Zero carb....eh?

(MooBoom) #1

Folks, just came across this vid from Dr. Berg.

He’s advocating 7 cups of leafy greens and an oz of pecans a day, but says overall the recommended foods are zero carb? How can this be even looking at it from a net carbs POV?

#2

He’s talking out his[spoiler] arse[/spoiler] :wink:

(Running from stupidity) #3

He’s a spaz. If you remember this one piece of info, you’ll never watch his videos, and you and the rest of the world will be better off as a result.

(Carl Keller) #4

When I first heard him say that I unsubscribed from his channel.

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Bahahahahahaha! I know a vegetarian and he doesn’t eat that much leafy greens in a week!

(Robert C) #5

10 cups of arugula is 200 grams (7 ounces) with 7.4 grams of carbs (or 4.2 net carbs).

I have more than that in a day (2 X 5 ounce servings most days of arugula or spinach). 5 ounces sautées down to about a single cup of arugula, butter, salt, pepper and a dash of cayenne pepper. Keeps things working beautifully and I don’t have to shovel down some big cold salad. Spinach sautéed along with adding several ounces of cream cheese (to taste/satiety) makes for a great pseudo creamed spinach.

I’m pretty sure I’ve heard Dr. Berg say leafy green carbs (or maybe all non-starchy carbs?) are not worth counting (even if he didn’t - 4.2 net carbs is probably better spent on greens than on many other things).

Pecans (one ounce) have 4 grams of carbs (3 grams of fibre (UK) fiber (US) and 1 gram of sugar) so, nothing to write home about in terms of carbs.

Best to be careful about information you get from ANY source. Both to avoid problems but also to not immediately dismiss potential gems.

(MooBoom) #6

Thanks for your detailed response! Cooked greens is absolutely the way to go to maximise volume.

#7

I didn’t mean to discourage you from eating them - only pointing out that he’s incorrect if he’s saying they’re zero carb.

(Robert C) #8

I also add crumbled blue cheese to the arugula near the end to let it get half melted.
Then carefully slide it onto a plate so I can get a little bit of cheese in every fork full.
Real good way to up your daily fat if you are having trouble with your macro breakdown.

#9

Nina Teicholz explains the history and origins of many diet schools of thought:

The science backbone of the ketogenic diet was provided by Drs Phinney/Volek and clinical power house Eric Westman. They were originally invited to analyze the Atkins diet … from there the “keto diet” sprung up … Although Banting and others had been practicing something similar centuries ago…

If there is an ample supply of high quality information from the above (“horses mouths”) why would anybody go to a messenger boy (however charming they may or may not be)?

Berg has some reasonable keto vids (he only has to regurgitate the above people’s information, hard to go wrong). But then it seems he can’t help himself. I wonder if can he tell the difference between science and fantasy.

I hate to dis. anybody but there are way better information sources.

(MooBoom) #10

Yes I couldn’t wrap my head around the zero carb claim at all! I read the comments on YouTube far enough to find someone calling him out on it. Lots of Dr Berg evangelists saying ‘oh but he MEANT’ or ‘oh but you don’t count leafy greens, he says that’, ‘oh but it might as well be zero carb because it won’t spike your insulin’ etc.

Maybe it’s just me being a pedant…but how about DON’T say something is zero carb when it’s definitely not? I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water but he just got labelled ‘take advice with a massive grain of salt’ in my book.

(MooBoom) #11

I really hadn’t come across him before, YouTube offered his video up to me after I watched Gary Fettke’s low carb down under presentation on fruit (which, by the way, is excellent).
Alarm bells definitely rang!

#12

The kindest thing I can say about him is that he’s a bit hit & miss. Good news is there are plenty of others offering good advice. :slightly_smiling_face:

(Brian) #13

I can’t eat that much salad. Sorry. Just don’t have the teeth to make that happen anymore. I’ll occasionally eat a little salad but 7-10 cups a day might as well be 7-10 bushels. Not gonna happen.

There are certainly lots of ways to eat a healthy keto diet, some of which are plant food heavy. If that works for some, great! I’m happy for them. (And I don’t say that sarcastically.) Thinking that’s the only way a person can be healthy eating a keto diet, though, I think is a little short sighted… but that’s only my opinion.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #14

I did not watch the video, no internet now. But if he’s recommended zero carb foods overall plus these veggies and pecans I would wonder if he meant to use your carbs eating veggies and nuts and make the rest of your choices zero carb foods like protein and fat. Again didn’t watch it and don’t follow Berg. :cowboy_hat_face:

#15

There are LC gurus that recommend eating plenty of veggies.Two voices (perhaps more respected than Dr Berg) are Dr Perlmutter (Brain Maker, Grain Brain) and Dr Wahls, whose protocol calls for 6-9 cups of veggies.

When I hear zero carb, what I really care about is zero impact on blood glucose. To that end, fiber counts, and LC veggies have minimal impact on my BG.
Here’s my empirical n=1 results conducted on two consecutive days :
preprandial BG = 75
8 oz tuna steak with 2 TB butter
2 hr postprandial BG = 85

preprandial BG =78
8 oz tuna steak with 8 oz rice cauliflower and 2 TB butter
2 hr postprandial BG = 88

I don’t care about ideology, I’ve done extensive testing to determine how my body responds to various foods. Based on this, I consider leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables to be zero carb.

#16

I just can’t get over the sheer volume that’s 6-9 cups of vegetables. I feel like I’d be passing bricks.

(MooBoom) #17

If you cook your leafy greens the volume would reduce to a couple cups at most I think? Still a lot, especially if you’re OMAD.