1. Reversing metabolic syndrome will reduce my risk of a bad outcome from COVID.
Metabolic syndrome is a condition that includes a series of pathologies. Your success at being able to reverse it is dependent on many factors. The good news is that reversing metabolic syndrome is much easier to do than putting diabetes into remission.
The bad news is that metabolic syndrome does not exist on its own. Most people with metabolic syndrome are no longer young and they all have excess body fat. Older age and overweight/obesity are also risk factors for a bad outcome from COVID. So, improving one risk factor does not guarantee a good outcome of anything. It just means you are on a journey to better health.
COVID makes for great click bait, so everyone will want to put their two cents into it and try to sell you their BS bundled with it. Don't be duped.
2. A few days of following low carb, improves blood glucose significantly. That is enough to acquire metabolic health.
No. On this blog, low carb is a lifestyle. It is not something that is done temporarily to be happy with your blood glucose meter. That is not the correct way of addressing metabolic dysfunction and will not acquire metabolic health. It just causes a temporary blood glucose effect while everything else remains abnormal.
3. SlimFast a good diet program.
SlimFast is like any other diet program. They promise weight loss, in a short amount of time, because all of the weight lost is water with some lean muscle mass. The body loses water weight very easily. It does this in just a few days. The minute insulin levels lower, water weight is lost. This can be achieved with any diet.
SlimFast is a program where you replace two meals with two of their specialty products. They have multiple types of products, depending on your needs, from "diabetes weight loss" to "keto". Any fad diet that hits the market will be part of this program, so expect a new line of products to be brought out frequently.
The SlimFast meal replacement products are calorically restricted shakes, snacks and bars. The one meal you prepare for yourself is not really described, but they do recommend for it to also be calorically restricted, and of course "healthy". "Healthy" is a term which is always thrown around by the diet industry, but never truly defined. So, what people usually believe "healthy" is, is simply anything that is not fast food.
But forget all of the above. What we really want to know is does SlimFast work? Yes. It does. As I mentioned above, SlimFast works like all diet programs work. The caloric restriction lowers insulin levels causing water weight, along with some lean muscle mass, to be lost in the short term. Then the body compensates, right before it loses any significant amount of fat, and everything falls apart. Just like blood glucose levels, insulin levels are easily manipulated in the short term with diet. You know what it is not easily manipulated by anything short term? Blood glucose regulation, insulin function and leptin expression. Healthy blood glucose regulation preserves insulin function and that is the antidote to overweight/obesity as leptin is a slave to insulin.
So this program will not address obesity. It will also not address diabetes because you need a profound, long term effect on insulin function in order to address diabetes and that is not what can be acquired from a simple, short term, calorically centered protocol such as this. If you are healthy and have a few pounds to lose before your next high school reunion, go ahead and use SlimFast but if you have overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome, don't waste your time.
4. I have heard horrible things about Ensure.
Ensure is a commercially available "meal replacement/supplement" drink, primarily intended for seniors, but also for anyone who is having issues eating normal food. The Ensure brand is available retail but these types of drinks are also available at the hospital for certain conditions. When my mother had cancer, the hospital gave her cases of these meal replacement/supplement drinks under the brand name Sustacal.
Some seniors usually have a difficult time eating because of the inability to prepare their own meals, go shopping or because of certain health conditions. Also as people get older they tend to lose their appetite and have trouble chewing, which can cause them to lose a significant amount of lean body mass. This is dangerous as the loss of lean body mass is directly correlated with high mortality.
Like all man-made, processed meal replacements, Ensure focuses on having the right amount of calories and protein, per serving, while being palatable enough so that the person who needs it will want to drink it. You do not want someone who can't eat normally, to simply not eat anything, as this will deteriorate their condition further. Like I stated above, the elderly lose lean body mass rapidly. For these people, it doesn't matter what "ingredients" are in Ensure. It is already known that Ensure doesn't grow on trees or is sliced off the side of a hunted animal. It is a man-made product which is full of man-made ingredients. When you are already at death's door, it doesn't freaking matter. It's absolutely ridiculous to dwell on that.
So, now that we know what Ensure is, who it's intended for and how it should be consumed, we can go into who it's not for and how it shouldn't be consumed. Ensure should not be consumed by anyone who is healthy enough to be able to eat proper meals. Ensure is not a snack. Ensure is not a treat. Ensure is not the beverage that accompanies your burger and fries. As long as you have the ability to cook and chew a steak, and the will to actually do it, you should not be consuming Ensure. This means that Ensure should not be any of your concern.
5. Glucerna is fine for diabetics.
Glucerna is a man-made, processed meal and/or snack replacement, designed for people with diabetes. It consists of a calorically restricted, "unique blend of slow release carbohydrates", which puts it at a lower glycemic range than potatoes, bread and instant oatmeal.
The sole purpose of Glucerna is to help diabetics stay away from junk food. Diabetics who are on glucose lowering medications must be careful of blood glucose lows. For this reason, many have to depend on snacks in order to keep their blood glucose "steady". Steadily high, that is. This makes sense because if their blood glucose is not kept steadily high, medications might drop their blood glucose and cause them to go into hypoglycemia, which can be dangerous. Ups and downs in blood glucose are much more pathological than just a steady higher than normal blood glucose. Remember, the root of the condition is driven by the dips in blood glucose, not by the highs. High blood glucose only contributes to pathologies over time but it's not the core of the condition.
Glucerna knows that all of this snacking diabetics do, to help keep their blood glucose from dipping, consists of junk like muffins, pretzels, potato chips, candy bars, etc. which only increases their body fat as these items disrupt blood glucose homeostasis. If that stuff is replaced by a Glucerna shake instead, the diabetic would be better off and not grow fatter as quickly. That is somewhat true, but it's unfortunately not enough, since we know that the diabetic that is relying solely on conventional treatments to address their condition, is absolutely not getting better. Of course, that is not Glucerna's concern. Glucerna is simply there to keep the diabetic away from McDonald's and make money while doing so. Glucerna or Pepsi? Glucerna for the win! Well, maybe not for the real win, but at least for the default win, since the Pepsi guy dropped dead on the field and is no longer competing.
But diabetics who are actually treating their disease with proper nutrition and lifestyle changes, have to stay away from Glucerna, as it's not needed. Most of these diabetics are already reducing or even eliminating their need for blood glucose lowering medications, making their blood glucose naturally steady, with no snacking required. For these people, Glucerna is not needed for replacing any meals and since no snacking is allowed, it is also not needed as a snack either. Glucerna is only for those who are not willing to make a lifestyle change and prefer to continue treating their diabetes solely through conventional means.
6. People always debate Gary Taubes work when they go after low carb advocates, but Taubes got it right.
Taubes got it incomplete. His books are the Bible of the debunked carbohydrate/insulin hypothesis (CIH). Though the hypothesis is not true, his description behind the mechanisms of how you get fat, through carbohydrate consumption, is mostly accurate. The problem is that you can get fat many ways, that have nothing to do with carbohydrate, as many other things affect blood glucose regulation. Of course, that was conveniently left out of his books. Also many things effect insulin but may not result in getting fat. Remember insulin's function in the body is a direct result of your neuroendocrine system.
So there are a lot of holes in Taubes book, which were never covered. After all, his narrative is that carbohydrate is the sole culprit and so no other information was deemed necessary.
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