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Thoughts on Patrick Holford?

caroline_92

Well-Known Member
Messages
153
Location
Warwickshire
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi, I have just been along to a talk this evening by Patrick Holford, who has a new book out called the Hybrid Diet. Which talks about cycling between a lowish but good carb diet and a ketogenic diet, encouraging our bodies to switch between them both, for example on a weekly basis. And I really don't know what to think about it all. Or him!

I haven't read any of his books and am intuitively suspicious as he is a big fan of supplements, which he sells. I have never taken supplements in all my 7 years of successful low carbing and am not about to start now. He also says you can get the benefits of fasting in terms of autophagy whilst in ketosis so don't need to fast and go hungry. Which is very different from what others think and have experienced.

I am really curious as to what all you expert folk on here think of him and his approaches? Has anyone read the Hybrid Diet book? All comments and thoughts would be welcome.
 
I have just YouTubed this gentleman. He seems to be pushing products or supplements or his book on the videos I flicked through. I could be wrong but I get the impression he may have jumped on to the bandwagon.

Edited to add.

Two things strike me. The first is that it takes roughly three weeks to a month to get into real ketosis after changing from a normal western diet. The second is that to become metabolically flexible I think one would have to be non IR Diabetic. And I'm not sure about his take on autophagy as it is my understanding that fasting for at least 48 hours is required. The science in autophagy is really new.
 
Personally I wouldn't be too hung up on LCHF or Keto. I would say what are my goals, which would lead me to which of the 2 is best for my situation. I do a hybrid of LCHP at the moment, and will look again in a couple of months.

You don't starve in the sense of the sensation when you are fasting and fat adapted. Fasting I believe is the ultimate for autophagy, however Ketosis is said to produce a similar effect, but requiring a longer period.

I would only take supplements as a last resort. I bought some in my less educated early phase, they are taking up space in my pantry.
 
If you type "Patrick Holford Quack" into google you get some interesting results..
From what I have read he's a bit dubious.. but I know little about him ..
 
bulkbiker said:
If you type "Patrick Holford Quack" into google you get some interesting results..
From what I have read he's a bit dubious.. but I know little about him ..
Click to expand...

I did just that. The quack-o-meter went Ding Ding!
 
I don’t know much about him except that I read a book of his many, many years ago and tried unsuccessfully to follow his somewhat complicated diet plan based around low glycaemic load. Looking back, far too many carbs involved.
 
I have his low GI diet cookbook. The recipes are very simple so it’s easy to prepare for midweek meals. I swap out the carb content of his recipes. He’s brought the new book out and yes, he’s changed his tune. Yes, he’s jumped on the bandwagon!
If you’re interested to learn about autophagy Naomi whittle explains it well.
 
I have read several of his books, but no recent ones.
A family member has them all, and lends them out if you so much as glance at his bookshelf.

From what I have seen, his books change significantly over time, with fashion, and his supplement production line, so his advice always comes with a strong emphasis on his extensive (and expensive) proprietory supplementation.

I read his avoiding diabetes book with interest, and tried his ideas for a while, maybe 10 years ago. Disastrous for me. Far too high in carbs, no matter how slow release they were supposed to be.

If he has changed his tune and is now supporting low carb, then that makes more sense, but I wouldn't do anything that he suggests without checking the information independently (and not just the myriad cherry picked references he throws into his books), and I wouldn't be buying any of his supplements without an equal amount of verification and other research.

Remember his breakfast shake Get Up and Go thing? Blend with a banana and your choice of milk to get lots of supplemental nutrition and fibre added in. Shudder.
 
caroline_92 said:
Good carbs = low GL apparently - he is a big fan of legumes such as lentils and beans as a source of protein in addition to animal protein.
Click to expand...
I have also been to a Patrick Holford talk and have his Optimum Nutrtion Bible which is a useful source of information on vitamins though as you say he has a bias because of his commercial interest in selling supplements.
IMO I think most folk would benefit immensely from just being consistent on a good quality diet based on whole foods including some low GI carbs (his book Say No to Diabetes proposes this ). If you are insulin resistant you may have to tweak the quantity of carbs and should not fear upping the fat as a consequence. As I recall he's rather old school on saturated fat but that was a few years back.
As for authophagy/keto this would be a tweak I'd look into were I extremely far down the path of insulin resistance or worried about cancer plus had the energy to devote my time to a complicated regime. He has to sell a new diet book in a crowded market and there are always 'wonderers' who spend their time planning their next miracle diet rather than actually getting the basics right!
 

I was listening to Ben Bikman last night (Ben is a professor and describes himself as an 'Insulin Resistance guy') and he keeps it simple by saying that if you have a problem with glucose don't eat glucose! It doesn't get much easier than that. For those of us with IR the GI/GL model can muddy the waters especially at the beginning. It really doesn't have to be complicated and, as you say, supplements are not necessarily needed unless you have a proven deficiency.
 
Guzzler said:
I did just that. The quack-o-meter went Ding Ding!
Click to expand...
If it walks like one, and sounds like one, then it probably is. My wife has a friend who also sells supplements, and she is heavily promoting the WFPB diet for curing diabetes, Parkinsons. and cancer, so is IMHO a dangerous person to follow. Not saying Patrick is in the same boat since I have not come across him in any context.

I personally did flip between keto and LCHF for a while, and I had it down to a fine art, I found I could add or leave out a second slice of toast in my breakfast to switch in and out. I got bored with the confines of ultra low carb in the end. It did remove some IR and I did become a bit more carb tolerant so I opted for the Pioppi diet instead which suits me better.

I have recently gone into Remission after 2 years of LCHF and have dropped my diabetic medication, apart from some Metformin which I take for cardio vascular support. I have been using fasting intermittently, and that seems to have helped. since it has the effect of possibly inducing fat burning for a while so reducing my IR gradually, I found I did not need to switch in and out of keto since I did not seem to benefit from the exercise. However, I do not think it would be a problem for anyone wanting to try it so long as you adjust your medication as necessary, and keep testing those sugars.
 

What struck me was that in one video short the gentleman seemed to imply that autophagy was a done deal in terms of the understanding/science. I doubt very much if this is true.
The last time I learned of some of the research (rodent and in vitro focused) betahydroxybuterate 'seemed' to aid autophagy (this was in muscle tissue).
 
Monthly journal online but not read it yet. Seems to be quite scientific and not for the faint hearted, (like me, at the moment)
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/kaup20/15/5?nav=tocList

And another equally mindboggling
https://www.nature.com/subjects/autophagy
 

The first link is showing a security issue on my old tablet (this is happening more and more lately and is a prob with my tech rather than the source I think).
I have saved the second link to look over later. Thank you.
 
Guzzler said:
The first link is showing a security issue on my old tablet (this is happening more and more lately and is a prob with my tech rather than the source I think).
I have saved the second link to look over later. Thank you.
Click to expand...
It may be a secure site i.e. encrypted. My pooter prefers that sort, so automatically dials https://
 
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