The Shifting Stance On High Fat, Low-Carb Diets
A ketogenic diet, very low in carbohydrates and high in healthy fats, is said to be the best way to optimize the biochemical pathways that suppress disease and support healing. The approach is extremely popular, with about 16 percent of Americans following it annually.
Dr. Mercola, an American alternative medicine proponent, osteopathic physician, and founder of Mercola.com—the number one natural health website in the world—wrote a book called Fat For Fuel that became a bestseller. In it he speaks on how to use fat as a primary fuel, rather than carbohydrates, and how to optimize mitochondrial function to promote weight loss and improve overall health.
Another book he wrote, called Ketofast combines the insulin-lowering effect of the ketogenic diet (high fat) with the time-tested power of fasting.
Many people believe that a Keto diet can be practiced forever, as it seems, did Mercola. But in a surprising twist, he now believes that the initial phenomenal weight loss will eventually hit a plateau or even start to move back in the other direction. After a few months people start actually losing muscle mass.
To his credit, while Merola still promotes the advantages of keto and fasting, he also warns that doing so for an extended period of time might cause difficulties with your hormone systems, notably thyroid resistance.
In a Chris Kresser interview, Mercola said in relation to the Keto diet:
I don’t think you can start whole hog. And you have to be metabolically flexible. Your body has to have the capacity to burn fat as a primary fuel. And over 80 percent of the people in this country, as you’re well aware of, are insulin resistant. And these people cannot do keto fasting initially. They have to transition into it through a program of doing calorie restriction, and my favorite, of course, is intermittent fasting.
In his most recent article, he claims that while low-carb and fasting are great short-term interventions for those who are overweight and metabolically inflexible, they can damage your metabolism and lead to health complications through chronic cortisol elevations.
Prolonged cortisol excess induces inflammation, weakens the immune system, and increases food cravings. It not only destroys lean muscle, but also causes brain shrinkage, which is a feature of both dementia and depression.
That is why most individuals should avoid a persistent low-carb diet. It’s critical to do all possible to keep cortisol levels and chronic inflammation low. However, there are two crucial points to consider when going about this:
Increasing your carbohydrate consumption while still on a high-fat diet is a huge mistake. If your fat consumption is above 30 percent and you add junk carbs to the mix, you will disturb your lipoprotein profiles and raise your risk for heart disease.
Pay attention to both the quantity and quality of carbs you consume. Failure to do so may result in a loss of health and vigour.
Mercola recommends that you eat fewer than 30 percent of your calories as fat. Between 15 and 30 percent of your daily calories may be the sweet spot. Consume too much fat and glucose cannot be shuttled into the mitochondria to be burned, so it accumulates in your circulation and raises your blood sugar, which is a key factor to diabetes. What little glucose is used for fuel is done by glycolysis, a basic mechanism used by bacteria and cancer cells. You are also producing life-threatening lactic acid, which degrades your mitochondria and causes them to die sooner.
Additionally, according to Mercola, consuming more than 35 to 40 grams of protein at a meal is counterproductive since it will hinder absorption and force your body to eliminate ammonia and nitrogen, which might harm your kidneys. He claims that most individuals don't need more than 120 grams of protein per day and that while eating between 2,000 and 3,000 calories per day, getting 15 percent of your total calories from protein is probably about appropriate.
The consumption of protein and fat is appropriate since it’s moderate. Today, a lot of things are built on extremes, which is bad for your long-term health. Many individuals find themselves in a scenario where they lose a lot of body weight via intensive fasting or excessive activity, but they're not paying attention to how much of each of the two components—fat mass and lean muscle mass—they're shedding.
Mercola adds:
Multiple studies have shown that over long-term fasting or a long-term exhaustive exercise, people lose a lot of body weight, but about 80% of that is lean muscle mass. So, they were much leaner, but their basal metabolic rate was much lower than what they started with because they lost most of their muscle mass.
So, when they went back to their normal lives and stayed on a reduced calorie regimen, they still regained all of their weight, and they were devastated. Your basal metabolic rate went down by 50%. So, unless you stay on this severely restricted-calorie diet, you will regain all of those pounds.
In essence, Mercola is advocating a modest food restriction in order to maintain muscle growth without overworking the body by drastically reducing your intake of fats or carbohydrates or by significantly boosting your intake of protein or fats.
Also keep in mind that depending on their quality, carbs may be either very healthful or very damaging. Avoid processed grains and make sure your carbs are of a whole food quality. I seldom eat spaghetti or cereal, but sometimes consume sourdough bread because it’s so healthy. If you have gas, constipation, or if it slows down your digestion, you'll know it's not compatible with you.
Ripe fruits including oranges, tangerines, mangoes, pineapples, melons, watermelons, and grapes are rich sources of complex carbohydrates. White rice and other cooked carbohydrates like potatoes are also okay.
Exercise As Important As Food
Since they enable us to live freely as we age, muscles are vital to retain since we lose a lot of them. Having reserve muscle mass, however, can also improve your odds of surviving when unwell.
Finding techniques to consistently increase and maintain your muscle mass is essential, particularly as you age since muscle is shed far more quickly and readily than it is produced. Sarcopenia, an age-related loss of muscle mass, will cause you to lose 15 percent of your muscle mass between the ages of 30 and 80 if nothing is done to halt it.
The key is to actually exercise. It won't help you to learn by merely reading about it or viewing videos. Get outside and enjoy exercising your body, and then eat a balanced diet of natural foods. It’s a beautiful recipe that brings good health and a better quality of life.