Six common beliefs addressed, Part 99

1. If you have "sweet cravings", you should negotiate with sweet things by limiting the amounts you eat and using only artificial sweeteners. 

And for that reason you will not be able to lose a pound. You are following the same sweet centered diet that you always were. You just shuffled its macronutrient composition and that's not enough. 

This is a complicated situation and you will not like the answer, but there is no other answer to give. People that are going through "sweet cravings", will not be able to achieve total remission. This is precisely why we do not deal with this type of problem, on this blog, as it would be a total waste of time. I only provide information and protocols for people who are able to follow them. The ones that are constantly "falling off the wagon", require hand holding or throw constant pity parties cannot be helped. Their problems go well beyond the scope of what a dietary intervention can achieve. 

This problem is caused by dopamine dysregulation and it is seen in people who developed their obesity/diabetes through the consumption of fructose. Many researchers make the claim that this is the same mechanism as addiction (alcohol/drugs). I won't debate that part of it, as it is full of contention and not very well understood, for me to hold a solid position on either way. Regardless, the success rates for people with this problem are absolutely dismal and no, their health will not eventually get bad enough for them to finally "do something about it". Many rather die. 

This is because what is required to break this dopamine malfunction is the complete and total abstinence of any sweet taste and these people simply can't do it. Leptin enhances the taste of sweet via taste receptors. This is a product of starvation. The more a sweet taste is sought after, the fatter you become. So, people with leptin/dopamine dysregulation require more sweetness to be stimulated. You will notice this effect when you go on a 0 sweet diet and then, a few months later, eat a blueberry. The sweetness would knock you out, while the person who had leptin/dopamine issues will taste bitterness in the blueberry instead. 

So, I apologize, but this blog does not provide any help with this. 

2. "Plant butter" is a good alternative.  

Absolutely not. There is no such thing as "plant butter". Plants don't nurse their young, so they can't produce milk that can be churned into butter. Butter is always derived from animals. Mammals to be exact. 

"Plant butter" is made from plant fats that have been processed to look like butter. We were not meant to eat large amounts of plant fats. They disrupt fatty acid metabolism, contribute to obesity, alter lipid composition and interrupt the use of Omega 3 fatty acids found in saturated animal foods. 

3. It is normal for a "severely obese" person to have hypoglycemic symptoms with a blood glucose of 75 mg/dL.  

This is because metabolic syndrome is when the blood glucose set point is high and the body has an adverse reaction to any falling blood glucose level. It wants to keep its blood glucose as high as possible, so the excess insulin does not dip it too low. 

Unfortunately, because of your large fat mass, insulin is doing an excellent job at helping to clear blood glucose, causing for the body to struggle to keep glucose high. This means that your threshold for normal blood glucose is becoming higher and higher with time. In others words, your body deems a blood glucose of 75 mg/dL, as hypoglycemia and reacts as such. Your body wants its blood glucose to be about 300 mg/dL to match its insulin demand. Soon this is exactly what will occur, as insulin starts losing its effect and your body loses its ability to produce enough of it.

4. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends ADA approved junk food.

Yes. This is because that's what the people want. If the ADA only recommended meat and vegetables, like this blog does, it would lose all its donors, go extinct and diabetics would die quicker. 

I know that the low carb world wants to make this into a conspiracy, of some sort, but they can't even follow their own diets without including chaffles and "keto" desserts, so they really need to leave the ADA alone. 

5. You need to find something that will stop "cravings for sweet". 

No, you don't. You only need to stop consuming sweets. 

6. You can not do "keto" if you can't tolerate dairy or eggs. 

Yes, you can. You do not need to consume dairy or eggs on a ketogenic diet. You just need to consume very little carbohydrates.

Six common beliefs addressed, Part 16

1. I am tempted by delicious fast food. Are there any quick "keto" meals?

No. The only quick "keto" meal that exists, is body fat.

2. I need a cheating day in order to continue this diet.

You are only cheating yourself. If you chose to commit to this new lifestyle, there is no such thing as cheating, except on your own health. If you are still needing to cheat, because this new lifestyle is too difficult to follow, or the benefits are not worth it, then you might not be ready for a change.

3. I am always hungry.

Hunger is subjective. A lot of people claim to be hungry, when in reality they are just craving a certain food item or wanting the experience of having something to eat.

That doesn't mean that there won't be times when you will be legitimately hungry. You may be hungry when you begin a new diet , because the body has not become hormonally adapted to it yet. You can become hungry during your fasting times, if your fasting regimen is occurring at the times that you use to eat. When circadian rhythms are changed, the body will still send out the same signals as it did before the change. If you always ate dinner and you don't any more, expect to be hungry around dinner time, until the body adjusts.

