Could Keto ever be a "less restrictive" dietary lifestyle?

food
(Dan Dan) #21

:joy::rofl::joy::rofl::joy::rofl::joy::rofl::joy::rofl:

You obviously haven’t read these :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

#22

Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, As Richard Bach says, “Argue for your limitations and they are yours.”

Imagine your infinite possibilities, they are yours also. I said that.

(Bunny) #23

Exactly “limited“ we eat too much dam food because we are told to do so by the powers that be!

I try to imagine I’m living in prehistoric times; no packaged foods, no bread, orange soda, Doritos Cheetos, Donuts, man made sugars and no Quicky Marts, just me and what nature has to offer from the trees, plants and animals; raw uncooked or lightly seared by a flame i.e. unprocessed foods, if our ancestors can survive like that, so can I!

Over-eating healthy Whole Foods might not pose such a problem if it were not for all the processed stuff?

#24

All ways of eating for weight loss and/or health have restrictions. The ones on keto are just different than, say, low-fat high-carb diets. The advantages for me are: eating as much as I want to feel satisfied (never having to go hungry), richer more decadent food choices (butter, anyone?), and natural appetite control (helpful if you want to fast at some point for unparalleled health benefits).

Then of course there are the health benefits: keeping insulin in check and improving insulin sensitivity, optimal metabolic health (IMO), mental clarity and alertness, decreased chances of dementia (and other diseases) as I get older, etc.

So, to answer your question simply…no, keto by definition necessarily restricts carbs to whatever amount keeps any individual primarily in ketosis. But the delicious food options and health benefits way outweigh any deprivation I may occasionally feel, at least for me personally.

#25

Also, I think there has been a shift toward low-carb eating. I’m not sure we’ll ever get the majority of people to give up carb/sugar addiction and eat healthily. There are SO many more commercial low-carb food options and recipes out there now than there were when I originally tried low-carb (Atkins) at least 15 years ago.

#26

Restrictive! Here’s an alternative. Make a list of the whole products you cannot have.
Don’t list a candy bar, donut etc, but the whole food constituent of the products, and you’ll see its not a restrictive way of eating at all.

Flour
Sugar
Potatoes
Corn
?

#27

I’m on my way to your house to eat! :rofl:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #28

Here’s the deal: A grownup realizes that there are tradeoffs in life. The price for being able to drive where I want and do what I want when I get there is having to obey the traffic lights and stick to one side of the road. True, I am restricted from walking just anywhere in the road I please, but the freedom of not being dead or in the hospital is well worth the “restriction” of having to stay on the sidewalk. Taxes are an annoyance, yes, but we pay for roads, police, and fire fighting out of the public purse, because back in the days when all those things were private enterprises, we didn’t like continually having to pay tolls, getting robbed and beaten, and watching our house burn down because we couldn’t afford the fire brigade’s penalty for not having signed up for protection in advance.

It is true that when I first gave up alcohol, it did feel like a “restriction” back then, and so does giving up sugar, now. But on the other hand, when I got sober, I quickly came to value the benefits of being able to remember conversations, being able to remember how I got home, not having headaches or generally feeling like crap in the morning, not having to worry about cirrhosis of the liver, delerium tremens, or alcoholic brain damage. I value the freedom that that one “restriction” has bought me.

Likewise, I am really enjoying hearing from my physician how good my lipid numbers and my blood work are. I like not having hypothyroidism, I like not having to worry about diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, I like the freedom of being able to tie my shoes without holding my breath, of not having to have someone come into the toilet and wipe my bottom, of being able to climb stairs without joint pain. I really enjoy not being strangled by my clothing. In that context, is not being able to eat glazed doughnuts really all that much of a restriction?

(Doug) #29

Right on, Brother. It all goes to desire - no, cleaning that toilet is not the fondest dream of my life, but in the end I’d rather have it clean than do nothing. From among our available choices, we pick that which we want the most, or have the least distaste for.

(Bob M) #30

Isn’t any “diet” restrictive? When I was on ultra-low fat (Pritikin), there was tons of stuff I could not eat. Anything with fat in it. If you’re on Weight Watchers, at some level, that’s restrictive.

I think that any low-sugar/low grain diet, like Paleo, low carb, keto, will be tough, particularly at holidays. You just have to deal with it.

#31

Wow, well said!

#32

Haha! That menu has been our Christmas Day eating for the last few years.
This year I went carnivore, so will have to plan a little more carefully.
:grinning:

#33

I’m fasting, so it sounds EXTRA good!

(Running from stupidity) #34

Some do, anyway.

("Don't call it calories, call it food") #35

Amen! Boundaries are good things in so many cases. It is such a fallacy to believe that Liberty derives from complete freedom.

(less is more, more or less) #36

Yes, and no. Yes, several millennia ago, agriculture helped human culture stabilize, in the macro. However, with this same time machine, I’d like to travel back 150 years and compare how a typical person or family bought food for their home. You’d find radical differences in habits and patterns for providing food for the home.

Now look at our modern grocery store. The overwhelming majority of the “food” on the shelves is edible, but highly problematic, even if one is not Keto/LCHF. We’re not looking at human and cultural evolution when we look at a bag of potato chips, we’re looking at food manufacturing innovation that rewards the manufacturer and distributors, at the consumer’s expense. We stuff the supermarket with inexpensively manufactured foodstuffs of low nutrient value – and we have expanding girth to show for it.

I restrict myself from eating that ubiquitous crap, and I’ve never felt better.

(Bob M) #37

Not to mention that even 150, 200 years ago, we ate much more seasonally, at least in areas where there was winter. If you could find things like apples, you ate them during a limited period. Now, you can eat fruit, salad, etc., year-round. We had to smoke our meats and prepare them to last. We somehow are now terrified of meats like this.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #38

Also not to mention that it wasn’t really until the mid-1800’s that the price of refined sugar dropped low enough for most people to be able to afford it, and the same with refined white flour. Until that time, diabetes, gout, etc., had been diseases of the rich and over-indulgent. Then suddenly, about 20 years after cheap refined sugar hit the market, Elliot Joslin started noticing the beginnings of the diabetes epidemic, especially once the candy, soda pop, and ice cream industries hit their stride.

#39

If you define a “keto” diet as limiting carbs to 20g, any reasonable person would consider that very restrictive. Nevertheless, there are times when it is appropriate: ie. irretractable seizures, advanced diabetes, adjuctive cancer therapy.

If you define “keto” diet as eating in a manner that maintains a state of ketosis, it’s more individualized and more flexible. And in my opinion, more sustainable.

My ketogenic diet includes massive amounts of veggies, a regulated amount of fruit and a few days each month, I eat absolutely anything I want. All while maintaining a state of ketosis, on average. Diet isn’t my life, diet fits into my life.

#40

The same can also be said about oils. My great grandmother used lard- not mct oil, coconut oil, avocado oil. Or even olive oil, though she might have if she had lived in the Mediterranean.