1. Sugar was heavily promoted in the 1950's and 60's, but there were very few obese people, since they were more active.
It doesn't matter. Promotion does not cause obesity. Blood glucose dysregulation does. That blood glucose dysregulation can only be acquired through consumption, not promotion.
There is a big difference in how sugar was consumed in the 50's and 60's, to how it began being consumed in the 80's and 90's. Most of the sugar that is being consumed today, is not from the occasional banana splits and chocolate malts. The sugar of today is being put into products that you would not expect to have sugar in them, like bacon, salsa, salad dressings and marinades. The exponential increase in sugar laden foods, which were labeled as being "heart healthy" and "fat free" added to the ever increasing consumption of sugar. Add to that the explosion of grain based foods in order to combat ever increasing food prices and you have a recipe for disaster.
2. People, who have had heart attacks, are put on vegan/vegetarian diets by their doctors because they "cure" heart disease.
Vegan/vegetarian diets lower cholesterol, particularly LDL, for people who have a genetic predisposition for diet to affect their total cholesterol. They are certainly not the "cure" for heart disease as total cholesterol is not the cause of it. There are many different causes for cardiovascular disease.
Because total cholesterol is the only lipid marker that can be treated, especially before the advent of PSK9 inhibitors which target LDL specifically, most conventional doctors treat total cholesterol with diet and medications like statins.
Of course, this is a very imprecise and primitive way of addressing the genetic lipid abnormalities that some people with heart disease have. But it’s the only thing that is available at the moment, since changing lipid function is beyond medical science at the moment.
Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that the problem is not caused by total cholesterol. Though in some cases total cholesterol can indicate a possible problem, the root cause is the function of various lipoproteins and that is the result of different apolipoprotein behavior. This behavior is primarily determined by certain genotypes and secondarily exacerbated by lifestyle factors and current metabolic state.
This is all very complicated. It requires sophisticated testing, which is not generally available outside of a research setting, and the interpretation from specialists like lipidologists. No doctor is going to concern themselves with this and no insurance will be willing to pay for it. So, once again, you are left with subpar medical care and the generic advice of simply "lowering your total cholesterol", which hasn’t prevented a single heart attack thus far, in the healthy. For people who already have cardiovascular disease (CVD), or a history of it, they might as well address every single marker they can measure.
3. Is there a brain benefit to adding butter, eggs and other “healthy fats” to a diet?
No. The only benefit adding these items to your diet has is if you replace sugar and grains with them. Anything that improves your blood glucose regulation will benefit your brain. After all, your brain is completely dependent on proper blood glucose regulation.
4. I have an ethical problem with going “keto” or “low carb” because I am against industrial farming.
I cannot offer any help with ethics. I only offer help with metabolism.
5. Are there any benefits in taking triglyceride lowering medications?
There are people who have a genetic condition where their liver releases way too many triglycerides (trigs), into the bloodstream. This may put them at risk for certain medical conditions. This could be the reason why you were prescribed this medication. But for the vast majority of people, high trigs are just a sign of a very high carbohydrate diet. The first thing they have to do is reduce their carbohydrate intake in order to stop the unmitigated de novo lipogenesis that is causing the issue.
6. "Ketosis" is a good idea for epilepsy.
The classic ketogenic diet, which is used for the treatment of intractable epilepsy, is very different from the ketogenic diet, we advise on this blog, which is used for the treatment of metabolic conditions.
For epilepsy, the person must sustain chronic ketosis at a specific ketone level. This requires an extraordinarily precise diet that must be monitored by a healthcare professional who is specialized in classic ketogenic protocols. This is because the person must upkeep a certain amount of dietary fat consumption, restrict protein to a certain degree and eliminate most to all carbohydrates. Because of the unusual macronutrient composition of these diets, which have to be chronically sustained, they must also be calorically monitored or the person can gain or lose an enormous amount of weight, depending on their ketone level goal.
The main areas of concern is getting adequate protein, while sustaining a specific level of ketosis, or malnutrition can occur. You also need to prevent metabolism from going into "starvation mode", which can cause obesity over time. As you can see, this would require frequent blood work and consistent medical monitoring.
So, even though it is an exceptionally difficult diet to sustain, the results can be well worth it, if it can stop or decrease seizure activity, as intractable epilepsy requires very invasive treatments to prevent brain damage and/or death.
Now there is some good news to this. Some people have been able to control their seizure activity with a more relaxed version of this diet. Their healthcare professional would help gauge them to find their "sweet spot" for ketosis.
I suggest seeking professional advice, as this blog is specifically for metabolic health and cannot offer any advice on classic ketogenic diets.