Hunger is not abnormal or an indication that your lifestyle is not working. It's a natural state for the body to be in and it's driven by all sorts of reasons. In the modern Western world there is only one reason it is not driven by - need.

4. Are "healthy fats" important?

Healthy fats or natural fats are superior to man made, industrial fats from "vegetable" oils. They are recognized well, by the body, so they are cleared efficiently and they transport needed vitamins properly. That's the only importance they have. They do not make any contribution to weight loss.

They are not a vehicle of satiety and should not be used as such. Protein is the macronutrient of satiety. Fat should also not be used as "fuel". The most important part of your diet, which contributes to weight loss, is carbohydrate restriction, so you can use your own body fat as fuel.

5. Are supplements necessary?

The only times supplements are necessary is when you are deficient in a particular vitamin or mineral. You need to discuss, with your healthcare provider, the appropriate tests required to determine if you have a true deficiency. You can guide yourself by conventional medicine values or you can get a second opinion from a functional medicine doctor. In conventional medicine, values that are deemed as "normal" do not necessarily reflect optimal. Conventional medicine uses, as normal values, the absolute minimum values that the body can have without showing signs of disease. You do not want to live just one point above disease, you want to live optimally.

You also want to make sure that you do not just check serum (blood) values. You need to know if the vitamin or mineral is actually getting into your cells. You might have a high serum value, of a particular vitamin or mineral, making it appear that you aren't deficient. In actuality, your serum values are high because the vitamin or mineral is not making it into the cell where it's needed. Your healthcare provider should be aware of this, and if they aren't, you need to remind them before they order your tests. Aside from, or instead of, serum values you need to check intracellular values, known as RBC values.

Another reason you do not want to supplement yourself, without professional advice, is because certain vitamins and minerals only work properly in the right environment. For instance, calcium supplementation has been found to increase mortality. This could be because calcium alongside high inflammation causes health issues, but calcium without inflammation is beneficial. In this context, there was a reason the body was keeping its calcium low. It was protecting itself from it. When a certain vitamin or mineral is low, there can be a biological reason for it and not necessarily a "deficiency". Vitamins and minerals also work alongside each other. You might be low in Vitamin D, because you're deficient in Vitamin K2 and/or K7, not necessarily because you need more Vitamin D.

People who are practicing a ketogenic lifestyle often times become deficient in Magnesium, because low insulin levels cause low water retention. Taking a 400 IU of Magnesium, is often recommended to ward off muscle cramps.

Electrolyte supplementation is a must for many people who follow carbohydrate restriction and intermittent fasting. Because electrolytes work together and too much of them can be as harmful as too little, you should consult with your healthcare provider to obtain a recommendation.

Modern food is often too low in vitamins and minerals, so if you are concerned with this, you can take a good quality, co-enzymated and chelated multivitamin.

Always consult with your healthcare provider about any supplements you intend on taking.

6. Is a plant based diet healthier?

There has never been any proof of this. The only proof available is that when you are mindful of what foods you eat, eliminate junk foods, exercise and implement other healthy practices into your lifestyle, it reduces the occurrence of the "diseases of civilization" and extends lifespan. You can do this eating only meat, if you wish.

Meat has all of the bioavailable vitamins and minerals, needed for a human being, complete protein and useable Omega 3 fats. It also has all of the fatty acids required for vitamins to be absorbed properly. The human body does not need anything else. It makes its own antioxidants, it does not have any need for fiber and it requires very little Vitamin C, in the absence of grains and sugar.

Six common beliefs addressed, Part 5

1. Are cravings a sign that something is wrong with my diet?

People assume that their cravings and/or desire to eat certain foods means that somehow the diet is not working for them or they haven't been "cured" yet. Obesity is a lifestyle choice that is influenced by environment and this is one of the effects of that environment.

We live in a society where we are constantly being bombarded with food. It's everywhere. It's in the media, in every corner and at every event. There is no escape from it. Of course, you will want to eat these foods, as you come across them. The temptations are everywhere and it has nothing to do with your state of metabolic health. It's a natural, biological effect. It doesn't matter if you have been on a ketogenic diet for 50 years, if you see ice cream, you will more than likely, want it.

Craving, wanting, desiring something does not mean you have to react to it. You will have to find a way to live with these feelings and bypass them or you will not be able to live in society at all. You can not expect for something else to control these feelings, besides yourself. Avoidance and "getting cured" are not going to come to the rescue. You are your only rescuer. Society is not going to change for you. It is not going to provide a soft cushion and censor its food porn, so that you are no longer tempted. Following a ketogenic diet is not going to magically erase the part of your brain that knows these junk foods are delicious. You have to make the decision, each and every time, to not eat things that don't belong in your body. Nothing else is going to make this decision for you.

