The Science of Low Carb
After 150 years of on-off popularity, low carb diets are finally getting the scientific support they need to be taken seriously.
Dr Eric C. Westman, MD and president elect of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians (weight loss doctors), has 15 years of experience helping patients lose weight and improve their health using low carb. He has also helped do several high-quality scientific studies on low carb.
In this interview I did with him at the last ASBP meeting he talks about the science and the practicalities of using real low carb food for improving your weight and health.
It brought tears to my eyes to hear Dr. Westman confirm what I have been saying to myself since starting to eat LCHF 3½ years ago. It makes me so sad to think about all of the wasted time for so many people, myself included.
If Dr. Westman is the president of ASBP now, is it safe to assume that if he has the ear of the bariatric physicians, there's more chance of support for low carb dieting to spread to other specialties and general practitioners? Is the tide beginning to turn?
Paleo aimes to eat like we did in early human history. LCHF is more aiming to eat a paleo ratio of fat/protein/carbs. LCHF also mimic the early scandinavian diet that existed for thousands of years, were diary was a huge part of the diet.
People who do not need to lose weight and who are not insulin resistant can certainly tolerate higher levels of carbs.
Indeed as Janknitz says, the majority of Paleo people are not low carb at all. For example, in his recent speech in New Paltz, Robb Wolf called low-carb Paleo "a fringe" and said Taubes was not part of the Paleo movement, arguing that the CIH was disproven, and implied low-carb should be ignored. Paleo is now a high-carb, high-fat, high-protein movement with a focus on exercise such as Crossfit. Calories still don't seem to count tho' for most following the Paleo path.
Certainly the majority opinion now appears to be (altho' this shifts from group to group somewhat) that low carb has no place in Paleo, that people should follow the high-carb Kitavan diet - Robb Wolf seems to imply in his recent speech that smoking is also acceptable and not harmful when following such an ancestral diet, as he deliberately called out the Kitavans' smoking habits and seeming lack of cancer.
Which makes no sense when you think about it. ;-)
All my life I have avoided smokey places so that has limited my life quite a bit. Now there is a ban here for smoking, wich is great but I think that It's to late for me to start going to places that I couldn't go before, I'm just not used to doing it. I also don't drink alcohol so I have even less reason to go out to those kind of places.
The "paleo people" just want to eat their fruit and don't care if it's nutritional value is in reality useless. They have highjacked the term "paleo" even though our ancestor didn't eat the amounts of fruit that they do. They still belive in the myth that plants are essential for humans.
Their diet is very low carb and the plants that ate was eaten by them was eaten only for the water content since water is rare in the desert. They have wild melons that doesn't taste anything near as sweet as the melon we can buy in our stores. If I remember correctly then the amount of carbs in their diet was below 5% of the total energy.
Eddie, watch the entire video yourself. His statement about the Kitavans low cancer rates despite smoking are ambiguous at best. The video is very very slow to load, so be patient:
http://mediasite.suny.edu/mediasite/SilverlightPlayer/Default.aspx?pe...
I must frankly say this talk made me lose most of my respect for Wolf - from the second he starts talking about Moore's Law, it's all downhill for me from there. But I understand he's using a metaphor and like most people probably doesn't really keep current with technology. I also found the insult to Taubes unnecessary in the context of explaining paleo to college students.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-oP34xXFWM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-oP34xXFWM
just wondering what do you think about Dr. Jan Kwasniewski's book "Optimal Diet" as I have been recommended it.
Thanks.
AM
If you do this, you will discover that the criticisms made by moreporkplease are basically unfounded. First Robb himself is low carb and his position is that the more you exercise, the more you should include non-grain carbohydrates. Furthermore he in no way endorses smoking. His reference is to the Kitavans who have a high carb diet (of a specific type) and SMOKE yet have little to no cardiovascular disease. Mentioning a FACT is not an endorsement. Finally, he did not disrespect Taubes. He merely pointed out that insulin resistance FOLLOWS leptin resistance. Seriously, not one person in a hundred would interpret Robbs words the way moreporkplease has done. One thing the paleo community certainly needs is less infighting over trivial points
@Ray, thanks. I do hope you're right. I will have to listen to this presentation myself and form my own opinion and will. I do consult Robb's site and I think I've noticed a trend away from LC and toward reward, but I could be wrong.
http://homodiet.netfirms.com/diet/optimaldiet1.htm
A Very Low-carbohydrate Diet Improves Symptoms and Quality of Life in Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2693479/pdf/nihms101786.pdf
Dietary Intervention to Reverse Carotid Atherosclerosis
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/121/10/1200.full.pdf
The effect of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet versus a low-glycemic index diet on glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1743-7075-5-36.pdf
CBS 60 minutes did a story about snus: http://youtu.be/mr_tuvbUCLo
Read also the Wikipedia article about snus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus
If Richard Nikoley's discovered that potatoes and beer make him feel better than ever, awesome for him.
I'm sticking with Banting.
http://functionalphysique.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Front_all.png
This is my empirical science.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toLvGpk3HLE
And I did think his reference to Taubes was somewhat derogatory.
Paleo can INCLUDE low carb eating, and I fear this backlash against it is alienating people. Me for instance! Not sure how or why the insulin theory has been declared dead all of a sudden. Apparently in favour of a new, untested hypothesis that, to me, makes little coherent sense at this point, although there's probably something in it.
Pretty dismayed by the state of the playing field at the moment.
I personaly dont give a damn about whats happen if insulin is injected to the brain!
As I can see it, its only hapens in two ways.. 1. a stupid scientist inject it, 2. or you have a high blood sugar!
High levels of insulin in the brain causes you to stop eating those sugary things.. att least the brain tryes to stop you!
Its not realy about insulin anyway, its about metabolic syndrom.. and insulin is a major part of that!
The roll of insulin in this is that its do save you from toxic levels of blood sugar.
And its about incidens.. with a low nutrient status in a population, high carb do inflict more damages, than in a population with better nutrient status.
BTW, I'm drascatha.
Meanwhile, the little toerag troll is still at it. I should never have poked him. I feel bad because it won't be long before Dr. Westman's video has more trolling comments than it does views.
I thought his latest were pretty funny, actually. "I never said he [Atkins] died from heart disease, but died riddled with heart disease."
These people will say anything - absolutely anything. Apparently Campbell, Esselstyn, Ornish, et. al., have been promoted from individuals to "recognised scientific organisations." Duke University, however does not qualify!
ROTFL!
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/01/03/896012/irresponsible-doctor-sa...
Rosati's remark left me speechless. "And then what?" What? What else could you want besides healthier cholesterol, healthier weight, healthier blood pressure and no diabetes?? Straighter teeth, fewer wrinkles, no ingrown toenails?
More and more people don't buy a low-fat-whole-grain diet advise. My list of alignments that got better or disappeared is unbelievably long. My doctor asked me recently why I don't request asthma and migraine medications any longer, and a water-pill for swollen ankles. He also noticed that I didn't regain lost weight and stopped having my usual ones-a year flue for last 4 years, yest and urinary track infections also became a distant memory. How cool is it to have a completely symptom-free pre-menopause and no PMS, disappearing joints pain? What about countless times when other ladies commented on my youthful appearance and good condition of my skin? Often I hesitate to mention all that because indeed it sounds unbelievable.
I had one bout of flu in the past few years (and I picked that up at a Christmas party where everybody got it - though I recovered faster) while a vegan friend seems to be posting every week on Facebook that he's feeling run down, coming down with something, is laid up with the flu, has some sniffles coming on, etc. I pointed this out to some mutual friends, and their reaction was, "He's always been like that. He's a hypochondriac."
Would you be a hypochondriac if you felt good?
18 studies are a petty amount of studies, when there are MILLIONS of studies on Heart diseases, MILLIONS !!!!