Six common beliefs addressed, Part 179

1. You can follow "Dirty Keto" and still be in ketosis.

"Dirty Keto" or "Lazy Keto" are more iterations of the fad "keto" diet you find online. It consists of packaged foods such as snack bars, cookies, chocolates and any other "low carb" labeled food made from alternative flours, artificial sweeteners, processed oils and processed proteins. Basically, the Standard American Diet "keto" style.

Even though "keto" is not about ingredients or types of food, eating SAD "keto" style is going to get you the same negative results as eating classic SAD because your macronutrient composition has remained the same. All you did was swap out carbs for fat.

So even though you can still be in ketosis as long as you're burning fat as your primary fuel, you aren't going to get results. The fat you're burning is coming from all of the fat laden food you just ate and that is if you are lucky and not storing most of it. You need to burn body fat, not dietary fat.

2. Everyone has a "unique metabolism" and this is why some people can eat 60 grams of carbs a day and still be in ketosis, while others who only eat 20, can't get there.

This depends on how you are measuring ketosis. The more efficient your body becomes at metabolizing fatty acids, the less ketones you will produce. This means you absolutely can be using fat as your primary fuel with very little or inconsistent ketone production.

Again, ketosis is mainly achieved through very little intake of carbohydrate but other factors can interfere with this, such as an elevated stress response. This is precisely why we don't guide ourselves by "ketones" on this blog. We guide ourselves by results.

3. If a person has "insulin resistance", they should go by total carbs and not net carbs.

If a person has "insulin resistance", they need to stop counting carbs and find an appropriate, sustainable protocol because the absence of carbs will not cure their "insulin resistance". They need to normalize their blood glucose regulation profoundly enough to lose body fat. High body fat is a marker of true insulin resistance. High body fat can be caused by a high carb diet but it can also be caused by a high fat diet, lack of exercise and chronic metabolic stress which all interfere with glucose regulation and this ultimately affects insulin function (insulin resistance).

You can have fun at the dinner table and tweak your postprandial blood glucose numbers, by not eating carbs or eating very little of them, but this is not reversing your insulin resistance. It is a good starting point but will not get you to the finish line.

4. I am following "keto" because of diabetes, not weight, so can I substitute real bread for "keto" bread.

If you are trying to address diabetes without addressing your body fat, then you are not addressing diabetes. Diabetes is a condition which goes hand in hand with high body fat. "Keto" will cure nothing unless it challenges your body fat. Successfully challenging your body fat, means that you are reversing your metabolic dysfunction. As long as your body is storing and sparing body fat, then nothing has changed.

"Keto" bread does not challenge body fat. It makes more of it. So the only thing it will challenge is your pants and chair.

5. If a product contains wheat, then it is not "keto".

"Keto" does not mean grain free, sugar free or starch free. Ketosis is when the body uses primarily fat for fuel. Period. That can be achieved eating only potatoes or only bread, if you reduce their calories enough, since ketosis can also be achieved through starvation.

6. Is it okay to take honey for allergies if you are on "keto"?

As long as you can continue burning primarily body fat for fuel, not halting your results, then it is fine. If it's hindering your progress then you might want to try bee pollen instead.