4 ms·

I don’t think it’s so insidious. People see real benefit and results from highly restricting carbs. Something is happening, it’s not just a fad. Sure, it’s fine

by dcow 2y ago

I don’t think it’s so insidious. People see real benefit and results from highly restricting carbs. Something is happening, it’s not just a fad. Sure, it’s fine to debate the pros and cons but to outright disparage it because there a community of excited people who have had life changing experiences talking about it positively seems overly reactionary.

jajko 2y ago
Yeah, those excited folks go often a bit mental over the board and praise it like second coming of Jesus, that's what most folks have problems with. Rational discussion about pros and cons is rare.
- dcow 2y ago
  When you’ve been unhealthy and struggling to maintain a healthy body for years in a society that indexes way way way to heavily on carbs because they’re cheap and equally isn’t honest about the toxicity of glucose, you can kinda see why people get so enthusiastic about it. Sure it can be annoying but there are problems on both sides and people that say sugar is fine eat it at will are starting to come off as maliciously delusional to me of late.
- throwawaycities 2y ago
  Discovering health tends to do that to people. It doesn’t matter if it’s discovering keto, carnivore, vegetarian, vegan, or exercise. When people commit to improving their health, and begin to experience improvements, for better or worse it is like the second coming of Jesus. Particularly diabetics that make lifestyle changes, lose significant amounts of weight and get off insulin. Nearly everyone who experiences that feels that if they can do it anyone can do it, and they tend to share their experiences enthusiastically and rightfully so.
shlant 2y ago
> Something is happening, it’s not just a fad these are not mutually exclusive. It is a fad AND something is happening. That something comes down to two major things about low carb/carnivore diets: 1. You are removing processed foods. Going from a Standard American Diet to basically anything that involves more whole foods is going to be healthier for you and make you feel better. This doesn't mean that the new diet is optimal but it can be a step in the right direction. 2. Restricting your diet down to a few types of food is going to remove a lot of allergens. If you only eat meat for example, you are removing literally every single non-meat allergen in your diet - most people have some sort of food sensitivity (lactose intolerance being a common one) so you are going to feel better when you remove those allergens. However, this does not mean that accidental elimination diets are the long term solution. You should slowly add back foods and see what you react to so you can do something less extreme but still feel good doing it. So yes a lot of people feel better on these diets but that does not indicate they are healthy long term or superior to other options.
- EasyMark 2y ago
  It also doesn’t indicate they are worse for you. After 3 months I went from almost prediabetic and bad (not awful, just “take care”levels)of LDL/HDL(ratio) to Ideal ranges and dropped 28lbs. I do believe that keto lifestyle is as valid as the Mediterranean and DASH diets, both of which I tried and failed to stick with, as they were more effort. I’ve been in the ideal range for over a year now (just got retested). So I say go with what works as long as you work with your doctor and get your biomarkers checked. The only exercise I really do is some mild resistance training and 8-10k steps a day, but I was doing that before my weight loss.
  - shlant 2y ago
    > After 3 months I... Don't care. A single anecdote for 3 months is not even kind of relevant when determining if a diet is healthy long term

by dcow 2y ago

jajko 2y ago

Yeah, those excited folks go often a bit mental over the board and praise it like second coming of Jesus, that's what most folks have problems with. Rational discussion about pros and cons is rare.

dcow 2y ago
When you’ve been unhealthy and struggling to maintain a healthy body for years in a society that indexes way way way to heavily on carbs because they’re cheap and equally isn’t honest about the toxicity of glucose, you can kinda see why people get so enthusiastic about it. Sure it can be annoying but there are problems on both sides and people that say sugar is fine eat it at will are starting to come off as maliciously delusional to me of late.
throwawaycities 2y ago
Discovering health tends to do that to people. It doesn’t matter if it’s discovering keto, carnivore, vegetarian, vegan, or exercise. When people commit to improving their health, and begin to experience improvements, for better or worse it is like the second coming of Jesus. Particularly diabetics that make lifestyle changes, lose significant amounts of weight and get off insulin. Nearly everyone who experiences that feels that if they can do it anyone can do it, and they tend to share their experiences enthusiastically and rightfully so.

shlant 2y ago

> Something is happening, it’s not just a fad these are not mutually exclusive. It is a fad AND something is happening. That something comes down to two major things about low carb/carnivore diets: 1. You are removing processed foods. Going from a Standard American Diet to basically anything that involves more whole foods is going to be healthier for you and make you feel better. This doesn't mean that the new diet is optimal but it can be a step in the right direction. 2. Restricting your diet down to a few types of food is going to remove a lot of allergens. If you only eat meat for example, you are removing literally every single non-meat allergen in your diet - most people have some sort of food sensitivity (lactose intolerance being a common one) so you are going to feel better when you remove those allergens. However, this does not mean that accidental elimination diets are the long term solution. You should slowly add back foods and see what you react to so you can do something less extreme but still feel good doing it. So yes a lot of people feel better on these diets but that does not indicate they are healthy long term or superior to other options.

EasyMark 2y ago
It also doesn’t indicate they are worse for you. After 3 months I went from almost prediabetic and bad (not awful, just “take care”levels)of LDL/HDL(ratio) to Ideal ranges and dropped 28lbs. I do believe that keto lifestyle is as valid as the Mediterranean and DASH diets, both of which I tried and failed to stick with, as they were more effort. I’ve been in the ideal range for over a year now (just got retested). So I say go with what works as long as you work with your doctor and get your biomarkers checked. The only exercise I really do is some mild resistance training and 8-10k steps a day, but I was doing that before my weight loss.
- shlant 2y ago
  > After 3 months I... Don't care. A single anecdote for 3 months is not even kind of relevant when determining if a diet is healthy long term