Six common beliefs addressed, Part 256

1. Do you have "evidence" against the belief that the fiber in whole fresh fruit forms a barrier which causes the sugars to bypass the small intestine and instead go straight to the large intestine where it is eaten by the gut microbiome?

Yes. Eat fresh whole fruit and then use your blood glucose meter. Let me know if the sugar was eaten by your microbiome before it hit your blood stream.

2. If cigarettes and alcohol have warning labels, shouldn't candy, fruit juices and soda have them too?

You're asking the wrong person as I'm of the belief that nothing should have warning labels.

3. I read a book many years ago, that claimed "if you ate a diet of minimal fat and protein, with full complex carbs, the body would naturally reduce weight to its correct proportion for your individual needs". Is this true?

No. A correct way of saying this would be that "if you can acquire proper leptin expression, the body will naturally burn body fat to its correct proportion for your individual needs". Nothing else matters. Literally, nothing.

4. I have a friend who is lean having only 14% body fat. They have no gym membership and enjoy all of the fatty meat they can. I exercise and watch every morsel of food I intake but I cannot make any headway. My friend said that the solution is very simple - Just eliminate all sugar and grains and the problem will correct itself. Is this true?

Ask all of the people who have done just that and are also not making any headway. In fact, read the post below this one.

It is not that simple. People who are obesity resistant, meaning they have proper leptin expression, always want to make it appear very simple because it is for them. They can eat all the fat they want and remain at 14% body fat effortlessly because their set point was always 14% body fat to begin with. The lack of exercise will come back to haunt them in time but they will be able to keep their leptin expression in tact for a very long time if they can continue to preserve their blood glucose regulation. Staying away from sugar and grains is a good place to start in order to try and accomplish just that.

Unfortunately simply staying away from sugar and grains is not a magical cure for those that are already obese. The hope is that the avoidance of sugar and grains will normalize their blood glucose regulation enough to kick start their leptin but that's not guaranteed. It is the best way to go about it but it's not a magical cure. So tell your friend that the only thing that keeps them at 14% body fat is their leptin, not their simple solutions.

5. I went carnivore and have gained about 50 lbs. I have also developed neuropathy and I can't even exercise anymore because of the aches and pains. I am in the worst health of my life. I thought I was alone but I am quickly finding more people who have diligently followed this diet for several years and are facing the same issues. I am trying to find a doctor to solve this mess for me.

If you don't treat your metabolic syndrome properly, it will eventually lead to serious health complications and/or diabetes. Metabolic syndrome will not go away on its own. It is chronic and progressive, just like its end stage of diabetes.

You were sold a diet as a cure to a very complex metabolic adaptation and unfortunately, you fell for it. You were most likely not following the diet correctly and you were not monitoring your progress on it. If you are on a diet for six months and see no benefits and/or develop detriments instead, you need to stop it. Why people continue to be on the same failed protocol for years is mind boggling to me. People do this with calorie restriction all of the time as well. They keep chasing the dragon. The dragon were those initial few pounds you lost when you started which quickly reversed and were never lost again. Wake up. You will never catch the dragon.

You should have diligently researched the diet and tracked your results before you let this continue on for years on end. Most importantly, you should have researched obesity so that you would have known that your magical carnivore diet does not equate to proper blood glucose regulation or leptin expression. Unless a diet can promise you these, it is a roll of the dice. It might work or it might not or it might work for you and not for others or vice versa.

6. My endocrinologist told me that exercise was not important and it only equates to about a 3 pound loss a year. He also prescribed an injectable "weight loss" medication but when I researched it, the manufacturer clearly stated on their website that it was not intended for weight loss and worked similarly to Metformin. I am obese but not diabetic, not even prediabetic. He sent the medication to the wrong pharmacy as well and it was not even taken by my insurance, though he had verified both during my visit. It's like he's not paying attention. By the way, he emphasized fasting and is now selling supplements. I believe the pharmacy he sent the medication to is the same one making his supplements.

Good grief..... Going to the doctor lately has become akin to watching an episode of The Three Stooges. I don't know why I keep receiving these complaints lately but they seem to have become quite common. People are noticing that their doctors are becoming quacks right before their very eyes as they try to open their own "online" consultation services alongside their supplements. I don't know what's going on except that word is getting around that quackery simply pays more with less work, just like diet programs do. You will soon lose your doctor when they no longer take your insurance but will take your subscription to their website instead. Word to the wise - find another doctor ASAP. Don't let manure hit the fan before you do. At this point, you are no longer receiving adequate care.

Aside from that, I have no idea what your doctor is talking about or what his deal with exercise is. He is most likely practicing how to pander to obese clients, by promising them an easy "solution" that doesn't require them to rise their butts off their motorized carts. Who knows. All I know is that you will never obtain proper blood glucose regulation and energy flux without exercise. Period. You will not. Ever. Instead, you will forever be fiddling with your "diet" because it will forever stop working.

You can't treat a condition with incomplete protocols. Like I have said before, if you had to choose one thing because you couldn't choose both diet and exercise, then choose exercise. It just has a more overall metabolic affect than diet and research has shown this time and time again.

I can't second guess a physician over prescribed medications. I can only give you the facts, which you can also Google yourself, by the way. It seems like you already did and found out the medication is not for weight loss but for diabetes instead. The fact that you are not diabetic is most likely why your insurance will not cover it. Again, I have no clue why he described this as a "weight loss" medication, if it's not. We simply don't know what's in his mind except dollar signs. It appears that Big Pharma was more honest, in this case, than your own doctor. There is nothing you can inject to cause "weight loss". At least not while remaining healthy. Medications that play around with your insulin function will cause you further problems in the future, because you are not currently diabetic. Diabetics are at a stage where they have no choice, but you do.

I'm glad to see you are questioning everything and doing your own research because this is a perfect example of lazy medicine from a doctor who is begrudgingly at this office until he can make his escape into the profitable world of "low carb". Don't be a victim of his ambitions. Let him go down that path by himself because you need to focus on your own goals.

Six common beliefs addressed, Part 115

1. Carbohydrate should be the only macronutrient of concern. 

Carbohydrate is the main macro to be concerned about because it is particularly obesogenic, irrespective of calories, through its disruption of blood glucose homeostasis. But all energy macronutrients should be of concern. This carbs, fat and protein. You need to make sure you aren't eating too many carbs and a fat and eating enough protein.

2. Nothing happens if you are low carb and decide to eat a slice of bread every morning, if it’s the only carbohydrate you have.

 

The only thing that determines what "happens", is your blood glucose. If the slice of bread you eat, every morning, does not interfere with blood glucose regulation, for the rest of the day and night, then "nothing happens".

Unfortunately, we have seen time and time again how this is not the case through calorie restricted diets. These diets keep you at one slice of bread for breakfast or one bagel or one pop tart, so you don't go over your calorie allotment, but yet you still continue to gain weight and eventually become diabetic. 

This is because carbs are notorious for interfering in blood glucose regulation, irrespective of their calories (amount). This is particularly true of the already overweight/obese/diabetic and why you shouldn't try to negotiate with carbs but instead, eliminate them.

3. The fiber in whole fruit is protective.

Absolutely not. Fiber does not protect you from diabetes. That is a myth. If fiber was kryptonite for diabetes, then you would be able to take a fiber pill, every morning, and either cure your diabetes, if you already have it, or never get it if you don't. What is protective in whole fruit is its glucose to fiber and water ratio. In other words, it's not the presence of fiber that makes whole fruit benign, it's the percentage of glucose in relation to its fiber and water content. The higher the glucose, the greater the interference with blood glucose.

For example, if I take a strawberry and grind it in a blender, it becomes one tablespoon of liquid. I need to grind an entire pint of strawberries in order to make myself a decent smoothie that will fill up a glass. The destruction of the fruit's fiber, by the blender, causes me to eat much more strawberries than I would otherwise, upping my glucose/fructose load to obesogenic levels. The addition of fat and sugar, to make this smoothie, adds to its already obesogenic profile. 

 

Eating the fruit whole, does not save me from this because I keep the fiber intact. It saves me from this because I can't eat as many whole strawberries and I don't add more energy to them. So in essence, what is protective is your teeth. Teeth are protective against diabetes because teeth cause less glucose to be eaten. People who have a "drinking problem" and make everything into a beverage are particularly obese and at risk for diabetes. 

