The following is from an article in the Wall Street Journal: “ Your immune system needs fuel, so avoid ultralow-carbohydrate diets, experts say. In addition, drink lots of water and reduce alcohol consumption, which can disrupt your sleep.”
Since when are carbs the appropriate fuel for the immune system?
And, if they are, does that mean my keto diet will help reduce the impact of my autoimmune diseases? ( 
)
So much contradictory information you dont know what to believe anymore. I was looking up the whoosh effect and somewhere online it said that eating low carb is good for the immune system because it is anti-inflammatory. Who knows. Worrisome however, in the times of corona.
They are probably linking it to vitamin C in fruit, which I eat everyday myself since I am more paleo now, regardless that shouldn’t be a reason to believe that ultra low carb diets weaken your immune system XD. I myself on top of my fruit consumption have been doing this: Eat lots of liver and clams and you’ll survive the Corona epidemic trust me.
3 ounces of clams or liver provide:
Vitamin C
Amount: 18.8-20 mg
Daily Value: 31-33%
Also watch this video by my boy Thommy D
What I think I’m noticing is everybody with an agenda or something to sell is trying to make themselves relevent to a public that’s more impressionable than usual.
My interpretation of events is the severe cases relate more to metabolic health, than to age, which arise from all the lifestyle issues discussed on forums like this one. Closing the bars and restaurants, and canceling sports events doesn’t just slow the spread of the virus, it improves public health regardless of a virus.
I wonder who they are as well @GreeneggsNham. I think it’s like @charlie3 said, “everyone with an agenda or something to sell” is trying to take advantage of the fear that abounds right now.
It’s really no different than every Keto or Palo self proclaimed Guru out there who trys to sell their own spin.
I did enjoy the story about the guy in India selling Cow Pee as a cure. Also the Christian guy here hawking Colloidal Silver.
The getting plenty of sleep part checks out at least. I’ll be dropping caffeine for a while. My sleep quality has greatly improved already. It’s not a silver bullet by a long stretch, but it’s free and improves my odds of it being a mild case rather than a severe one.
I’m in NY, so I take for granted that I’ll be contracting it. The governor is projecting that 40% to 80% of will, which isn’t particularly encouraging. The case count here went from 1,000 to 12,000 in the past week alone now that we’ve bypassed the CDC and are doing 10,000 tests per day independently. We should be nuking the CDC from orbit right now so that none of the bureaucrats who have been squandering $11 billion per year escape. Their incompetence in releasing tests made 3rd world countries look good.
I wouldn’t trust a thing the standard mass media said. It is now simply a corrupted tool to make money or to control a population (depending on the country and the media). Many writers are also very uninformed about what they are writing about. Just don’t trust it.
A key skill required these days is crap detection as we have so much information, and some/much/most of it is crap. It is make your own mind up time!
The journalist is Sumach Reddy. Subjectively she appears to do a good balanced job.
The expert that gave the nutrition advice for the article is Elizabeth Bradley, medical director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine. Subjectively, she seems quite competent. But she is a traditionally trained nutritionist as her first education. She advises a whole foods diet. She is a fruits and vegetables advocate. They run a ketogenic course at her clinic.
No conspiracies to uncover here.
And the outcome of this competence and balance is:
That’s why I don’t trust anything “competent” and “balanced” journalists say.
We, Alec, you and I, are in the enviable and uneviable position of having a bit more knowledge about nutrition as it pertains to ourselves.
The general advice to eat more fruits and vegetables is probably quite good for the general population as they face the infection. It is better than eat all the highly processed industrial packeted foods that have been hoarded. That stuff could be used as fuel (externally), in a fire place, to keep your shelter warm.
When I use “you” and “your” in these droll pontifications, I use them in the collective sense, as in ‘youse guys’, not in the personal singular sense directed at the interlocutor.
There will be plenty of well intended misinformation to filter and contextualise. We are best to do what is in front of our hands. Wash them properly and spread calm knowledgeable information locally in our communities. That information will vary widely and be discussed and improved and shared again, and eventually we will find the path through the situation.
But that’s not what they are saying… they are saying you need fuel, and the best fuel is carbs. Errrr no.
With all the focus on how certain foods affect your immune system, you may also wonder, what about fasting? One study in mice showed that fasting, or more specifically refeeding after a fast, restored immune function that had been suppressed by chemotherapy.
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During the fasting period itself, however, it appeared to impair the immune system. In addition, the beneficial response to refeeding may be lessened in the elderly.
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These are very important caveats. Over the long term, intermittent fasting and refeeding may boost the immune system. However, during an acute pandemic, where the immediate risk of infection is higher than usual, it may not be a good time to try fasting, given the potential for a temporary decrease in immunity.
This may sound surprising for those who have heard the phrase, “starve a fever.” The theory is that humans have evolved to not feel hungry and purposely avoid food during an acute illness as a protective mechanism, which may in turn limit nutrients the virus needs to replicate. To be clear, this is all conjecture without any quality supporting evidence.
Other evidence suggests that ketones are beneficial for immune function, and perhaps that could be why some recommend fasting.
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But considering all of the data together, if that were the case, you would likely be better off eating a keto diet and not fasting.
Based on the limited data available, we suggest not fasting longer than 36 hours during the outbreak of the coronavirus, especially if you are older than 60 years old. It’s logical that you can continue with shorter-duration time-restricted eating, although there is no data on this either.
This is taken from a comprehensively article on DietDr.com. Generally the advice seems to be keto is good, extended fasts not so good during a pandemic!
Keep well guys!
Actually, she was reporting what the so-called “experts” had told her without bias. Exactly what a competent and balanced reporter should do. That said, I would have liked to see some differing points of view from different experts; maybe interview a keto expert to counter balance the advice of the expert in promoting the sad diet!
@CrackerJax Thanks for this. I was contemplating an extended fast to jump start my weight loss again. As a woman over 60, I think I’ll wait until the pandemic is over to do any extended fasting.
I’ve cut back on my fasting during this. Heck, I’ve probably cut back on it just due to fact that I’m off work now because of the Coronavirus and have too much downtime on my hands. One good thing is that 3+ months of strict keto has fixed my blood pressure issues. That may prove beneficial in this .
