Trying to Sort out Fact from Fiction

#1

So I checked MSN news everyday as a habit, and I saw this article.

These 7 Carbs Could Kill You

So the article says these carbs are bad for you, but the researcher still says carbs should make up 50% of your daily intake as recommended by the government. (that’s 250 g a day, btw.) The carbs should just be good ones.

Are doctors and researchers not allowed to give good advice? I have heard that if you ask a doctor for dietary advice they’ll follow the recommended guidelines, and then if you mention you have tried LCHF that then they will support you, but they can’t introduce it to you. Is this true? Or are they simply misinformed? It’s so frustrating because as someone in their early thirties, I feel like my generation has been this big lab experiment, and I get angry about it. But even though this stuff is starting to hit mainstream ( I also saw the article about the 30 days keto article from today.com) we are still being misled.

I know this is kind of an angry post for a first time poster, but I AM angry. I can see in my life how these things may have played out with me and my other family members but we weren’t told that was the reason, we were told it was something else (like being overweight). And you look back and the something else’s were symptoms, not causes, and the root cause was the diet.

Since 11/25 I have lost 8-9 lbs, and that’s not even being strictly LCHF the entire time (about a meal a week deviates). But those are some serious results!

I am just looking for reaffirmation this is the right thing. I know in my mind, but the “experts” are so persistent in towing the line.

(Consensus is Politics) #2

Welcome to Club Keto my friend. You sound a lot like me. I was diagnosed on Aug 29, 2027, as T2D. Was shocked at first. I’ve never had any signs. I go to the VA regularly for back pains and kidney stones. Have been having blood tests several times a year. Surely they would catch something like this? And they did. It was a blood work for urology for the kidney stone problem (I have been passing several per year). The lab tech called me, he said I needed to go to an ER immediately because my Blood glucose was 594! As an example, a reading of 300 will get you admitted into the hospital, as that is life threatening.

Now to shorten the story… I stuck with the suggested diet for 6 weeks. Very little improvement. Meds were increased along the way too. I decided to research diabetes myself. Surely it can’t be as bad as they let in. Irreversible? Only gets worse, not better. I came to the conclusion that sugar was the problem. And since carbs made sugar, then why the hell was I eating any at all? I already knew about Ketosis. I tried it a few years ago, lost about 20 or 30 pounds over a few months a I think. Only reason I didn’t keep with it was I missed my pizza, pasta, and the rest of my comfort foods. Turns out those foods are poison, to me anyway, so I needed to return to Keto for life.

As many will attest to here, I was irate at the VA for putting me on a diet that included a large amount of carbs. 45-60 grams per meal. They even went as far to say it’s ok to eat 5 meals a day instead of 3, or 2, but never just 1. It was if none of them do any thinking for themselves. Just follow government guidelines. One of the things I discovered was that the food pyramid, that they so highly praise as good nutrition, was put in place by a politician with no background in medicine let alone science!

But I digress. First, think for yourself. Question ANYONE who says ‘this is right, that is wrong’ make them prove it. Show me the science. If you haven’t already been introduced to Jason Fung, MD’s book, The Obesity Code, go to Amazon, get the free preview, you will get enough to know you want to buy it. I only got halfway through the free preview, and I scrapped that and bought the ebook. $10 I think. Well worth it.

You might also check out the 2 Keto Dudes podcast as well. I recommend starting with episode 1, and go from there. Many questions get answered.

And seeing as you found this forum, you seem well on the way to finding the truth. Don’t let it get you down. Yes, it’s humiliating to think how the medical community has let us down, and seem to not even care. But you will soon learn that there are many doctors out there that promote low carb eating.

By the way, my HBa1c was 11.7% in August. Now it’s about 5.5%. If I went in for a check up, the doctors wouldn’t even guess I have diabetes. My blood sugar is in complete control. I stopped my meds. No exercise. But recently started riding my stationary bike. I have the urge to get up and go now. 14 days after starting Keto, I lost 40 pounds. Not a typo, FORTY POUNDS IN 14 DAYS. I went from 245 to 205 in two weeks. That was October 31st. Since then, I’ve been hovering around the 200 pounds mark with a variance of about +/- 5. I’m not doing this for the weight loss, it’s just a benefit of not eating carbs.

If you any questions, feel free to ask. This forum has some excellent guidance. Some real good folk here.

