I don't know that book - will check it out. I am currently reading Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore is easy to read, details studies and many medical successes. Also read The art and science of low carb living by Volek & Phinney - this could be said to be the text book of LC. A good read for a Dr or Nurse with lots of science.

I have shed 75lb in 8 months. My Dr is stoked and encouraging LCHF. Last month she had never seen such great blood results with a huge improvement in everything measurable. After dieting unsuccessfully for 40 years and felt I was doomed to always be around 380lb, I was a failure and could never stop the cycle I was on. LCHF is a science and experiment to know what suits you, but it works when you are focused, listen to your body, log EVERYTHING you put in your mouth. Stick with it, it is only things like your improved blood works that will make some medical professionals sit up and take notice. Even then they may remain skeptical like a nutritionalist I saw last month - a real CICO food pyramid advisor, and she said she knew all about LC when I booked - but on the day she said "I know how dangerous it is, especially ketoacidosis can kill". My reply showed I know more than her. Ketoacidosis only occurs for type 1 diabetics which I am not - it has nothing to do with nutritional Ketosis nor a carb sensitive person like me. She also wanted me to add in more carbs even though I still have over 100lb more to shed. She also said red meat causes cancer. Oh dear I lost all respect of her advice. All of this rot is well covered in both of the books above.

Now I will continue my way with my Dr support. Stuff the nay sayers.

Something I've noticed is that no matter what you do someone will tell you it's wrong for some reason. Only count calories and someone will say you need to watch your carbs/fat/cholesterol/red meat/etc. Count carbs and they'll tell you the protein is bad for your system. Eat gluten and you're going to have a gut, eat this and this will happen, eat that and that will happen. Not every WOE is best for every person, so everyone will have their own opinion.

The best way to prove that whatever WOE you have chosen is good for you is to stick with it, improve your health, and be your best self.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Science-Carbohydrate-Living/dp/0983490708

Buy a copy of this book. Hand it to your nurse relative. Tell her to read it from cover to cover before she talks to you about your way of eating again.

I'm a registered nurse, and imo your sister is only repeating what she has been told, over , and over. So many times, that she believes it (I did too!)! I jumped in, in faith that this woe would help me lose weight, not even realizing what was in store for me! I'd been unable to work for ten years because of fibromyalgia pain, and cervical dystonia. I began LCHF last March 15th, and found out quickly that I felt better, and realized the lower carb I went, the better I felt! I went zero carb last May and found that's where my body wanted to be! I still haven't eaten more than 20gm carbs more than maybe five times since then, but not greater than 30. I went back to work, part time, last November, and am loving being a nurse again! My cholesterol is wonderful after a check last month! That can't be disputed! Oh, and I'm off blood pressure medicine, fibromyalgia meds, and all allergy meds too! I will have pain if I eat too many carbs now. Even just from veggies! My doctors are sort of speechless in what they see!

Yes to reading Cholesterol, and Keto Clarity books! They are great, and easy to read!

Can I just add that I've been to the hospital quite a few times with my partner and family over the last couple of years and there are A LOT of pretty overweight nurses. I know this is because they're busy and have to grab food when they can, but I don't think they should be giving other people grief for what they choose to eat.

EbonyDahlia wrote: »

Can I just add that I've been to the hospital quite a few times with my partner and family over the last couple of years and there are A LOT of pretty overweight nurses. I know this is because they're busy and have to grab food when they can, but I don't think they should be giving other people grief for what they choose to eat.

You don't even have to visit a hospital. Take a look at the staff at just about every medical practice. I went with my husband on a recent appointment. Just out of curiosity, I counted nine non-doctor staffers. None of them looked like a healthy weight and a couple were gigantic. Sadly the heaviest were also the youngest.

A lot of my friends and family are nurses and basically they seem to know very little about nutrition. Usually they are very good at the area they specialize in and only have basic knowledge elsewhere. One cousin used to ask me neurology questions while she was in school because I have a rare brain condition and was tested for about 1000 things leading up to my diagnosis and surgery! As such I knew more about various conditions and symptoms than she did.

