Dietary Hacking


(Brad Taylor) #1

In the intro to 2ketodudes podcast you refer to keto as a form of dietary hacking. I believe it is time to change that to “form of eating correctly.” Or something else more creative, let’s hear it folks.

Love the show, but for some reason referring to keto as hacking has bothered me. I know developers are quite fond of the term for breaking new ground and we have a long way to go to make keto mainstream, but this is how we should be eating from what I can tell.

Once again love the show, hoping to hear a slight mod to the intro.

Keto on!


(Crow T. Robot) #2

I don’t think of it as “hacking” either, though I guess some do. Most of us on here just call it a “way of eating”.

“Hacking” to me sounds like breaking something from its intended purpose to one that suits me better. I kind of agree that to the uninitiated it might sound like something unnatural and therefore unhealthy in the long run.


#3

To me, there is some dietary hacking going on.

I do plan on eating keto, or some version of LCHF, for the rest of my life. But, I am doing some more aggressive regimens today that I don’t plan on continuing (or will need) for the rest of my life.

The metaphor is like a ship that 20 years ago deflected off course by only 5 degrees. While 5 degrees is not much, after twenty years, the ship is very far away from target. Aggressive maneuvering is required to point the ship back on its course to reach target destination, and once its back on its proper course again, you can steer with less aggressive maneuvering again, but with better knowledge of not allowing that 5 degree deflection to happen again.


(David) #4

I don’t think you can just go with a statement like this, because each new ‘diet’ that comes along will claim to be “the right way”.


#5

Perhaps refer to it as simply a ‘way of eating.’ I am in this long term (more than a decade so far), and on
most ‘diet boards’ the term ‘hacking’ refers to short-term efforts to spur weight loss via extremes.

That’s not how I see ketogenic eating at all. To me, it’s the best way of eating for my body.


(Brad Taylor) #6

Definitely don’t want to use the word DIET. Been on way too many of them. This is a way of life for me now on.


(Bart) #7

I think the SAD diet is dietary hacking gone wrong. Keto to me is the proper or logical WOE. But it seems very appropriate for a couple of software engineers to use dietary hacking on their show, so I think they should stick with it.


(Daniel C.) #8

Allways think for yourself, but if you ask me, you can trust this lifestyle but just keep your eyes peeled


#9

It’s a hack because it’s different than mainstream aka the way most people do it. That’s what the term has come to mean. Right, wrong, or indifferent, that’s what society/culture has determined. Like how “literally” is used to mean “figuratively” … it’s just what’s been accepted as normal usage.


(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #10

I was just thinking about this today.
love their description.
I love being a dietary hacker.
It is EXACTLY what I am doing PLUS “hacking” sounds so rebellious and badass.
I love that we’re rebels.
Love. It.

Hackers, hacking…
Like scientists tweaking for answers.

I am always doing just that.

Don’t change a thing @Carl and @Richard!

Your intro, description, and explanation is PERFECT


(Megan) #11

I think it works:

Definition: Hacking is an attempt to exploit a computer system or a private network inside a computer. Simply put, it is the unauthorised access to or control over computer network security systems for some illicit purpose.

Description: To better describe hacking, one needs to first understand hackers. One can easily assume them to be intelligent and highly skilled in computers. In fact, breaking a security system requires more intelligence and expertise than actually creating one.


#12

I like it. I think everyone gets what it means now even those that are a bit slow with all this tech speak (me!). I also love the fact that it reflects the Dudes. They are computer geeks - they say that, it is a part of who they are - ergo “dietary hacking” makes perfect sense. Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course but I very much doubt they will change their popular model anytime soon! If it aint broke…!


(Richard Morris) #13

For developers hacking is tweaking until you get the code right - which is kind of what we are doing. Popular media changed hacking into something nefarious like breaking into someone’s systems by hacking them.

That is exactly the right metaphor … it is why I try to tell young people who are just starting to become overweight that they can make a small change and not have to go as hard core later on in life … as I had to.

Yeah that’s it. We’re all unique and have to find the pattern that works well for us. For some people that may be ONLY meat, for others it may be low carb high fat ovo-pesco-vegetarian, for some it’s under 10g of carbs and 0.6g of protein per kg LBM, and for others it’s up to 50g carbs and load up on protein.


(Barbara Greenwood) #14

I’d wondered about the terminology too.

There’s a debate among those with T2D who adopt keto eating and then get to normal blood sugars whether their T2D is cured, reversed, in remission, or what. One thing’s for sure, though - we are profoundly carbohydrate intolerant, and eating very low carb normalises the effects of that, even if it can’t wipe out whatever genetic susceptibility we’ve got, or undo all of the damage that may be there. But eating this way enables us to stay healthy.

I have a nephew who has an inborn error of fatty acid metabolism (LCHAD, in case you’re interested) which means he can’t metabolise long chain fats for fuel. He has to run on carbs and medium or short chain fats. If we hadn’t found this out when he was a baby, he’d have died before his 1st birthday. As it is, he’s a strapping 21-year-old who eats an extremely low-fat diet in order to stay alive. Is that hacking?


(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #15

@Barbara_Greenwood

I’m fucking cured, and I get nasty with anyone who dares to argue I’m not.

I have a girlfriend who’s doctor changed her diagnosis from T2DM to normal, and the downside is she can no longer get testing supplies.(she lives outside the USA, in some areas they do this if your labs are normal for over 6 months)

I get free testing supplies, and I love that, but would pay for them in a second if my clinic changed my status!


#16

I wasn’t going to get too geeky, but hacking was, and in some circles still is, just considered to be using something in a novel way that may not be the way it was intended, and using “hacking” techniques to break into a system was considered “cracking”, but few people distinguish between the 2 terms anymore, so “hacking” carries a negative connotation for some.

Maybe because I’m a developer, and remember “Joe the Whistler” blowing 2,600 Hz tones with his lips, I’m on the side of calling it hacking. :smile:


(Barbara Greenwood) #17

Oh, I’m not arguing with you, @Brenda. I’m saying people DO argue about it.

I know that I’m NOT cured, because if I was, I wouldn’t have spiked up to 8.5 eating tomato soup yesterday. My definition of cured would be normal BG no matter what I eat, and come to think of it, normal insulin too.

I’m sure as hell trying to get cured, but I don’t know yet whether I can be. Until/unless I am - eating keto gives me near enough normal BG. Plus, currently, a low dose of metformin - and I don’t know whether my BG would go up if I stopped it, but I’m not planning on finding out for a while.


(8 year Ketogenic Veteran) #18

I didn’t think you were.

I’ve been doing this 3 years and my insulin resistance is improving. No medication.

I have to say whenever I hear this argument, the hair stands up on the back of my neck and I growl a bit.

We’re all different.


(Brad Taylor) #19

Hacking it is. I stand down. :grinning:


(AnnaLeeThal) #20

I really like the term “dietary hacking”. I feel like it’s such an accurate description of what many Ketoers do, making constant adjustments to achieve specific goals.