What I have been saying is that I believe by understanding what is happening in our natural cycles, we can use it to keep us healthy. What are your goals? Are you aiming to lose visceral fat, gain muscle, or just feel healthy? I believe we can do all or some of these by tweeking our food to take advantage of our natural body makeup. If you want to lose fat, you basically have to turn off the carbs, esp sugar, and you will lose it because insulin will fall and not block fat burning. That is the big āsecretā of keto. I ate plenty of calories - about the same really - but lost lots of fat. So, I no longer believe the ācalorie is a calorieā paradigm. Different calories are metabolized differently in the body. Basically, no one is going to lose much fat unless they unwittingly do some form of keto - that is they cut calories so much that they cut carbs enough to lose weight. Why not just cut the carbs, and enjoy what you eat without starving yourself to death?
I donāt believe it is a matter of what carbs I ate which led to my success too much - with the exception of sugar. Fructose is particularly good at putting on the visceral fat. I think I was successful because I started with keto. I did things like keeping the house in the 60s in the winter, and exercising in my skivvies. Cold exposure tends to encourage more brown fat creation - another clue that keto was a cold weather adaptation. So I believe starting with keto helped me create more brown fat, which helped me increase my metabolism and burn more fat. Brown fat is fat cells full of mitochondria rather than triglycerides.
I began to eat more MCTs at the end of my keto which also tend to cause more brown fat to build apparently. This is because I didnāt learn about this earlier in my keto. If I had, I would have started MCT sources besides coconut oil a lot sooner. A meta-analysis study of a few other RCTs seems to confirm my results of weight loss just through the use of MCTs. This study reviewed thirteen short term studies with MCTs versus Long Chain Triglycerides(regular saturated fats). The results showed an across the board weight loss and fat loss connected with the use of MCTs. The differences were small, for instance about a one pound additional weight loss were found in the trials, but nevertheless improvements in body measurements and total body fat loss were consistently present. (Karen Mumme, Welma Stonehouse. Effects of Medium-Chain Triglycerides on Weight Loss and Body Composition: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. RESEARCH REVIEW, VOLUME 115, ISSUE 2, P. 249-263, FEB 1, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2014.10.02) Further, a study from 2014 discovered that MCT oil increased hormones responsible for feelings of fullness in males who had obesity. This feeling of decreased appetite led to participants in the study eating less food. (St-Onge, MP., Mayrsohn, B., OāKeeffe, M. et al. Impact of medium and long chain triglycerides consumption on appetite and food intake in overweight men. Eur J Clin Nutr 68, 1134ā1140 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.145)
I tried to incorporate a few other things which made my fat mitochondria uncouple more. The fiber in cruciferous vegetables are digested into butyrate by certain types of gut probiotics. That butryrate is in turn formed into ketone bodies by our colonocytes in the colon, which are ketogenic. I ate these throughout my keto - cabbage, esp red cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, kale salad, and to a much lesser extent green beans. I cooked them up in coconut oil, butter or olive oil. I generally ate my protein, and then a good helping of any of these without concern for counting carbs.
ALA omega 3s from plants also apparently serve to uncouple mitochondria in fat cells. So, at the end I began to incorporate those. Flax seed is a high source of ALA. I didnāt make these, but I told my wife about them - making flax seed wraps as a substitute for bread. If I do keto again this winter, I will probably try these. I may try to do keto again, but kinda in reverse - doing keto after I gain the muscle - but just low carb during my exercise phase. Iāve always wanted to have a six packā¦and never quite made it.
I am still eating a lot less root vegetables than I did pre-keto. I used to eat a stew with potatoes, carrots and onion much more frequently than I do nowā¦ I have switched to more grass fed beef and lamb. I am also eating my lentil, sweet potato soup less. I am staying more with the cruciferous vegetables. Sauerkraut is another good one. It is fermented with some bacillus subtilis, and has some K2. My breakfast is now goat yogurt with some berries or sour cherries which I sweeten with xylitol and erythritol/monk fruit. Then I typically have a whole red grapefruit, and a peanut butter, banana, and raisin sandwich on organic bread. During keto I switched out the sandwich for a egg and cheese omelet with some red cabbage. If I want strong keto, I cut the grapefruit as well.
As itās usually pork.