Friends Concerned with Long Term Effects of Keto

(Greg Spletzer) #1

Here’s the problem: I have been keto since May 2016 and now my friends are concerned with the longer term effects of this diet on me.

Background: I’m a college student and some of my friends are Nutrition, Dietetics, and BioSystems majors. There questions get specific to the point that I can’t easily respond with a formulated response to address their concerns.

Some of the questions were:

  1. Doesn’t your body need some carbs in order to have glucose in your bloodstream?
    a. My response: Your liver is able to produce glucose on it’s own.
    b. The follow up: Well doesn’t that tax your liver in the long run?
  2. Isn’t it bad to have the higher level of acid in your blood because of the acid that’s released when you break down the fat?
    Etc.

Is there another short list of references, similar to Carl’s http://links.2keto.com, that’s more specific to specific areas of the keto diet?

For Example, a category could be High Fat. I’d see the breakdown as
High Fat:
Concerned with Cholesterol --> Answer to this specific area here
Concerned because you “must” have carbs --> Answer to this specific area here
etc.

Edit: I know my friends are asking more of concern for me personally, they all are happy how well I’ve done starting keto.
Edit2: I’m mainly looking to see if anyone has a short list/reference guide for when conversations like these come up in order to show them the science quickly and easily.

(AnnaLeeThal) #2

Gluconeogenesis is literally one of the jobs of the liver. A normal job of the liver.

Nutritional ketosis does not cause acidosis.

I would tell them to do their own research on Nutritional ketosis if they are so interested.

(jketoscribe) #3

I would think that your friend who asked the question about acidosis should go back to her biochem books and learn how minutely and exquisitely the human body regulates the pH of blood. Otherwise you’d die if you at a lemon!

#4

Perhaps there is a reason the liver is the only organ that can regenerate.

#5

I had the same thing happen with a couple of concerned friends. It’s funny how no one felt like they needed to discuss my health when I drank Cokes and ate ice cream and Twinkies back in the day.

I’d just refer them to a website and tell them to read and then it would no longer be a subject of discussion. No one can force you to talk about something against your will.

#6

Ask your nutritionist or dietician friends if they would like to be employed 10 years from now. Ketosis will be an accepted eating protocol. I would suggest they start building up their resume.

#7

Show them the science. @Fiorella is right - this is something they need to know about and understand. They should be challenging anything and everything and updating their knowledge all the time. There is no need to be aggressive or rude about it, just tell them how amazing you feel and how there is plenty of science to back it up and then give them a list of books and web links. If they want to be good at their future jobs/careers they should at least review the info with an open mind.

#8

Good point, I guess being fat and eating tons of sugar is the norm, hence “healthy”. lol,

#9

If they are really serious they can read one or both of the books from Dr. Stephen Phinney and Dr. Jeff Volek, among MANY others, but I doubt they are serious enough to do that.

Being students, I suspect that they’re just trying to show off what is in reality their very limited understanding of biochemistry - understandable given that a ketogenic diet is a complex interplay of things that even the experts barely understand.

If they are legitimately interested in understanding and connecting the dots, they’ll read the books - the only limiting factor being if a college student has the extra money to afford them. :slight_smile:

http://www.artandscienceoflowcarb.com/

(Jamie Hayes) #10

I’ve noticed that it is a human thing to be more interested in protecting the beliefs we have adopted than protecting our being.

This explains why so many people do things that are against their own survival. They are driven to ensure their beliefs survive.

The only thing that can change beliefs is new information, that’s if their minds are open. But you being obviously well following your path, will become self-evident.

We’ve all seen so many doctors and health experts only becoming open to low carb and keto, when their own beliefs (based upon poor information) failed their health or the health of their loved ones.

(Becky Foster) #11

Carbs are not essential and our body’s could survive without them. Not advised to go without but our bodies make carbs if we don’t eat them

(Scott Shillady) #12

A lot less taxing than trying to filter out all of the Processed crap that the average Person eats[quote=“bnatural4life, post:11, topic:5525”]
Carbs are not essential and our body’s could survive without them.
[/quote]

My body THRIVES without them!!!, and please show me the science of why we can’t go without carbs

#13

If it does, that’s something that’s easily detected by elevated liver enzymes and I’ve been LCHF and then keto for years and still have normal liver enzymes. Dr. Stephen Phinney and many others are self-reportedly keto for far longer (read: decades) and still report NO medical anomalies such as liver problems.

I think “cognitive dissonance” is something that we’ve all gone through.

I’ve linked this video before in other areas, but it’s especially poignant now since it’s someone eating LCHF trying to explain it to a friend and I’ve personally experienced many of the questions/responses, although not with the same person.

(Mark) #14

http://synapse.ucsf.edu/users/breanna-allen. This popped up in my news feed today I have sections set up for ketogenic diet ,blood pressure and Diabetes, and read this article which was interesting until I read the paragraph comparing the ketogenic diet to the Atkins diet like they are one in the same,now some of the information in this article is correct, however after reading that paragraph, I would list this as “Fake News” for lack of a better term,because someone will read this article which came from a student newspaper, written by ,Breanna Allen who is a graduate student and believes that keto is just the same as Atkins and therefore dangerous, as they say ,the devil is in the details,now she may have an explanation for why she believes they are the same, but I’m not sure this graduate student did her homework,and I’m surprised a student newspaper is appearing in the news feed because we all know students don’t know anything, just kidding,send your hate mail to Carl for that joke

(Greg Spletzer) #15

Haha I know exactly what you mean, this was from my University a little while back. http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/to_eat_or_not_to_eat_whats_a_carbohydrate_anyways

#16

I thought I had posted this, sorry.

http://bjsmbeta.bmj.com/content/51/2/133.full?platform=hootsuite

I would also look at the posts on the forum already listing useful books and links.

You could always get your friends to join this forum of course and then they can come and ask whatever questions they like.

(Jamie Hayes) #17

@BillJay That Youtube was great!! Thanks.

You may enjoy this story and the question at the end.

(Jamie Hayes) #18

Greg,

That’s so bad it is amusing, especially coming from a university. Unfortunately I’ve known many students who know the truth but pass exams by giving the answer they require, even though it is not correct!

Sad

(Larry Lustig) #19

I guess my view is a little different than other folks. I’m not surprised that your friends are worried since what you’re doing contravenes everything they’ve been taught. And I feel you ought to be touched by their concern even though you don’t consider it well founded.

To respond to their concerns you would need to understand the science of nutritional ketosis pretty well. Better, honestly, than I understand it myself. So, if you want to do that, I’d probably read the Phinney and Volek book, or perhaps the article @Daisy linked to, above. Alternatively, you could rely on the fact that you “know” (through the internet) quite a few people who’ve been eating this way for years with only positive results. Personally, that’s my approach. But, no matter how confident you are in @richard, @carl, and everyone else don’t expect your friends to be too impressed with the “I heard it from someone on the internet” approach.

#20

The only things is that these are current students. They should be inquisitive about all things nutrition even if only to refute it. Showing them the science should be talking to them in their own language and they could always come here and quiz us!