(Michael ) #3

Yeah, I feel your pain. I grew up with the food pyramid and all the low fat, high sugar "healthy " snacks. I can’t tell you what scientific research will say tomorrow or the next day, but historically I believe that if you do the opposite of what the government says, you’re probably on the right track.

There’s a lot of really smart people advocating this lifestyle with the research to back it up. A really funny smart guy I like to listen to is Dr jason fung. He’s a fasting advocate but generally advocates ketogenic eating as well. His background is nephrologist so he pretty much tries to fix food pyramid induced diabetes all day long

Its easy to read too many studies, especially misinterpreted ones in the media, and get confused. My best advice id to seek out well informed intelligent voices like dr. Fung and just tune out some of the other noise

#4

I have been watching all of the keto youtube videos I can get my hands on recently. I have seen the lectures by Taubes, I watched a bunch of the videos from ketofest this year, I have seen the fathead movie, etc., so I have seen all of the science. And it makes perfect sense. It just is so infuriating to see people say “we know from the science this or that is bad” and then recommend the complete opposite. The “fat fear” still lingers because it’s harder to un-teach yourself something, but I know this is going to be good. Thanks for weighing in for me. I am researcher by trade, so I know not to believe anything without the science or research behind it, but there are still entities you should be able to trust, but I guess I should have known better with all of the history I studied in college.

(Michael ) #5

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to know that there’s not much money in fasting and cutting out prepackaged sugary foods. And last time I checked, a certain government subsidies corn and has a lot to get rid of to the rest of the world

(Rob) #6

Lots of good responses here about vested interests and institutional inertia etc. but the biggest one I see is that if a doctor prescribes the accepted standard of care they are NOT liable for almost any outcome that may arise. They prescribe anything else and something (heaven forbid) goes wrong… massive medical malpractice lawsuits. This is the defining rule in US medicine. The institutions (AHA, ADA etc.) probably worry the same way.
That is a lot of pressure against emerging best practices.

#7

This is something I hadn’t thought of. It makes a lot of sense, too. Thanks for sharing.

(Consensus is Politics) #8

It’s also a recipe for intellectual laziness on their part.
“This how we do it” instead of “how can we improve it”

Yes. I rock the boat. I did so in the Air Force as well. I took a lot of heat for it, but if it saved one life, it was worth it.

(Michael ) #9

Probably intellectual laziness to some degree, but if we’re talking about doctors in the western medical industrial complex, it’s all about profits to the boards. Ask a physician about how many patients they see and how much time they can spend. They’re taught little about nutrition, but rather how to quickly prescribe pills. Their only reoccurring training on medicine is in the form of presentations and lectures from drug reps on new drugs. I imagine the very motivated go home and read studies, but most of them are exausted and lack free time. It’s sad hpw that industry crushes the spirits of people who wanted to help others. Luckily, there are super physicians who put in the extra effort and write books like dr. Fung. Most doctors lack the time, motivation, or bravery to challenge the status quo and conventional methods.

I need my doctor to perform lab work and set broken bones, but I’m very hesitant to take any advice on health and well being. They may be doctors, but as sson as they mention healthy carbs, dietary cholesterol or statins, the reality that they haven’t spent 1% of the time I have doing research sets in.

And i mean no disrespect to any doctors. These are the conclusions I’ve drawn from speaking with a lot of them

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

Read Taubes’s book, Good Calories, Bad Calories, and Nina Teicholz’ book, Big Fat Surprise, in which they cover the development of the nutritional guidelines and the “science” on which they are based. If you’re mad now, you’ll be even angrier after you finish reading!

It all boils down to the fact that someone in the right position at the right time was able to get a highly questionable study taken as Gospel, and he had enough friends in the right places to make everyone else toe the line. And we’ve all paid the price, ever since.

And by the way—it turns out the sugar industry had a hand in all this demonizing of fat, so as to take the heat off sugar.

:bacon::bacon:

(Dameon Welch-Abernathy) #11

There’s no money to be made in fasting…or no sugar.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

I have a new fasting supplement, guaranteed to help you lose weight: dehydrated water! I’m even running a special: Buy two packs, get one free! :bacon:

(Randy) #13

Turns out the medical and food industries are as just as corrupted by big money as politics.

I was terribly naive in believing there was plenty of money to be made by doing the right thing.

Silly me.