Six common beliefs addressed, Part 166

1. I eat almost no carbs but my blood glucose still runs high. I have only lost about 10 lbs.

This is because you have just discovered what we have been saying on this blog for a long while now - what you eat has a limited effect on blood glucose as most of the high blood glucose in metabolic syndrome/diabetes is coming from the inside.

I don't know what type of diet you are on and I don't know what other lifestyle changes you have made but running high blood glucose, while eating low carb, is indicative of an adrenal stress response. The 10 lbs. you lost, were most likely water weight and lean muscle mass as the body must break down it's lean muscle mass in order to continue running blood glucose at high levels. Stop the nonsense. Instead of eating "almost no carbs" try a proper low carb diet instead to try and reduce this stress issue.

2. Statins can lower triglycerides (trigs).

Statins are used to lower cholesterol in people with high total cholesterol. That is usually the reason they are prescribed. You would need a very high dose of a strong statin to lower trigs only by about 50% and also help raise HDL cholesterol.

For this reason, trigs are normally not treated with statins, as there are trig lowering medications available like Fibrates, Nicotinic Acid and high, prescription strength, doses of Omega 3.

3. I started doing "keto" and my kidney started hurting. I had to stop and now I'm wondering what diet I should follow.

How do you know your "kidney started hurting"? Did you seek medical attention? Do you have current kidney disease?

It's mind boggling to me when people begin a diet and then suddenly start feeling aches, pains, etc. and immediately attribute it to the diet they are following. All a ketogenic protocol is, is a diet that is very low in carbohydrates. That's it. Are you saying that pizza and pasta prevented kidney pain? That's one for the record books.

Listen, I know there are many iterations of "keto" online, some of which can negatively affect your health and cause problems but that is not the case with a legitimate ketogenic protocol. So, I suggest you follow the ketogenic protocol that we recommend, found here and drop all of the dumb "keto" you found online. See if it makes a difference.

Also get yourself checked out by a doctor, if you haven't already, as kidney pain can be the symptom of a serious problem. I cannot believe you actually waited for a reply on my blog about this. It takes me weeks to get to everyone's questions and/or comments.

4. Diabetics are always told to eat a candy bar or drink soda to treat low blood glucose even though they shouldn't eat these items.

This is because eating a candy bar or drinking soda treats low blood glucose. It works perfectly for that, as dietary sugar raises blood sugar. It doesn't treat diabetes, it just treats the low blood glucose symptom.

That is always the case when you try to hide a symptom of a much more complex underlying problem. The same goes for eating bacon and eggs to treat high blood glucose and think you will be all right. That also is not treating the diabetes. You are just hiding a symptom.

5. Statin medications can be beneficial for people who do not want to change their diet. 

Yes. Conventional medicine is excellent at keeping you alive, even in the most dire of conditions. In fact, that is what they do best. For example, I know of someone who has colon cancer, advanced heart disease and diabetes and they are still alive and kicking. They have had several close calls and have been brought back from death's door multiple times. My own mother in law, remained alive for decades with diabetes and fatty liver disease due to pharmaceuticals and "treatments". In fact, she went into a coma once from a blood glucose over 1K mg/dL and they were able to bring her back. Conventional medicine allows you to continue living your worst life. All of these people would have been dead a long time ago if it wasn't for conventional medicine.

So yes, for a person who refuses to do anything to better their health, as diet is not the only thing they need to do, taking a statin might be beneficial for them. It's certainly worth it as there are certain lipid conditions that do not respond to diet alone and require pharmaceuticals.

You don't want someone who refuses to help themselves, to also start refusing someone else's help. Statins have been shown to have benefits in people with current heart disease. So these people need to continue working with their doctor to remain alive and avoid further complications.

6. The Cleveland Clinic still encourages artificial sweeteners and bread.

Artificial sweeteners and bread are not poison. The Cleveland Clinic doesn't encourage gasoline or arsenic as part of a healthy diet. Just because artificial sweeteners and bread are detrimental to metabolic health in the long term, and do not allow for people who already have metabolic issues to get better, these reasons are not enough for them to remove these items from their dietary advice.

Aside from that, they technically don't have to get rid of these items, since their dietary advice is calorically restricted. Caloric restriction is the antidote to a high carb diet. Carbohydrates in the context of starvation help stave off metabolic disease for quite a long while, especially if you are young, obesity resistant and still healthy.