4. Is there an ideal insulin level?

If there is, no one knows it. We surmise that a fasting insulin level of between 3 - 6 is ideal because that is the average insulin level of hunter/gatherers, but there is a big difference between hunter/gatherers and modern man, particularly in their body composition. Once again, context is everything and why numbers alone are meaningless. This is why we put more emphasis on insulin expression, than on just serum insulin levels.

For example, there is a difference between an athletic body builder's insulin of 6 and a sedentary obese person's insulin of 6. Yes they are both 6, but the body builder is using their insulin for building muscle, while the obese person is using their insulin to build more fat. This makes the insulin of 6 irrelevant. The only thing that is relevant is what is the insulin doing. 

So, this 3 - 6 insulin recommendation is just that, a recommendation. Results are truly the only thing that speaks volumes. We do not guide ourselves by any one marker, on this blog. 

5. Oats are deadly.

No. Oats are not deadly, in the short term. They are worse than deadly. They are completely unnecessary. If the third world could see how easily real food is obtained in Western societies, they would douse you in their oats and set you on fire for insisting on eating them. Do not eat like a peasant, unless you are willing to live like one. 

No one reading this blog should be lounging on their couch, with their AC on, while watching Netflix and eating a bowl of oats. That's ridiculous. You better be outside toiling on your farm instead. I have talked about this before, but I'll refresh everyone's memory. Oats are for horses, not for humans. If you are stranded on a deserted island and the Discovery Channel purposely supplied you with a variety of grains to eat and nothing else, please don't starve. I understand that not everyone knows how to, or has the capacity, to hunt. Maybe the island is barren and you can't hunt a thing. If that's the case, the safest grain you can consume from your supply is oats. Thankfully you aren't on an island. No one has supplied you with only grains and you don't have to hunt. You can just drive to Walmart and get some real food. Real food is not oats. 

Having a choice, changes everything. Stop eating oats for breakfast. This isn't farm life in 1807. Just eat eggs and meat. 

6. Many studies continue to show a link between whole grain intake and better health. 

This is a good segue to the oats statement above, which is simple to comment on - anything that deviates from the Standard American Diet (SAD) will show health improvements. Anything. Whole grains are not part of the SAD diet. This means that if I eat oats for breakfast, rather than Frosted Flakes, I might be thinner. But thinner doesn't mean not fat. If I eat a whole wheat bagel for breakfast, rather than pancakes, I might have lower blood glucose postprandial. But lower does not mean normal. If I eat a slice of 1000 ancient grain bread for breakfast, rather than a Snickers bar, I might have lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Again, lower does not mean normal. 

So, basically the bottom line is that if I compare my mother in law's cooking with a bowl of turds, she will always come out as the best chef in the world. Therein lies the problem with all these studies showing the health benefits of whole grains. They are comparing whole grains to standard junk, so they will always see a vast improvement across the board. Couple that with the fact that most people who lean towards eating whole grains follow healthier lifestyles over all, like avoiding smoking and getting regular exercise, you will automatically get a much healthier person. 

Of course, there is going to be a huge difference in health when you compare whole grain eating "Evan" in San Francisco to waffle eating "Bubba" in Mississippi. But if you compare Evan to a hunter/gatherer, who eats no grains, guess who will win? These studies are just another ploy to get people to eat "healthier". Not healthy, just healthier. Just like calories are a way to get people to stop gaining weight. Not get thin, just stop gaining. Mediocre, half-assed goals that have not made a dent, so far, in the obesity/diabetes epidemic. 

You cannot negotiate diabetes away. Diabetes is not a "disease" caused by lack of diplomacy. It is an adaptation that requires non diplomatic elimination of what perpetuates it, like whole grains.

Six common beliefs addressed, Part 43

1. Is fiber helpful for diabetics?

Research into fiber has been going on for decades and it has been touted as the miracle antidote for everything from diabetes to cancer to heart disease. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's all BS.

