way as it would glucose, causing the same hormonal effects and interference with fatty acid metabolism that glucose would. They are also still sweet, so the incretin effect on insulin, is still occurring.
You can do your own research on which sugar alcohols cause different effects, since they do not all work the same, but on this blog, they are not recommended in any form.
Snacking
Snacking is the single worst thing you can do for your health. If you want to stall weight loss, gain weight or just plain sabotage yourself, then snacking is the best way to do it. Even when snacking stimulates leptin, through an increase of calories, causing a temporary weight loss effect, it is doing so at the expense of insulin. So this short term success will be met with a long term failure.
Snacking keeps insulin chronically stimulated and this is not the way that this hormone is supposed to work. Insulin should be released in pulses. This means that it goes up when you eat and then it comes back down when you don’t. The body does this because it knows that if insulin is up all the time, it will develop a resistance and eventually the diseases associated with insulin toxicity.
The calories of the snack make no difference. The macronutrients of the snack make no difference. There is no "good" snack. There is no "healthy" snack. These terms are lies created by Big Food. There is no "low-carb" bar. There is no healthy "LCHF" shake. The only “Keto snack” that exists is body fat.
The practice of snacking is only done by people who are metabolically sick. If you want to remain sick, keep snacking. Do not "treat" yourself with snacks, you are not a pet.
Just because cheese is “high fat” does not mean it gets a snacking pass. Just because nuts have fiber, does not mean you can munch on them all day. If you like cheese and nuts incorporate them, as a garnish, during meal times only. These foods are often used and marketed as low carbohydrate "snacks" but anything that is snacked on, becomes unhealthy, even kale.
So, what about coffee? Do not snack on bulletproof coffee (BPC). I personally do not recommend this type of drink at all, but it always seems to be making its rounds in the low carbohydrate world. A lot of people believe BPC gets a pass because of its “high fat” content, but not so fast. Aside from the fact that no one who is not a baby or infirmed should be drinking drinking their calories, there are other things about BPC that can become problematic.
Diet Overview
I do not recommend any specific diet on this blog. The only dietary must that I recommend is the restriction of carbohydrate. Specifically, sugar, grains and starches. The rest is up to you. This is because there are so many individual variants, as far as food sensitivities and tolerances go, that everyone will have to make their own decisions, as to what they want to include or exclude from their diet.
There are many carbohydrate restricted diets out there to choose from. There is a lot of information online about each one. You can choose Atkins, Whole 30, South Beach, Primal, Paleo (without all the sugar), Ketogenic and all its variants, Protein Power, NSNG (No Sugar, No Grain), LCHF (Low Carbohydrate/High Fat) and all its variants, Zero Carb and everything in between. The list is endless, as most of these diets have multiple interpretations, which differ in what foods can be included or not, but they all have one thing in common: carbohydrate is no longer used as the main fuel source for the body. This allows the body to mobilize fatty acids for fuel.
The ideal macronutrient ratio for a human being is low carbohydrate, moderate fat and adequate protein.
Processed, manmade, foods disrupt this ideal ratio. These “foods” use refined, isolated, concentrated and unhealthy ratios of these macronutrients. This causes for these foods to be mostly energy dense, in the form of carbohydrate and/or fat. Protein is expensive, so when these foods contain it, it is a cheap, plant based, non-bioavailable and incomplete version.
Therefore, it's very important to eat whole foods, in their natural state. Whole foods have the macronutrients in their proper ratios. This complete macronutrient profile is what signals proper satiety, hormone balance, basal metabolic rate and allows you to fast.
You can buy all your food organic and pastured, if you like and are able to financially afford it, but it is not required. To fix metabolism, you will only need to concentrate on the macronutrient composition of your meals because that's what affects blood glucose regulation.
Macronutrients
I recommend the Ketogains Macros Calculator. Here is a page that details how to use it properly. This calculator has provided the most successful results for users.
If you do not have access to a scale that can calculate your body fat percentage, then you can get an estimate using the US Navy Body Fat Calculator. You can also use this visual chart to estimate body fat. It has been shown to be more precise than body fat calculators.
Macronutrients are very individualized. Age, activity level, hormonal status, body composition, goals and tolerances, all have to be taken into consideration when making a calculation. Even then, a trial and error period is necessary to determine if your calculation is achieving results and is sustainable. If not, you have to go back to the drawing board and tweak your macros further. Remember, results speak louder than any recommendation on a chart, graph or calculator.
You cannot expect to achieve results using someone else's macros, as these might not work for you, as an individual. There are no universal "magic macros" that work for everyone. So, if you see someone who is having success, asking what their macros are is useless. Instead, you will get more useful information asking them what their lifestyle is like.
A good starting point to begin your journey is:
- Carbohydrates should be less than 20 grams a day, but you can go up or down depending on your tolerance and goals. They should not go higher than 80 grams a day and should be from whole sources only. No sugar or grains.
- Protein is completely individualized and mitigated by satiety. A recommended minimum, daily consumption of 1.2 - 2.0 grams of protein, per kilogram of desired body weight, for adults, is a good guide. Remember that meat is not pure protein, so you will need to calculate the protein quantities in your chosen type, cut and portion of meat. Protein should be acquired from whole sources only - meat, eggs, dairy. No bars, shakes or powders. Protein supplementation should only be used if protein requirements cannot be met. Plant based "protein" is not real protein and should not be relied on, as it does not supply the body with the amino acids it requires and is an avenue for practices that cause weight gain.
- Fat should not go below 50 grams a day. Dietary fat becomes more efficient at being stored once it increases above 150 - 160 grams a day. Protein to fat ratio should be around 1:1 - 1:1.5. This equates to 1 gram of fat per 1 - 1.5 grams of protein. If your weight stalls or you begin gaining weight, lower your fat intake and keep it around 50 grams. Fat should come from whole, sources only, not "vegetable oils", as these oils interfere with lipolysis and cause weight gain. Remember that whole food already has fat in it, so your 50 grams should include the fat in the food, not just added fats.
Macronutrient Composition
- Low Carbohydrate – This is the macronutrient of concern. There is no such thing has an essential carbohydrate, so you should keep it as low, as possible, and only in the form of above ground vegetables. If your carbohydrates are coming from above ground vegetables, it is not necessary to track each gram.
- Moderate Fat – The fat you should be eating is what’s necessary for cooking, what comes with protein and your own body fat. Because the restriction of carbohydrate causes for fat to no longer be displaced by glucose, it will be used as a primary fuel source. Cook with natural, animal based, saturated fats and choose foods with their full fat content. There is no reason to fear fat, nor to purposely eat. Do not consume fat in isolation nor add to meals that are already, naturally high in fat.
- Adequate Protein – You need to add complete, whole, animal proteins into your meals. Vegetable based proteins are not complete and blending rice and beans will leave you with a high carbohydrate meal, that is still lacking in complete proteins. There are only so many pork chops you can eat before your body signals that you have had enough, so protein moderates itself through satiety and does not need to be restricted. Protein content should be the target of all your food choices and the center of your plate.
Read ingredients - Bring your glasses to the market if you have bad eyesight. Do not read labels, nutritional facts, descriptions or any other information, except for the ingredients list. The ingredients tell you everything you need to know about what you're really eating. Make sure that your food does not contain any added sugars, proteins, seed (vegetable) oils, flavors, starches, gums, grains, etc. If you have any doubt about any ingredient, Google it on your smartphone to determine exactly what it is. Preferably, do not buy any product if you don't know what the ingredients are, where it came from or what it is. For this reason, stay away from boxed, bagged, canned and “ready-made” foods.
Carbohydrates - All above ground vegetables can be eaten. You can add some butter or extra virgin olive oil to them. They can be cooked or eaten raw. Frozen vegetables are fine, so long as they do not have added spices or sauces. All raw nuts and seeds and their butters are allowed. The only fruits allowed are low sugar fruits like olives, avocados and night shades (zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers). Lemon and limes can be used as garnish or for marinades. If you are actively trying to lose weight and stabilize blood glucose, stay away from “vegetables” that grow below ground, as these starches are not real vegetables, but roots and/or tubers.
Fats - Unrefined, unfiltered, animal, fruit or nut fats can be eaten. Make sure that your fats are of good quality, grass-fed or pastured, cold pressed, unrefined and/or virgin. This is the only food that you want to make sure is of the best quality. Good quality fats are easily available now in most grocery stores and at competitive prices. Olive oil should be domestically grown only and have the Olive Oil Council seal, to ensure its real olive oil and not a blend.