It's like any other profession, you tend to learn outdated info in school and when you start to work you get to know what you use daily inside and out. Nutrition probably isn't something they are focused on...I'm an accountant but I don't do taxes and haven't in over a decade so I am not well suited to giving tax advice. Unless you are filing a 2003 tax return! ;P Of course people in general like to give advice they aren't qualified to give! haha

wabmester wrote: »

EbonyDahlia wrote: »

Can I just add that I've been to the hospital quite a few times with my partner and family over the last couple of years and there are A LOT of pretty overweight nurses. I know this is because they're busy and have to grab food when they can, but I don't think they should be giving other people grief for what they choose to eat.

And a lot of overweight cops. And a lot of overweight truck drivers.

The common theme? Chronically high stress occupations.

I work in a call center, I know about high stress. I meet the cream of the *kitten* crop on a daily basis, not to mention long hours, not quiet periods, and always on the clock. It's hard work for sure. I no longer comfort myself with food, but I do drink too much coffee, and tend to go outside and chain vape on my breaks (haven't had a cigarette in 12 months, and feel fantastic because of it btw).

GaleHawkins wrote: »

I turn 65 tomorrow with more hope for the future than when I was 40 and have better health across the board than 25 years ago.

Happy Birthday tomorrow! So wonderful to hear you are in better health now!!

Happy birthday Gale! and many many more...

Thanks guys.

Happy Birthday @GaleHawkins!! Hope your day is extra special!

Thanks for the book recommendation @Sunny_Bunny_! I downloaded it!

When you have to sit thru a Nephrology appt/ or Urology NP visit, and hear her freak over the words "high fat"..and "butter" and a lecture on how seriously bad "cholesterol and high fat diets will give me heart disease" ..I could CRY..since I am paying this close-minded idiot $50. for useless advice to load up on more carbs..

and know she hasn't read any new studies in a DECADE, then be sent to a Renal RD ( and pay her too) ..who says the same damn thing.."load up on carbs so I won't be hungry" oh and "exercise 4-5x MORE "than I am already doing.

The entire medical system, the VA, and ALL trained nutrition staff spout the same "low fat" thing, call LC a 'fad'. On an on.

LUCKILY Weston Price- via Mary Enig…( from year 2000!) has a great article on WHY Saturated Fats are good for Kidneys:

Since MOST of the people seeking LCHF help are NOT young, very healthy, and fit, thin people..then this advice is for them:

http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/saturated-fats-and-the-kidneys

As Professor Noakes says"This is the new medicine which will take 30 years to be accepted…" But we don't HAVE 30 years.

EbonyDahlia wrote: »

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

EbonyDahlia wrote: »

wabmester wrote: »

EbonyDahlia wrote: »

Can I just add that I've been to the hospital quite a few times with my partner and family over the last couple of years and there are A LOT of pretty overweight nurses. I know this is because they're busy and have to grab food when they can, but I don't think they should be giving other people grief for what they choose to eat.

And a lot of overweight cops. And a lot of overweight truck drivers.

The common theme? Chronically high stress occupations.

I work in a call center, I know about high stress. I meet the cream of the *kitten* crop on a daily basis, not to mention long hours, not quiet periods, and always on the clock. It's hard work for sure. I no longer comfort myself with food, but I do drink too much coffee, and tend to go outside and chain vape on my breaks (haven't had a cigarette in 12 months, and feel fantastic because of it btw).

@EbonyDahlia With your vaping, are you insulin resistant? I can't recall. I've recently been wondering, as my guy vapes around me semi-frequently (nearly always 0 nic), but the sweet smells make me wonder if I'm staying in insulin misery without even noticing!