Diabetics will benefit from swapping pop tarts for fiber rich oats, but this is not correcting their disease. They basically rearranged the chairs on the Titanic and the disease will persist and eventually get worse. This fact means nothing to the people conducting these fiber studies, since they already know this and are of the mindset that diabetes has no viable treatment for remission, so that's not their goal. Too bad the diabetic will take no solace in that premise.

The only first course of action that can lead to the remission of diabetes and its prevention is not in trading one carbohydrate for another, but by the elimination of carbohydrate all together. Especially when that carbohydrate comes in the form of sugar or grains. 

I have said it before, on this blog, oats are for horses, meat is for humans. Just because you can put it in your mouth, chew it and have it come out the back end, does not make it food.

2. Is diabetes is caused by nutrient deficiencies?

Diabetes is a disease of poor glucose regulation, not under-nutrition.

Though diabetics are deficient in many vitamins, such as vitamin D and the B vitamins, which are important for the Krebs Cycle for cells to produce energy (ATP), these deficiencies are not the cause of the problem. In other words, you didn't acquire diabetes, because you are deficient in these vitamins. Instead, you are deficient in these vitamins, because you have diabetes. Glucose metabolism competes and/or depletes many vitamins and minerals.

If you have a diagnosis of diabetes, in the United States, insurance will cover testing for common diabetic vitamin deficiencies. So, if your doctor has not ordered these tests for you, request them. Even though normalizing the level of these vitamins will not reverse your diabetes, it certainly causes no harm to know your status and begin addressing these deficiencies.

3. Protein is fattening, that's why you should restrict it if you want to lose weight.

This is a well known weight loss hack and it's used often.

Protein foods like dairy and meat are actually very high in fat. These foods are described as "proteins", but that protein comes accompanied with a high fat content. Even "lean meats" are surprisingly high in fat if they are from farmed animals.

This is why bodybuilders drink protein shakes, rather than eat dairy or meat. The shakes allow them to bypass the fat load, that comes with protein rich foods, and only keep the protein, as the protein doesn't contribute to body fat.

For this reason, it is easy to control fat intake when you restrict protein and that's why it's commonly advised. So, it's not "the protein" that is causing the weight gain, it's the fat that comes with it.

But, instead of restricting these protein rich foods, which are the most nutrient dense, it's better to restrict added fats and carbohydrates instead.

4. You will gain weight if you go over your carbohydrate allotment once.

In order to gain weight from eating carbohydrates, you have to be consistent. This means, that not only do you have to be chronically consuming a high carbohydrate diet, but you have to include specific carbohydrates like sugar and grains, which begin disrupting blood glucose homeostasis. 

Going over your carbohydrate allotment, because you accidentally had too many nuts, a piece of fruit or a glass of milk does not cause weight gain. The accumulation of body fat is a long process, believe it or not. I know some people think they can gain weight overnight, because they step on the scale and see fluctuations in water retention, but water is not fat. You have to work at gaining body fat. If you are already fat, it is easier for you to put on more fat, but not so easy that one sweet potato would cause you to tip the scales into obesity. It doesn't work that way.

5. Should you eat "balanced" meals?

You may have heard the asinine advice that you must have "balanced meals". The people giving this advice have no explanation for why this is the case. They offer no proof, whatsoever, as to why this "balance" is important or even what the "balance" means. It's as if "balance" just sounds good, seems reasonable and so it's prudent to advise. Well, it's BS.

But, how do I know it's BS? Well, don't take my word for it. Let's look at biology and how the body actually uses macronutrients. That's when you see that the body does not "balance" their usage.

• The body runs on mostly fat, not glucose.
• The body uses glucose so sparingly, that even when carbohydrates are in excess, it rather store them as fat, than use them for more energy. This is because the body only has a very narrow window to use glucose for energy, like for instance, when you are running away from a bear. Now there's something that doesn't happen very often in modernity.
• The body requires protein and it is constantly using it. This is why it doesn't store protein as anything, instead it always uses it for rebuilding and repairing. 

This gives you an idea that not all macronutrients are considered the same, to the body, and so they should not be represented the same on your plate. Your plate should contain macronutrients in the order they are used and needed by the body instead. Protein first, fat second and carbohydrates last.