With time, you might lose interest in 90% of the foods you used to enjoy, because there are other foods now that have taken their place, but this will never be a 100%. Some interest and desire will always remain. You have to learn to live with it and realize that it's just a mental desire and not a physical need, that requires acting upon.

2. I was told that coconut nectar and syrup are healthier than sugar.

The food industry is now hiding the sugar in their junk food by giving it special names like "coconut nectar", "coconut sugar", "coconut syrup", "turbinado sugar", "date sugar", "muscovado sugar", etc. All of these unfamiliar names make it appear as if they are healthy ingredients and that they have nothing to do with sugar. 

NEWS FLASH! - These are all still sugar and your blood glucose  doesn't give an iota of care about where it from or in what stage of refinement it's in. Sugar, regardless of its name or refinement will affect blood glucose homeostasis negatively. 

You must read ingredients and not be fooled by fancy terminology. Any "nectar" or "syrup", regardless of where it comes from, is sugar to the body. The body doesn't make a distinction if the sugar comes from cane, beets, dates or a rock. It doesn't matter if it's honey or maple syrup. It's all metabolized in the exact same way as plain old, white Dixie Crystals from a sugar bowl.

Don't let the food industry fool you and take your hard earned money by selling you roadkill labeled as mink. It's still roadkill. In the end, you are being robbed, while they get rich. Their wealth won't benefit you at all, since it won't help pay your medical bills.

3. My '23&Me' results say I can’t eat a high fat diet.

This is the default result of 23&Me, when it comes to diet. I have not come across a single person who has gotten a result that recommends a low carbohydrate diet, much less a high fat diet. If the DNA they receive is human, the diet they will recommend will magically mirror the dietary guidelines. Not surprising. They might get in big trouble if it didn't.

Do not use this test to determine what diet you should follow, because it's not reliable. Your health goals and results should be your only determining factor for choosing a diet.

4. My depression/anxiety has increased, since I began restricting carbohydrates and fasting.

When you consume a meal that's heavy in carbohydrates, your blood glucose rises abnormally and your body responds by releasing excess insulin. Insulin not only lowers glucose, but it also lowers the concentration of most amino acids. The one amino acid that doesn't decrease, in response to insulin, is tryptophan, which is converted in the brain to serotonin. When insulin lowers the concentrations of other amino acids, tryptophan is able to pass into the brain more readily. The body adapts to this condition, especially when this has been happening for decades. Any changes to this hormonal adaptation will result in side effects.

When insulin levels suddenly drop, because of carbohydrate restriction and fasting, serotonin levels can be affected and this can cause multiple side effects like mood changes, sleep disturbances, etc. It can aggravate pre-existing conditions like depression and anxiety. It's similar to what happens if you suddenly stop a psychotropic medication, because, technically, it is similar.

Usually these effects, though uncomfortable, are transient and will decrease as the body adapts to its new metabolic state, but for others, this can become a serious problem. This is especially true if prescription medications are involved. These symptoms need to be discussed with a healthcare professional, if they persist. If you are on prescription medication, for the treatment of any psychological condition, you must discuss any diet change with your doctor, prior to implementation.

5. Does having an energy drink break a fast?

A lot of people will ask the question of whether an energy drink, diet drink, chewing gum, etc. will break their fast. If you feel the need to ask, then you might already know the answer: YES.

Anything that you can taste, breaks a fast, regardless of caloric content. Incretin hormones, released from the small intestine, have been found to respond to chewing, taste and smell and not just to the presence of food in the digestive tract. They actually begin working before food reaches the stomach. Your mouth is the first part of your digestive tract.

Incretins stimulate the release of insulin. In people with diabetes and other metabolic abnormalities, the insulin stimulation of incretin hormones has been found to be upregulated. So, chewing and tasting stimulates even more insulin in people with these metabolic pathologies.

When you fast, fast. When you eat, eat. Shorten your fasts until you can do a water only fast. Long fasts while eating, are not fasting. Fasting is by definition, not eating. There is a word for eating while fasting, it’s called snacking.

Drink coffee and tea during your eating window only. The clearer the definition of fasting becomes, the clearer the action required is.

6. Is the purpose of a ketogenic diet to be in a caloric deficit?

The purpose of being in nutritional ketosis is to burn your own body fat through the better regulation of blood glucose which in turns causes a reduction of insulin levels/expression.

The reason there is no caloric deficit, when insulin levels are low, is because you are still eating, even while you're fasting. You're eating from your own body fat. The low insulin allows the body to make up for any dietary caloric deficit, through the break down of body fat. Rump roast is on the menu, from your own behind, and it's an all you can eat buffet that's open 24 hours.