Proteins - All animal proteins, of any animal, can be eaten. This includes muscle and organ meats. Meats are not required to be "lean”, but they can be if you prefer them. You also can eat animal derived products, like eggs and dairy. All dairy should be full fat and used as a condiment only. All meats should be bought fresh, raw and from the butchers section. Stay away from pre-prepared, pre-cooked, pre-marinated, frozen, boxed, bagged or processed meats.
Electrolytes
You must track your electrolytes carefully. If you do not, you will not only suffer through uncomfortable symptoms, that might cause you to drop your diet, but you can even end up with serious, irreversible damage and/or a trip to the emergency room. Here is a recommended electrolyte guide.
Carbohydrate restricted diets lower insulin levels and this can act as a diuretic, since insulin retains water. For this reason, you must be extra cautious about your electrolytes and make sure that you are keeping them in balance. Electrolyte depletion can occur before it can be detected in the bloodstream. Don’t guess or assume: know, track and supplement.
This release of stored water and electrolyte depletion, can have serious consequences for people with pre-existing conditions like kidney disease and hypertension, or people taking the medications that treat these conditions. Therefore, it is very important to discuss any changes in diet with your healthcare professional, before implementation.
Salt - Salting your food liberally, to taste, is very important. Adequate salt intake is different for everyone, since we all retain sodium differently, so you will have to listen to your body for any symptoms that can suggest sodium depletion. Headaches, lethargy, dizziness upon standing, heart palpitations and weakness can be signs of an electrolyte imbalance, that must be addressed through electrolyte supplementation, since in many cases, consumption of salt may not be enough.
Do not consume salt in isolation, as salt itself causes more dehydration. You need to make sure you are having enough salt and water.
Conventional table salt is not recommended, because it is highly processed, refined and contains added ingredients. This processing depletes the salt of most of its trace minerals. Iodine is added back into the salt, to mitigate what was depleted through processing, but this synthetic iodine is not well absorbed by the body.
Most conventional table salt is also mixed with fillers, such as dextrose, which is cheap corn sugar. For this reason, you should always check the ingredients of your salt. Pink Himalayan salt, sea salt, kosher salt and Celtic salt are better choices because they are not as refined and don't contain added ingredients.
Water - The release of stored water from lower insulin levels can put you at risk for dehydration, but too much water is just as bad as too little, as you can be depleting your electrolytes further. Though everyone is different and will require different amounts, a good starting point is at least 1.5 liters of water, every day; more if you are highly active and/or in high temperatures.
The important thing to keep in mind is to drink adequate amounts of water. This is done by drinking to thirst, but never go thirsty.
Extras
- Coffee is allowed as long as its decaffeinated. Caffeinated coffee is a diuretic, so it may have a counter effect to the amount of water you're consuming. Caffeine is also a stimulant that will not allow for you to control your blood glucose.
- Alternative milks (almond, soy, coconut) can be used if you are sensitive to dairy. Check ingredients for added sugars. Purchase only ‘unsweetened’ varieties.
- All herbs and spices are allowed, but read ingredients. Many spice blends include refined sugars and starches as fillers. Stay away from marinades and other pre-prepared condiments, as many contain syrups, “vegetable” oils and other refined carbohydrates as fillers. Make your own marinades at home using fresh herbs, spices, lemon or lime juice and extra virgin olive oil.
- Alternative flours (almond, coconut, hemp) can be used for special occasion baking.
- I do not recommend tea, as the tea industry is governed differently on how they can label their products and are not required to disclose their full ingredients. Most teas also have caffeine.
- Sugar - Usually we think of the white powdery stuff used in confectionary, but sugar also comes in forms that are falsely considered "healthy". Fruit, fruit juice, honey and molasses are all sugar. No matter how "natural" it claims to be, it's still sugar, and sugar consumption is the main driver of metabolic disease because it disrupts blood glucose regulation irrespective of calories. Also, when you consume sugar, you consume fructose and fructose metabolism is the main driver of fatty liver disease.