6. Can you be on a ketogenic diet forever?

Ketogenic diets, used for the treatment of metabolic disease, can be followed forever if they have produced and continue to produce results for you. The last thing you want to do is change a dietary strategy that has reversed your metabolic issues and is keeping you in remission.

Well formulated ketogenic diets, that do not restrict protein nor include the consumption of excess fat and diligently keep electrolytes balanced, allow the body to naturally go in and out of ketosis regularly. The body does this through gluconeogenesis, which is a vitally important part of metabolic regulation and should never be feared. Gluconeogenesis allows the body to regulate its blood glucose properly and the body's anabolic/catabolic states.

It's utterly ridiculous that gluconeogenesis has become a curse word, in the low carb community, because it's not. If you know anything about metabolism, you would know its importance. Just because your metabolism is dysfunctional and cannot regulate its catabolic state properly, doesn't mean it's the fault of gluconeogenesis. It's the fault of diabetes. Diabetes is not gluconeogenesis, nor is it caused by it.

Trying to artificially keep yourself in ketosis chronically can lead to problems with metabolic hormones that regulate the starvation response. Forget all of the other dumb reasons people have come up with for why you shouldn't be in chronic ketosis. The starvation response is truly the only reason why chronic ketosis should not be sustained if you already have a metabolic condition.

Six common beliefs addressed, Part 9

1. Do I need fiber to be healthy?

Putting things into your digestive system, that you cannot digest, is unnecessary. When you eat a carbohydrate restricted diet, you might see that you no longer need to use the bathroom as often as you used to. This whole concept of "regularity" is man made. The body regulates its own regularity. The body knows when it has to eat, when it needs water, when it is hot, when it is cold and when it has to eliminate waste. It doesn't care about a man made schedule. It does what it has to do, when it needs to. 

Fiber bulks up your stool, giving you the impression that you are eliminating a lot of waste, but you are only eliminating the fiber, you just consumed, that your body cannot digest. When you stop consuming so much indigestible roughage, you have less bowel movements. It's important to give your body food that it can use, has bioavailable micronutrients and your digestive system was designed to handle, not a bunch of stuff that it has to spend time trying to break down through fermentation and eliminate through bowel movements.

The benefits of fiber come from the bacteria that feed from it through fermentation and convert it into butyrate, a short chain fatty acid. Butyrate (butyric acid) has many health benefits, including the reduction of neuroinflammation and of fatty liver disease. I know they try to hide the fact that butyrate is a type of fat, by giving it a fancy, "sciency" name. This makes you think that only through the magical powers of plants, can it be delivered into the body, but that's not true.

You don't have to wait for the body to try and convert what it needs by consuming things it doesn't need. You can deliver butyrate to it directly by consuming foods that abundantly contain it. When you eat animal foods, which contain animal fats, particularly dairy, you receive a heavy dose of butyrate with no dietary fiber needed.

2.Will I have a nutrient deficiency if I exclude vegetables from my diet?

Vegetables do not supply any nutrients that cannot be found in meat. Meat has all of the bioavailable nutrients that the body needs, and the fat, to help deliver them appropriately. Let me debunk three common excuses made to keep plants in a diet:

• Need for fiber - Read above for information on the "more fiber" mantra.
• Need for Vitamin C - Vitamin C is not needed in large quantities unless it's competing with glucose. The people who developed scurvy did not develop it because of "Citrus Deficiency Syndrome", they developed it from eating large amounts of rice. In order to metabolize rice, you deplete your Vitamin C, causing disease. That's why high grain diets have to be supplemented with Vitamin C. Get rid of the grains, you get rid of the problem.
• Need for antioxidants - The antioxidants in plants are for the plant and cannot be used by humans. We make our own antioxidants and the best way to not deplete them, is to be in a state of low oxidative stress. A sure way to keep oxidative stress down is to not consume foods that contain high glucose and excessive polyunsaturated omega 6 fatty acids, both which are found in plants, especially grains.
• Need for phytonutrients - All of those great phytonutrients are for the plant. They are mostly not bioavailable to us.

Plants have everything needed to make a healthy plant, not a healthy human. You can certainly omit all vegetables, if you don't enjoy them or they produce health problems for you. If you eat vegetables, do so because you enjoy them, not because of any health requirement.

