further beef with this keto thing.....
now I absolutely know no one here is saying this and absolutely know
@kennycro@@aol.com has stated on numerous occasions that he does not advocate the ketogenic diet, even though it is something he does himself for his own medical condition.
This is the tag line from a Dr Mercola and his book, fat for fuel:
Fat for Fuel: A Revolutionary Diet to Combat Cancer, Boost Brain Power, and Increase Your Energy...
Quite a claim!!
Make sure your oncologist gets a copy.
Imagine a world where stage 4 lymphoma could be treated with an avocado, where being in ketosis gave you the mental clarity to solve global poverty and all that beta-hydroxybutyrate increased your energy so much that you could use that extra energy to get up off your arse .....
This is where the keto madness takes you. The keto narrative sits very well in our post truth era where everything is real, where reality is shifted so far that everything remains unchecked, accepted and normalised. Fiction is fact, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.....or profit margins, for that matter.
If it said: Fat for fuel, one way to lose fat by creating a calorie deficit, thus combating obesity and increasing your energy, fair enough.
But no, add all sorts of stuff to support some...some...research that supports the use of a ketogenic diet for certain medical conditions and chuck it all together.
Not against his book per se but of Mercola generally:
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/?s=mercola&category_name=&submit=Search
....and on the subject of cancer:
Ketogenic diet does not “beat chemo for almost all cancers”
And then a little detour and pop over to Mark's Daily Apple (who also has a ketogenic book out)....
it states:
In type 1 diabetics who experience reduced cognitive function when their blood sugar is low, increasing ketone production via medium chain triglycerides (found in
coconut oil)
restores it.
The Definitive Guide to Keto | Mark's Daily Apple
.....do I need to provide a link?..diabetic ketoacidosis is an effing serious threat to life.
and then this:
In cancer patients, a keto diet preserves lean mass and causes fat loss.
Don't want to be fat and have cancer, now, do we? That's a step too far.....
I'm sure I'm not the only one affected by cancer. Friends and family have died, some have recovered after a long illness under the care of a dedicated medical and health care team. Having cancer is a bummer but at least you will look buff, eh! Don't ever have cancer and get fat. But worry not, the ketogenic diet will step in and cure everything.
My friend is a type 1 diabetic who is now blind. Unchecked blood ketones, low blood sugar and a tad too much insulin will kill him. He doesn't keep any coconuts handy, perhaps he should.
Yet amongst all this nonsense is the guide, it turns out it it isn't really the ketogenic diet at all. And that's (my) the point.....
It's a shame for all those diligent research scientists eeking out the mechanisms of human physiology to gain understanding of disease states and how that can be applied to help people. Instead, the understanding is chucked into a big steaming pot of paleo lifestyle guff to market a book which is just another diet book.
Ketosis, intermittent fasting, low carb and a moderate view of mostly eating good wholesome food IS NOT the ketogenic diet. I really want to hammer that point.
It is easy to think that they are, partly just due to the word 'keto' being employed as a catch-all term.
There is a point where frivolous nonsense about avocado, spirullina and bird food cross-over to give false hope to people with serious physical and mental health concerns. I enjoy a good laugh at vacuous celebrity fad diets but the laughing has to stop when a line is crossed.
I have no vested and special interests in this at all. I have read many urinalysis from the piss of an acute psychiatric admission ward and been professionally involved with the inevitable slow death of ketotic young women with eating disorders. As an adaptive strategy to prolong life ketosis is, perhaps, the reason why we've made it this far. It can also be maladaptive response, initiating a fear response to avoid food in the belief that you will get fat.
Of course, we're not talking undereating and eating disorders, we're talking overeating and obesity. And we're not public health specialists on the advisory board of WHO yet each of us has at least some level of responsibility to do no harm.
Whether that be from an inner morality or from a professional standard or both.
We discuss a lot of the physical effects of diet - muscle, fat loss, metabolism - little of mental health. A balanced diet in my book addresses mood as much as it does food.
A healthy approach to food, not too much, not too little, recognising that sometimes you may not make the ideal and it is ok, more than ok.
For a very long read on the complexity of obesity published last week:
Making progress on the global crisis of obesity and weight management
....there is no need for extremes, that's all. None.