Are there any major differences between these two diets? Any similarities?
I had a wellness visit with my dr this morning and my blood pressure was elevated. Last year at this time it was normal. She suggested cutting back on the fats and salt while still limiting carbs. Saying a Mediterranean diet would be more helpful. She wanted to start me on Norvasc but I said no
This is a great question. Strictly speaking, there is no single Mediterranean diet, since every country in and around the Mediterranean has different foods.
The āMediterranean dietā is a construct by Walter Willet of Harvard, and while it is healthier than the standard American diet, it is still quite high in carbohydrate and is relatively low in protein. Dr. Willet is a vegetarian, so the Mediterranean doesnāt encourage the eating of much meat, especially red meat. My impression is that, while it is not a low-carbohydrate diet, it does encourage the eating of whole foods and the avoidance of processed foods, which is in its favour.
There is a write-up of how the Mediterranean diet was formulated and introduced in Nina Teicholzās book, The Big Fat Surprise.
Also, because Dr. Willet has a lot of influence at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it is one of the dietary patterns recommended in the current U.S. dietary guidelines, which is administered by the USDA. The ketogenic diet is decidedly not recommended by the USDA, and Dr. Willet is strongly opposed to it, as well.
Bear in mind that the United States is a major producer of soybeans and maize (corn), and hence a major producer of soybean oil, corn oil, and high-fructose corn syrup. Part of the mandate of the USDA is to promote the sale of American agricultural products, which is a strong pressure keeping the emphasis on eating grains in the U.S. dietary guidelines.
They are very different as the Mediterranean diet is way carbier and it has problems with some very good keto itemsā¦
Unless you ate plenty of carbs or insane amounts of fat, she meantā¦ Starving then? Bad advice.
Itās pretty hard to get enough fuel on low-fat low-carb. Some people may pull it off for a while when losing fat but itās not what most of us should do.
Last year at this time before switching to a keto diet my BP was absolutely normal. Can you address the issue of how I can lower my BP while still maintaining a keto diet? Perhaps less fat and salt? Anything else?
I donāt want to have to start taking Norvasc
I do NOT eat insane amounts of fats on my keto diet.
Most people find that a keto diet lowers blood pressure. Mine went from about 140/90 to around 112/70.
I donāt think fat is the issue. Perhaps you are getting too much salt? Or perhaps your carb intake needs to be lower than it currently is? Elevated insulin has a number of effects that increase blood pressure.
My HBa1c went from 7.2 to 5.4 in just 3 months on keto I donāt think it was my carb intake
Something to check, then, before you head off to the doctor, is your sodium, magnesium, and potassium, making sure they are good. (For maximum health, sodium should be between 4 and 6 g/day, according to a couple of recent studies.)
The other thing to look at would be your protein intake. The body needs to make nitric oxide to help lower blood pressure, and that requires amino acids (we canāt just absorb nitrogen from the air, alas).
Someone else will have better ideas, I hope. Otherwise, you might have to see your doctor about medications.
In my case, I cut back on my salt intake. This made the difference for my BP. Some do find a benefit by increasing their sodium intake. Test your yourself. Dr. J. DiNicolantonio (The Salt Fix) thinks we should be consuming 3,000 and 5,000 mg of sodium per day. Most of his claims have been debunked.
Lowering your BP is definitely important as it one of the major risk factors in CVD and CAD. If you have other risk factors, you want to lower your BP as quickly as possible. Drugs can do this.
Since I have been doing more low carb than keto, I have more than doubled my salt intake and lower my weight by almost 35 pounds and lower my BP to the point I am off all prescribed medication. My digestive issues have also disappeared. I believe it depends on the individual. I grew up eating salt cured meat and pickled veggies and fruit. I am enjoying them again.
?? Do you recall who said that or where you saw that? I donāt think Iāve ever seen that. Processed, like salamis or cold cuts, are allowed, but not encouraged, like saying processed is better than a natural steak. (by which I mean typical grocery store steak, not āgrass fedā or whatever the latest buzzword is)
Been keto full time getting close to eight years so it has been quite a while since I read much.
When you say your blood pressure is elevated, how much? It used to be the rule that your systolic (upper number) should be less than 100 + your age in years, a recognition that it tends to drift up with age. Diastolic used to be <90, now I think itās <80.
I hate to say this, but while the accepted limits on things like total cholesterol or blood pressure have lowered over the years, Iām coming to think that this is more to sell more drugs than solid evidence it makes you healthier.
I am 75 years old, after 5 months on low carb not really keto, I am off all prescription drugs my BP this morning was 112/74 with a heart rate of 70. I have as least doubled my salt intake. And other than 15 minutes on my exercise cycle I am not getting much daily exercise due to the weather here not being agreeable for my hiking routine that I have in the late spring, summer and early fall. Yes I am down about 35 pounds, I am semi active all year with household chores, and volunteering at church, American Legion, the VA clinic.
Check your potassium intake. Doctors like to blame sodium, but itās the absence of potassium that can be the problem with high BP.
I donāt know about that. The PURE study and another one that came out around the same time (the name of which I can never remember) both showed that a sodium intake in that range is the sweet spot of the risk curve for various health problems. Itās a J-shaped curve, in which the health risk rises relatively slowly as intake increases above 6 g/day, but rather steeply as intake is reduced below 3 g/day. The risk curve for salt-sensitive hypertensives has the same sweet spot, but the risk curve above and below the range is U-shaped, so the risk rises as steeply above the range as below it.
Also, one of the easiest ways to lower blood pressure is to cut carbohydrate intake, since elevated insulin interferes with the bodyās production of nitric oxide, which it uses for lowering blood pressure. Before keto, my blood pressure was consistently around 138/90; after a year on keto it dropped to around 112/70.
Iāve read that about 1 in 4 people are sensitive to salt levels that way - that it can make for a substantial increase in blood pressure.
5 or 6 years ago I asked my doctor, a general practitioner, about it. He said, āYes, itās about 25% of the population who are sensitive to salt.ā
For myself itās not a weight issue. My weight has never fluctuated more than 5 to 7 lbs whatever food I eat.