Yeah, one of the things I like about his approach is that it unified and explains the successes of different diets.
Someone doing McDougall / Pritikin style can get success on 80% carb, 15% protein, 5% fat as long as they are getting enough protein. Someone doing keto with 75% fat, 5% carb, and 20% protein is also doing fine.
His approach basically seems to be protein leverage, with a dose of bodybuilding lore. I don’t think it explains why some people on keto don’t do well until they stop holding back on fat, and there’s obvious individual variation in metabolism, appetite, and satiety that we don’t fully understand yet.
My hunch is that an orthodox keto approach is probably best and most direct for someone who’s obese. As time goes on, if they want to titrate some carbs that’s probably OK. Especially if they increase their activity level as they drop body fat. Somebody who’s in great muscular and metabolic health like Dr Ted probably has a lot more license to add a few carbs.
The carb timing question is interesting: does the body handle carbs better if they are confined to specific times, away from when you eat fat? (And is there a real metabolic advantage to the recommendation of “don’t eat carbs and fat together” or does that just work because it prohibits highly addictive, half-fat-half-carb junk food combos?)
Another resource in this area is Cian Foley’s book Don’t Eat For Winter which I have not yet read but plan to.