Six common beliefs addressed, Part 183

1. People should be educated on "low carb" and "fasting".  

There is no "education" to low carb. There is only education about obesity and what it's doing to your body. Unfortunately, low carb advocates do not teach anything about obesity because they don't understand it themselves. They look at the world through the myopic lens of carbs = bad. 

Low carb is very easy. Keep your carbs under 100 grams a day. Fasting is very easy. Don't eat. Class dismissed.

2. Is it very surprising that people are able to fast for 72 hours?

It’s actually surprising that anyone would be surprised they couldn't. The overweight/obese are the main people who can fast effortlessly. They make such an enormous amount of blood glucose, from the break down of their own lean muscle mass and ketones from their liver fat, that they can literally fast for days on end, with no hunger. Add to that their leptin expression, which has hit rock bottom, and they are doubly not hungry.

I have said it many times before, the overweight/obese are the least hungry people on the planet. That's why they don't like eating meals. They live off novelties because they are never truly hungry for real food. They have endless "cravings", not hunger. The overweight/obese don't even wake up hungry after a night long fast. The overweight/obese just want to eat. Hunger and wanting to eat are two very different things.

3. A low carb doctor wrote on his website that - "Conventional medicine will not cure your diabetes but you should consult with your doctor about any advice which can." What do they mean? 

This one made me laugh. It is ironic that these people claim your doctor doesn't know what they’re doing and won’t treat your diabetes correctly but then tell you to consult with them in the same breath. Well, what can they do? They are trying to cover their own behind from the quackery they are selling you.

4. Autophagy peaks at hour 72. 

Perhaps. No one cares. The only thing you want is to peak at burning body fat and who knows how long that will take. Certainly not 72 hours since these obese people can fast for weeks and still be just as obese as when they started.

5. Goals can be achieved through meal timings and diet alone.

Absolutely not. It takes much more than just diet to achieve "goals". You have to achieve proper blood glucose regulation. Diet will only get you so far as many things effect blood glucose regulation.

6. Is there an alternative to the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) diet and medications?

First, the ADA doesn't have a specific “diet”. I don't know where these low carb people get that from or what "diet" they are referring to. The ADA pretty much lets you eat whatever you want as long as it’s calorically restricted. They are trying to effect blood glucose regulation through calories. Any "diet" can fall under caloric restriction. All you have to do is eat what you want and restrict calories. 

The ADA also does not give out medications. Your doctor does. These medications are absolutely necessary for the uncontrolled diabetic. If it wasn't for these medications there would be a lot of dead diabetics out there. A diabetics blood glucose can easily reach 1K mg/dL without medications. Diet is only a palliative treatment for diabetes as is the medications. They both play around with your blood glucose numbers but the syndrome is still there. There is no known cure for diabetes. There is no known cure for overweight/obesity either. Basically there are no known cures for a metabolic adaptation towards starvation. Once your metabolism is on that track, it takes monumental effort to halt it. Notice I said halt, not reverse.