I thought I would include some edited highlights of
My Low Carb Journey to help people decide if it is worth them downloading and reading the pdf file. The three dots "..." indicate something has been removed.
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My Low Carbohydrate Journey - Highlights
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Weight loss isn't compulsory, so even people without weight problems can improve their health with a Low Carb diet.
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The following narrative contains pointers to key dietary and health information, gleaned from various sources, which gave me the confidence to start a Ketogenic diet.
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Other benefits which I experienced after a few weeks of starting a Ketogenic (Keto) diet:
Increased mental alertness
Constant feelings of lethargy vanished
Loud snoring stopped (for which my wife is truly grateful!)
Excess tummy acid no longer a problem (and antacid medication no longer needed)
I gather that these positive effects are not uncommon for people switching to a Keto diet.
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I was very keen to avoid both Type 2 diabetes (with its associated complications) and also Cardiovascular Disease, but over a six-month period I was unable to lose one pound however hard I tried. (It really wasn’t because I was lacking willpower, as the lady leading the DPP course once unhelpfully suggested. … )
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… I learnt about the American physiologist Ancel Keys. His belief that eating saturated fat causes heart disease came to prominence following President Eisenhower’s heart attack in 1955, when there was an urgency to discover what had caused it. Political and commercial weight were thrown behind Keys' claim, even though it was unproven.
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Keys' claim and study are the rather shaky foundation that decades of low fat dietary dogma are built upon.
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The UK, among many countries, has simply adopted the US lead against dietary saturated fat and continued with it, despite the contrary evidence.
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Saturated fat build-up in the blood (and body cells) indeed indicates an increased risk of Cardiovascular Disease. However, it doesn’t originate from eating saturated fat, as research studies have shown. In fact, the saturated fat is made by the liver - a process called
hepatic de novo lipogenesis. This process is triggered by insulin and typically occurs when dietary fat is replaced by carbohydrate.
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Someone eating a Ketogenic diet will tend to have lower levels of saturated fat in their blood and body tissue than someone eating a low fat diet rich in carbohydrate.
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I have found glaring logical inconsistencies in both official health advice against Low Carbohydrate diets and also the half-hearted Low Carbohydrate advice given by other organisations.
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Dr David Unwin, a senior GP from Southport UK, and his wife Dr Jen Unwin (a Consultant Clinical Psychologist) had a paper published in early 2014 entitled "Low carbohydrate diet to achieve weight loss and improve HbA1c in type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes: experience from one general practice". It says:
The authors’ interest was first sparked by the fact that even wholemeal bread (GI index 71) or baked potato (GI index 85) has a higher glycaemic index than table sugar itself (GI index 68).
This sentence eloquently shows the inadequacy of the "continue eating carbohydrate" dietary advice being given to people with Type 2 Diabetes or Prediabetes ...
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I'm not at all surprised by the 98% long-term failure rate. What is surprising is that instead of entertaining the possibility that "Eat Less, Move More" is somehow inadequate (or simply does not suit everyone), dietitians blame the patient for the failure of a treatment plan that was shown a hundred years ago would be ineffective long-term. It is also surprising that (seemingly) most dietitians and healthcare professionals view Low Carb/Keto as a "fad diet" and having no scientific basis. Ironically, it is “Low Fat” and “Eat Less, Move More” that are not supported by good science.
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… Hence elevated LDL for someone in Ketosis isn't necessarily a health problem at all.
Having thus satisfied myself of the scientific basis and safety of Keto and knowing I had to do something about my health, I decided to give it a try.
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IR is an indication that the metabolism isn't really coping with carbohydrate, effectively carbohydrate intolerance, so carbohydrate restriction makes good sense.
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People are rightly concerned about the environment, so how can we square this with red meat and dairy consumption? Done correctly, raising grass-fed cows can actually result in net carbon capture and be positive for the environment.
