Is it safe?
I did keto a while back and I was shedding weight, however when I brought keto up to my doctor she told me keto is not safe and wanted me on a vegetarian diet instead.
I have not been able to really stick to a vegetarian diet (meat lover, mostly chicken)
I am insulin resistant, my last blood test showed 25.6 uIU/ml which supposedly the normal range is 2.6 to 24.9 uIU/ml. However I am not a diabetic my last fasting glucose from a lab was 88mg/dl and I do also check my glucose at home and I am always in the "normal" range.
Doctor wants me on Metformin saying it will stop the insulin resistance and prevent it from going to diabetes but I do not like the idea of taking it so at this point I rejected it for now.
So my question is, in theory is the ketogenic diet safe for someone like me. I also do have slightly elevated levels of cholesterol but not enough for pills.
I am 320lbs I am simply too overweight and being honest I don't have anywhere to work out and walking although I do it is very hard on my knees and ankles especially because where I live is a bunch of hills. I need to do something to help get this weight down enough to help me be able to become more active and being able to get cardio and all of that in to maintain a healthier weight.
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I'm 54 and I weighed 311 in January of this year. With the Keto diet, I'm currently at 242 and still on the way down.
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You are insulin resistant a low carb keto diet is the way to go. Keto will lower your exposure to insulin which over time will lower your insulin resistance.
Low glucose readings doesn't mean much. Your body is producing a lot of insulin to keep your glucose level normal which is the bigger problem.
Your pancreas is working hard to keep your glucose level normal. If you keep consuming carbs eventually your insulin resistance level will be so high that your body can't produce enough insulin to get your cells to react. That is when you have type 2 diabetes.
Unfortunately traditional doctors don't receive much nutritional training. They only have 2 tools. Drugs and surgery. That's why doctors say that keto is not safe. Doctors are taught that the low fat high carb diet is healthy. Its the carbs that get digested into glucose which is what is causing your body to produce insulin.
I would do everything I could to stay off the Metformin. The side effects could be bad. Then the doctor will give you more drugs to get rid of the side effects. Metformin may lower the insulin resistance but so will eating a low carb diet and you won't have all the side effects from the medication.
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So I am worried about cholesterol a bit, is it absolutely necessary that I add all the extra fat to food like I see on these keto recipes? they seem to use a lot of butter and I just don't want to cause any dangerous cholesterol build up and end up clogging arteries.
I also eat a lot of white meats over red meats, chicken, turkey, etc, I still love me a burger at times but personally I been loving the Jennie-O Turkey burgers which have 0 carbs but also at times use beef but I don't have as much of a beef intake because I want to avoid kidney stones. I know I will need to use keto alternatives for the bun.
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High cholesterol is not an issue. The problem is when the LDL cholesterol becomes glycated. Glycation is when Glucose binds with the protein molecule. LDL is a protein. Low density lipo protein. When glycation occurs the LDL particle size gets modified and ends up being smaller then normal. The small particle LDL is what causes problems.
Reducing your carb intake will reduce the amount of glucose in your blood and in turn reduce the glycation process.
Also Dietary cholesterol (or cholesterol you eat) has nothing to do with cholesterol in your blood.
Your body needs cholesterol to function properly. Even if you don't eat foods low in cholesterol your body will produce its own cholesterol. Does your body produce something that is bad for you?
As long as your eating a good clean low carb keto diet with good fats (you have to make sure the fats are good) then your cholesterol numbers will be where they are supposed to be for your body. Cholesterol is not a one size fits all number like the doctors want us to believe.
Beef doesn't cause kidney stones. Kidney stones are cause by having a high level of oxalates. Oxalates generally come from plants that we eat.
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I'm reading a book called "Keto Continuum" by Dr. Annette Bosworth and she has a whole chapter in there on Cholesterol. The chapter was a little heavy for me, as I haven't had any experience with cholesterol discussions, but it seemed like good information. She gave examples of how keto affects cholesterol and one thing she mentioned is that your numbers will fluctuate a lot in the first six months or so. If you stay on keto, just be careful that these numbers don't alarm you, give your body a little time to adjust.
There's still a lot of misinformation hanging around about Keto, but it has been proven safe. It just sounds so counterintuitive to our society who has been preaching "low-fat" for so long. Low fat diets have been shown to contribute to memory problems later in life, including alzheimer's.
I don't want to tell you that your doctor is bad, but make sure to do your own research. Doctors are still people and they aren't infallible. Many have resisted new ideas even when the results were staring them in the face.
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Holly Winters said:
Doctors are still people and they aren't infallible. Many have resisted new ideas even when the results were staring them in the face.Incompentent
Most physicians are incompentent whem it comes to understand cholesterol and how to interperet a Blood Panel.
Ignorance isn't infallible. It's worses.
Secondly, most really do have a "God Complex". You can't discuss anything with them, they are omniscient.
They have very little formal education in Nutrition, Pharmacology, Exercise Physilogy, Physical Therapy, etc. Yet, for some reason consider themselves experts.
Physician are still living in the 20th Century and have not caught up.
Kenny Croxdale
