1. I want support for my low carb diet but I haven't been able to find a "low carb doctor" in my area.
Good. The last thing you want to do is go to a low carb quack who will pit you against your doctor and send you down dead end roads to nowhere. There is no such thing as a "low carb doctor" but those who have given themselves that fake title, hinder more than they help with their pseudo science and snake oil. You have to be careful to not fall into that trap. There are many obese people in there already. I have consistently followed my low carb diet with results, without the need of a "low carb doctor" whatsoever.
You do not need to see a "low carb doctor" to follow a low carb diet. Low carb diets are pretty simple. They are restricted in carbohydrates (less than 100 grams a day) and that's about it. You can reduce carbs further if you like, all the way to zero, depending on your results and/or preference.
There is a variety of ways to follow low carb and the choice is yours to find a suitable low carb diet that you can sustain and be consistent with. Some diets focus on carbs as a whole and others only eliminate specific carbs. Basically, you can make all kinds of modifications to the diet to suit your lifestyle and palette. On this blog, we recommend that carb sources should not include sugar or grains. The best thing is that information for low carb diets is free online. This blog is just one of the many resources for that information.
What you don't need is a low carb doctor that doesn't emphasize the importance of a whole lifestyle change but only focuses on carbs. You need to focus on exercise, dietary fat and systemic stress reduction. It is also very important to work alongside your doctor and continue taking your prescribed medications so that you can get the most out of your lifestyle changes.
If there are tests you want done, which your doctor is refusing to order for you, find another doctor or order them yourself from a lab that doesn't require a doctor's prescription. Do some research on what the desired tests will actually show and what difference that would make. Quack low carb doctors tend to prescribe a slew of useless tests that do not help one iota in achieving results.
2. "Keto" ice cream can be a part of a low carb diet.
"Keto" ice creams like Rebel are very low in carbs and moderately high in fat. You just have to take into consideration any other fatty food you have consumed to make sure you stay around 35 - 80 grams of fat a day and never go over 150 grams. These dietary fat gram recommendations are determined by your weight loss status. If you are losing weight, you can get closer to 150 grams but if you are stalled, you need to remain closer to 35.
But that's not the problem with these type of foods. The problem is in how they effect eating habits over all. Consuming foods that are nutrient poor and energy rich is an obesogenic habit. It is also an obesogenic habit to consume items that are sweet. Ice cream is party food. It's a novelty. It has its place in the diet, on a special occasion, because it's better than conventional ice cream. Rebel ice cream is great for a holiday meal, birthday party or after Sunday dinner. It is not a great item to keep on hand as a staple in your freezer for consumption daily. Your freezer should be filled with meat and vegetables, not desserts and novelties.
People who are obese, bring their obesogenic eating habits into their new diet and decide that it's a good idea to eat a pint of Rebel ice cream, either as a meal on its own or after a pound of bacon. That is not the way we were intended to eat. Eating in disordered and obesogenic ways will only keep you obese regardless of the diet you choose to follow.
3. Type I diabetics do not have to worry about their diet because they have to take insulin anyway.
This blog does not focus on Type I diabetes but the answer to this statement also pertains to Type II. This statement is in sync with the diabetes education that you will receive from your doctor. Basically the education goes as follows: Diabetes is a malfunction of the body. Give the body what it needs and the symptoms of the malfunction will decrease.
Well, in the case of Type I diabetes, this is correct but it is not in the case of Type II as Type II diabetes is an adaptation to certain lifestyle factors. It is not a true "disease". Diet is a lifestyle factor that can effect both Type I and Type II diabetes control and diet is responsible for the development of Type II diabetes. The body was never made to handle doughnuts. The fact that the body cannot handle that onslaught is not a malfunction within it. The doughnuts are the malfunction.
If a Type I diabetic has to continue dosing insulin to counteract doughnuts, what will eventually occur is that they will lose control of their blood glucose, gain body fat and develop Type II diabetes (double diabetes). This is not to mention the high risk of over or under dosing insulin which can result in serious life threatening complications. I believe that this effect on Type I diabetics, who dose high amounts of insulin due to an improper diet, is the single most important proof we have, occurring in vivo, of how Type II diabetes develops. No need to debate studies or research papers. Once blood glucose regulation chronically fails, insulin begins to malfunction and Type II obesity/diabetes develops. This is why Type I diabetics refuse to take their insulin, in order to keep from gaining body fat, once they start becoming insulin resistant.
So there is the proof that Type II diabetes develops when there are large disparities in blood glucose requiring a high insulin demand. Though many things can interfere with proper blood glucose regulation, 90% of the Type II diabetes we experience is due to diet. This high insulin demand deteriorates its sensitivity and function, at different rates in various tissues and organs, over time. All of this helps build body fat which puts a further demand on insulin and the cycle never ends.
Whether insulin is being produced by your own body or being injected exogenously, a diet that interferes with proper blood glucose regulation, will require a high insulin demand and this will eventually lead to Type II diabetes.
4. If you went low carb and feel light headed and nauseous, it means your insulin levels are too high making your blood glucose drop too low.
First, you need to actually check your blood glucose in order to know if it's really "too low". Without numbers, I am unable to give my opinion.
If you are diabetic or have metabolic syndrome, the symptoms you are describing may occur even with high blood glucose as both of these conditions are adaptations towards hyperglycemia so any drop in blood glucose, will cause "symptoms". Blood glucose does not have to drop to clinical hypoglycemic levels for symptoms to occur.
Other than that, this could be due to an electrolyte imbalance as this is very common with low carb. You have to make sure you're getting adequate electrolytes and are properly hydrated.
5. You do not have active obesity if you are obese but not gaining weight.
Active obesity is the presence of obesity. The fact your body is sparing its fat mass and not allowing you to lose it, is active obesity.
6. I have a low carb recipe for a chocolate molten mug cake. I have gone through its macros and it's within the parameters of a low carb/"keto" diet. Everyone should be allowed an occasional dessert.
I deal with people who have very serious health problems caused by metabolic abnormalities. They are usually full blown diabetics who have been overweight/obese their entire lives. They have tried endless dietary protocols that have simply not worked or worked for a short while and then failed. They are desperate to treat their problem and that is precisely why they have ended up here. The last resort a human being takes is an elimination diet. Humans will try to negotiate for a very long time before they resort to draconian options. Once they reach a draconian solution it's because they have reached the end of the line.
I have stated before how overweight/obesity is not just a biological abnormality. It co-morbidly exists with certain behavioral practices that enable it to continue and worsen with time. Most overweight/obese people put too much credence on excuses like "just a little bit", "in moderation" and "occasionally". They bank on these false ideas and perpetuate their condition. For this reason, we advise and practice total elimination, with no excuses, because concessions have never worked before for the overweight/obese and never will. Strict and total adherence is the only thing that the overweight/obese have not practiced, during their years of dieting, because no marketable diet encourages this since it wouldn't sell.
If you are the type of overweight/obese person that can stick with your diet and not let desserts overrun you, then you can have your dessert once a week but if you are the type of person that uses these desserts as an excuse to continue with obesogenic behaviors then you should not be having any.
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