I have been thinking of
how to write something that is interesting but also to some extent unique about
the low carbohydrate / ketosis diet. How can I help to convince people that
this is something which it might be worth them trying and trying so knowing
that their health is not going to be negatively impacted. I decided to fall
back onto my old science roots and look into what I can find there to try and
help people see the benefits of this lifestyle. This will no doubt bore many
people however there are so many sites out there with meals and stories (don’t
get me wrong we are not going to stop that) but this is something which I might
be able to do a good job of.
So
I am hoping that I will keep this up and do a series of posts on the low
carbohydrate body. I was unsure where to start as there are links to so many
different areas of the body, the brain, the heart, (belly) fat, kidneys,
lungs and even links to acne so the skin. Luckily for me there is already
a fantastic review which I am hoping to summarise in basic terms and then go
into each body part in detail. Not sure how long this will take but hopefully
it will go some-way to showing to showing sceptics that there is a huge amount
of science showing that there are health benefits to this lifestyle.
Weight
loss:
Firstly
you have weight loss. Although there is no doubt it works (e.g. over 11 stone
between Katie and I in 7 months) there are different thoughts as to how it
works. Some people suggest that you simply lose weight because you are on a
“diet” so you eat less calories and so of course you lose weight. Of course the
other train of thought is that it is a metabolic process, so in other words you
are altering the way that your body is using energy and storing fat and this
causes the weight loss. Studies are available to support both arguments, for
example it has been shown that in a 6 month study people on a low-carb diet
lost more weight than those on a “balanced diet” where around equal amounts of
calories were consumed. The authors believe that a more likely solution is the
well proven appetite suppressant impact of a LCKD. Another important factor for
weight loss is that it will more likely be fat being burnt as a LCKD results in
a reduction in fat intake and an increase in fat breakdown. I have seen people
question the appetite reduction however both Katie and I can confirm this and I
will add that to my list of more in-depth posts to do.
Heart:
The
biggest area of concern when people hear what you are eating is that you are
going to have a negative impact on your heart. However recent studies have
shown that actually a LCKD is probably going to improve your cholesterol levels
and lipid profile (lipid = fats). In fact there is a role for insulin
(obviously lowered in LCKD diets) in the production of cholesterol, so by
lowering your sugar and therefore insulin you are likely to lower the
production of cholesterol. Therefore the idea that a high fats are bad for you
is not necessarily true when you are in ketosis.
Pancreas
(Diabetes):
As
most people probably know sugar causes you to have increased levels of insulin
which causes your cells to take up more sugar. Over time, if you continue to
eat too much sugar, your cells become less responsive to insulin so your body
just keeps on pumping out more and more insulin. From what I can remember from
my first year at university that is very basically the cause for diabetes. In
someone with diabetes they are likely to take up less carbohydrates into cells
for use as an energy source because their body is not responding to the
insulin, this then means that it will head over to the liver and be converted
into fat. When carbs are restricted to the point where this increased fat
production does not occur then the symptoms of being insulin resistance with
normally improve and frequently disappear. In a nutshell lowering carb intake
in insulin sensitive individuals can result in a positive clinical outcome.
I
think here it is best to quote the review I am reviewing…
“In studies that have evaluated well-formulated
very-low-carbohydrate diets and documented high rates of compliance in
individuals with T2D, results have been nothing short of remarkable.
Bistrian et al.32reported withdrawal of insulin and major weight loss in a
matter of weeks in T2D individuals who were fed a very-low-calorie and
-carbohydrate diet. “
A similar study has been done over the course of more than a
year and patients showed improvements in weight, glucose levels, cholesterol
and triglyceride levels. Note that these same improvements are beyond what is
seen in individuals on a low fat diet.
Brain:
Well I say brain but initially at least I am looking at
epilepsy, you could also put reduced hunger under the brain to some extent. For
treatment of epilepsy there have actually been clinical trials to show that a
low carbohydrate diet can be used as a treatment. The full method of action is
yet to be elucidated there is a clear end result and for those more interested
it is perhaps best to read the papers link to in the article.
For the
brain I would also recommend reading grain brain, on this diet we eat
significantly less grain and there have been links to the benefits of this on
memory and even delaying the impact of dementia. This is further mentioned in
this review, where they mention there is emerging evidence that ketogenic diets
may have a positive impact on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease as well as
autism , sleep disorders and multiple sclerosis. Overall it suggests that a
ketogenic diet could be neuro-protective. Although this generic protection may
sound strange I heard of a similar impact in different pathways in the brain.
The key here is that certain pathways can be impacted from several different
angles and have an impact on different places. A LCKD is thought to have an
impact on multiple pathways in the brain and protect against the above
conditions. I will not go into detail on the conditions but overall there is
not sufficient evidence to say that it does work but there is on-going work
that shows promise.
The bad
side: Some people quote higher protein intake as a bad thing, I would argue
that I am not eating more fat or protein compared to not being on this
lifestyle, I am simply eating fewer carbohydrates. There is the idea that of
ketoacidosis which is high level of ketones causing the blood to become acidic.
This is highly unlikely to occur if you have normal insulin levels and if your
ketone levels stay in the normal range expected on the diet.
Cancer /
tumours:
I think I have
mentioned this before and to be this is important. Many cancers run on glucose
and have reduced growth and development without it being present. Note that I
am not saying that a low-carbohydrate diet is going to cure cancer rather that
is might help to slow the progress of some cancers. This may also be applicable
to other non-cancerous conditions. I suffer from plantar fibromatosis /
Ledderhose disease. I have had radiotherapy and all being well the condition is
not too bad however the residual pain I was suffering from has decreased to the
point I almost forget about it since starting on a LCKD. There are various
papers that support this hypothesis but only time will tell how useful it can
be.
Conclusion:
I could go
on as there are many studies I have not looked at and some conditions like acne
that I have ignored.
Don’t get
me wrong some of the above is not completely proven. The thing that most annoys
me about telling people I am on this life-style is the perception that it is
unhealthy, if these people would just listen and do their research then perhaps
they would no longer challenge us and perhaps question the suspect guidelines
given out by governments which are coming under more and more scrutiny all the
time. When Katie and I started this diet it was just that, it was a diet. The
more I have read and the more I have learnt the more it has become a life-style
and the less I have wanted to eat carbs. Knowing all this puts me off of going
back onto a higher level of carbs, certainly I have no issue with not eating
bread, potatoes, crisps, pasta etc. and I am even starting to be less jealous
of those eating Katie’s awesome cakes but for most things we have workarounds
that taste good.