No ... the sweeteness is not absorbed. I can chain vape all day and still be in deep ketosis, most vape flavours are artificial sweetener anyway. But you aren't drinking it. You don't ingest sugar smelling a jar of honey, same thing.

For me, it's not about ingesting the sugar/artificial sweeteners - or questioning whether that happens, @EbonyDahlia . I know many diabetics can vape without it affecting their blood sugars For me, it's about anything that gets my saliva response going. I know the breathing of it doesn't do much, but for example, if I smell donuts, my mouth waters, and the insulin starts churning because even if I just ate, I get hungry. Dessert and pastry flavored vape clouds do this to me, too, hence the wondering... If I'm already fat adapted, I can do the equivalent of "fasting through" but I still wonder about the reaction.

And I know many vape flavors do not have artificial sweeteners at all, and that those that do are in the lines of stevia and sucralose, etc. (My fiance mixes his own juice in addition to reps for another company, but he doesn't really "get" the whole low carb/insulin resistance thing, so it's complicated to ask questions.

Being insulin resistant adds whole degrees of difficulty, plus PCOS and hypothyroidism and such. I'm just wondering how much this affects things. Since I can't test my insulin, I don't have a quantifiable number to look for. I don't normally get a feeling of blood sugar drop with something like this, but I'm more wondering about the insulin threshold - like is the smell enough to release a quantity to shift my "internal engine" from fat burning to fat storing? @Dragonwolf - any ideas??

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

EbonyDahlia wrote: »

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

EbonyDahlia wrote: »

wabmester wrote: »

EbonyDahlia wrote: »

Can I just add that I've been to the hospital quite a few times with my partner and family over the last couple of years and there are A LOT of pretty overweight nurses. I know this is because they're busy and have to grab food when they can, but I don't think they should be giving other people grief for what they choose to eat.

And a lot of overweight cops. And a lot of overweight truck drivers.

The common theme? Chronically high stress occupations.

I work in a call center, I know about high stress. I meet the cream of the *kitten* crop on a daily basis, not to mention long hours, not quiet periods, and always on the clock. It's hard work for sure. I no longer comfort myself with food, but I do drink too much coffee, and tend to go outside and chain vape on my breaks (haven't had a cigarette in 12 months, and feel fantastic because of it btw).

@EbonyDahlia With your vaping, are you insulin resistant? I can't recall. I've recently been wondering, as my guy vapes around me semi-frequently (nearly always 0 nic), but the sweet smells make me wonder if I'm staying in insulin misery without even noticing!

No ... the sweeteness is not absorbed. I can chain vape all day and still be in deep ketosis, most vape flavours are artificial sweetener anyway. But you aren't drinking it. You don't ingest sugar smelling a jar of honey, same thing.

For me, it's not about ingesting the sugar/artificial sweeteners - or questioning whether that happens, @EbonyDahlia . I know many diabetics can vape without it affecting their blood sugars For me, it's about anything that gets my saliva response going. I know the breathing of it doesn't do much, but for example, if I smell donuts, my mouth waters, and the insulin starts churning because even if I just ate, I get hungry. Dessert and pastry flavored vape clouds do this to me, too, hence the wondering... If I'm already fat adapted, I can do the equivalent of "fasting through" but I still wonder about the reaction.

And I know many vape flavors do not have artificial sweeteners at all, and that those that do are in the lines of stevia and sucralose, etc. (My fiance mixes his own juice in addition to reps for another company, but he doesn't really "get" the whole low carb/insulin resistance thing, so it's complicated to ask questions.

Being insulin resistant adds whole degrees of difficulty, plus PCOS and hypothyroidism and such. I'm just wondering how much this affects things. Since I can't test my insulin, I don't have a quantifiable number to look for. I don't normally get a feeling of blood sugar drop with something like this, but I'm more wondering about the insulin threshold - like is the smell enough to release a quantity to shift my "internal engine" from fat burning to fat storing? @Dragonwolf - any ideas??

I really wish we could test our own insulin...
I want to know what it's doing!