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I do not understand the obsession with keto/low carb diets. There are no long term studies showing the touted magical benefits. Even Gary Taubes, author who ama
by ssijak 6y ago
I do not understand the obsession with keto/low carb diets. There are no long term studies showing the touted magical benefits. Even Gary Taubes, author who amassed wealth bashing carbs and touting keto diet, funded studies that he thought would confirm what he was saying, but then results came in slight favor of high carb diets against low carb high fat diets in terms of losing weight.
Yes, processed sugar is crap, but whole food carbs are not. People who eat mostly whole food plant based diets, in long term studies live the longest and are healthier. And why do people accept processed carbs to be bad but skip the same logic for oils (yeah, squeezed oil is processed food and also pretty much empty calories).
I experimented with a lot of things during my life, one of which was keto diet. I tried it several times for months, but always abandoned it for several reasons. Firstly, I feel like I loose 20+ IQ points on it, I can not think clearly, have brain fog, and after strenuous exercise, I start to forget things. And no, it was not a transitional period, it was the same after 1+ months and I tested ketosis with urine sticks. And it is understandable because brain is the largest consummator of glucose. Second, you do not have the same amount of energy, especially for burst activity. Third, you stink more, my sweat stink more, and breath also (which is kind of normal for keto). And lastly, it is harder to maintain which is not a problem for me if I found it to be beneficial, but it could be problem for many. And one more thing, each time I tried keto, I got sick during the period. It could be coincidence, but probably not.
Now I eat plant based whole food diet. And from all the things I have tried, it thicks all the good boxes. Eating plenty of very tasty foods, never hungry, never have sweets cravings, tons of energy (my libido went through the roof too), extremely easy to loose excess fat (while feeling good during the process), very good workouts and recovery and steady mental energy throughout the day, stool is regular and good, sleep better (and need less of it) and am much happier (yeah, carbs are precursor to serotonin, and fiber feed the gut microbiome which is extremely important for many things and most of serotonin is made in the gut also) etc. And tons of research which supports the benefits of it for longevity, health and sports.
Still it boggles my mind that we somehow managed to vilify foods like a sweet potato or brown rice or whichever carb containing food. I think Pollan summarised it the best : "Eat food (food=unprocessed whole food stuff). Not too much. Mostly plants." That would give 95% of benefits to most people. We get bogged down with details and minute optimisations while loosing the sight of the big picture.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- eebynight 6y agoNot trying to be nitpicky but urine sticks are notoriously unreliable: False-positive when you are first starting because you are not well adapted to utilizing ketones and urinate out most of the BHB. False-negative when you are well adapted because usable fuel will not be wasted in urine. It is generally accepted that the only foolproof way to truly know if you are in ketosis is to do a blood BHB measurement. Other than that, I would only comment that it seems there are certain phenotypes that have much more success with low carb diets and vice versa with high carb diets. I don't think it is as easy as dismissing it because you had a poor experience. Also, not particularly a fan of many of the observational nonsense coming out of both camps (low carb vs plant based) over the last few years. There was a HN article posted a while back but we really have a legitimacy problem in nutritional science right now. P-value hacking and nonsense correlation is just far too common and then most never read the study to get the true story behind the results. Finally, this is anecdotal but I have known people whose libidos have dropped on low carb diets and also others who lost libido when they went most vegan (whole food, plant based). This supports the idea: "Figure out what works for you and ignore the rest." Crazy concept...
- ssijak 6y agoI agree with most of what you said. Yes sticks are unreliable, but I know my way around food and know how to keep my daily intake of carbs to be <40-50gr/day and sticks were just another easy to get data point to confirm what I was doing, but yes, it is anecdotal experience. And yes, food research is very problematic. Some reasons are valid, for example we will probably never have randomized double blind placebo control study on various food intake patterns which lasts years or decades because it would cost too much and is very hard to do. But we can draw at least some conclusions based on the weight of evidence that we have. My only "problem", setting anecdotes aside, is that people jump on latest trends and make a cult out of it, when there are not even low quality observational studies to support what they claim. For example lately carnivore diet pops up too often with magical claims. There are differences between people, and some will thrive on some diets where others would be miserable. But that is why we need to find the biggest common ground for all of us first then optimise on differences. Cut all the fluff and pointless optimisations in the beginning, first stick to the most basic things : eat real food, move moderately, sleep well, don't drink alcohol or at least not too often or daily, try to be less reactive (less stressful), do it for a few months and then try to optimise for your ticket in the gene lottery.