The Magic Pill - Netflix Doc

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    I agree that many think refined grains are their healthy grains. Many see "whole grain" bread and think they are doing great getting in their whole grains, but that's what the old food pyramids taught us. Most grains are refined when people eat them or they're fairly inedible, exceptions being corn and rice, plus a few others.

    web1.jpg

    I don't think upping grains, fruits and veggies help diabetics unless you are replacing refined and processed carbs with those foods. Even then, it may not make a large difference. Carbs are still glucose and mist diabetics need to restrict them to some degree.

    Exercise and weight loss dies usually improve diabetes. But I don't believe that switching one carb type for another will have the same benefit for someone with insulin resistance as reducing carbs would.

    FYI, many diabetic educators use a modified version of My Plate. You're arguing with a strawman, there is no mainstream diabetic dietary advice I'm aware of that doesn't recommend monitoring carbohydrate intake and I have worked in a healthcare setting where the patient population is majority diabetic. The place was absolutely littered with "Diabetes and YOU" 101 handouts and none of them said eat carbs with abandon as long as they're whole grain.

    I didn't say there was a mainstream diabetes dietary advice that did not say to monitor carbs. I was responding to a post that said increasing veggies, fruits and grains (carbs) has helped many control and reverse diabetes.

    It wasn't a strawman. It was their statement and not mine.

    I don't believe that increasing carbs, without weight loss and exercise, will help a diabetic control their disease.

    I'd wager that if someone was really eating as per the diabetic pyramid, they'd likely actually have a reduction in carbohydrate intake and be eating more healthful carbohydrates and have a substantial reduction in processed and ultra processed carbohydrates.

    My dad controlled his diabetes easily pretty much following the diabetic pyramid which was way healthier eating than he was doing before...it resulted in a reduction of carbohydrates, particularly "junk" and added sugars, etc.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    I agree that many think refined grains are their healthy grains. Many see "whole grain" bread and think they are doing great getting in their whole grains, but that's what the old food pyramids taught us. Most grains are refined when people eat them or they're fairly inedible, exceptions being corn and rice, plus a few others.

    web1.jpg

    I don't think upping grains, fruits and veggies help diabetics unless you are replacing refined and processed carbs with those foods. Even then, it may not make a large difference. Carbs are still glucose and mist diabetics need to restrict them to some degree.

    Exercise and weight loss dies usually improve diabetes. But I don't believe that switching one carb type for another will have the same benefit for someone with insulin resistance as reducing carbs would.

    FYI, many diabetic educators use a modified version of My Plate. You're arguing with a strawman, there is no mainstream diabetic dietary advice I'm aware of that doesn't recommend monitoring carbohydrate intake and I have worked in a healthcare setting where the patient population is majority diabetic. The place was absolutely littered with "Diabetes and YOU" 101 handouts and none of them said eat carbs with abandon as long as they're whole grain.

    I didn't say there was a mainstream diabetes dietary advice that did not say to monitor carbs. I was responding to a post that said increasing veggies, fruits and grains (carbs) has helped many control and reverse diabetes.

    It wasn't a strawman. It was their statement and not mine.

    I don't believe that increasing carbs, without weight loss and exercise, will help a diabetic control their disease.

    I'd wager that if someone was really eating as per the diabetic pyramid, they'd likely actually have a reduction in carbohydrate intake and be eating more healthful carbohydrates and have a substantial reduction in processed and ultra processed carbohydrates.

    My dad controlled his diabetes easily pretty much following the diabetic pyramid which was way healthier eating than he was doing before...it resulted in a reduction of carbohydrates, particularly "junk" and added sugars, etc.

    I think you are probably right. If most diabetics cut refined and highly processed foods, they would probably end up with lowered carbs which will help them manage the disease better.
  • geneticsteacher
    geneticsteacher Posts: 623 Member
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    Interesting study, but note that sample size was small (n=44). Compares a diet high in animal protein (AP) vs. plant protein (PP).

    Results
    Uric acid decreased in both groups, but significantly more in the AP than the PP group. There were no significant differences in other variables, although glycated haemoglobin levels, diastolic blood pressure and fasting non‐esterified fatty acid levels improved significantly in the PP but not in the AP group. Insulin sensitivity (M‐value), C‐reactive protein and fasting glucose improved significantly in the AP but not in the PP group. Total and LDL cholesterol levels and systolic blood pressure decreased significantly in both groups, and the urinary albumin excretion rate decreased from baseline in participants with microalbuminuria.

    Conclusions
    Isocaloric diets high in AP or PP allow similar improvements in metabolism and cardiovascular risk factors in people with T2DM, indicating that the differences in amino acid composition do not affect the metabolic responses to the interventions.


    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dom.12901
  • duskyjewel
    duskyjewel Posts: 286 Member
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    Yeah, it's steer shyte (except for the seizures part). Next.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    edited June 2018
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    nvmomketo wrote: »
    ,
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    joemac1988 wrote: »
    ellie7187 wrote: »
    Has anyone watched the Netflix doc “The Magic Pill”?

    It’s a doc about the Keto diet and it’s anecdotal (it even uses the term anecdotal in the opening) health benefits. A very interesting and compelling documentary for sure. Albeit, I’m not jumping on the Keto train because of it haha.

    Made me wonder who here has seen it (and what did you think)? And for those that follow a Keto diet do you do it for weight loss or for other supposed health benefits?

    And the "Dr's" quoted aren't actual medical Dr's, they're authors who wrote books on how to keto. Conflict of interest much? You'll have to pry carbs out of my cold dead hands (since I'm too strong because of all the carbs I eat to be able to take them from me while I'm alive).

    No. They seem to be ph.d scientists or medical doctors. There is Nina Teicholz (spelling?) who is an author, and then there is another journalist talking about the Dr Tim Noakes trial... I may have forgotten someone. Who called themselves a doctor but wasn't?

    Really, the carbs they are talking about in the film were highly processed and refined carbs. People were still eating veggies and some fruits. No one advocated removing those from a diet.

    Nina Teicholz is a journalist with no medical training what so ever...her educational background is undergrad in American Studies and a masters in Latin American studies....

    Yes, she's a writer. Her book Big Fat Surprise was quite good.
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    joemac1988 wrote: »
    ellie7187 wrote: »
    Has anyone watched the Netflix doc “The Magic Pill”?

    It’s a doc about the Keto diet and it’s anecdotal (it even uses the term anecdotal in the opening) health benefits. A very interesting and compelling documentary for sure. Albeit, I’m not jumping on the Keto train because of it haha.

    Made me wonder who here has seen it (and what did you think)? And for those that follow a Keto diet do you do it for weight loss or for other supposed health benefits?

    And the "Dr's" quoted aren't actual medical Dr's, they're authors who wrote books on how to keto. Conflict of interest much? You'll have to pry carbs out of my cold dead hands (since I'm too strong because of all the carbs I eat to be able to take them from me while I'm alive).

    No. They seem to be ph.d scientists or medical doctors. There is Nina Teicholz (spelling?) who is an author, and then there is another journalist talking about the Dr Tim Noakes trial... I may have forgotten someone. Who called themselves a doctor but wasn't?

    Really, the carbs they are talking about in the film were highly processed and refined carbs. People were still eating veggies and some fruits. No one advocated removing those from a diet.

    People on keto typically have to limit their consumption of vegetables and fruits though and they're often avoiding or limiting even non-processed and refined carbohydrates like whole grains and beans. So if eating a higher level of carbohydrates is something that one finds useful or pleasant for satiety, reaching specific fitness goals, or enjoying how they taste, keto might not be the best fit.

    That you can have some fruits and vegetables on keto doesn't change the fact that it's way too low for some of us to find pleasant, sustainable, or useful for fitness.

    True. For many keto'ers they have no drop in vegetable consumption after dropping carbs because the bulk of their previous carbs were composed of breads, muffins, crackers, wraps, noodles, rice, sweets, some sweetened dairy products, etc. TBH, I think it is more the norm that someone who switches to keto is NOT reducing veggies and fruits; they may even be increasing it. Perhaps it is because those who are already eating a lot of whole veggies and fruits have less of a need for the health or appetite suppressing effects of keto since their diet is already quite healthful?

    My diet is very high carbohydrate, including things like breads, pasta, and sweets, and there is still no version of keto (including vegan keto) where I would wind up eating more vegetables than I do now.

    If people on keto do wind up increasing their fruit and vegetable consumption, it really makes me wonder if the health benefits reported by some have more to do with that than reducing carbohydrate consumption. Maybe morepeople should just focus on that instead of adopting a plan that requires limiting whole grains and beans, foods also associated with diet patterns that seem to promote health.

    I think the veggie and fruit increases stem from following the old food pyramid with 6-12 servings of grains a day. If you cut that out, it leaves more room for veggies, meats, nuts and seeds.

    If you want to create a large caloric deficit, cutting out grains and not replacing it, leaves you with a diet that is low carb, or closer to it depending on the fruits you choose.

    You're vegetarian, I believe? You cut out meat. It makes sense that you eat more carbs (veggies, fruits and grains) than people who still include meat in their diets.

    Increasing veggies and fruits means some other food is going to have to be reduced. I chose to limit grains because of my health issues and how my appetite works. Plus I believe they offer very little nutritional bang for my buck compared to veggies, nuts, and animal products. I cut my grains (and sugars).

    My macro choice was health based. Not everybody needs to go low carb to feel their best.

    I'm vegan. Personally, even without grains I wouldn't be low carbohydrate because I choose foods like vegetables, fruits, and beans. These supply more than enough carbohydrates to meet my energy and nutritional needs (I limited grains when I was losing weight because it was more challenging to fit them into my calorie goals and I didn't miss them much, I eat more now).

    My point is that the low carbohydrate thing seems to be irrelevant to most people. If you can improve your health by avoiding consuming more energy than you need and eating more fruits and vegetables, why does keto need to be something that ordinary people should consider (as in argued in this film)?

    Oops. I didn't realize you were vegan. So no meats, eggs, or dairy. That's fairly restrictive too. As a keto'er, I just really limit sugar and grains. The only foods I avoid 100% is gluten containing foods due to celiac disease.

    I do completely believe your carbs meet your energy and most of your nutritional needs (beyond B12 supplementation).

    The film doesn't argue that keto is something all people need. It is something that can technically help most people in North America though, since more people now have issues with insulin resistance (prediabetes, diabetes, PCOS, NAFLD, Alzheimer's; plus diseases directly affected by IR like CVD, high BP, and even some cancers) than do not. I don't think low carb is irrelevant to most. I believe the opposite - I think it could help most people. There are very few situations where trying it will hurt your health. I'm not sure that high carb diets can say the same for the majority anymore.

    I feel about veganism the way (I believe) you feel about keto. While it is a restrictive diet by definition, I honestly don't miss anything (probably because I don't practice any additional restrictions like low fat, no oil, low sugar/no added sugar, or restriction of processed/refined foods). If I want something I have it, I just simply no longer desire foods of animal origin because they're ethically not acceptable to me.

    I'm glad that the film doesn't recommend keto as something most people need to adopt. I was under the impression that it had a different message that it did -- that it argued for the widespread adoption of keto and spread the myth that consuming moderate or high amounts of carbohydrates was harmful in and of itself.

    If you're arguing that a high carbohydrate diet will harm the majority of people -- regardless of what type of carbohydrates we're talking about -- I guess I'm going to be curious about what you're basing that statement on. Is there evidence to show this or it this a feeling that you have?

    I meant it while considering the number of people whose health is negatively affected by a diet high in carbs without any changes (dietary food types or calories). Most people tend to loosely follow government guidelines and eat around 50-60% carbs, often with plenty of processed and refined foods, and most people (mainly those into middle age and beyond, especially if overweight) have IR related health issues> High carb (including a diet with a fair bit of processed and refined carbs) may not be the best thing for their health. Carbs raise glucose and insulin which is not helpful to someone whose health has been negatively impacted due to IR.

    If the average higher carb person continue to eat high carb but at a deficit, they may improve their IR as they lose weight, but in that situation it is the calorie deficit and not the higher carb diet that is helping their health.

    If they are eating higher carb and their diet is very heavy in whole veggies and fruits with lots of fibre and low processed and refined carbs, then it may not (probably won't) create any health issues. If one switched to that type of diet after a diet high in processed and refined carbs, they may see some improvements like you would in a very low carb diet, but because dietary glucose raises BG and insulin, it may not improve their health to the same degree. Add in weight loss and that will help too, but again that is due to a calorie deficit and not the food.

    Basically, I have seen no evidence that a diet rich in veggies and some fruit, with minimally processed and refined carbs, causes IR or any health problems like you would see in a diet with fewer whole foods. I'd eat that way if my stomach, current IR and health, appetite or food preferences could do it. So much of it tastes good - it would be very similar to what I eat now but with more plant variety. But like many others, I have some health issues now that just switching to more veggies and fruits (less fat) won't be helpful enough. I passed that point.

    My question was about a high carbohydrate diet (in the context of consuming the appropriate amount of energy) would -- in and of itself -- cause harm and your answer seems to be that you don't have any evidence that it will. Is that correct?

    I think we all know that many people who have health issues related to excess weight will see at least some improvement in their condition if they reach a healthy weight range. If we stipulate that increasing fruits and vegetables and reducing refined carbohydrates is going to improve the quality of the average person's diet, I don't understand why keto proponents so often turn this into a focus on carbohydrates overall. If fruits and vegetables are, generally, good, then why expand that into a specific limit on carbohydrates?

    Sort of.... If you had said that a high carb (in veggies and fruits, low in refined and processed carbs) low fat diet does not cause harm, I would agree. This would be more of a Pritkin or Ornish style of diet, and it has been proven to be healthy. Absolutely. I actually tried it - must have been 20 years ago - when I was hoping to improve my health. It wasn't sustainable for me though. I was very hungry, cold and tired, and it hurt my training.

    I eat similar foods now, but the macros are switched from more animal products.

    A high carb diet, regardless of form of food, I have very little faith in.

    As to focusing on carbs in general as evil, that is a personal matter. Some like me, are so tired (BG and BP swings) and hungry when they eat a lot of carbs that carbs in general seem to work against us. For me, it did not matter if it was oatmeal, stir fried veggies, a salad or jelly beans, if I did not eat every two hours I was shaking, tired and cranky, and getting a headache. That isn't everyone, but the mid afternoon hangry tiredness is not rare.

    Plus there is the fact that over half of North American adults are affected by IR. the only way to really reduce insulin and IR is to reduce your carb consumption, and perhaps keep protein to a moderate level. Exercise helps reduce IR in the skeletal muscles but does much less to help IR around the organs like the liver, brain and pancreas.