3. Is fasting more important than carbohydrate restriction?

Carbohydrate restriction has a more profound effect on metabolic hormones, because you can't fast forever, but you can restrict carbohydrates forever. Fasting is temporary, carbohydrate restriction is permanent. Therefore, dietary intervention is primary and a fasting regimen is secondary.

The most important thing you have to learn to do is eat correctly. Avoidance of food through fasting is not a long term solution to the problem, because you cannot avoid food forever. You will, eventually, have to learn how to eat.

4. Is it fine to have alcohol, as long as it's "low carb"?

Alcohol is metabolized in the liver, in the same way that sugar is. Fatty liver was always a disease that lifetime alcohol drinkers would face. When it was also found in non-drinkers it was renamed as 'Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease' in order to differentiate it from the former.

Alcohol is metabolized first in the energy hierarchy, so for people who are already having issues metabolizing energy, you do not want to have glucose pushed back further down the line. You want your body to be as efficient as possible in clearing it from the bloodstream.

For this reason, I do not advise alcohol consumption for anyone that has metabolic disease, regardless of the amount of "carbs" that it may contain. Your liver is already struggling enough.

5. Do you need to become "fat adapted" for carbohydrate restricted diets to work?

The confusing term “fat adapted” basically means nothing. The body does not have to “adapt” to anything. It just needs to have access.

Fat adaptation simply implies a state of low fasting insulin levels. Until insulin is kept at low levels during fasting, consistently, the body's fat stores will continue to be kept locked and inaccessible. Once insulin is sustained at normal levels, the body can access it’s fat stores for energy and leptin can do its job. You know when this occurs when two things happen:

• You can fast for extended times, more than 12 hours without hunger, lethargy or discomfort caused by hypoglycemia.
• You are losing body fat. This is measured through inches lost, not weight lost.

Another very important test that can be done is a fasting insulin test. If the results are below 3, the body will have maximum fat loss. If it's between 3 - 6 the body will continue to have access to body fat and maintain weight loss. This is the gold standard test for "fat adaptation". Everything else is just rearranging the chairs in the Titanic.

Even though achieving a very low fasting insulin state is the purpose of the diet, some people have a very hard time reaching it. Insulin resistance is a time dependent disease. The longer and higher your insulin levels have been, the longer it will take for them to come down. For some people this process takes a very long time and requires diligent consistency of dietary adherence in order to achieve these results. Eating a lot of fat, testing ketone levels and taking exogenous ketones, will not get you there any quicker, but can hinder the process all together.

6. Can the grams of allowed carbohydrate a day, on low carb diets, come from anywhere? Is the only thing that matters is the gram amounts?

This all depends on your goals and your reasons for restricting carbohydrates. Not everyone is restricting carbohydrates for the same reasons, so not everyone, on this type of diet, can be lumped into the same category and required to follow it the same way. A bodybuilder or athlete may be restricting carbohydrates for an entirely different reason than an obese, diabetic. To the body builder it doesn't matter if they meet their carbohydrate allowance, for the day, from a Snickers bar or broccoli, but for the diabetic, this makes all the difference in the world. Just like calories are not all created equal, nor have the same effect on metabolism, not all carbohydrates are created equal nor have the same effect on metabolism.

The purpose of restricting carbohydrates for better metabolic health is to normalize blood glucose homeostasis. This would mean that the quality of carbohydrates you consume are just as important as the quality of your fats because not all carbohydrates impact blood glucose in the same way. The carbohydrate of concern for the obese is glucose. Glucose can come as sugar or starch. Fiber is irrelevant. 

Your carbohydrates should be coming from non-starchy, whole vegetables, not grains or sugar. Grains and sugar products are man made, highly processed, concentrated forms of carbohydrate, which the body does not metabolize in a natural way. There is a different blood glucose response to 20 grams of carbohydrates in donuts and 20 grams of carbohydrates in cauliflower, just like there's a difference between 200 calories of apple pie and 200 calories of salmon. The food you eat is giving your body information, through blood glucose, which signals it to balance metabolic hormones in a specific way, and that way can either be obesogenic or not.