- Added Sugars - Though sugar is considered a benign condiment, in most processed foods, both as a preservative and a flavor enhancer, it is everything but benign. Thousands of processed products contain sugar and when you add up all those sugars, you have eaten quite a few desserts, throughout the day, without enjoying even one. The biggest culprits are deli meats and condiments. Both are not usually associated as being "sweet", but the added sugars are used as a cheap preservative. Always read ingredient labels, no matter how benign the product might seem. If sugar or any of its derivatives are listed, don't buy it. You can find all the names sugar goes by here.
- Sweeteners - Sugar by any other name....is still sugar. At least, it is to the human body and its incretin hormones, which stimulate insulin release. Consuming “sweet” items will continue to stimulate insulin and this will not allow proper blood glucose regulation. As we have seen, replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners has done nothing to curtail the obesity epidemic.
- Grains - This makes up the bulk of processed foods. Grains are the breadbasket of the world, but you want to keep them out of your basket. They are pure carbohydrate, which is great for the plants they will become, but bad for you because they become excess sugar in your bloodstream. You will be hard pressed to find any processed food that doesn't contain grains, but you can also find these in their "natural" forms as well, as is the case for rice. Wheat and all its derivatives and products should be avoided. Corn is a grain, as well as oats. Horses eat oats. Humans eat meat. You should also avoid pseudo grains like amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa.
- Starches – Refined starches are used as thickeners in some processed foods, but you will most likely come across them in their "natural" forms. Tubers or root vegetables like potatoes, fresh corn, yams, sweet potatoes, green bananas and cassava carry a glucose load. Legumes (beans) are the same, this includes soy and peanuts. If you are actively trying to lose weight, these need to be avoided. If you are in maintenance, these need to be limited.
- Processed Foods - If it comes in a box, package or can, with a food label, it's processed. You will not be able to avoid them all, but you can avoid most. You can still purchase bacon, canned tomato products and some condiments if you read the labels and make sure they do not contain added sugars. Anything you buy in a can or package should have a maximum of three ingredients, no more. They should also be ingredients you can pronounce and immediately know what they are.
- "Vegetable"/Seed Oils - There actually is no such thing as a "vegetable" oil. "Vegetable" oils are really seed oils. Do not purchase any oil marked canola, corn, grapeseed, sunflower, soybean, “vegetable” etc. These oils are highly inflammatory, they adversely affect your lipids and are implicated in insulin resistance. "Vegetable" and seed oils are highly processed, oxidized, low quality, man-made fats that should never be consumed, as the body does not recognize them. Save them for your oil lamps.
- Trans Fat - There are still products being made with this type of Franken fat. Most of the products are, of course, processed and usually in the bakery section of your market. Read ingredient labels and look for "hydrogenated", “partially hydrogenated” and/or “hydrolyzed”. If these words are listed, don't buy the product.
People always ask about artificial sweeteners, but on this blog, they are not recommended. Here are some reasons why sweeteners should not be a part of your new lifestyle:
- They’re artificial. This fact should be enough to exclude them from your diet. Diets used to treat metabolic diseases are based on natural, whole foods. Artificial sweeteners do not fall into this category. They are the industry’s latest attempt to overcome an ever-increasing epidemic caused by their "unhealthy foods".
- There is no such thing as a "natural" artificial sweetener. Those two words cannot be used in the same sentence. Stevia is not found in nature as a white powder. It is a green leaf from a plant. Indigenous people have never used this leaf to bake "low carb" cakes and pies. In short, even if the source is natural or wholesome, once it has been processed, it is automatically, no longer natural nor wholesome.
- You cannot "trick" the human body. You cannot trick a system that has been evolving for thousands of years. It will respond to environmental and digestive cues and modify its response to remain in homeostasis, even if that change results in metabolic damage. Simply speaking, there is no such thing as a "no calorie" yet, “sweet” food on planet earth. Artificial sweeteners are not contributing micro or macronutrients, to your body, so if they aren't feeding you, they can only be feeding your disease.
- Most sweeteners are primarily used in drinks. The body did not evolve to drink its calories. That's why water has 0 calories and is flavorless. It does not trigger a metabolic response or release of incretin hormones. Artificial sweeteners trigger false alarms that are revealed when a supply of incoming energy never arrives. This is a recipe for metabolic chaos.
