Medical biochemistry class story

(Ian Keith) #1

So im in medical school and sit next to Betty, Emily, and Jon (not their real names). I was explaining to Jon why I fast and it led into my keto diet. Well Betty and Emily interjected with the following:

  1. it’s bad for you.
  2. your brain can’t use fats/ needs carbs
  3. ketoacidosis will kill you.
  4. you will have heart disease.

So I disagreed with them and gave them a few resources like Dr. phiney and Dr. Paul Mason. IDK if they actually watched them and IDC. What REALLY was aggravating is that during the semester we learned the following:

  1. LDL are not that bad, and can be absorbed into the muscle (exercise)
  2. glycosilation of LDL from a high carb diet causes atherosclerosis.
  3. a low carb high fat diet causes FA metabolism (fat decomposition).
  4. high carb diet increases HMG CoA reductase which is involved in cholesterol synthesis.
  5. fat is turned into ketones which the brain can use.

They still told me the keto diet is unhealthy, and I was shocked. Apparently Emily also has a masters in biochemistry. I tried to explain nutritional ketosis, aaaaand nothing. Then Betsy sent me a business insider Australia article about 3 HUGE studies that proves high fat diet is dangerous. So i gave up and told them if Eggs, bacon, brusselsprouts, and mushrooms with butter is bad for me then I’m going to continue to eat it, and they can continue to eat their sugary yogurt, grapes, and candy granola they snack on every day.

How can someone be so indoctrinated into the standard american diet that they can’t even see the facts they are presented and tested on? It is baffling.

Busy schedule? how do you keto?
#2

It’s truly beyond comprehension, the same kind of group-think suspension of logic occurs in the veterinary world, where I live. I find it very unrewarding to even have that discussion with colleagues who are in that mindset. It’s just not even about facts anymore.

I just had my annual physical, the first since going keto 4 1/2 months ago, and my HDL is 20 pts higher than last year, triglycerides 10 pts lower (trig:HDL ratio now 1.0) LDL up a negligible amount. Most doctors would give themselves a heart attack just looking at the amount of saturated fat I eat. :laughing:

(Doug) #3

Ian, nice post. Even though I now rationally know that “high fat” is not to be feared, usually, there are decades of conditioning otherwise at work, and for many of us it’s hard to get totally free from it. The inertia (and profit motive) of the medical/pharmaceutical industries also serves to promote the attitudes you are confronted with among your fellow students.

Some great points there. How I wish I had known them back in the 1970s and for all the decades since. :wink: All the mechanisms that chronic high-carbohydrate intake has for messing us up is a big field, and I hope to see it studied extensively. I shudder to think of the increased inflammation I suffered for all those years, on a high-carb diet.

(Bacon for the Win) #4

@Ian_Keith, it’s not going to get any better out of school into residency either. Get thru it, then find your niche and make a difference, just as Adam Nally and Ken Berry have.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #5

You might want them to read this which was posted in another thread on this forum today:

Further to all this, the wording of the document clearly implies that there is no harm in Gary, nor any other health professional in Australia, recommending Low Carb Healthy Fat principles…

“ Moreover, no significant risks to public safety have been identified that require a regulatory response under the National Law. In the case of each of the three issues considered, there is no evidence of any actual harm and nor does the Board discern any particular risk to public health and safety moving forward . For these reasons, the Board has decided to take no further regulatory action. "

I was talking to a coworker this week and he claimed that we need carbs. He could not site the science. He wanted to argue with me. So sad.

Dr. Eric Westman said last week in a presentation I was lucky enough to attend, that there are three areas of life where reality does not matter:

  • religion
  • politics
  • nutrition

I think we see this played out daily.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #6

Benjamin Bikman pointed out in a recent lecture to a low-carb audience that the only cells proved to absolutely need glucose are our red blood cells. Apparently, there is no scientific study proving that the brain needs glucose at all. I also thought that certain cells in the pancreas needed glucose, too, but he says not. Go figure!

In any case, you obviously weren’t paying attention when they taught you in class that the ketogenic way of eating is unsustainable, and that it’s also going to kill us. I never went to medical school, so I’m not sure whether the diet kills us before or after we’re forced to stop eating this way. I intend, however, for keto to kill me when I’m 97, while either sky-diving or climbing Mt. Everest. :grin: