4 ms·

I'm hugely pro-keto, but, I have to say, assuming advice for one group in a given region is true for all people worldwide seems like bad logic. We already know

I'm hugely pro-keto, but, I have to say, assuming advice for one group in a given region is true for all people worldwide seems like bad logic. We already know that the gut biome between two modern Americans can differ so greatly that a diet that makes one person obese will have no negative health impacts on someone else. We know that obesity seems to be "inherited" to an extent, mediated by epigenetic effects. And there are examples of populations that can extract nutrients from foods, such as seaweed, that the general human populace can't. Heck a good friend of mine, if he follows exactly the same keto diet I do, felt physically sick and lethargic for 2 months before he gave up. Meanwhile I was out there doing 3 hour a day intense workouts. Trying to say there is "one diet to rule them all", well, it doesn't work. Any given diet subreddit is going to be full of people for whom that diet works really well, and a self-reinforcing community will form. Back when I was super active on /r/keto people would come in and ask why it wasn't working for them, and after going through the regular checklist, I'd add "and maybe this just isn't for you!" because sometimes that is true! I wish I had links to a study I saw where they worked to find an optimal diet for different people and were able to discover that different protein/fat/carb ratios worked well for different people. No one plan worked for everyone! There is a lot we don't know about human nutrition, and while we can learn from past populations, holding up any one group as having an ideal diet that'll work for anyone, meh. Heck I've seen people throw citations back and forth at each other for how good/bad cow milk is. Legit research, biochemical pathways explored and explained, and each side seemed to make some good points. None of which changed the fact that people people do GOMAD and put on insane muscle, while other people just get really bloated.

chlodwig 6y ago
My working hypothesis is that from 3 million years ago to 100,000 years ago, our ancestors primarily ate megafauna. The optimal diet that we evolved for is to nose-to-tail eating of megafauna, so basically cows and sheep, since we killed all the mammoths and deinotherium. In more recent times, human diets have been under rapid selection pressure, with most human groups being able to tolerate grains, and some being able to thrive off of milk, and other human groups . These populations that underwent selection for certain diets then get mixed around a lot with various migrations, conquests, and intermarriage, and so it is a bit of crapshoot what kind of diet any given modern caucasian American can tolerate. Pretty much any American can thrive on a diet that is very heavy in cow meat, but what kind of dairy or plants can be tolerated is more random. Heck a good friend of mine, if he follows exactly the same keto diet I do, felt physically sick and lethargic for 2 months before he gave up. Meanwhile I was out there doing 3 hour a day intense workouts. Out of curiosity, what are the rough outlines of this diet that did not work for your friend?
- com2kid 6y ago
  > Out of curiosity, what are the rough outlines of this diet that did not work for your friend? Typical keto, equal portions by weight of protein and fat, with green leafy veggies on the side. He is good at research and did his homework, just... didn't work out for him.
  - chlodwig 6y ago
    Typical keto, equal portions by weight of protein and fat, I didn't know there was a typical keto diet. Some people do carnivore, while some people go heavy on vegetable oils and protein powders. Was he eating ribeye steaks? Or chicken breasts and olive oil? Or tofu and almond butter?

chlodwig 6y ago

My working hypothesis is that from 3 million years ago to 100,000 years ago, our ancestors primarily ate megafauna. The optimal diet that we evolved for is to nose-to-tail eating of megafauna, so basically cows and sheep, since we killed all the mammoths and deinotherium. In more recent times, human diets have been under rapid selection pressure, with most human groups being able to tolerate grains, and some being able to thrive off of milk, and other human groups . These populations that underwent selection for certain diets then get mixed around a lot with various migrations, conquests, and intermarriage, and so it is a bit of crapshoot what kind of diet any given modern caucasian American can tolerate. Pretty much any American can thrive on a diet that is very heavy in cow meat, but what kind of dairy or plants can be tolerated is more random. Heck a good friend of mine, if he follows exactly the same keto diet I do, felt physically sick and lethargic for 2 months before he gave up. Meanwhile I was out there doing 3 hour a day intense workouts. Out of curiosity, what are the rough outlines of this diet that did not work for your friend?

com2kid 6y ago
> Out of curiosity, what are the rough outlines of this diet that did not work for your friend? Typical keto, equal portions by weight of protein and fat, with green leafy veggies on the side. He is good at research and did his homework, just... didn't work out for him.
- chlodwig 6y ago
  Typical keto, equal portions by weight of protein and fat, I didn't know there was a typical keto diet. Some people do carnivore, while some people go heavy on vegetable oils and protein powders. Was he eating ribeye steaks? Or chicken breasts and olive oil? Or tofu and almond butter?