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what I wonder every time I hear people be very enthusiastic about how their diet improves their quality of life, is if it's just a case that eating good food an

what I wonder every time I hear people be very enthusiastic about how their diet improves their quality of life, is if it's just a case that eating good food and working out (which a lot of people do when starting a new diet) is the trigger to feel better as opposed to the vegan / raw food / ketogenic / paleo / high-carb specifics, not to mention the obvious placebo effect of starting something new that supposedly will help you feel better. It does feel that we as a species, being omnivore, can do just fine on all sorts of different diets, and maybe the reason these testimonials come up for all sorts of different diets, is that it's the staying away from sugar / processed food, the working out, caloric restriction, weight loss and consequent improvement in quality of sleep that cause the improvements, as opposed to the food specifics. Going from eating fast food, not working out and sleeping badly, to eating less caloric whole foods, working out and sleeping well would make anybody feel so much better and lose weight, regardless of what type of whole foods they pick. If this is the case, then it opens the opportunity to pick your diet more based on say environmental impact or ethical reasons, as opposed to say feeling that your veggie diet is not as good as your friends' paleo diet because you have been veggie for 10 years and your friend just went paleo and so they are in the "omg I feel so much better" phase. Wish it was possible to do a double blind study on diet and its effects but unfortunately for obvious reasons that's not possible. On the other hand it is quite possible to quantify your diet's environmental impact / footprint, which makes minimizing it reasonably feasible.

wpietri 10y ago
I definitely get this concern. I personally can't do blinded studies, or even controlled ones, but I've been very happy trying different things. That is, I try not to see a change as a permanent change, just something to try for a while. E.g., lately I've been doing the paleo-ish thing Whole30, but alternating a month or two of that with time eating whatever. My take currently is that there is, as you suspect, benefit just in the experimental process. Novelty and change compel attention, which causes subtle improvements. But I think I also experience food-specific effects. I have no idea if those foods work the same way for others, but I could also believe that the profusion of diets that work is partly due to as-yet unrecognized differences between people.
circlefavshape 10y ago
I was wondering about this too. Many of the comments on this thread are "I felt great on keto and lost X lb/kg". Could you be feeling better just because you lost weight? if you have no weight to lose is there anything to gain?
- redwards510 10y ago
  I think a lot of those types of testimonials come from people who have tried other dieting styles and failed with them. One of the biggest reasons that people really enjoy keto is that a high fat + protein diet leaves you feeling sated even though you are eating less calories. You are not STARVING all the time like with a simple calorie reduction diet. Another reason is that by eliminating sugar/carbs, you aren't dealing with large insulin spikes anymore, and that evens out your mood.
  - cuddlybacon 10y ago
    +1 I tried the standard advice (Canada Food Pyramid + exercise). I felt miserable (tired, irritable, hungry) and couldn't sleep well. Keto has been the exact opposite. I feel great all the time. I sleep better. I no longer get daily nosebleeds. For the first 6+ months, I didn't exercise at all.
jlturner 10y ago
My first experience with it came after 6 months of regular diet and exercise (daily). I was losing a little weight steadily, and exercising gave me more energy. When I started the ketogenic diet, I felt much better, stopped exercising, and started losing a lot more weight rapidly. I don't think it's simply lifestyle change, the diet specifically targets ketosis (which we are in naturally after 8 hours of not eating, i.e. Sleep) and maintaining the state to prolong the effects of ketosis (maybe indefinitely). What makes you stop though is social eating, especially if it's pizza and beer :)
cylinder 10y ago
Yeah I would like to hear more from people who are like me -- already eating very healthily, not looking to lose weight -- who have tried switching to keto.

wpietri 10y ago

I definitely get this concern. I personally can't do blinded studies, or even controlled ones, but I've been very happy trying different things. That is, I try not to see a change as a permanent change, just something to try for a while. E.g., lately I've been doing the paleo-ish thing Whole30, but alternating a month or two of that with time eating whatever. My take currently is that there is, as you suspect, benefit just in the experimental process. Novelty and change compel attention, which causes subtle improvements. But I think I also experience food-specific effects. I have no idea if those foods work the same way for others, but I could also believe that the profusion of diets that work is partly due to as-yet unrecognized differences between people.

circlefavshape 10y ago

I was wondering about this too. Many of the comments on this thread are "I felt great on keto and lost X lb/kg". Could you be feeling better just because you lost weight? if you have no weight to lose is there anything to gain?

redwards510 10y ago
I think a lot of those types of testimonials come from people who have tried other dieting styles and failed with them. One of the biggest reasons that people really enjoy keto is that a high fat + protein diet leaves you feeling sated even though you are eating less calories. You are not STARVING all the time like with a simple calorie reduction diet. Another reason is that by eliminating sugar/carbs, you aren't dealing with large insulin spikes anymore, and that evens out your mood.
- cuddlybacon 10y ago
  +1 I tried the standard advice (Canada Food Pyramid + exercise). I felt miserable (tired, irritable, hungry) and couldn't sleep well. Keto has been the exact opposite. I feel great all the time. I sleep better. I no longer get daily nosebleeds. For the first 6+ months, I didn't exercise at all.

jlturner 10y ago

My first experience with it came after 6 months of regular diet and exercise (daily). I was losing a little weight steadily, and exercising gave me more energy. When I started the ketogenic diet, I felt much better, stopped exercising, and started losing a lot more weight rapidly. I don't think it's simply lifestyle change, the diet specifically targets ketosis (which we are in naturally after 8 hours of not eating, i.e. Sleep) and maintaining the state to prolong the effects of ketosis (maybe indefinitely). What makes you stop though is social eating, especially if it's pizza and beer :)

cylinder 10y ago

Yeah I would like to hear more from people who are like me -- already eating very healthily, not looking to lose weight -- who have tried switching to keto.