Six common beliefs addressed, Part 159

1. Our teeth are not like felines, so we aren't carnivores. 

This is not an anthropology blog but I decided to reply to this anyway as it's subject matter that has been brought up ad nauseum and I want to settle it once and for all. Humans are omnivores but can live just fine as carnivores. Felines are obligatory carnivores, which means they cannot live as omnivores.

Humans don't hunt using their teeth. I have yet to see a hunter/gatherer take down a wilder beast with their jaws like a lion. Humans use their big brains to acquire meat. Felines don't have very big brains or arms and hands, with an opposing thumb, so they don't make tools to help them hunt. We have yet to see a lion using a bow and arrow. Felines are entirely dependent on their teeth and claws. This is why they evolved to have them and they are quite sharp. I have experienced this when my own cat hunts me and tries to take me down in my own home.

 

 

Humans on the other hands have the ability to hunt, with tools and strategy. Some hunter/gatherers even use other animals to hunt for them. So humans are quite cunning. We don't need impressive incisors to take down another animal. Surprisingly other animals, including a large variety of primates, who do not hunt nor eat any meat, have very large incisors. These are used for social communication rather than hunting.

So a better way of determining what diets animals eat is to look at their intestinal tract, rather than their outer appearance, as that can fool you. We might not have the teeth of a feline, but we have almost an identical intestinal tract. This means that we evolved eating the same foods - meat.

2. "Keto" will help you gain weight. 

Yes. You can gain weight on "keto", but you will have varying results depending on your metabolic state.

If you are already thin, it will be very difficult to gain weight on "keto" because gaining weight from dietary fat, when you are obesity resistant, is nearly impossible. Leptin will burn through all of your fat and you won't see much weight change. High carb diets, on the other hand, will allow you to gain weight easily, but will put you at a much higher risk for metabolic dysfunction. So high fat is definitely a safer choice for weight gain, it just might not happen.

Because of this, the very best way to gain weight is through protein intake. That way you will be gaining weight as lean muscle mass, rather than fat.

3. The South Beach Diet is a good protocol to follow.

The South Beach Diet is a moderate to low carb diet that prioritizes protein and allows more "healthy" fats than low fat diets. They define "healthy fats" as monounsaturated like olive and avocado oil.

This diet does not eliminate any particular type of carbohydrate. For instance, you can consume "complex carbs" to hit your carb goal for the day. Aside from vegetables and fruit, complex carbs are defined as whole grains and beans. Of course, this diet emphasizes the "benefits" of fiber like so many other mainstream diets do. Those benefits are still questionable but supposedly there.

This diet has three phases, with Phase 1 eliminating all carbohydrates and alcohol and Phase 3 slowly allowing them back in "in moderation". What exactly is "in moderation" is never described. Typically this is the case every time that term is used.

Of course, like with all diet plans, they provide correct information in Phase 1. This is what will allow you to claim that the program works because it technically does at that point. Then they sabotage you by Phase 3, to ensure you remain happy, returning to your usual fare, and you will be a returning customer. After all, the diet did work in the beginning, so you will be more open to trying it again. It's simple bait and switch.

The South Beach Diet is plagued with highly processed products for you to purchase. This is also typical of diet programs. After all, they are there to make money and this is the stuff that makes it as this is what people want.

Do I recommend this protocol? Absolutely not, unless you stay in Phase 1 forever. Phase 1 is much better than the "keto" fad diet that is going around the internet. In fact Phase 1 can be almost described as a relaxed protein sparing modified fast/Mediterranean diet hybrid that is absolutely ketogenic. So, if you stay away from their products and follow Phase 1 for life, this would be a good protocol to follow, especially if you are having issues with your lipids and are stalled and/or gaining weight on "keto".

4. You can eat carbohydrates and remain in ketosis if you consume exogenous ketones.

Exogenous ketones will allow you to remain in ketosis, even if you eat carbs. But the same is true for eating massive amounts of dietary fat. The only time that ketosis is helpful is when you are burning your own body fat, not dietary fat and not exogenous ketones.

5. Low carbohydrate diets will cause mosquitos to no longer be attracted to you.

Mosquitoes are initially attracted by the carbon dioxide we exhale. That's what helps them identify that we are there. Once the mosquito gets closer to you, it is stimulated by a number of factors like body heat and even blood type. There are up to 400 chemical compounds on the human skin that can attract mosquitoes, which is why research into this has resulted in a multitude of conflicting results.

There are even different attractors depending on mosquito species. For example the Aedes Aeypti, a common human biting species, is attracted to levels of lactic acid in sweat and certain bacteria that lives on the surface of skin. Because this is so complex, to this day, there is still no definitive answer as to why some people are "mosquito magnets" while others aren't.

So, what does this have to do with low carb diets? Absolutely nothing. The only possibility is that low carb diets change serum lipid profiles or lactic acid levels or skin bacteria or all three, in some people, and this might make them more or less susceptible to mosquito bites.

Do not risk yourself to this idiocrasy. Use common sense. Dress appropriately to protect yourself from mosquitos and if you are going into the deep woods, use a mosquito repellent. Remember, mosquitoes are vectors for many blood borne diseases. Some of them can be quite nasty so reduce your risk by avoiding bites.

6. Going low carbohydrate will "bulletproof" your immune system.

The human immune system is very complex and varies by individuals. There is no such thing as "bulletproofing" it.

You can only do things to help keep it healthy, such as not being deficient in calories, protein, vitamins and minerals. You should adopt lifestyles that reduce your risk for acquiring conditions that compromise your immune system such as metabolic conditions and kidney disease. Controlling the progression of auto immune diseases, which ultimately compromise your immune system if you end up having to take biologics, is vitally important. Reducing your risk for certain common cancers, which will also cause you to receive treatments that compromise the immune system, such as smoking cessation and keeping active are good interventions. Basically, you can help your immune system by remaining as healthy as possible, for as long as possible, because co morbid conditions effect your immune response.

The only thing that has been shown to actually make the immune system stronger, not bulletproof, is exposure to a wide array of bacteria and viruses. That's the only way the immune system learns what it has to fight off or not because it produces a multitude of antigens. So kids that play in the dirt are healthier than kids who play on a sanitized surface. Everything else is quackery.