- Consumption of sweeteners sabotage your goals. If you are seeking to incorporate or continue eating certain foods, of the Standard American Diet (SAD), then you are not ready to make a lifestyle change. Those food choices cannot exist while on a low carbohydrate diet. Sweeteners will inevitably lure you back to poor health and obesity.
- All sweeteners, including artificial ones, have been shown to raise insulin levels. Metabolic disease is a disease of poor blood glucose regulation. If you are still stimulating your insulin levels so that it is overexpressed, you will never be able to properly control your blood glucose. Stevia does not raise insulin levels in the short term, but has a significant effect on it, in the long term. This means that if you thought you were fasting, while adding Stevia to your drinks, think again.
- Artificial sweeteners have failed to halt metabolic disease progression. Since introduced, artificial sweeteners have not prevented weight gain and diabetes. In fact, obesity and diabetes are at an all time high. How sweeteners perpetuate obesity has been debated for years. If they aren't part of the solution, they can only be part of the problem.
- Artificial sweeteners are mainly used to bake cakes, but at what cost? There is always a give and take. We already know what happens when you want your cake and eat it too, insulin injections soon follow. This mindset won’t lead to improvement of health. Avoiding sweet foods is a good way to secure a healthy prognosis.
Sugar alcohols do not raise blood glucose. Only glucose raises blood glucose and sugar alcohols are not glucose, but many sugar alcohols are converted back into glucose by the body. Others require no conversion and are used, by the body, in the exact same way as it would glucose, causing the same hormonal effects and interference with fatty acid metabolism that glucose would. They are also still sweet, so the incretin effect on insulin, is still occurring.
You can do your own research on which sugar alcohols cause different effects, since they do not all work the same, but on this blog, they are not recommended in any form.
Snacking
Snacking is the single worst thing you can do for your health. If you want to stall weight loss, gain weight or just plain sabotage yourself, then snacking is the best way to do it. Even when snacking stimulates leptin, through an increase of calories, causing a temporary weight loss effect, it is doing so at the expense of insulin. So this short term success will be met with a long term failure.
Snacking keeps insulin chronically stimulated and this is not the way that this hormone is supposed to work. Insulin should be released in pulses. This means that it goes up when you eat and then it comes back down when you don’t. The body does this because it knows that if insulin is up all the time, it will develop a resistance and eventually the diseases associated with insulin toxicity.
The calories of the snack make no difference. The macronutrients of the snack make no difference. There is no "good" snack. There is no "healthy" snack. These terms are lies created by Big Food. There is no "low-carb" bar. There is no healthy "LCHF" shake. The only “Keto snack” that exists is body fat.
The practice of snacking is only done by people who are metabolically sick. If you want to remain sick, keep snacking. Do not "treat" yourself with snacks, you are not a pet.
Just because cheese is “high fat” does not mean it gets a snacking pass. Just because nuts have fiber, does not mean you can munch on them all day. If you like cheese and nuts incorporate them, as a garnish, during meal times only. These foods are often used and marketed as low carbohydrate "snacks" but anything that is snacked on, becomes unhealthy, even kale.
So, what about coffee? Do not snack on bulletproof coffee (BPC). I personally do not recommend this type of drink at all, but it always seems to be making its rounds in the low carbohydrate world. A lot of people believe BPC gets a pass because of its “high fat” content, but not so fast. Aside from the fact that no one who is not a baby or infirmed should be drinking drinking their calories, there are other things about BPC that can become problematic.
- BPC is not a meal by any stretch of the definition. You should not be eating if you are not having a full meal, with knife and fork, and all macronutrients present.
- It is an isolated fat. We did not evolve to consume macronutrients in isolation. This causes abnormal hormonal profiles.
- It is not satiating. This drink is void of the micronutrients that the body needs, especially protein, so it will not suppress your hunger. You will find yourself drinking several of these coffees, throughout the day, while trying to chase “satiety”. This adds up to excess amounts of fat. If you are drinking and digesting, you are not fasting.
- Leptin resistance will not allow for the body to increase basal metabolism in response to the additional dietary fat intake. This will only cause more fat to be stored. You have enough fat on your body already. Use it.
You cannot snack away on BPC or heavy whipping cream coffees and expect to continue losing weight. Just because a food is high in fat, does not give it an "I can eat it whenever I want" pass. The only “high fat” you should be eating, is your own body fat.
Love your posts!! Thank you
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