Six common beliefs addressed, Part 142

1. Diet advice is very confusing and doesn't seem to provide any one single answer to the problem of obesity. 

Obesity is very complex and once you are obese, many systems in the body are affected. Obesity is still a "disease without a known cure" as of this post. This means that whatever shenanigans they want you to follow, in order to "treat" or "cure" obesity, is a lie by default. 

The only thing you can do to better manage obesity and have a chance at reversing is to follow the actual data that is known about it. Abnormalities in blood glucose regulation has been the only metric that has tracked linearly with obesity in research. Nothing else. For this reason, blood glucose is what you should be addressing.

2. On "keto", my menstrual period stopped for several months and I felt better than I ever have in my entire life. With time, my menstruation returned back to normal and I started to feel run down again.

Hormonal imbalances, fluctuations and chronic release cause havoc in the body. I know that in modernity amenorrhea (lack of menstruation) is seen as something sinister and it can be, if it's being caused by an actual pathological condition or deficiency. Therefore, the 28 day cycle is considered "normal". But, hunter/gatherer women, who are completely healthy, do not menstruate every month because of their low body fat so in essence, this tells us that we never evolved to menstruate on a 28 day cycle chronically. 

When you start "keto" and your body fat takes a significant plunge, you feel the beneficial effects of not menstruating on a monthly basis, but as body fat goes back up, you once again fall into a 28 day cycle, which is the maximum ovulation cycle that a human female has. This constant marination in sex hormones, without a break, can cause side effects such as bloating, premenstrual syndrome, headaches and low energy. If you are going through peri/pre-menopause, you might experience even nastier side effects, such as migraines, allergies and auto immune activity. It is no wonder that women experience so many health conditions related to their sex hormone status and these conditions only become worse as their hormones become increasingly imbalanced. 

Menstruation is mainly driven by body fat and "stress". Even at a normal fat percentage, the body will have a 28 day cycle. It is only when body fat dips below a certain percentage or is actively being lost in large amounts that menstruation will halt. This is because a challenge to body fat is a stressor on the body. Stress is hormetic when it's controlled and occurs in low doses. When low body fat or the loss of body fat is the only stressor that the body is sensing, it becomes beneficial. 

The body will not sustain a body fat deficit in a modern environment so menstruation will eventually return to a 28 day cycle. You would literally have to go live with the hunter/gatherers if you want to avoid this hormonal chaos. The only thing you can do is mitigate these symptoms by actively trying to keep body fat within a normal range, continue a healthy diet and have an exercise regimen in place. The healthier you are metabolically, the better your body can handle this hormonal onslaught and keep sex hormones balanced. 

3. Will "keto" help resolve uncontrollable overeating?

Stabilization of blood glucose can have a direct effect on hunger because metabolic hormones follow suit. This addresses the biological causes for hunger and that can be enough to resolve overeating issues if there aren't any behavioral drivers. But unfortunately, most uncontrollable overeating is not driven by biology but by mental health issues. For this reason, a mental health professional would be most helpful, rather than diet.

4. On "keto" you usually "forget to eat", so it's okay to follow a 'one meal a day' (OMAD) protocol. 

If you are healthy and slim, this is not a problem. It simply means that your metabolism is working as it should and acquiring energy from fat storage. There is enough fat storage to do this without any unpleasant side effects like low energy. The body is in perfect balance between what it eats and what it stores and the energy it derives from each. A healthy metabolism balances energy all by itself without your interference. 

But if you are overweight or obese, and not actively losing weight, you shouldn't be "forgetting to eat". I know it's trendy to "forget to eat" in low carb circles but this practice only sabotages weight loss and blood glucose control over time. If forgetting to eat truly treated obesity then the caloric model would be fool proof as a treatment but we know that's not the case. You need to have set times for your meals and you should never do frequent OMADs. 

5. Do carnivore and "keto" use the same macros for protein?

Macros are highly individualized. As far as protein is concerned, if the diet is being used for the treatment of obesity and metabolic conditions, protein should be prioritized. The main difference between carnivore and "keto", when used for the treatment of obesity and metabolic conditions, is simply the carbohydrate amount and its source. 

Carnivore is a "0 plant" diet while "keto" still has a carb allotment of no more than 30 grams a day. The carbs in carnivore are coming from diary and the carbs on "keto" come from vegetables, primarily leafy greens. 

6. I cannot follow low carb dieting because "stress" makes me eat. 

"Stress" cannot "make you eat" because it doesn't have hands that bring food into your mouth. 

People often confuse their bad eating habits with "stress" since we tend to be stressed often. When people refer to "stress" they usually mean some kind of "emotional stress". But nothing stresses the body more than inappropriate eating, especially when that's coupled with inappropriate food. This only perpetuates metabolic stress, a real and dangerous stress, that eventually leads to disease if it hasn't already. 

You need to find a way of addressing your bad eating habits, without giving them an ambiguous cause such as "stress". The type of stress you are referring to cannot ever be resolved, so you are trapping yourself into a corner and basically blocking all of your own exits. When people do this, it usually means they simply aren't ready to make the lifestyle change necessary to tackle such a complex and long term issue as obesity and/or metabolic health. You need to revisit the diet again when you become truly ready.