    I think because carbs have hurt many keto'ers, I think by the food choices we made in the past, they don't look at them fondly. TBH, if we had eaten high carb, very limited refined and processed carbs, I highly doubt they would have developed the health issues they did and no one would vilify carbs.... But in North America, that sort of diet is far from common. Maybe in Okinawa?

    That's what I mean when I say a high carbohydrate diet -- in and of itself -- doesn't cause harm. Individual food choices that cause one not to meet nutritional needs or consume more energy than one needs can cause harm. But we can see this on any type of diet, including a poorly planned ketogenic diet. So again, I'm not understanding why we're focusing on carbohydrates instead of encouraging people to meet their nutritional needs and focus on not consuming more energy than they need.

    I think people focus on lower carb diets because for most adults the damage is already done. Low carb can help fix it better than some other diets could.

    A diet heavy in fruits and veggies may be (probably is) preventative. BUT, it may not be therapeutic enough for someone who is already ill, which is now most middle aged and older adults, especially those who are overweight with metabolic issues.

    For healthy kids and young adults, focusing on a well planned diet with plenty of fruits and veggies is certainly a good plan, just as good as a low carb plan, and way better than a higher carb diet that is heavy in refined and highly processed carbs.

    My kids are not low carb. Two are moderate carb (probably 30-50%) and one is definitely high carb. I limit their processed and refined carbs more than the average kid appears to. For example, a small GF loaf of bread lasts my family of five one week and they have a noodle based meal maybe once a week. I don't mind them eating higher carbs than me because they are healthy, and their carb sources are more nutritious than refined and highly processed carby products most of the time.

    For lunch, my high school kid usually takes to school beans, some meat such as pepperoni sticks or leftovers, 2 asian pears & 2 apples, or 4 oranges and a pepper, or a cantaloupe, etc.. I added cookies or flavored rice cakes to it half a dozen times as a surprise or on a special day (like a birthday). I am hopeful that the quality of all those carbs will beat the quality of carbs I usually had in my lunchboxes as a kid, which often included a few slices of bread, jam or cheezwhiz, a juice box, and banana. I doubt my lunch had much in terms of preventative qualities in terms of health. And I was a slim person until my 30s. I only became overweight for a few months after childbirth, and after I developed prediabetes...

    Staying within calorie goals is important for weight management. Food choices affect health.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Options
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    ,
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    joemac1988 wrote: »
    ellie7187 wrote: »
    Has anyone watched the Netflix doc “The Magic Pill”?

    It’s a doc about the Keto diet and it’s anecdotal (it even uses the term anecdotal in the opening) health benefits. A very interesting and compelling documentary for sure. Albeit, I’m not jumping on the Keto train because of it haha.

    Made me wonder who here has seen it (and what did you think)? And for those that follow a Keto diet do you do it for weight loss or for other supposed health benefits?

    And the "Dr's" quoted aren't actual medical Dr's, they're authors who wrote books on how to keto. Conflict of interest much? You'll have to pry carbs out of my cold dead hands (since I'm too strong because of all the carbs I eat to be able to take them from me while I'm alive).

    No. They seem to be ph.d scientists or medical doctors. There is Nina Teicholz (spelling?) who is an author, and then there is another journalist talking about the Dr Tim Noakes trial... I may have forgotten someone. Who called themselves a doctor but wasn't?

    Really, the carbs they are talking about in the film were highly processed and refined carbs. People were still eating veggies and some fruits. No one advocated removing those from a diet.

    Nina Teicholz is a journalist with no medical training what so ever...her educational background is undergrad in American Studies and a masters in Latin American studies....

    Yes, she's a writer. Her book Big Fat Surprise was quite good.
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    joemac1988 wrote: »
    ellie7187 wrote: »
    Has anyone watched the Netflix doc “The Magic Pill”?

    It’s a doc about the Keto diet and it’s anecdotal (it even uses the term anecdotal in the opening) health benefits. A very interesting and compelling documentary for sure. Albeit, I’m not jumping on the Keto train because of it haha.

    Made me wonder who here has seen it (and what did you think)? And for those that follow a Keto diet do you do it for weight loss or for other supposed health benefits?

    And the "Dr's" quoted aren't actual medical Dr's, they're authors who wrote books on how to keto. Conflict of interest much? You'll have to pry carbs out of my cold dead hands (since I'm too strong because of all the carbs I eat to be able to take them from me while I'm alive).

    No. They seem to be ph.d scientists or medical doctors. There is Nina Teicholz (spelling?) who is an author, and then there is another journalist talking about the Dr Tim Noakes trial... I may have forgotten someone. Who called themselves a doctor but wasn't?

    Really, the carbs they are talking about in the film were highly processed and refined carbs. People were still eating veggies and some fruits. No one advocated removing those from a diet.

    People on keto typically have to limit their consumption of vegetables and fruits though and they're often avoiding or limiting even non-processed and refined carbohydrates like whole grains and beans. So if eating a higher level of carbohydrates is something that one finds useful or pleasant for satiety, reaching specific fitness goals, or enjoying how they taste, keto might not be the best fit.

    That you can have some fruits and vegetables on keto doesn't change the fact that it's way too low for some of us to find pleasant, sustainable, or useful for fitness.

    True. For many keto'ers they have no drop in vegetable consumption after dropping carbs because the bulk of their previous carbs were composed of breads, muffins, crackers, wraps, noodles, rice, sweets, some sweetened dairy products, etc. TBH, I think it is more the norm that someone who switches to keto is NOT reducing veggies and fruits; they may even be increasing it. Perhaps it is because those who are already eating a lot of whole veggies and fruits have less of a need for the health or appetite suppressing effects of keto since their diet is already quite healthful?

    My diet is very high carbohydrate, including things like breads, pasta, and sweets, and there is still no version of keto (including vegan keto) where I would wind up eating more vegetables than I do now.

    If people on keto do wind up increasing their fruit and vegetable consumption, it really makes me wonder if the health benefits reported by some have more to do with that than reducing carbohydrate consumption. Maybe morepeople should just focus on that instead of adopting a plan that requires limiting whole grains and beans, foods also associated with diet patterns that seem to promote health.

    I think the veggie and fruit increases stem from following the old food pyramid with 6-12 servings of grains a day. If you cut that out, it leaves more room for veggies, meats, nuts and seeds.

    If you want to create a large caloric deficit, cutting out grains and not replacing it, leaves you with a diet that is low carb, or closer to it depending on the fruits you choose.

    You're vegetarian, I believe? You cut out meat. It makes sense that you eat more carbs (veggies, fruits and grains) than people who still include meat in their diets.

    Increasing veggies and fruits means some other food is going to have to be reduced. I chose to limit grains because of my health issues and how my appetite works. Plus I believe they offer very little nutritional bang for my buck compared to veggies, nuts, and animal products. I cut my grains (and sugars).

    My macro choice was health based. Not everybody needs to go low carb to feel their best.

    I'm vegan. Personally, even without grains I wouldn't be low carbohydrate because I choose foods like vegetables, fruits, and beans. These supply more than enough carbohydrates to meet my energy and nutritional needs (I limited grains when I was losing weight because it was more challenging to fit them into my calorie goals and I didn't miss them much, I eat more now).

    My point is that the low carbohydrate thing seems to be irrelevant to most people. If you can improve your health by avoiding consuming more energy than you need and eating more fruits and vegetables, why does keto need to be something that ordinary people should consider (as in argued in this film)?

    Oops. I didn't realize you were vegan. So no meats, eggs, or dairy. That's fairly restrictive too. As a keto'er, I just really limit sugar and grains. The only foods I avoid 100% is gluten containing foods due to celiac disease.

    I do completely believe your carbs meet your energy and most of your nutritional needs (beyond B12 supplementation).

    The film doesn't argue that keto is something all people need. It is something that can technically help most people in North America though, since more people now have issues with insulin resistance (prediabetes, diabetes, PCOS, NAFLD, Alzheimer's; plus diseases directly affected by IR like CVD, high BP, and even some cancers) than do not. I don't think low carb is irrelevant to most. I believe the opposite - I think it could help most people. There are very few situations where trying it will hurt your health. I'm not sure that high carb diets can say the same for the majority anymore.

    I feel about veganism the way (I believe) you feel about keto. While it is a restrictive diet by definition, I honestly don't miss anything (probably because I don't practice any additional restrictions like low fat, no oil, low sugar/no added sugar, or restriction of processed/refined foods). If I want something I have it, I just simply no longer desire foods of animal origin because they're ethically not acceptable to me.

    I'm glad that the film doesn't recommend keto as something most people need to adopt. I was under the impression that it had a different message that it did -- that it argued for the widespread adoption of keto and spread the myth that consuming moderate or high amounts of carbohydrates was harmful in and of itself.

    If you're arguing that a high carbohydrate diet will harm the majority of people -- regardless of what type of carbohydrates we're talking about -- I guess I'm going to be curious about what you're basing that statement on. Is there evidence to show this or it this a feeling that you have?

    I meant it while considering the number of people whose health is negatively affected by a diet high in carbs without any changes (dietary food types or calories). Most people tend to loosely follow government guidelines and eat around 50-60% carbs, often with plenty of processed and refined foods, and most people (mainly those into middle age and beyond, especially if overweight) have IR related health issues> High carb (including a diet with a fair bit of processed and refined carbs) may not be the best thing for their health. Carbs raise glucose and insulin which is not helpful to someone whose health has been negatively impacted due to IR.

    If the average higher carb person continue to eat high carb but at a deficit, they may improve their IR as they lose weight, but in that situation it is the calorie deficit and not the higher carb diet that is helping their health.

    If they are eating higher carb and their diet is very heavy in whole veggies and fruits with lots of fibre and low processed and refined carbs, then it may not (probably won't) create any health issues. If one switched to that type of diet after a diet high in processed and refined carbs, they may see some improvements like you would in a very low carb diet, but because dietary glucose raises BG and insulin, it may not improve their health to the same degree. Add in weight loss and that will help too, but again that is due to a calorie deficit and not the food.

    Basically, I have seen no evidence that a diet rich in veggies and some fruit, with minimally processed and refined carbs, causes IR or any health problems like you would see in a diet with fewer whole foods. I'd eat that way if my stomach, current IR and health, appetite or food preferences could do it. So much of it tastes good - it would be very similar to what I eat now but with more plant variety. But like many others, I have some health issues now that just switching to more veggies and fruits (less fat) won't be helpful enough. I passed that point.

    My question was about a high carbohydrate diet (in the context of consuming the appropriate amount of energy) would -- in and of itself -- cause harm and your answer seems to be that you don't have any evidence that it will. Is that correct?

    I think we all know that many people who have health issues related to excess weight will see at least some improvement in their condition if they reach a healthy weight range. If we stipulate that increasing fruits and vegetables and reducing refined carbohydrates is going to improve the quality of the average person's diet, I don't understand why keto proponents so often turn this into a focus on carbohydrates overall. If fruits and vegetables are, generally, good, then why expand that into a specific limit on carbohydrates?

    Sort of.... If you had said that a high carb (in veggies and fruits, low in refined and processed carbs) low fat diet does not cause harm, I would agree. This would be more of a Pritkin or Ornish style of diet, and it has been proven to be healthy. Absolutely. I actually tried it - must have been 20 years ago - when I was hoping to improve my health. It wasn't sustainable for me though. I was very hungry, cold and tired, and it hurt my training.

    I eat similar foods now, but the macros are switched from more animal products.

    A high carb diet, regardless of form of food, I have very little faith in.

    As to focusing on carbs in general as evil, that is a personal matter. Some like me, are so tired (BG and BP swings) and hungry when they eat a lot of carbs that carbs in general seem to work against us. For me, it did not matter if it was oatmeal, stir fried veggies, a salad or jelly beans, if I did not eat every two hours I was shaking, tired and cranky, and getting a headache. That isn't everyone, but the mid afternoon hangry tiredness is not rare.

    Plus there is the fact that over half of North American adults are affected by IR. the only way to really reduce insulin and IR is to reduce your carb consumption, and perhaps keep protein to a moderate level. Exercise helps reduce IR in the skeletal muscles but does much less to help IR around the organs like the liver, brain and pancreas.

    I think because carbs have hurt many keto'ers, I think by the food choices we made in the past, they don't look at them fondly. TBH, if we had eaten high carb, very limited refined and processed carbs, I highly doubt they would have developed the health issues they did and no one would vilify carbs.... But in North America, that sort of diet is far from common. Maybe in Okinawa?

    That's what I mean when I say a high carbohydrate diet -- in and of itself -- doesn't cause harm. Individual food choices that cause one not to meet nutritional needs or consume more energy than one needs can cause harm. But we can see this on any type of diet, including a poorly planned ketogenic diet. So again, I'm not understanding why we're focusing on carbohydrates instead of encouraging people to meet their nutritional needs and focus on not consuming more energy than they need.

    I think people focus on lower carb diets because for most adults the damage is already done. Low carb can help fix it better than some other diets could.

    A diet heavy in fruits and veggies may be (probably is) preventative. BUT, it may not be therapeutic enough for someone who is already ill, which is now most middle aged and older adults, especially those who are overweight with metabolic issues.

    For healthy kids and young adults, focusing on a well planned diet with plenty of fruits and veggies is certainly a good plan, just as good as a low carb plan, and way better than a higher carb diet that is heavy in refined and highly processed carbs.

    My kids are not low carb. Two are moderate carb (probably 30-50%) and one is definitely high carb. I limit their processed and refined carbs more than the average kid appears to. For example, a small GF loaf of bread lasts my family of five one week and they have a noodle based meal maybe once a week. I don't mind them eating higher carbs than me because they are healthy, and their carb sources are more nutritious than refined and highly processed carby products most of the time.

    For lunch, my high school kid usually takes to school beans, some meat such as pepperoni sticks or leftovers, 2 asian pears & 2 apples, or 4 oranges and a pepper, or a cantaloupe, etc.. I added cookies or flavored rice cakes to it half a dozen times as a surprise or on a special day (like a birthday). I am hopeful that the quality of all those carbs will beat the quality of carbs I usually had in my lunchboxes as a kid, which often included a few slices of bread, jam or cheezwhiz, a juice box, and banana. I doubt my lunch had much in terms of preventative qualities in terms of health. And I was a slim person until my 30s. I only became overweight for a few months after childbirth, and after I developed prediabetes...

    Staying within calorie goals is important for weight management. Food choices affect health.

    Is there evidence that a ketogenic diet provides better outcomes for overweight ill people than, say, a diet that reduces refined carbohydrates but is moderate/high carbohydrate due to calories coming from vegetables, fruit, beans, and whole grains? My understanding is that there is some evidence some diets that fall into this category can also be helpful.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    edited June 2018
    Options
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    ,
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    joemac1988 wrote: »
    ellie7187 wrote: »
    Has anyone watched the Netflix doc “The Magic Pill”?

    It’s a doc about the Keto diet and it’s anecdotal (it even uses the term anecdotal in the opening) health benefits. A very interesting and compelling documentary for sure. Albeit, I’m not jumping on the Keto train because of it haha.

    Made me wonder who here has seen it (and what did you think)? And for those that follow a Keto diet do you do it for weight loss or for other supposed health benefits?

    And the "Dr's" quoted aren't actual medical Dr's, they're authors who wrote books on how to keto. Conflict of interest much? You'll have to pry carbs out of my cold dead hands (since I'm too strong because of all the carbs I eat to be able to take them from me while I'm alive).

    No. They seem to be ph.d scientists or medical doctors. There is Nina Teicholz (spelling?) who is an author, and then there is another journalist talking about the Dr Tim Noakes trial... I may have forgotten someone. Who called themselves a doctor but wasn't?

    Really, the carbs they are talking about in the film were highly processed and refined carbs. People were still eating veggies and some fruits. No one advocated removing those from a diet.

    Nina Teicholz is a journalist with no medical training what so ever...her educational background is undergrad in American Studies and a masters in Latin American studies....

    Yes, she's a writer. Her book Big Fat Surprise was quite good.
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    joemac1988 wrote: »
    ellie7187 wrote: »
    Has anyone watched the Netflix doc “The Magic Pill”?

    It’s a doc about the Keto diet and it’s anecdotal (it even uses the term anecdotal in the opening) health benefits. A very interesting and compelling documentary for sure. Albeit, I’m not jumping on the Keto train because of it haha.

    Made me wonder who here has seen it (and what did you think)? And for those that follow a Keto diet do you do it for weight loss or for other supposed health benefits?

    And the "Dr's" quoted aren't actual medical Dr's, they're authors who wrote books on how to keto. Conflict of interest much? You'll have to pry carbs out of my cold dead hands (since I'm too strong because of all the carbs I eat to be able to take them from me while I'm alive).

    No. They seem to be ph.d scientists or medical doctors. There is Nina Teicholz (spelling?) who is an author, and then there is another journalist talking about the Dr Tim Noakes trial... I may have forgotten someone. Who called themselves a doctor but wasn't?

    Really, the carbs they are talking about in the film were highly processed and refined carbs. People were still eating veggies and some fruits. No one advocated removing those from a diet.

    People on keto typically have to limit their consumption of vegetables and fruits though and they're often avoiding or limiting even non-processed and refined carbohydrates like whole grains and beans. So if eating a higher level of carbohydrates is something that one finds useful or pleasant for satiety, reaching specific fitness goals, or enjoying how they taste, keto might not be the best fit.

    That you can have some fruits and vegetables on keto doesn't change the fact that it's way too low for some of us to find pleasant, sustainable, or useful for fitness.

    True. For many keto'ers they have no drop in vegetable consumption after dropping carbs because the bulk of their previous carbs were composed of breads, muffins, crackers, wraps, noodles, rice, sweets, some sweetened dairy products, etc. TBH, I think it is more the norm that someone who switches to keto is NOT reducing veggies and fruits; they may even be increasing it. Perhaps it is because those who are already eating a lot of whole veggies and fruits have less of a need for the health or appetite suppressing effects of keto since their diet is already quite healthful?

    My diet is very high carbohydrate, including things like breads, pasta, and sweets, and there is still no version of keto (including vegan keto) where I would wind up eating more vegetables than I do now.

    If people on keto do wind up increasing their fruit and vegetable consumption, it really makes me wonder if the health benefits reported by some have more to do with that than reducing carbohydrate consumption. Maybe morepeople should just focus on that instead of adopting a plan that requires limiting whole grains and beans, foods also associated with diet patterns that seem to promote health.

    I think the veggie and fruit increases stem from following the old food pyramid with 6-12 servings of grains a day. If you cut that out, it leaves more room for veggies, meats, nuts and seeds.

    If you want to create a large caloric deficit, cutting out grains and not replacing it, leaves you with a diet that is low carb, or closer to it depending on the fruits you choose.

    You're vegetarian, I believe? You cut out meat. It makes sense that you eat more carbs (veggies, fruits and grains) than people who still include meat in their diets.

    Increasing veggies and fruits means some other food is going to have to be reduced. I chose to limit grains because of my health issues and how my appetite works. Plus I believe they offer very little nutritional bang for my buck compared to veggies, nuts, and animal products. I cut my grains (and sugars).

    My macro choice was health based. Not everybody needs to go low carb to feel their best.

    I'm vegan. Personally, even without grains I wouldn't be low carbohydrate because I choose foods like vegetables, fruits, and beans. These supply more than enough carbohydrates to meet my energy and nutritional needs (I limited grains when I was losing weight because it was more challenging to fit them into my calorie goals and I didn't miss them much, I eat more now).

    My point is that the low carbohydrate thing seems to be irrelevant to most people. If you can improve your health by avoiding consuming more energy than you need and eating more fruits and vegetables, why does keto need to be something that ordinary people should consider (as in argued in this film)?

    Oops. I didn't realize you were vegan. So no meats, eggs, or dairy. That's fairly restrictive too. As a keto'er, I just really limit sugar and grains. The only foods I avoid 100% is gluten containing foods due to celiac disease.

    I do completely believe your carbs meet your energy and most of your nutritional needs (beyond B12 supplementation).

    The film doesn't argue that keto is something all people need. It is something that can technically help most people in North America though, since more people now have issues with insulin resistance (prediabetes, diabetes, PCOS, NAFLD, Alzheimer's; plus diseases directly affected by IR like CVD, high BP, and even some cancers) than do not. I don't think low carb is irrelevant to most. I believe the opposite - I think it could help most people. There are very few situations where trying it will hurt your health. I'm not sure that high carb diets can say the same for the majority anymore.

    I feel about veganism the way (I believe) you feel about keto. While it is a restrictive diet by definition, I honestly don't miss anything (probably because I don't practice any additional restrictions like low fat, no oil, low sugar/no added sugar, or restriction of processed/refined foods). If I want something I have it, I just simply no longer desire foods of animal origin because they're ethically not acceptable to me.

    I'm glad that the film doesn't recommend keto as something most people need to adopt. I was under the impression that it had a different message that it did -- that it argued for the widespread adoption of keto and spread the myth that consuming moderate or high amounts of carbohydrates was harmful in and of itself.

    If you're arguing that a high carbohydrate diet will harm the majority of people -- regardless of what type of carbohydrates we're talking about -- I guess I'm going to be curious about what you're basing that statement on. Is there evidence to show this or it this a feeling that you have?

    I meant it while considering the number of people whose health is negatively affected by a diet high in carbs without any changes (dietary food types or calories). Most people tend to loosely follow government guidelines and eat around 50-60% carbs, often with plenty of processed and refined foods, and most people (mainly those into middle age and beyond, especially if overweight) have IR related health issues> High carb (including a diet with a fair bit of processed and refined carbs) may not be the best thing for their health. Carbs raise glucose and insulin which is not helpful to someone whose health has been negatively impacted due to IR.

    If the average higher carb person continue to eat high carb but at a deficit, they may improve their IR as they lose weight, but in that situation it is the calorie deficit and not the higher carb diet that is helping their health.

    If they are eating higher carb and their diet is very heavy in whole veggies and fruits with lots of fibre and low processed and refined carbs, then it may not (probably won't) create any health issues. If one switched to that type of diet after a diet high in processed and refined carbs, they may see some improvements like you would in a very low carb diet, but because dietary glucose raises BG and insulin, it may not improve their health to the same degree. Add in weight loss and that will help too, but again that is due to a calorie deficit and not the food.

    Basically, I have seen no evidence that a diet rich in veggies and some fruit, with minimally processed and refined carbs, causes IR or any health problems like you would see in a diet with fewer whole foods. I'd eat that way if my stomach, current IR and health, appetite or food preferences could do it. So much of it tastes good - it would be very similar to what I eat now but with more plant variety. But like many others, I have some health issues now that just switching to more veggies and fruits (less fat) won't be helpful enough. I passed that point.

    My question was about a high carbohydrate diet (in the context of consuming the appropriate amount of energy) would -- in and of itself -- cause harm and your answer seems to be that you don't have any evidence that it will. Is that correct?

    I think we all know that many people who have health issues related to excess weight will see at least some improvement in their condition if they reach a healthy weight range. If we stipulate that increasing fruits and vegetables and reducing refined carbohydrates is going to improve the quality of the average person's diet, I don't understand why keto proponents so often turn this into a focus on carbohydrates overall. If fruits and vegetables are, generally, good, then why expand that into a specific limit on carbohydrates?

    Sort of.... If you had said that a high carb (in veggies and fruits, low in refined and processed carbs) low fat diet does not cause harm, I would agree. This would be more of a Pritkin or Ornish style of diet, and it has been proven to be healthy. Absolutely. I actually tried it - must have been 20 years ago - when I was hoping to improve my health. It wasn't sustainable for me though. I was very hungry, cold and tired, and it hurt my training.

    I eat similar foods now, but the macros are switched from more animal products.

    A high carb diet, regardless of form of food, I have very little faith in.

    As to focusing on carbs in general as evil, that is a personal matter. Some like me, are so tired (BG and BP swings) and hungry when they eat a lot of carbs that carbs in general seem to work against us. For me, it did not matter if it was oatmeal, stir fried veggies, a salad or jelly beans, if I did not eat every two hours I was shaking, tired and cranky, and getting a headache. That isn't everyone, but the mid afternoon hangry tiredness is not rare.

    Plus there is the fact that over half of North American adults are affected by IR. the only way to really reduce insulin and IR is to reduce your carb consumption, and perhaps keep protein to a moderate level. Exercise helps reduce IR in the skeletal muscles but does much less to help IR around the organs like the liver, brain and pancreas.

    I think because carbs have hurt many keto'ers, I think by the food choices we made in the past, they don't look at them fondly. TBH, if we had eaten high carb, very limited refined and processed carbs, I highly doubt they would have developed the health issues they did and no one would vilify carbs.... But in North America, that sort of diet is far from common. Maybe in Okinawa?

    That's what I mean when I say a high carbohydrate diet -- in and of itself -- doesn't cause harm. Individual food choices that cause one not to meet nutritional needs or consume more energy than one needs can cause harm. But we can see this on any type of diet, including a poorly planned ketogenic diet. So again, I'm not understanding why we're focusing on carbohydrates instead of encouraging people to meet their nutritional needs and focus on not consuming more energy than they need.

    I think people focus on lower carb diets because for most adults the damage is already done. Low carb can help fix it better than some other diets could.

    A diet heavy in fruits and veggies may be (probably is) preventative. BUT, it may not be therapeutic enough for someone who is already ill, which is now most middle aged and older adults, especially those who are overweight with metabolic issues.

    For healthy kids and young adults, focusing on a well planned diet with plenty of fruits and veggies is certainly a good plan, just as good as a low carb plan, and way better than a higher carb diet that is heavy in refined and highly processed carbs.

    My kids are not low carb. Two are moderate carb (probably 30-50%) and one is definitely high carb. I limit their processed and refined carbs more than the average kid appears to. For example, a small GF loaf of bread lasts my family of five one week and they have a noodle based meal maybe once a week. I don't mind them eating higher carbs than me because they are healthy, and their carb sources are more nutritious than refined and highly processed carby products most of the time.

    For lunch, my high school kid usually takes to school beans, some meat such as pepperoni sticks or leftovers, 2 asian pears & 2 apples, or 4 oranges and a pepper, or a cantaloupe, etc.. I added cookies or flavored rice cakes to it half a dozen times as a surprise or on a special day (like a birthday). I am hopeful that the quality of all those carbs will beat the quality of carbs I usually had in my lunchboxes as a kid, which often included a few slices of bread, jam or cheezwhiz, a juice box, and banana. I doubt my lunch had much in terms of preventative qualities in terms of health. And I was a slim person until my 30s. I only became overweight for a few months after childbirth, and after I developed prediabetes...

    Staying within calorie goals is important for weight management. Food choices affect health.

    Is there evidence that a ketogenic diet provides better outcomes for overweight ill people than, say, a diet that reduces refined carbohydrates but is moderate/high carbohydrate due to calories coming from vegetables, fruit, beans, and whole grains? My understanding is that there is some evidence some diets that fall into this category can also be helpful.

    I was not talking about weight loss. That comes down to CI<CO and what diet best helps the individual achieve that.

    I was referring to the improved health of those with IR from diet alone. I think the pritikin or ornish diet has been shown to be helpful in CVD, but was confounded with weight loss. I could be wrong. I think I've read about a Mediterranean diet improving conditions associated with IR, or the actual IR, but I'm not sure if that is without weight loss.

    Posted just up thread was this:
    Interesting study, but note that sample size was small (n=44). Compares a diet high in animal protein (AP) vs. plant protein (PP).

    Results
    Uric acid decreased in both groups, but significantly more in the AP than the PP group. There were no significant differences in other variables, although glycated haemoglobin levels, diastolic blood pressure and fasting non‐esterified fatty acid levels improved significantly in the PP but not in the AP group. Insulin sensitivity (M‐value), C‐reactive protein and fasting glucose improved significantly in the AP but not in the PP group. Total and LDL cholesterol levels and systolic blood pressure decreased significantly in both groups, and the urinary albumin excretion rate decreased from baseline in participants with microalbuminuria.

    Conclusions
    Isocaloric diets high in AP or PP allow similar improvements in metabolism and cardiovascular risk factors in people with T2DM, indicating that the differences in amino acid composition do not affect the metabolic responses to the interventions.


    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dom.12901

    It looks like a low carb diet provides better outcomes for IR than other diets.
    https://www.nutritionjrnl.com/article/S0899-9007(14)00332-3/abstract

    When it comes to PREVENTING IR, I think a diets with plenty of veggie and some fruit, with very little refined and highly processed carbs, is just fine. I think many low carb diets (low in refined and highly processed carbs) will also work fine, as will a Mediterranean diet (low in refined and highly processed carbs).
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Options
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    ,
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    joemac1988 wrote: »
    ellie7187 wrote: »
    Has anyone watched the Netflix doc “The Magic Pill”?

    It’s a doc about the Keto diet and it’s anecdotal (it even uses the term anecdotal in the opening) health benefits. A very interesting and compelling documentary for sure. Albeit, I’m not jumping on the Keto train because of it haha.

    Made me wonder who here has seen it (and what did you think)? And for those that follow a Keto diet do you do it for weight loss or for other supposed health benefits?

