Six common beliefs addressed, Part 187

1. Fasting is "disordered eating".

Some fasting practices are absolutely disordered eating behavior.

For instance, people will use fasting as a form of caloric restriction. We all know what the end result of that is, don't we? More obesity. Others will fast and then binge during meal times, which ends up with them eating more than they would have otherwise. Many people use fasting in order to avoid making difficult decisions about what foods to eat. Still others, use fasting as a way to compensate for their obesity. The worse one is when they use fasting as an antidote to a miserable diet and lifestyle.

All of these issues, and more, are closely associated with extended fasting which is not recommended on this blog. We only recommend legitimate intermittent fasting protocols.

2. "Keto" is good for someone who has had a heart attack, has stents and also went through heart surgery.

That is impossible to know because heart disease is caused by multiple factors, most of them genetic. Certain diets (Standard American Diet) and behaviors (smoking, not exercising) may effect these genetic predispositions causing for earlier onset of heart disease. For this reason, an overall lifestyle approach has to be taken to prevent and address heart disease and that is much more complex than just changing your diet.

Some people with genetic lipid abnormalities, which cause early onset heart disease, see an increase in lipid dysfunction when they introduce saturated fats into their diet. For these people, diets that are higher in saturated fats like Paleo and "keto", etc. can very well make their situation worse. All of this has to be determined through proper testing.

Certain modifications can be made to the type of fats used in these diets, in order to circumvent these adverse effects, but the person has to be diligent in monitoring this. So, the only way to find out if "keto" is beneficial or not is to try it out and track closely.

3. It is speculatory to think that carnivore is the way "humans are suppose to eat".

Humans have been eating meat their entire history on earth. Meat eating is basically what made us humans but humans have also been eating a lot of other things for their entire history as well. Diet differs between regions. In some regions humans ate diets that consisted of 80% plants and in other regions they ate a diet that consisted of 100% meat. Humans are highly adaptable with their diets and can thrive on a variety of different macronutrient combinations.

The only two diets that have never been seen, before modern times, are the Standard American Diet (SAD) and vegan diets. Both are not suitable diets for humans as no human beings on earth, in any region, have evolved following either.

Other than that, there is no diet that "humans are suppose to eat". We only know the diets that they aren't.

4. Every time I follow a low carb diet I break out in fungus all over my body. 

You need to consult with a medical professional. Outbreaks of fungus could be a sign that your immune system is not working properly. This could be caused by certain medications and/or medical conditions. A weak immune system can be potentially dangerous.

5. Carnivore can include onions and peppers.

Carnivore is a diet that is all animal based. Plant foods are not consumed. It is a 0 plant food diet. It's only meat and salt. Hence the term "carnivore". You can add a limited amount of plant foods to your diet but then it would no longer be a carnivore diet. It would be a mostly meat diet. This means that unless "onions and bell peppers" are a new type of animal, they aren't consumed.

6. You should not be concerned if you follow "keto" and your cholesterol goes significantly up but all your other markers improve. 

You should always be concerned if you experience an adverse effect from any diet but simply seeing a rise in total cholesterol is not necessarily adverse. This could absolutely be the result of rising levels of HDL. For this reason, you need an advanced lipid panel in order to get a closer picture of what's going on with your lipids and take into consideration factors such as smoking, exercise and family history of heart disease.

There is a segment of the population that have certain genetic lipid abnormalities which respond negatively to any diet that is high in saturated fats. They simply cannot metabolize saturated fats very well. This is a potentially dangerous effect if ignored.

High cholesterol can be a red flag of this effect but not always. You can have perfectly normal to low levels of total cholesterol and still be having this adverse effect. For this reason, you need more information about what's occurring with your lipoproteins, rather than simply focusing on a rise and fall in total cholesterol.