| Kaneman! said: Thanks for the advice, but I really like all those. Question though, in what field is your education? Just wondering if you have any formal education about biology or biochemistry. I'm asking because I want to know how sugars that break down into glucose/fructose/galactose/lactose are somehow more toxic than ketones, that are a secondary source of energy, and although more efficient, raise blood acidity levels and are harder on the liver and kidneys. |
My field of education is totally unrelated to nutrition, but I've been interested in this stuff for years. I was an obese boy that managed to lose more than 30Kg by doing almost the exact opposite of what nutritionists typically tell you to do if you want to lose weight and I did this simply by totally removing carbs except from fruits and leafy greens from my diet and doing intermittent fasting around 10 years ago, way before the intermittent fasting craze started. I've been a thin guy ever since. It makes sense...if you want to lose weight, don't eat, it's as simple as that (assuming you're an healthy individual that doesn't suffer from weird pathologies). Forget about the "6 small meals a day", that's just ridiculous and has no scientific support whatsoever. Actually, there's a high chance that eating frequently while being in a caloric deficit will end up slowing your metabolism. This is why I stopped trusting nutritionists and official organizations. The thing with carbs, mainly refined grains (but whole grains are very similar), is that they are a very poor food from a nutritional perspective. When compared with other food, they have little vitamins, little minerals, little fibers, they basically only serve as a source of Kcals. There's absolutely no reason why you would want to consume those apart from the fact that they're tasty. And this is coming from an italian guy, I know how delicious pasta and pizza are, but I still try to avoid them. There's simply no benefit in them for your body and whatever good thing may be contained there, you can easily get from other sources.
Now, carbs are not really toxic. The problem is that they just may mess up your hormones, leading to insuline resistance, fat accumulation and carbs dependence when consumed in large quantities. Ultimately, this may lead to several negative things like diabetes. Ever wondered why diabetes and obesity are such a huge problem in today's society? Well, it all started with sugars and refined carbs, right? Hardly a coincidence. The more carbs you eat, the less your body will want to use fat because glucose is a much more readily available source of energy than fats. This has simply to do with the hormonal response of your body.
As for the ketogenic diet, as I said I was just curious and I'm experimenting with it on my body. It is true that I'm losing body fat like crazy (I gained some weight in the last 2 years and I wanted to get rid of it)...I regularly check my body composition using the (probably not so accurate) scale at my gym and I'm just astonished at how fast my body fat % is going down. Still, I don't fell like recommending it yet. I'm not experiencing any negative downside for the moment, but since there are no serious long-term studies on the matter that I'm aware of, I will just refrain from giving you any made up information. Short-term studies however are available and encouraging. Keep in mind, however, that the proponents of this diet always stress the importance of vegetables. This diet can indeed be taxing on your organis and this is why we need to consume huge amounts of veggies to help them in their functions. Furthermore, we do not eat a lot of protein...this is, unfortunately, another common misconception. We want to eat just the "right" amount of protein, which is probably lower than what many normal people eat daily. This is why you should completely ignore anyone that tries to demonize the keto diet and starts by saying that those who practice it eat tons of meat and fats with a little veggies here and there. This is totally false. We eat tons of veggies because we need them to counteract the possible negative effects that come from being in ketosis. And it is totally possible to have a vegan ketogenic diet, mind you, so...you should probably ignore angry vegans that try to tell you why you shouldn't do a ketogenic diet as well. They just have no clue. There's plenty of fats and proteins in the vegetal world. Also, if by "blood acidity" you're referring to ketoacidosis, well, that is basically a myth. Ketosis and ketoacidosis are two totally different things, the latter being a serious pathological state related to alcoholism or type-1 diabetes. If you're not an alcoholist or a diabetic, it's almost impossible for you to suffer from ketoacidosis.
Last edited by last92 - on 02 March 2018