    And the "Dr's" quoted aren't actual medical Dr's, they're authors who wrote books on how to keto. Conflict of interest much? You'll have to pry carbs out of my cold dead hands (since I'm too strong because of all the carbs I eat to be able to take them from me while I'm alive).

    No. They seem to be ph.d scientists or medical doctors. There is Nina Teicholz (spelling?) who is an author, and then there is another journalist talking about the Dr Tim Noakes trial... I may have forgotten someone. Who called themselves a doctor but wasn't?

    Really, the carbs they are talking about in the film were highly processed and refined carbs. People were still eating veggies and some fruits. No one advocated removing those from a diet.

    Nina Teicholz is a journalist with no medical training what so ever...her educational background is undergrad in American Studies and a masters in Latin American studies....

    Yes, she's a writer. Her book Big Fat Surprise was quite good.
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    joemac1988 wrote: »
    ellie7187 wrote: »
    Has anyone watched the Netflix doc “The Magic Pill”?

    It’s a doc about the Keto diet and it’s anecdotal (it even uses the term anecdotal in the opening) health benefits. A very interesting and compelling documentary for sure. Albeit, I’m not jumping on the Keto train because of it haha.

    Made me wonder who here has seen it (and what did you think)? And for those that follow a Keto diet do you do it for weight loss or for other supposed health benefits?

    And the "Dr's" quoted aren't actual medical Dr's, they're authors who wrote books on how to keto. Conflict of interest much? You'll have to pry carbs out of my cold dead hands (since I'm too strong because of all the carbs I eat to be able to take them from me while I'm alive).

    No. They seem to be ph.d scientists or medical doctors. There is Nina Teicholz (spelling?) who is an author, and then there is another journalist talking about the Dr Tim Noakes trial... I may have forgotten someone. Who called themselves a doctor but wasn't?

    Really, the carbs they are talking about in the film were highly processed and refined carbs. People were still eating veggies and some fruits. No one advocated removing those from a diet.

    People on keto typically have to limit their consumption of vegetables and fruits though and they're often avoiding or limiting even non-processed and refined carbohydrates like whole grains and beans. So if eating a higher level of carbohydrates is something that one finds useful or pleasant for satiety, reaching specific fitness goals, or enjoying how they taste, keto might not be the best fit.

    That you can have some fruits and vegetables on keto doesn't change the fact that it's way too low for some of us to find pleasant, sustainable, or useful for fitness.

    True. For many keto'ers they have no drop in vegetable consumption after dropping carbs because the bulk of their previous carbs were composed of breads, muffins, crackers, wraps, noodles, rice, sweets, some sweetened dairy products, etc. TBH, I think it is more the norm that someone who switches to keto is NOT reducing veggies and fruits; they may even be increasing it. Perhaps it is because those who are already eating a lot of whole veggies and fruits have less of a need for the health or appetite suppressing effects of keto since their diet is already quite healthful?

    My diet is very high carbohydrate, including things like breads, pasta, and sweets, and there is still no version of keto (including vegan keto) where I would wind up eating more vegetables than I do now.

    If people on keto do wind up increasing their fruit and vegetable consumption, it really makes me wonder if the health benefits reported by some have more to do with that than reducing carbohydrate consumption. Maybe morepeople should just focus on that instead of adopting a plan that requires limiting whole grains and beans, foods also associated with diet patterns that seem to promote health.

    I think the veggie and fruit increases stem from following the old food pyramid with 6-12 servings of grains a day. If you cut that out, it leaves more room for veggies, meats, nuts and seeds.

    If you want to create a large caloric deficit, cutting out grains and not replacing it, leaves you with a diet that is low carb, or closer to it depending on the fruits you choose.

    You're vegetarian, I believe? You cut out meat. It makes sense that you eat more carbs (veggies, fruits and grains) than people who still include meat in their diets.

    Increasing veggies and fruits means some other food is going to have to be reduced. I chose to limit grains because of my health issues and how my appetite works. Plus I believe they offer very little nutritional bang for my buck compared to veggies, nuts, and animal products. I cut my grains (and sugars).

    My macro choice was health based. Not everybody needs to go low carb to feel their best.

    I'm vegan. Personally, even without grains I wouldn't be low carbohydrate because I choose foods like vegetables, fruits, and beans. These supply more than enough carbohydrates to meet my energy and nutritional needs (I limited grains when I was losing weight because it was more challenging to fit them into my calorie goals and I didn't miss them much, I eat more now).

    My point is that the low carbohydrate thing seems to be irrelevant to most people. If you can improve your health by avoiding consuming more energy than you need and eating more fruits and vegetables, why does keto need to be something that ordinary people should consider (as in argued in this film)?

    Oops. I didn't realize you were vegan. So no meats, eggs, or dairy. That's fairly restrictive too. As a keto'er, I just really limit sugar and grains. The only foods I avoid 100% is gluten containing foods due to celiac disease.

    I do completely believe your carbs meet your energy and most of your nutritional needs (beyond B12 supplementation).

    The film doesn't argue that keto is something all people need. It is something that can technically help most people in North America though, since more people now have issues with insulin resistance (prediabetes, diabetes, PCOS, NAFLD, Alzheimer's; plus diseases directly affected by IR like CVD, high BP, and even some cancers) than do not. I don't think low carb is irrelevant to most. I believe the opposite - I think it could help most people. There are very few situations where trying it will hurt your health. I'm not sure that high carb diets can say the same for the majority anymore.

    I feel about veganism the way (I believe) you feel about keto. While it is a restrictive diet by definition, I honestly don't miss anything (probably because I don't practice any additional restrictions like low fat, no oil, low sugar/no added sugar, or restriction of processed/refined foods). If I want something I have it, I just simply no longer desire foods of animal origin because they're ethically not acceptable to me.

    I'm glad that the film doesn't recommend keto as something most people need to adopt. I was under the impression that it had a different message that it did -- that it argued for the widespread adoption of keto and spread the myth that consuming moderate or high amounts of carbohydrates was harmful in and of itself.

    If you're arguing that a high carbohydrate diet will harm the majority of people -- regardless of what type of carbohydrates we're talking about -- I guess I'm going to be curious about what you're basing that statement on. Is there evidence to show this or it this a feeling that you have?

    I meant it while considering the number of people whose health is negatively affected by a diet high in carbs without any changes (dietary food types or calories). Most people tend to loosely follow government guidelines and eat around 50-60% carbs, often with plenty of processed and refined foods, and most people (mainly those into middle age and beyond, especially if overweight) have IR related health issues> High carb (including a diet with a fair bit of processed and refined carbs) may not be the best thing for their health. Carbs raise glucose and insulin which is not helpful to someone whose health has been negatively impacted due to IR.

    If the average higher carb person continue to eat high carb but at a deficit, they may improve their IR as they lose weight, but in that situation it is the calorie deficit and not the higher carb diet that is helping their health.

    If they are eating higher carb and their diet is very heavy in whole veggies and fruits with lots of fibre and low processed and refined carbs, then it may not (probably won't) create any health issues. If one switched to that type of diet after a diet high in processed and refined carbs, they may see some improvements like you would in a very low carb diet, but because dietary glucose raises BG and insulin, it may not improve their health to the same degree. Add in weight loss and that will help too, but again that is due to a calorie deficit and not the food.

    Basically, I have seen no evidence that a diet rich in veggies and some fruit, with minimally processed and refined carbs, causes IR or any health problems like you would see in a diet with fewer whole foods. I'd eat that way if my stomach, current IR and health, appetite or food preferences could do it. So much of it tastes good - it would be very similar to what I eat now but with more plant variety. But like many others, I have some health issues now that just switching to more veggies and fruits (less fat) won't be helpful enough. I passed that point.

    My question was about a high carbohydrate diet (in the context of consuming the appropriate amount of energy) would -- in and of itself -- cause harm and your answer seems to be that you don't have any evidence that it will. Is that correct?

    I think we all know that many people who have health issues related to excess weight will see at least some improvement in their condition if they reach a healthy weight range. If we stipulate that increasing fruits and vegetables and reducing refined carbohydrates is going to improve the quality of the average person's diet, I don't understand why keto proponents so often turn this into a focus on carbohydrates overall. If fruits and vegetables are, generally, good, then why expand that into a specific limit on carbohydrates?

    Sort of.... If you had said that a high carb (in veggies and fruits, low in refined and processed carbs) low fat diet does not cause harm, I would agree. This would be more of a Pritkin or Ornish style of diet, and it has been proven to be healthy. Absolutely. I actually tried it - must have been 20 years ago - when I was hoping to improve my health. It wasn't sustainable for me though. I was very hungry, cold and tired, and it hurt my training.

    I eat similar foods now, but the macros are switched from more animal products.

    A high carb diet, regardless of form of food, I have very little faith in.

    As to focusing on carbs in general as evil, that is a personal matter. Some like me, are so tired (BG and BP swings) and hungry when they eat a lot of carbs that carbs in general seem to work against us. For me, it did not matter if it was oatmeal, stir fried veggies, a salad or jelly beans, if I did not eat every two hours I was shaking, tired and cranky, and getting a headache. That isn't everyone, but the mid afternoon hangry tiredness is not rare.

    Plus there is the fact that over half of North American adults are affected by IR. the only way to really reduce insulin and IR is to reduce your carb consumption, and perhaps keep protein to a moderate level. Exercise helps reduce IR in the skeletal muscles but does much less to help IR around the organs like the liver, brain and pancreas.

    I think because carbs have hurt many keto'ers, I think by the food choices we made in the past, they don't look at them fondly. TBH, if we had eaten high carb, very limited refined and processed carbs, I highly doubt they would have developed the health issues they did and no one would vilify carbs.... But in North America, that sort of diet is far from common. Maybe in Okinawa?

    That's what I mean when I say a high carbohydrate diet -- in and of itself -- doesn't cause harm. Individual food choices that cause one not to meet nutritional needs or consume more energy than one needs can cause harm. But we can see this on any type of diet, including a poorly planned ketogenic diet. So again, I'm not understanding why we're focusing on carbohydrates instead of encouraging people to meet their nutritional needs and focus on not consuming more energy than they need.

    I think people focus on lower carb diets because for most adults the damage is already done. Low carb can help fix it better than some other diets could.

    A diet heavy in fruits and veggies may be (probably is) preventative. BUT, it may not be therapeutic enough for someone who is already ill, which is now most middle aged and older adults, especially those who are overweight with metabolic issues.

    For healthy kids and young adults, focusing on a well planned diet with plenty of fruits and veggies is certainly a good plan, just as good as a low carb plan, and way better than a higher carb diet that is heavy in refined and highly processed carbs.

    My kids are not low carb. Two are moderate carb (probably 30-50%) and one is definitely high carb. I limit their processed and refined carbs more than the average kid appears to. For example, a small GF loaf of bread lasts my family of five one week and they have a noodle based meal maybe once a week. I don't mind them eating higher carbs than me because they are healthy, and their carb sources are more nutritious than refined and highly processed carby products most of the time.

    For lunch, my high school kid usually takes to school beans, some meat such as pepperoni sticks or leftovers, 2 asian pears & 2 apples, or 4 oranges and a pepper, or a cantaloupe, etc.. I added cookies or flavored rice cakes to it half a dozen times as a surprise or on a special day (like a birthday). I am hopeful that the quality of all those carbs will beat the quality of carbs I usually had in my lunchboxes as a kid, which often included a few slices of bread, jam or cheezwhiz, a juice box, and banana. I doubt my lunch had much in terms of preventative qualities in terms of health. And I was a slim person until my 30s. I only became overweight for a few months after childbirth, and after I developed prediabetes...

    Staying within calorie goals is important for weight management. Food choices affect health.

    Is there evidence that a ketogenic diet provides better outcomes for overweight ill people than, say, a diet that reduces refined carbohydrates but is moderate/high carbohydrate due to calories coming from vegetables, fruit, beans, and whole grains? My understanding is that there is some evidence some diets that fall into this category can also be helpful.

    I was not talking about weight loss. That comes down to CI<CO and what diet best helps the individual achieve that.

    I was referring to the improved health of those with IR from diet alone. I think the pritikin or ornish diet has been shown to be helpful in CVD, but was confounded with weight loss. I could be wrong. I think I've read about a Mediterranean diet improving conditions associated with IR, or the actual IR, but I'm not sure if that is without weight loss.

    Posted just up thread was this:
    Interesting study, but note that sample size was small (n=44). Compares a diet high in animal protein (AP) vs. plant protein (PP).

    Results
    Uric acid decreased in both groups, but significantly more in the AP than the PP group. There were no significant differences in other variables, although glycated haemoglobin levels, diastolic blood pressure and fasting non‐esterified fatty acid levels improved significantly in the PP but not in the AP group. Insulin sensitivity (M‐value), C‐reactive protein and fasting glucose improved significantly in the AP but not in the PP group. Total and LDL cholesterol levels and systolic blood pressure decreased significantly in both groups, and the urinary albumin excretion rate decreased from baseline in participants with microalbuminuria.

    Conclusions
    Isocaloric diets high in AP or PP allow similar improvements in metabolism and cardiovascular risk factors in people with T2DM, indicating that the differences in amino acid composition do not affect the metabolic responses to the interventions.


    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dom.12901

    It looks like a low carb diet provides better outcomes for IR than other diets.
    https://www.nutritionjrnl.com/article/S0899-9007(14)00332-3/abstract

    When it comes to PREVENTING IR, I think a diets with plenty of veggie and some fruit, with very little refined and highly processed carbs, is just fine. I think many low carb diets (low in refined and highly processed carbs) will also work fine, as will a Mediterranean diet (low in refined and highly processed carbs).

    I think I'm confused by what you are claiming here.

    We know that people who are ill due to excess weight will often benefit from weight loss.

    So is there evidence that a ketogenic diet that results in weight loss offers more benefits to ill people than other types of diets that result in weight loss? Or are you claiming that the benefits of a ketogenic diet are available to those who don't lose any weight? If you can clarify for me what you're claiming, I think that would help because I'm still not understanding.

    Why keto? Since weight loss is accomplished by a calorie deficit, what benefits are you arguing are available via this way of life that aren't available to anyone who maintains an appropriate weight while also consuming a moderate or high amount of carbohydrates from foods like vegetables, fruit, beans, and whole grains?

    Is the argument that someone with weight related illnesses who adopts a ketogenic diet but loses no weight has a better chance of favorable health outcomes than someone who loses weight on a moderate or high carbohydrate diet?

    I think that study is comparing two different types of high protein diets, so I'm not sure what it has to do with what we're discussing (if I'm misreading it, I apologize).