The Ketogenic Diet for Health - http://www.ketotic.org/ - Amber O'Hearn

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #1

Amber O’Hearn is an amazing person! The depth and extent of her knowledge and research is remarkable. Just go to her blog’s homepage in the title of this topic. Scroll down for the posts on that page. Hit the link to Older Posts at the bottom of each page - enjoy.

(Gregory - You can teach an old dog new tricks.) #2

One of my favorites…

So sad that I get a lot of push back from people who question her credentials…

Sort of a reverse " appeal to authority " …

Nutrition education is in such a sad state…

#3

http://www.ketotic.org/
@amber

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

While I like Amber a lot on the personal level, what I truly value is her commitment to the nutritional data, and her thoughtful analyses.

(Bob M) #5

I first saw her at Ketofest 2017. She gave a presentation. (First time I saw Dave Feldman, too.) I thought to myself at the time, “Wait - there are people who eat nothing but meat? Are they crazy?” Over time, I’ve moved to eating fewer and fewer vegetables, though I can’t quite make the jump to full carnivore.

After the spate of low carb gurus who decided they were also epidemiologists and virologists and knew more than anyone else in those fields, she’s one of the few I still follow. She never entered the covid fray.

(Tracy) #6

This reminds me of something I’ve always wondered about. It’s cynical of me, but I believe most doctors aren’t willing to tell their patients to eat a HFLC diet. Rarely are red flags are raised when a doctor tells you to eat a diet low in fat, full of fruits, veggies and whole grains. One reason being, most patients aren’t going to follow Keto properly and cause more harm than good, and the doctor knows this. But mainly because it goes against all the guidelines we are taught. So for those doctors that go against the grain, are they in any danger of losing their practice?

(Bob M) #7

It’s unclear to me how this works. At one time, you’d see individual doctors in their own building/space. Now, that’s rare, at least where I am.

I had Dr. Cate Shanahan:

https://drcate.com/

as my doctor, and she said everyone else in the large practice was not low carb. She was the only one. She ended up getting a job in a corporation.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #8

It varies from practice to practice and around the world.

In the U.S., medical practices have become corporations, and their lawyers and business managers lay down regulations that are intended to protect against lawsuits and keep premiums for liability insurance low. In such businesses, handing out advice that cannot be justified by prevailing practices can cause a non-conforming doctor to be reprimanded or even forced to leave the practice. In other practices, the doctors have more control over the standard of care they offer, but theoretically a complaint to the state medical board or medical society could lead to disciplinary action (though I expect such a complaint could be successfully fought off).

In the U.K., physicians are subjected to NICE guidelines and can get into trouble for violating them. However, physicians such as Aseem Malhotra and David Unwin have been making waves and have achieved enough national influence to have an effect on the guidelines. It also helps that there is a prominent MP who lost a lot of weight on a ketogenic diet and has said so publicly. There is also a physician by the name of Ben Goldacre (not the bodybuilder) who has taken up a campaign to make medicine in the U.K. more evidence-based.

In Sweden, a medical professional was charged with handing out wrong advice, but her case was eventually dismissed when it was shown that her LCHF recommendations were actually evidence-based. Swedes have embraced keto to the point where it actually created a butter shortage, a few years ago.

In Australia, Garry Fettke was disciplined and silenced for several years for “inappropriately reversing” a patient’s Type II diabetes. The Minister of Health eventually reversed the judgement and issued a formal apology.

In South Africa, Tim Noakes was brought up on charges by the medical regulators after making a famous tweet, and the charges were only dismissed after a long trial and an appeal by the complainants.

(L. Amber O'Hearn) #9

I have even gotten pushback on my recent paper Can a carnivore diet provide all essential nutrients?, published in Current Opinions in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity, because of not having a PhD in a biological field, despite the content of the paper having no unsupported claims. It’s very difficult to get past this imaginary boundary with some people.

(Peter) #10

I believe it was the charging agency - Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency or AHPRA - rather than a govt minister that not only dropped the charges they brought, but also agreed the there was no harm in medical practitioners suggesting that LCHF practices be tried by patients.

#11

It was a doctor that introduced me to keto so, I guess it all depends on where you are. Her emphasis is on weight management and is associated with a large medical practice/hospital. She appears to be successful as it took me several weeks to get in the first time. I have never before been to a weight management doctor so this is my only experience.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #12

You’re right, but I seem to remember that the Minister of Health was involved. Or perhaps one of his deputies?

ETA: Ah, well. Don’t get old, eh?

(Gregory - You can teach an old dog new tricks.) #13

Here is my stock reply to people who are all aghast about the idea that we don’t need all those healthy fruits and vegetables that are so full of " essential " nutrients…

99%, if not more, of the fruit and produce you see in markets today, were not available 100 or less years ago in their present form, if at all. The ones that were available, were seasonal, and only available for relatively brief periods during the year, for most people.

What was the source and availability, back when ( think, virtually all of human history ) , for all of the vitamins , minerals and antioxidants that are supposedly not easily/readily available from a primarily animal sourced diet, but necessary for good health?

When and how did someone decide that seriously bitter ( toxicity warning ) leaves, tubers and roots would be great healthy food if you manipulated it enough with cooking, spices, sauces and etc. to make it marginally palatable ?
How did humans evolve and survive before intentional manipulation of otherwise toxic or un-palatable plant sourced foods became common practice?

I have yet to get a substantive counter reply.

#14

This is an excellent point. Do you have a link to an article or video that provides evidence of how different modern plants are from those of, say, 100 years ago? There are a couple of people I would love to send that to.

(Bob M) #15

I wouldn’t go that far. They still seem to eat tons of sweets. Not sure how they maintain thinness. It may have to do more with hardiness (outside all the time, no matter the weather; swimming in quite cold water; etc.). Or at least my wife’s sister, who lives there and owns a cafe, says. They sell tons of breads and sweets. Though she’s also vegetarian, so maybe there are others who are more meat-based.

(Gregory - You can teach an old dog new tricks.) #16

I wish I did.

But I think stating this is stating the obvious…

Pre-refrigeration, pre hybridization ( to any extent ), pre rapid transportation, the list goes on and on. Or does it?

What do you need beside those three?

Iceberg Lettuce

Introduced for commercial production in the late 1940s, Iceberg (or crisphead) lettuce was the only variety bred to survive cross-country travel (the name Iceberg comes from the piles of ice they would pack the light green lettuce heads in before the advent of the refrigerated train car). Therefore, throughout the middle of the century, unless you grew your own or dined in a high-end establishment, iceberg essentially was lettuce.

#17

Sauna.

(Bob M) #18

Could be.

They have a saying that there is no bad weather, only bad clothes.

I went and visited Finland (right next to Sweden), in September. It snowed where I was (far north), and people were out – riding their bikes. Yes, bikes.

Now, I have studded tires for my mountain bike (from – guess where? – Finland), but I thought I was the only one in the US who did that. They Finnish were not phased at all by snow.

The Swedes are very similar.

Went on summer vacation to Sweden. Went swimming in August in the local river. Holy smokes, was it cold! And that’s in summer. And it was hot there for the first day we were there. After that, it was cool to cold.

#19

When they were starving.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #20