Catch my new video. I go into depth regarding why the type of fat you eat is very important on a ketogenic lifestyle. I reviews the effects of short, medium and long chain fats and how they are absorbed and used. We talk about starting a ketogenic diet and answer multiple viewer questions. Check it out!
“Do I really need to be doing that ‘Keto Thing’?”
I get asked this question all the time. And, my answer is that 85% of the people that walk through the doors of my clinic will not be fully successful in weight loss, reversal of diabetes, normalization of blood pressure and reversal of heart disease and/or vascular disease without it.
I am frequently asked, “Is Keto for everyone?” Does everyone need to follow a ketogenic lifestyle? The answer is “No.” 15% of the population will be able to maintain great health with calorie restriction and exercise. However, the principles that provide a successful ketogenic lifestyle are easily understood and incorporated by anyone looking for improved health, energy and weight control.
Insulin is the master hormone when it comes to weight loss and the diseases of civilization. Whether you are insulin resistant or not, insulin is essential for life and proper function of the cells of the body, but too much insulin production in response to sugars, starches or complex carbohydrates causes disease.
How do you know if you are insulin resistant (producing too much insulin)?
Skin tags are pathognomonic (a characteristic indicative of the presence of disease) for insulin resistance. If you have skin tags, you may want to focus your diet on increased carbohydrate restriction.
You may not need to completely remove carbohydrate from your diet, however, recognizing that not all carbohydrates are created equal and avoiding those with higher carbohydrate content will help many improve weight and halt the progression of disease. I have many patients that with just partial carbohydrate restriction they are able to lose 20-30 lbs, improve their cholesterol profiles and improve their blood pressure.
There are sixteen different diseases that respond very effectively to carbohydrate restriction. You can read about them and how the ketogenic lifestyle effectively reverses them in The Keto Cure.
Saturated Fat and cholesterol aren’t the demons we’ve made them out to be. Another way to put it is: “Don’t blame the butter for what the bread did.”
Since 1984, nutrition experts treat fat and cholesterol containing foods like the witches of Salem. Experts castigate their use as if they were the “Avada Kedavra“ curse of the fantasy world.
As an example, eggs, specifically the egg yolk (the part of the egg containing all the cholesterol and saturated fat), have been demonized by just about every health magazine I’ve ever read. (To this day, the chef at every breakfast bar I’ve ever visited asks if I want an ‘egg white only’ omelet.) Interestingly, there is actually no scientific data association between whole egg consumption and heart disease. The science simply does not exist. Seriously, check for yourself.
I personally eat 6-8 eggs a day and my cholesterol is perfect. Back 1000 years ago, only the aristocrats at the chickens. All laborers and serfs ate the eggs . . . who would be dumb enough to eat your food source? (Don’t answer that.)
For example, the MR-FIT study, the largest cholesterol study ever completed, is incessantly quoted as the study that demonstrates reduction in cholesterol leads to reduction in cardiovascular disease, but this trial was actually a failure and did not demonstrate improved risk by lowering cholesterol. In fact, the Director of the study, Dr. William Castelli stated, “. . . the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower people’s serum cholesterol…”
Researchers found that people who ate the most cholesterol, including the most saturated fat, weighed the least. They were also the most physically active. In fact, the British Medical Journal published a 2015 study demonstrating that saturated fat is NOT linked to vascular disease, diabetes or increased mortality (de Souza RJ et al., BMJ 2015,351:h3978).
In my clinic, the basis of appetite suppression is eating adequate protein that includes saturated fat and cholesterol. This is the most powerful tool in my clinical approach to the treatment of weight loss. I can use foods like red meat, bacon, butter and coconut oil without concern or worry of heart disease as long as you are keeping your carbohydrate intake less than 20 grams per day.
Baseline insulin levels allow for peace of mind about heart disease risk. Heart disease risk goes down when insulin levels are maintained at normal baseline levels. Increasing saturated fat, while at the same time lowering carbohydrate intake has been demonstrated to shift the cholesterol to a more heart protective form (Griffin BA et al., Clin Sci [Lond], 1999 Sep).
Ketones in the blood at a nutritional level (0.5-4 mmol/L) have tremendous anti-inflammatory and age slowing effects on the body. Even having them present intermittently has dramatic improvement on overall inflammatory changes and disease in the body.
Ketones are the usable fuel of the body when the liver breaks down fat for energy. They suppress the NLRP3 inflammasome in every cell in the body. This is important because it allows for more rapid recovery from exercise. It also dramatically decreases pain and fatigue that comes from diseases like arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and auto-immune disease (Y.H. Youm, et al., Nature Medicine, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 263–269, 2015.)
If full blown ketosis isn’t for you, partially restrict starch and carbohydrates for a mild to moderate benefit. Even small amounts of ketones in the blood are helpful. This provides increased recovery time, and improved inflammation control.
So, even if you don’t follow a strict ketogenic lifestyle, the principles above are powerful. These three principles make this dietary approach universally effective for weight loss. They are also very powerful for disease management. Even partial application of carbohydrate restriction can benefit just about everyone.
You can learn much much more about the Ketogenic Lifestyle as a member of DocMuscles.com. Click the link and sign up now.
And, don’t forget to get your signed copy of my book, The Keto Cure.
Coconut oil can be found in just about every grocery store, health food store and coffee shop near you. It was made popular in the last few years by the highly advertised Bullet Proof Coffee claims of health and taste over the last few years. But in the last few days, the news outlets through video and print have made it clear that the American Heart Association (AHA) isn’t happy with our use of this “duct tape for one’s metabolism.” The AHA has long been a proponent of education against activities increasing the risk of heart disease. Since 1961 the AHA has decried the use of saturated fat, based on their support of Ansel Key’s diet heart hypothesis, and leading to over 60 years of preaching against the use of saturated fats from the pulpits of science. The claim is that 85% of coconut oil is saturated fat (this is the fat deemed “evil” by those “disciples of the low-fat cloth”). Yes, coconut oil is predominantly a saturated fat. And approximately 75% of that is medium chain triglycerides, the form that converts most efficiently into ketones, for those of us using ketogenic nutritional approaches to health. But is coconut oil really bad for your heart health?
Those of us using ketogenic diets know that LDL-C will commonly rise with increased saturated fat intake. And, we’ve know this for over twenty years. This is to be expected, because LDL-C is really comprised of three different LDL sub-particles (big fluffy, medium, and small dense). We’ve known for the last twenty years that increased saturated fat actually causes a shift in these particles to bigger “fluffier” particles. We also know that it’s the small dense LDL particles are the atherogenic/inflammatory particles participating in the formation of vascular disease (arterial blockage) and their presence in the blood is directly correlated with the level of triglyceride, and that the big “fluffy” particles actually reduce the risk of vascular disease. Those of us following ketogenic lifestyles and treating disease with these protocols also know that triglycerides levels are increased directly by increasing levels of insulin.
The 2015 British Medical Journal published a study reviewing the relevant 19 peer reviewed medical articles that included over 68,000 participants. This review showed that there is no association of high LDL-C (a calculated value of all the LDL sub-particles) with mortality (meaning that an elevated LDL-C does not lead to an increased risk of death from heart disease). In stark contrast to this landmark review, The American Heart Association’s Presidential Advisory published this week in the June 20, 2017 issue of Circulation states that saturated fat is the cause of increased LDL-C and elevated LDL-C is associated with an increase in death by cardiovascular disease. This boldfaced claim is based on a single small 4 year (2009-2013) literature review completed by the World Health Organization with a whopping 2353 participants, most of these studies only lasting 3-5 weeks (not nearly long enough to see fully effective cholesterol changes) and none of which had any focus on carbohydrate intake, insulin levels or LDL sub-particle measurement. From this singular study, the AHA concludes that elevated LDL-C is an indicator of increased cardiovascular mortality. That’s the equivalent of saying, “you know cars drive on the roads and cause pot holes, so we should all STOP driving cars because it is causing our freeway system to have increased pot holes.”
You can’t extrapolate mortality risk based on a single small study that doesn’t actually identify correlation or causation. But the AHA did exactly that in 1961, and they are trying to do it again today. The MR-FIT study, largest study ever completed, is incessantly quoted as the study that demonstrates reduction in cholesterol leads to reduction in cardiovascular disease, but this trial was actually a failure and did not demonstrate improved risk by lowering cholesterol. In fact, the Director of the study, Dr. William Castelli actually stated, “. . . the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower people’s serum cholesterol…”
“We found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories weighed the least and were the most physically active,” he said.
Isn’t that interesting?
So, is coconut oil, or any other food high in saturated fat to blame? Absolutely not! There is no solid evidence to support these facts and there hasn’t been in over 65 years. In fact, clinically, I find that the addition of coconut oil lowers triglycerides, decreases appetite, improves energy, improves skin tone, and plays a huge role in shifting the Omega 3/6 ratios to a more normal 2:1 level.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Is coconut oil, or any other food high in saturated fat to blame? Absolutely not! #docmuscles” quote=”Is coconut oil, or any other food high in saturated fat to blame? Absolutely not! There is no solid evidence to support these facts and there hasn’t been in over 65 years. #docmuscles”]
So, how does coconut oil help the broken metabolism? The majority of people I see in my office have insulin resistance to some degree. Insulin resistance is an over production of insulin in response to any form of carbohydrate or starch. Increasing your saturated fat, does two things. It provides a fantastic form of fuel, one your body can use very easily. And second, it will decrease your craving for starches and carbohydrates, naturally decreasing production of insulin and helping to improve insulin resistance over time.
If you want to learn more about using fat and improving insulin resistance, see my previous blog post here.
You can learn more about how our acceptance of bad science has lead to an obesity and diabetes epidemic in our country over the last 65 years by reading these books below:
