Carbohydrates, and the role they play in a healthy diet, are one of the most hotly contested nutritional debates in the world, both in conventional and ancestral health circles.
One one side, you’ve got folks who say that carbohydrates are nonessential and increase your risk for diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and neurological disorders. On the other side, some say that carbohydrates are crucial for good health and should make up the majority of your calories.
It’s no wonder I have so many clients who come to me completely confused about carbs and whether or not they should eat more or less of them.
While some people do incredibly well following a low carb Paleo diet, there are many people who crash and burn on this type of dietary plan. So, how can you tell if you’re the type of person who shouldn’t be eating a low carb diet, and how do you figure out how many carbs you should be eating? I plan to teach you just that in this article.
Is your low-carb diet doing you more harm than good? Find out how many carbs YOU should be eating.
Pregnancy
I recently discussed the role of carbohydrates during pregnancy in an episode of The Ancestral RDs Podcast. The most important reason why women need adequate carbohydrates during pregnancy is to ensure adequate fetal brain development and growth. Another reason is because a high protein diet can be dangerous during pregnancy, and when you cut out carbohydrate as a major macronutrient, you usually can’t help but increase protein as a percentage of calories. Protein intake greater than 25% of calories during pregnancy may lead to decreased mass at birth and increased perinatal morbidity and mortality for the baby.
Like these other experts, I generally recommend 30% of calories from carbohydrates for my pregnant clients, and also for those who are struggling with fertility. Unless you have diabetes or a serious neurological condition that requires carbohydrate restriction, it’s not worth the risk playing around with a low carb diet when you’re pregnant, and these diets aren’t conducive to fertility for many women either. (If you’re interested in more reasons why carbohydrates can affect fertility, read this great post by Stefani Ruper.)
Athletes
If you’re a professional or recreational athlete who trains hard 4, 5, or even 6 days per week (I hope you’re not doing 7 days per week!) and trying to maintain this level of activity on a low carb diet, you may be doing more harm than good to your health and fitness.
While there are athletes who thrive on a well-planned low carb approach (LeBron James most recently!), there are many others who do not. Each athlete is completely unique in their ability to perform well on a low carb diet, and there’s nothing wrong with testing out the diet to see how it affects your athletic ability.
But if you’ve been trying a low carb diet for months now and your workouts are suffering, your weight isn’t budging (or maybe you’ve even gained weight!), and your recovery time is increasing, you’re probably not the type of person who can handle a low carb diet combined with regular intense physical activity.
For my athletic clients, I usually recommend a minimum of 20% of calories from carbohydrate, and depending on the person’s health goals, training schedule, and current issues, I may actually recommend more like 40-50% of calories from carbs.
Again, each athlete is an individual and what works for one person, or even a thousand people, may not work for you. So don’t be afraid to experiment and pay attention to how your diet makes you look, feel, and perform! And don’t hesitate to get help if you need it!
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Hypothyroidism and HPA Axis Dysregulation (Adrenal Fatigue)
Hypothyroidism is one of the most commonly cited medical reasons for needing to eat a moderate carb diet. The main reason why carbs affect thyroid function so directly is because insulin is needed for the conversion of the inactive T4 hormone into the active T3 hormone, and insulin is generally quite low on very low carbohydrate diets.
So if you’ve suddenly started developing hypothyroid symptoms on your low carb diet, it’s a pretty good sign that you’d be better off upping the carbs (and getting your thyroid tested if you haven’t already!) For more about how low carb dieting affects your thyroid, listen to this great interview with Chris by Jimmy Moore.
HPA axis dysregulation, also known as adrenal fatigue, is another condition where a moderate carb intake is important for general health. Kelsey and I talked about adrenal fatigue on our first Ask the RD podcast, so listen to it if you’re unfamiliar with this condition. The main hormone that gets dysregulated in adrenal fatigue is cortisol, and cortisol has been shown to increase on a low carb diet. This means that a low carb diet is a potential adrenal stressor in susceptible individuals. Combine that with a stressful job, inadequate sleep, and overexercise, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for adrenal burnout.
So if you have adrenal fatigue, or if your current lifestyle is already high stress in a few different areas, you may want to increase your carb intake until you can get those additional stressors under control, as you may drive yourself into adrenal fatigue by having a chronically elevated cortisol output. Lara Briden has written a great article on the benefits of whole food carbohydrates in lowering cortisol and raising GABA, a calming hormone that is often low in adrenal fatigue patients.
Gut Health
One of the less discussed downsides of a very low carbohydrate diet over the long run is the potential for alteration of the gut flora. Chris recently covered this issue in a podcast with Jeff Leach, where they discussed evidence that a very low carb diet can lead to gut dysbiosis and a reduction in the diversity of the gut flora. A lot of the information on this topic is new and not fully understood, but it’s reasonable to believe that when you avoid carbs, you’re also avoiding important prebiotics (i.e. food for your gut flora) like soluble fiber and resistant starch.
These prebiotics are essential for promoting the growth of beneficial gut flora. Without them, your beneficial flora can’t produce as much gut-healing substances like butyrate and other short chain fatty acids, and your microbiome composition may even shift in an undesirable direction. And as Chris would say, you’re only as healthy as your gut is: an unhealthy gut contributes to everything from obesity and diabetes, to digestive illness, to autoimmune disease, to skin disorders.
Those who are doing very low carbohydrate diets, and who simply can’t increase their starch intake for whatever reason, should use prebiotic supplements such as resistant starch-rich unmodified potato starch or FOS powder. However, these products must be incorporated slowly into your supplement regimen, as you can experience severe gas and bloating if too many prebiotics are taken all at once, or if there is existing gut dysbiosis or bacterial overgrowth. In this case, it would be wise to work with someone who can help you get the prebiotics you need while on a very low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet to protect the health of your gut microbiota.
How Many Carbs Do I Need?
To determine how many carbs my clients need to eat in a day to reach their health goals, first I decide what percentage of calories from carbs they’d possibly do best with. As an example from above, a woman struggling with fertility issues may benefit from a carb intake around 30% of calories. I then determine her caloric needs using a calculator like this one. If we determine that her daily needs are roughly 2000 calories per day, 30% of calories from carbs is 600 calories. As there are 4 calories in a gram of carbohydrate, this works out to be 150 grams of carbs per day.
Usually I give my clients a target range to hit depending on their activity levels, and we use these targets to re-evaluate their food diaries and see if they’re hitting their goals. Most of my clients are surprised to learn how much carb-rich Paleo foods they have to eat to get up to 150-200 grams per day! But once they start making a real effort to hit those targets, the health benefits are immediate.
Final Thoughts
The purpose of this article was not to bash low carb diets. I truly believe that there are many people out there who get amazing health results from a low carb plan, and there are dozens of health conditions that benefit from a very low carb or ketogenic diet, especially severe neurological conditions. Paul Jaminet has written some great posts explaining when a ketogenic diet may be useful and necessary, so I strongly suggest reading those posts if you’re still on the fence about where you stand with carbohydrates and your health needs.
My hope is that by reading this article, you’ll be able to understand the many factors that play into how a person handles a low carbohydrate diet, and whether or not their health will improve on such a plan. Everyone is different in their ability to thrive on a low carbohydrate diet. If you’ve found yourself identifying with any of the issues I’ve written about in this post, you may be in need of a macronutrient adjustment in your diet.
Helping people optimize their carb intake is a challenge I truly enjoy. As a dietitian, I love to help people evaluate their diet to determine if they’re meeting their health needs with the food they’re eating. If you think you could benefit from a Paleo diet makeover, I’d love to chat with you about where you’re at and where you want to go with your health.
Your carb intake shouldn’t be the major factor that’s preventing you from reaching your health goals. I hope you use the information I’ve shared today to evaluate your own nutritional needs and make the changes that make sense to you.
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This article, and the recommended one on gentle carbs by Laura Briden, has absolutely made my day. I spent 2 years on a low carb GAPS/ SCD/ Paleo diet and went from severe stomach symptoms and fatigue to even worse stomach symptoms (unable to tolerate ANY food), HPA dysregulation and now diagnosed hypothyroidism. I have only recently added safe carbs back into my diet (when I accidentally upped my carb intake and realised that it was beneficial) and the difference is immense – better sleep, better blood sugar regulation, decrease in fatigue etc. I had been feeling guilty that I had to add rice, potatoes and small amounts of oats into my diet because I have become such a staunch follower of the Paleo lifestyle and buy into it on a nutirutional level as well as political level (food production issues etc), so reading these articles that confirm that the carbs are required by certain people for health alleviates my guilt completely!! Thank you all for continuing to write, research and spread the word about this health knowledge. It is literally saving lives!
I don’t know where you and Stefani Ruper the idea that low carb diets aren’t good for fertility issues. There’s plenty of evidence to the contrary, notably the Nurses Health Study and many others.
How do you imagine our hunter gatherer ancestors consistently found 30% of their calories from carbs in the winter months to conceive and carry on healthy pregnancies?
Personally the only time I ever ovulated without drugs is when I followed a very low carb diet, and I got pregnant on it, too.
“How do you imagine our hunter gatherer ancestors consistently found 30% of their calories from carbs in the winter months to conceive and carry on healthy pregnancies?”
Laf. Asking everyone else to cure chronic ignorance of actual science.
At a point, Mother Goose Fairy Tales fall short.
How about get your Google on?
AAARRRGGGHHH…… diving into all the little details is useful ONCE you’ve fixed the foundation – ie got your nutritional intake at some sort of reasonable, healthy level ie DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE GETTING ALL THE ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS & FROM A BIOAVAILABLE SOURCE?!…… otherwise we’re still taking a palliative approach. We are all H.sapiens with very similar basic essential nutrient needs. Follow this Paleo or that Ketogenic diet may address some problems, for a time but ARE YOU getting your essential nutrients both macro & micro? “Cause if you are not – you will, eventually, “Hit the Wall”. Of course we are all planned obsolescence and will eventually cease to exist on this plane despite the perfect diet. And, please spare me the “moderation” game… either we eat what we need nutritionally or we don’t & specificity is important.
We can argue the “low carb” issues until the cows come home which is totally ridiculous – NUTRITION is much more complex …. Though I completely agree that safe carbs are an integral part of nutrition for H.sapiens … there’s a lot more factors at play than low carb, safe carb, high fat, no fat, raw food, traditional food and therefore – ALL of the assumptions that are being discussed….
DISCLAIMER: I’m biased: I really love peaches (especially in heavy raw cream), butter soaked sweet potatoes, sour cream mashed potatoes & chives, gluten free donut holes (deep fried in my beef tallow) & salty Kettle brand potato chips! Gluten based grains cause a variety of unpleasant symptoms. Corn, nixtamalized, in small amounts is usually ok, white rice (thoroughly rinsed 5-6 times) causes no immediately noticeable problems except fluid retention, beer of any type leaves me w/ a fever blister & depending on the alcohol & amount – I’m playing Russian roulette w/ a migrain. My basic premise, for an overall safe macronutrient substrate is 70% fats (the right kind) 20% protein (the right kind) & 10% carb (the right kind). Adjust from there depending on your health status, goals & competence with objectively analyzing your nutritional intake & adjusting accordingly. The biggest problem is we have mostly no experience eating w/ ketogenic based nutrition and the metabolism is different. And, total nutrition is what we really need to address first: that includes macro & micro nutrients.
Since the blog was rather detailed, I felt compelled to address the key points. Anything less would not suffice for my crazy roommates.
The problem is – the key variables are not being systematically identified & discussed … low carb – Whaaat!?! High protein or high fat, what kind/quality of fat or of protein?! NO one is openly identifying that fats are the most important key macronutrient (approx. 50-70% of total intake). Nor is it just about the macronutrients…. What about the micronutrients?! The CONFOUNDING variables are significantly HUGE, and even tho we aren’t talking about a scientific experiment – we are assessing data & making conclusions: Let’s not confuse association w/ causation.
1) Are you sure it’s not about a restrictive diet?! A hypo caloric, restrictive diet (low in carbs or Kcals) will stress the body & affect adrenals/cortisol & thyroid function – many folks on a low carb diet may also be too low calorie. Restrictive diets are very stressful in the long run, hard on the adrenals & thyroid. Restrictive diets are utilized way too frequently due to a focus on fast weight loss – particularly since most have been on high carb diets that cause significant fat deposition, cardiometabolic disorder & consequently follow the misguided belief in “calories in/calories out”. While hypocaloric, restrictive diets will provide some short term benefits: weight loss, lower insulin & decrease cardiometabolic disorder – they are not sustainable if health, over a lifetime is the goal. Starvation does not create a healthy animal. Healthy weight will be achieved, once cardiometabolic order has been corrected & as one follows optimal nutrition over several years. Humans seem to want the quick fix vs the healthy fix.
2) What about the PROTEIN:
MOST low carb diets are high in protein – usually muscle proteins that are lean & lower in nutrients…. Which is problematic… Protein metabolism requires appropriate fat levels for assimilation.
3) What about ALL the ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS? :
• Most diets, low carb & high carb – Actually almost all diets of any sorts are nutrient deficient – particularly in the fat soluble & B complex vitamins & minerals. Healing/health cannot be achieved until malnutrition @ the macro AND micronutrient is completely addressed.
• What about the HUGE issue of micronutrient malabsorption & malnutrition. And, of ALL toxic substances, being eaten, as “food”, which damage the gut, etc.
• The largest, bestest, bioavailable source of essential nutrients (for H.spaiens) is found in grass fed herbivores & sea food…. BUT only if you eat the WHOLE animal. Liver & kidney are the 2 most nutritious single sources of essential nutrients BUT don’t overeat on these either. AND don’t eat the liver of carnivores – that is deadly. Way too much of a good thing (vit A retinol).
4) What about the minerals & insulin?
• On a low carb diet – one is virtually guaranteed to lower insulin which >> increases sodium, potassium & magnesium excretion- this can happen quite precipitously & as these are critical in our most basic metabolic processes – WAHOO – causes quite a bit of distress & significant discomfort: fatigue, malaise, GI upset, stomach digestion problems, headaches, muscle cramps/spasms, poor mentation/memory/mood & glandular function (can we say adrenal & thyroid issues!?). These minerals are essential to daily function & It is imperative to increase one’s intake, immediately & consistently to resume normal metabolic functions.
• The majority, 70-80% of the population, suffers from some form of cardio metabolic dysfunction …. It is important to get the carbs down so that glucose poisoning/high insulin/insulin resistance is addressed. Once the body recovers – carbs, at a healthy level, can be metabolized normally (no insulin resistance). To treat metabolic disorder in a reasonable time frame – 10% carbs has been the most effective that I’ve found, it’s pretty much the threshold for ketosis to occur.
5) FATS, the “Gorilla in the Closet”:
• The “safest”, healthiest macronutrient is animal fats from the natural source: ALL body fat from animals (particularly true herbivores) contains a balance of saturated, monounsaturated & poly unsaturated fatty acids AND fat soluble vitamins. Fats are required for many of our essential nutrients to be assimilated & metabolized.
• One must be keto adapted (been in ketosis consistently) to have optimal levels of lipid enzymes for healthy metabolism when considering “low carb”. This typically takes up to 6 months or more, IF one maintains a primarily ketogenic substrate.
• And, too many folks are still focusing on plant oils & fats as primary fat sources, which contributes to inflammation via the arachidonic acid pathway. Along w/ being low to devoid of key fatty acids & fat soluble vitamins.
• Saturated fats are biochemically, highly stable, they have no double bonds, are anti-oxidative & protect the highly oxidative polyunsaturated fats in the animal tissue. EAT them preferentially.
6) Are CARBs safe?:
• Carbs are useful in our diet – they are simple & cheap (in our society) to access & we have been raised on them so we like them. I liken them to “jet fuel”- if your body is burning excess calories – they can be useful but they are highly oxidative.
• They require insulin which is also oxidative. Though, if you aren’t insulin resistant, you won’t have excessive levels of insulin released.
• Carbs are convenient, easily stored & our ability to utilize them assists us in inhabiting a wider variety of ecological niches successfully.
• Don’t assume that because humans in the recent past, 10,0000 yrs have used plant/carb/grain sources that they are “optimal” for us. We are incredibly capable survivors & have a flexible enough metabolism to utilize these “foods” to survive. Long term they are simply A LOT of sugar with minimal nutrients & carry a significant toxic & oxidative capacity.
• “Safe carbs”- low toxicity, can be a useful addition to a nutritious diet. Prepare them properly & enjoy, but not too much.
• Grains & beans carry a significant toxic load that contribute to lack of health. Yeah, there are ways of making them safer to eat but with great animal sources & optimal safe carbs/plants, REALLY, Why bother?!
• 30% carbs? – maybe, if you are not keto adapted, not eating enough healthy fats, not on an optimal macro & micronutrient substrate, and maybe if it’s episodic. Long term?! – the natural & biological indicators point to a higher animal sourced diet.
• Long term, carb load; consistent, over a life time – 20% carbs… average of 10-30%.
7) Gut bacteria – unless you’ve been exposed to the full complement of healthy microbes that inhabit our gut & provide them the nutrients they need – No one has healthy gut bacteria.
• Prebiotics? Hmmm – As far as I can determine, based on biology & the natural environment: Fermented foods are close to essential & have always been a part of most animals’ diet, particularly & including predators. Most predators eat stomach, intestines, organs & all, raw – really nice bacterial source.
• Hunter-gatherers have always eaten the whole animal. Matter of fact, when hunting is good – they keep the fat & organs & leave the muscle meat. And, they ate a lot of it raw. When’s the last time you ate cooked intestines, let alone raw?!
• Fermented plants, w/ their fiber already partially digested (pre biotic), is one of the safest/healthiest way for humans to eat high fiber plant products & re-inoculate their gut biome. Ferment foods are, perhaps, even better than cooked b/c bacterial breakdown typically increases nutrients, like vit C & B vitamin content. Modern diets of any sort, rarely contain enough quantity or variety or consistency of fermented foods. Start there before you go w/ FOS powder (hmmm, how many ancient/wild humans had that available?!)
8) Oh, & what about proper/traditional food prep. & cooking – to reduce toxic load & increase absorption.
9) Pregnancy – WOW –in addition to the above – this is a really huge issue. .. the body requires an increase in ALL nutrients to develop a healthy baby. Even with decent nutrition during pregnancy, if the mother & father have not had decent nutrition throughout their lives – the baby most likely will be compromised, however so subtly and, lately not so subtly. Most Americans today (70-80%) show significant signs of long term malnutrition & congenital (epigenetic) problems. Epigenetics are bringing much new info to the fore front on this. Vegans are high carb & their babies have significant epigenetic problems – it’s so much more than the carbs. Again, let’s not confuse correlation w/ causation.
10) ARE YOU eating >>> Organ meats, intestines, stomach, raw meat?!
• Not usually found in the modern diet but they are the best, most concentrated source of essential nutrients.
• Or at least -supplementing the key, essential nutrients?! ie. Vit A retinol, vit D, K2, vit C, B complex, Choline, Taurine, all the minerals, trace minerals,etc, etc? Without concentrating on one or the other or both – then any diet is still lacking in essential nutrients & therefore, malnourishing.
Nutrition is very complex – Yet our ancestors thrived on this planet, successful in almost any & every ecosystem. As with every animal on this planet – we are genetically programmed as to what we need to eat. Yet, very few of us know what to eat to be healthy! Unfortunately, we’ve been raised & taught the wrong things. Changing those habits & thought patterns is a challenging endeavor – particularly when the current diet(s) undermine our brain function & emotional state…. Shifting to healthy nutrition is the most important journey we will ever undertake.
I am sincerely grateful to Kris, Laura, Paul J., PhD, Ron R., MD, Catherine S., MD., L. Cordain, PhD, Dr.W. Price, M.Enig, PhD, Sally F. & & sooooo many others for sharing their knowledge & daring to go beyond the paradigm…
AND…. We have to continue to ask the right questions…
Simple correlations are not enough. GOOD empirical & anecdotal data is not enough. Compare to the basic biological framework of ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS & their NATURAL SOURCES: what was/is available to “wild” humans living a hunter-gather existence vs. what has become convenient as humans became “civilized”? Assess for congruence. Modern info & concepts are highly biased – influenced by paradigms inured in the very fabric of our society & belief structures. It’s really difficult to “ see our biases”, to call our comfortable, preferred beliefs into question – into real scientific scrutiny. Biology (ie. essential nutrients) is as definitive as Physics (ie gravity) – deny either one to your demise.
Vive Vida! p.s. pardon my typo errors.
Carmen,
You seem to not be aware that the anthropological data uncovered over the past 5 years has shown a tremendous support for starch consumption in early humans.
The very fact that most humans evolved lots of AMY1 genes, should be proof enough that starch consumption makes us human.
But, if that’s not enough for you, recent anthropological evidence from carbon isotopes shows that C4 sedge and grassy tubers were apparently a major component of the early hominid diet. At first this confused researchers, since grass is fairly nutrition-less.
However, earlier this year, researchers at Oxford finally figured out the missing piece to the puzzle, showing that these high levels of C4 isotopes had to have come from the consumption of tiger nuts — which are actually a grassy sedge tuber that are twice as starchy as a potato and more nutrient-dense than red meat.
Those starchy, nutrient-dense tubers allowed early hominids to consume 80% of their calories with only 3 hours of foraging. This is rather important as unlike other primates—who forage for up to 8 hours per day—humans require enormous amounts of free time in order to invent and share new technology. Therefore it was essential to consume plants that were rich in nutrients and rich in calories.
Any survivalist will tell you the same thing — that the key to survival in the wild is to consume energy positive plants (i.e. carbs). It would be utterly moronic to avoid such easy calories coming out of the ground everywhere. Interestingly, tiger nuts taste sweet, like candy — explaining where our penchant for sweets and carbs may have come from.
Finally, it’s well supported in the scientific literature that wild game is too lean to support ketosis. There just isn’t enough fat in wild game to keep people in a state of chronic ketosis.
The scientific evidence overwhelmingly suggests that there was significant starch consumption—from starchy tubers, corms, rhizomes, bulbs and even collected pollens—in early humans. Heck, there’s even good evidence of starch consumption at the peak of the ice age!
You seem not to be aware that an analysis of the macronutrient content of a diet is insufficient to determine whether or not it produces ketosis.
Meal timing and frequency, insulin sensitivity, and activity levels also play a role.
Fasting produces ketosis. Exercise produces ketosis. Fasting while exercising (hunting and gathering, for example) in an individual who is insulin sensitive would produce ketosis to a near certainty.
The lesson from evolution is that there is nothing more “Paleo” than transient ketosis.
Correct. A negative energy balance (i.e. starvation) produces ketosis.
And are all well aware that our Paleo ancestors had intermittent/transient periods without food. That is not what we are debating here. We evolved that ability for starvational ketosis and we can all reap the benefits from it. But that has nothing to do with low carb diets.
If you’re going to argue that chronic starvation is an ideal state, be my guest as it’s completely asinine to starve oneself chronically and indefinitely — which is what we are actually discussing here.
You missed my point. Probably a waste of time to repeat it, so I’ll just cut to the chase:
Do you have any evidence that long-term ketosis has any adverse affect? (And by evidence, I mean dietary trials conducted on modern humans.)
While we’re at it, do have any evidence that a low-carb diet has ever caused candida overgrowth in anyone? (Except Paul Jaminet, for whom a low-carb diet causes every malady known to Man.)
“You missed my point. Probably a waste of time to repeat it”
You’ve got to be kidding me. Perhaps you don’t read your own comments, but you never asked me if long term ketosis had any adverse effect. You just rambled on about the obvious aspects of intermittent fasting and negative energy balance (yawn).
“Do you have any evidence that long-term ketosis has any adverse affect? (And by evidence, I mean dietary trials conducted on modern humans.)”
Nope. Nor did I argue that. If you hadn’t noticed, I was simply educating Carmen about the latest anthropological evidence, which shows significant support for starch consumption. Furthermore, there has never been any indigenous culture that has ever been documented to be in chronic ketosis, not even the Inuit. I really don’t care if chronic ketosis is therapeutic or not. Either way, it’s a very modern experiment that has yet to be settled.
“do have any evidence that a low-carb diet has ever caused candida overgrowth in anyone?”
Yes. It actually happened to me. I went VLC for about 9 months and candida nearly killed me.
But, your question is a loaded one. You won’t find very many candida studies on humans because the testing is unreliable, hence why it is mostly dismissed in modern medicine.
“There is no laboratory test that allows a clear identification of patients affected with this presumed disorder. Actually, “no clear definition of the disease has ever been advanced” [220]. Considering these facts, it is impossible to set criteria to establish and identify patients affected with this supposed disease.”
http://www.doctorfungus.org/mycoses/human/candida/Chronic_Candidiasis.php
So, we are left with the knowledge of candida’s environment and its effects on its dimorphic triggers that I referenced above. Ignore it if you wish. I could care less.
And honestly, Sam, it’s just embarrassing that people like Carmen own a business convincing people that our Paleolithic ancestors shunned carbohydrates. That’s got to be one of the most poorly researched hypotheses given the anthropological research that’s been published over the past 5 years.
I’m quoting from Carmen’s site here. She writes:
“As hunter-gatherers, for much of our species history – humans survived on an animal based diet, supplemented by certain plant products…Healthy plant foods, low in starches… The [diet] is a low carbohydrate/no grain, high healthy animal fat…moderate high quality protein and vegetable nutritional program. It is direct, simple & effective. It is the most biologically appropriate nutriton for the human species.”
Except that’s not what the scientific literature says about early hominid diets, by any stretch of the imagination. The scientific literature shows a significant shift in hominid fossil isotopes to C4 grass consumption. And the wear patterns on the teeth of early hominids—who had these C4 isotopes—matches up perfectly with the wear patterns found on baboons who ate C4 tubers, such as tiger nuts. (Starchy tiger nut tubers, by the way, have a macronutrient profile that mimics that of human milk). Meanwhile, Paleo-Indians had starch all over their tools and people were grinding flour at the peak of the last glacial maximum.
Did people like Carmen get excited over this latest research, which explained how humans ate a fairly balanced diet of carbs, fat and protein? Did they consider modifying their dietary recommendations to reflect all this new data?
Nope. Nada.
They just didn’t pay any attention to it. Too busy selling their product, I suppose. People like Carmen have no intellectual curiosity in really looking into the literature of what hominid ancestors actually ate. They just have a business and a false dogma to maintain.
There’s no curiosity about the overwhelming evidence of starchy underground storage organs (USOs) in indigenous cultures around the world and the AMY1 starch genes that are so prevalent in our species — as well as the prevalent AMY2B starch genes of our own domesticated dogs. There’s no desire to investigate the actual science or have an intelligent discussion about it. It’s embarrassing and borderline inexcusable.
And all I’ve done is referenced the published scientific data and asked where all of the large quantities of fat could have come from when our ancestors mostly only had access to lean animals.
Early humans scavenged the fatty marrow from carcasses, with only three or four species (see Figure 4) of “unstressed” African ungulate carcasses yielding marrow of more than 1,500 kCal (with wildebeest marrow being a rare exception yielding 3,000 kCal). That’s not a lot of fat for a family to share and stay in ketosis. If an early, and skilled, hunter was able to obtain the full “unstressed” carcasses, the meat would have been very lean, even with the addition of some caul fat. Where did all this supposed “high fat” diet come from? I’ve never seen a realistic hypothetical answer to that given the lean ungulate conundrum.
Of course, I wouldn’t expect any of these false ancestral gurus to investigate the scientific literature that closely. If they did, they’d be out of business.
Duck, Duck, why is it that folks like you seem to enjoy being so trivially aggressive? Making little slights about my integrity, depth of knowledge – “educating me”? whew – without even having a clue who I am & what I do? Hmmm, cherry picking – my comments & your research & ignoring all the other details I wrote. I’m not an arm chair amateur – in the clinical/health/medical arena nor in biology & nutrition & real whole food. I am a clinician, 35+ yrs. Cardiovascular & diabetes. Physiologist, biologist, botanist, animal husbandry, etc, etc, etc. I raise or hunt most of my own food so I can eat the whole, healthy animal, as much as possible, to maximize my essential nutrients & also indulge in the pleasures of Paleo &Neolithic plant foods that aren’t too toxic. My focus is optimal nutrition. My primary approach is to maximize essential nutrition while reducing cardiometabolic disorder – since that’s a HUGE population based issue- TODAY!
I think I clearly stated that TOTAL NUTRITION WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT…. Perhaps the real question: “Is a diet LOW IN ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS ruining your health?”. Key points: 1) it is essential to assess if one’s basic nutrition supplies the essential nutrients (the ones we can’t make or make enough of to survive)…. 2) just discussing “low carb” was rather meaningless. 3) That without better identification of CONFOUNDING variables we were at the level of correlation & that’s not a good place from which to make large, sweeping conclusions. But for the sake of conversation & pointing out that you jump to big conclusions on minimal evidence:
I’m not about raw “survival”… I know how to stay alive over a short time in the wild, that’s not the point …. I’m relating to “optimal” nutrition for procreation, raising children, healthy brain function & living a long, healthy life. I stated that safe starches have a place in our nutrition – primarily for “calories”(& they are convenient & pleasurable) and properly prepared vegetables (which are tasty & feed the gut bacteria) but most carb/plant based sources lack key essential nutrients . And, 30% carb, all the time maybe problematic – especially if you are one of the majority of Americans suffering from cardiometabolic disorder. If one reviews the essential nutrients for H.sapiens: I’ll pick the easy ones: vit A retinol, D3, K2, B12, heme iron, taurine, EPA, DHA – these are only found from animal sources. Wanna look at a “super food” check out this post: “Liver: Nature’s most potent superfood” : http://chriskresser.com/natures-most-potent-superfood ….Heck even vit C is plentiful in animal tissue.
Uhhh – I think you need to re-read this article.. Your ref: http://unews.utah.edu/news_releases/a-grassy-trend-in-human-ancestors-diets/ – with data analysis techniques that even the authors point out as problematic & admit that: [“The isotope method cannot distinguish what parts of grasses and sedges human ancestors ate – leaves, stems, seeds and-or underground storage organs such as roots or rhizomes. The method also can’t determine when human ancestors began getting much of their grass by eating grass-eating insects or meat from grazing animals. Direct evidence of human ancestors scavenging meat doesn’t appear until 2.5 million years ago, and definitive evidence of hunting dates to only about 500,000 years ago.
– “We don’t know if they were pure herbivores or carnivores,”…. “ If early humans ate grass-eating insects or large grazing animals like zebras, wildebeest and buffalo, it also would appear they ate C4 grasses. If they ate fish that ate algae, it would give a false appearance of grass-eating because of the way algae takes up carbonate from water, Cerling says.”]
…. So, what conclusions can be drawn from this?!
Nor can we identify what we should be eating today based on hominids from 2.5-4 million yrs ago. We are descended from herbivorous based primates. NO argument. BUT, something allowed us to diverge & develop the most advanced brain in the animal kingdom. Though, even the best researchers argue about what humans ate only 15,000 yrs ago & debate why the mega fauna of the entire N. American continent became extinct in a very short time… http://cpluhna.nau.edu/Biota/megafauna_extinctions.htm . To jump from what our remote primate ancestors probably ate to identify what modern hominids should eat is simply ridiculous…
Hunting – do you hunt? Ever dressed a healthy cow elk or doe, very nice fat content (up to 70% of total Kcals, [Cordain], even when totally grass fed) when harvest at the right time? If I’m in a very cool climate (most of the last 100,000yrs)… one healthy kill, large herbivore, supplies a lot more total nutrition & quality calories than a whole marsh of watery tubers or wild rice but these plants definitely filled caloric gaps. Might want to discuss this w/ Robb Wolf, who holds the record for one of the largest elk killed with an atlatl – & he didn’t do it just for fun….. his group of reality show “cave men & women” were starving, trying to “live off the land” for just a couple of weeks – plants just weren’t doing it for them. That elk fed them well & I heard that the raw liver tasted mighty good. (just Google: I, Cave man)
Do you raise your own meat animals? Do you harvest your own animals? Do you eat organ meats, the whole animal? Do you know how meticulous hunter cultures were/ are about how, what & when they harvest their game? Now why do the Inuit prize all that muktuk?! Really, one article on “reindeer” carcass.?! Reindeer were not the only herbivores on the planet (lessee – wooly mammoth, rhinoceros, bison – http://cpluhna.nau.edu/Biota/megafauna_extinctions.htm . And, hmmm this article (your ref) http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/25268/0000711.pdf – staunchly points out the importance of fats. So maybe much of that mega fauna was hunted for its FAT & our ancestors left the lean meat to the jackals? (oh, I think I mentioned that)! And, w/ cold seasons (fall into winter) fat storage is made easier. And, all that trade between inland cultures & coastal peoples (seal, whale, or oulachen fat). I do believe I focused on that key essential, very complex & very misunderstood macronutrient(s) FATs/Fatty acids. Maybe, we aren’t well suited to live inland, you know that “water ape” theory. Oh & hmmm, the Sami have done very well on their seafood & reindeer based diet, ‘course they use the dairy from the reindeer as well. But is Neolithic OK or not in your rules?!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09starch.html?ref=magazine&_r=1&
uhhh – their theory, unproven. Yes the ability to digest starches allowed us a potential selective advantage, able to inhabit larger ecological niches… I did note that.
[We view starch as a transitional food,” Dominy adds, helping us get from fruit to meat but also important in its own right. What abundant, ubiquitous resource was out there in the environment? “Fruits just don’t do it,” Dominy says. “For one thing, they’re seasonal. Meats are hard to get, and we didn’t have tools or spears yet. So we think that the shift to eating corms, bulbs and tubers gave our ancestors enough sugar resources to develop a large brain.”] Really, this got your attention, based on what REAL evidence?
This may have worked for lesser hominids, long ago & increased their brain size but for current brain health it’s quite incongruous to the essential nutrients that our healthy “large” H sapiens brain require….
Ah, the amylase argument….” The very fact that most humans evolved lots of AMY1 genes, should be proof enough that starch consumption makes us human.”
Uhhhh, dogs have it too, & wolves, though to a lesser extent. Does that make them “human”? Regardless, plant based, starch diets do not contain adequate essential nutrients – for dogs, cats, wolves or humans. http://www.petsr4life.com/forum/topic/2614-dogs-ability-to-digest-starch-dont-be-misled/
And I quote from S. Guyenet:[ “Five years ago, I had an interesting conversation with a veterinarian friend about dog food. We were talking about diabetes in one of the dogs she was treating, and I remarked “that’s what happens when you feed a carnivore carbohydrate””.]
So, cardiometabolic disorder in humans is that much different? How long have you worked clinically, professionally, studying & treating cardiometabolic diseases?
And I could go on, but I’m getting bored & need to get some sleep so I can do some real work. I could suggest getting some better references though.
I’m not interested in survival; I’m focused on “optimal”. Cardiometabolic disorder affect a majority of Americans. I have observed cardiovascular disease becoming common in 40-50yr olds, who are fit & thin; when not long ago it was a disease of old age. I’ve been around the block a few years, have observed the ineffectiveness of most “diets”; worked hard at identifying the confounding nutritional variables. Based on the clinical, biological, botanical BIG picture: Grains are playing a big part, as is a carb based diet – plenty of calories with minimal nutrition. Natural selection is always at play…. Biology is definitive. H sapiens can survive on a carb based diet – but does it support- A robust, large brained, well-muscled human? Healthy brain evolution or de-evolution? What was Weston Price looking for – Oh yeah – the “reason for moral degeneration in modern society”.
Mayhaps your attitude in discussing issues civilly, without ad hominem inuendo is somewhat telling?
p.s. Oh, and one does NOT need to be in “negative energy balance” to be in ketosis. I have been at 3900 kcals/day (that would be in excess of my daily caloric needs, ie positive caloric balance) and lost body fat….. I weigh, on any given day 118-122# @ 5’4”, Body fat ~18%. Recovered competitive athlete, recovered from clinically significant heart arrhythmia, adrenal exhaustion, fibromyalgia, IBS, pre-diabetes, autoimmune issues,– now a healthy, robust 56 yo [ApoE3/4, (TC 365/HDL 80/TG 82, type A subfraction) fasting insulin 1-2, CRPhs .4] who loves life & still likes to play hard – all on a mostly ketotic nutritional program and still discovering more variables to factor in.
Vive Vida!
I’d be wary of Mr. Duck based on the slanted and almost obsessive nature of his/her posts.
Indeed there are people who get too dogmatic about low-carb being good for everybody.
But for every one of those, there seem to be two or three like Duck Duck who are throwing everything but the kitchen sink into trying to persuade people that low-carb is dangerous for them.
When people get this worked up about something, I get suspicious. Often they turn out to be vegans or on the payroll of some bakery somewhere in the midwest.
There is a tremendous amount of bad anti-carb propaganda masquerading as research out there on the web.
If you explore the links, you can see a lot of this faux research is generated by vegan organization who are fighting the low-carb and paleo movement with a religious fervor.
It’s a little like the Christian conservatives trying to persuade the rest of us that birth control and abortion are dangerous. I understand their motives, but their science is garbage. The health of women takes a back seat to their ideology.
Just be cautious and don’t respond unless you want to read more propaganda.
There are plenty of good non-biased sources of information about low-carb, benefits and potential problems and side effects — beginning with the Atkins foundation itself which is scientifically mainstream and very sound. (run out of Duke University by a nationally respected doctor, Eric Westman).
Another good source is dietdoctor.com, a blog and set of links run by Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt a Swedish physician who has devoted himself to puncturing the anti-low-carb myths and who has been very influential in changing Swedish health policy. I warn you, if you Google his name, you will see lots of vegan sites (plantpositive.com) trying to knock down Eenfeldt — but again, remember where the vegans are coming from.
Tom,
I do not discount that VLC is therapeutic for some conditions. However, I do discount the anthropological evidence for low carb. It is extremely weak. I am merely interested in looking into the anthropological research. I could care less what you choose to put in your mouth. But, it should come as no surprise that humans are most definitely omnivores.
Carmen,
My apologies for the rudeness. But, if our ancestors were truly carnivores, we would have jaws and mandibles that look like a carnivores. If we were truly herbivores, our jaws/mandibles would look like an herbivores. But, we are neither. Humans evolved the jaws/mandibles an omnivore. In other words, you need to look at all the clues, as anthropologists do (wear patterns, isotopic signatures, remaining hunter-gatherer habits, animal compositions, fossilized coprolites, etc). And then you have to form a hypothesis based on all those clues. Over the last few years, the evidence that has come to life has shifted the thinking to greater reliance of Underground Storage Organs (USOs).
The overwhelming majority of anthropologists do not believe in a VLC ancestor. And, frankly, to imply otherwise is disingenuous.
In fact, the latest issue of National Geographic—you know, the magazine that spends each issue examining the latest research on cultures and ancient anthropology—ridiculed the notion of a highly-carnivorous Paleolithic Diet.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/evolution-of-diet/
——-
National Geographic (Sept 2014): The Evolution of Diet
The real Paleolithic diet, though, wasn’t all meat and marrow. It’s true that hunter-gatherers around the world crave meat more than any other food and usually get around 30 percent of their annual calories from animals. But most also endure lean times when they eat less than a handful of meat each week. New studies suggest that more than a reliance on meat in ancient human diets fueled the brain’s expansion.
Year-round observations confirm that hunter-gatherers often have dismal success as hunters. The Hadza and Kung bushmen of Africa, for example, fail to get meat more than half the time when they venture forth with bows and arrows. This suggests it was even harder for our ancestors who didn’t have these weapons. “Everybody thinks you wander out into the savanna and there are antelopes everywhere, just waiting for you to bonk them on the head,” says paleoanthropologist Alison Brooks of George Washington University, an expert on the Dobe Kung of Botswana. No one eats meat all that often, except in the Arctic, where Inuit and other groups traditionally got as much as 99 percent of their calories from seals, narwhals, and fish.
So how do hunter-gatherers get energy when there’s no meat? It turns out that “man the hunter” is backed up by “woman the forager,” who, with some help from children, provides more calories during difficult times. When meat, fruit, or honey is scarce, foragers depend on “fallback foods,” says Brooks. The Hadza get almost 70 percent of their calories from plants. The Kung traditionally rely on tubers and mongongo nuts, the Aka and Baka Pygmies of the Congo River Basin on yams, the Tsimane and Yanomami Indians of the Amazon on plantains and manioc, the Australian Aboriginals on nut grass and water chestnuts.
“There’s been a consistent story about hunting defining us and that meat made us human,” says Amanda Henry, a paleobiologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. “Frankly, I think that misses half of the story. They want meat, sure. But what they actually live on is plant foods.” What’s more, she found starch granules from plants on fossil teeth and stone tools, which suggests humans may have been eating grains, as well as tubers, for at least 100,000 years—long enough to have evolved the ability to tolerate them.
The notion that we stopped evolving in the Paleolithic period simply isn’t true. Our teeth, jaws, and faces have gotten smaller, and our DNA has changed since the invention of agriculture. “Are humans still evolving? Yes!” says geneticist Sarah Tishkoff of the University of Pennsylvania.
——
They call them hunter-”gatherers” for a reason.
And while we are quoting Stephan Guyenet here, let me direct you to this particular quote of his:
————-
Fat and Carbohydrate: Clarifications and Details
It is worth noting that the ancestral African hunter-gatherer diet was probably not high in fat on most days, at least not animal fat. African game is characteristically extremely lean, and the only African hunter-gatherer group I’m aware of that gets a fair amount of fat is the !Kung, and most of that fat comes from mongongo nuts (although the mongongo fruit/nut is mostly carbohydrate by calories, a fact that Staffan Lindeberg recently pointed out to me). Most African game just doesn’t contain much fat, even if you include the brain and marrow, and the primary exceptions, like hippos, are extremely dangerous to hunt with stone-age weapons (9). I have yet to see a single credible account of an African hunter-gatherer group that regularly eats a diet high in animal fat. If you know of one, please cite it in the comments.
I’ve come across a lot of arguments that the ancestral human diet was typically high in fat, but these invariably strike me as wishful thinking.
————-
I often wondered why the modern version of the Paleo Diet™ is so far off the mark from what the overwhelming majority of anthropologists now theorize. Turns out one reason is that the early interpretations of the Paleo diets cherry picked their data:
——-
From: Human Diet: Its Origin and Evolution by Peter S. Ungar, Mark Franklyn Teaford
In “The Paleolithic Prescription,” Eaten et al. (1988b) reconstructed a Paleolithic forager diet based on average values from current hunter-gatherer diets available in the literature. The data came from only six groups, mostly living in marginal habitats. One of the studies was on the !Kung, whose diet was recorded for a single month (Lee, 1969), and one was on the Eskimos (Eaten et al., 1988b). Despite these limitations, the diet hypothesized by Eaton et al. (1988b) offers an opportunity to consider how hunter-gatherer nutrition may have changed compared to an ancestral chimpanzee diet.
——
In other words, the first modern iterations of the Paleo Diet™ were based on cherry-picked data for a low carb/high fat diet bias. It probably should have been called the “marginal-habititat” diet, but that wouldn’t have sold as well.
And, Tom, I’m simply trying to set the record straight. A lot of people have been misled by the Paleo Diet™ into thinking that our ancestors were mostly carnivorous, but the anthropological research now says otherwise.
“The lesson from evolution is that there is nothing more “Paleo” than transient ketosis.”
Well, other than eating and F*cking, I suppose. Raising children, perhaps? How about spending time understanding the values of your 30 or so tribe mates, such that you can influence them, as opposed to getting your 1/300 millionth say in a social masturbation chamber equipped with a curtain?
I apologize. It’s just that the above was my AHS12 presentation at Harvard. Guess who was in the room with me during final preps? Chris, and Denise Minger.
Transient ketosis ushers autophagy, and cleansing at the cellular level. This ought be well established. But VLC and Ketosis is about being chronic about it, or, too much is not enough.
Ultimately, it’s probably about selling stuff.
Carmen,
if your OPTIMAL ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS DIET is this:
“My basic premise, for an overall safe macronutrient substrate is 70% fats (the right kind) 20% protein (the right kind) & 10% carb (the right kind). ”
but causes this:
“white rice (thoroughly rinsed 5-6 times) causes no immediately noticeable problems except fluid retention, beer of any type leaves me w/ a fever blister & depending on the alcohol & amount – I’m playing Russian roulette w/ a migrain. ”
then you are in trouble.
It might be good to stop composing long comments and start thinking.
Gemma
Thank you for illustrating the point that I made from my very beginning comment – correlation does not equate to causation. By your statement you appear to have made a classic generalization/over simplification that my macronutrient intake was causal in my symptoms. My lower carb nutritional intake doesn’t cause the symptoms I shared – the foods directly related to the symptoms I reported do – and the metabolic/biochemical pathways are fairly obvious (corroborative supporting data). By identifying & controlling my food “variables” I am able to delineate the causal food(s) & therefore, avoid causing myself a migraine or fever blisters or gaining fluid volume. None-the-less, I still take a risk, now & then, with the migraine thing – I do enjoy a nice mixed drink. Tho, negative reinforcement may eventually win out 🙂
Now let’s AVOID the next big over simplification – removing toxic substances from ones intake or eating a restrictive diet (that may be beneficial for weight loss) does not equate to getting all our essential nutrients.
Vive Vida!!
Vive Vida!!
Great work, Laura.
I have up another post on quite this same topic but more in the realm of VLC/Ketogenic diets, which I believe to be far more suspect than run-of-mill LC diets.
I also linked to this here post.
http://freetheanimal.com/2014/08/hunters-remain-ketosis.html
Recommending more carbs to a diabetic or prediabetic is irresponsible without including the caveat that they should be doing it only if it does not raise their fasting and postprandial blood sugar levels.
According to the CDC, 70% of all Americans are overweight or obese. There are at least 100 million Americans who are prediabetic or diabetic and 50% of all Americans have at least one risk factor for coronary heart disease,
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus13.pdf
I had type 2 diabetes and was completely able to reverse it and loose 100 pounds by going on a Paleo low carb diet and exercising vigorously for 45 minutes, 6 days a week.
When I got down to 12% body fat and increased my fitness and muscle mass, a funny thing happened. I found I could eat 100 to 150 carbs a day in green leafy vegetables and low glycemic fruit and berries without raising blood sugar above normal levels.
This would not have happened if I had not given up processed foods, lost weight and become fit.
Only after losing weight and becoming strong and fit could I eat more than 50 carbs a day without raising my blood sugar levels.
I have several diabetic friends who have had a similar experience.
I
Blaine
“Recommending more carbs to a diabetic or prediabetic is irresponsible without including the caveat that they should be doing it only if it does not raise their fasting and postprandial blood sugar levels.”
Original Sin update. Yep, provide a standard that’s impossible to follow, condemn them all to hell. 2nd oldest trick in the book.
Hey blain? Ever wondered what the insulin sensitivity and carb tolerance is of Inuit on their natural diets? Well, with a bolus dose of glucose, their blood sugar does raise to perfectly physiological norms (140 mg/dL) and returns to sub-100 normally as well. But how about if they are truly in ketosis (i.e., chronic VLC)?
http://freetheanimal.com/2014/03/reiterate-elevated-ketone.html
And guess what, exact same thing happened to Stefansson; only for him, it was after a year of VLC and not an 80-hr fast as with the Inuit.
http://freetheanimal.com/2014/07/stefansson-experiement-compromised.html
This is all getting pretty really silly. I’m all for T2s correcting their situation and if it requires strict adherence to VLC, fine. I suspect the cure is elsewhere, such as the gut biome, non-processed foods, etc., but that’s a debate for another time.
There are, in fact, millions of both T1 and T2 diabetics worldwide who control their diabetes just fine. So, perhaps it’s “irresponsible” to advocate more carbs to someone you know won’t follow instructions (while you just assume they’ll follow the VLC instructions), but the well established fact is that people are capable of replacing their pancreas with their mind and doing very well.
My mom is very tightly controlled, though she does eat LC most of the time. Still needs insulin sometimes, though.
My father-in-law has been a T2 for over 50 years. He eats beans every day. Potatoes. Typically 2-3 flour tortillas for breakfast with his eggs, beans, potatoes and bacon.
He’s 86.
Check out how he looks.
http://freetheanimal.com/2014/08/finally-debate-lectins.html
You have to realize. The Paleo/LC deal is now at the point where there’s a Red Pill / Blue Pill option. So thankfully, Chris is a Red Pill guy.
There is a major clinical trial going on right now in the UK on reversing diabetes with a very low cal, low carbohydrate 8 week diet. This is following a pilot trial that reversed type 2 diabetes without medication in over 80% of participants
http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/Services/A-Z/DiabetesService/PatientsCarers/Documents/SJH%20NEWCASTLE%20DIET%20BOOKLET2012.pdf
The lead doctor on the trial is Roy Taylor MD who has discovered that type 2 diabetes is caused by too much fat in the pancreas and liver which reduces their normal function and that a low carb, low calorie diet allows these organs to return to more normal function if the pancreas has not completely burned out.
I should have been clear that I was talking about reversing type 2 diabetes without medication of any kind… returning to completely normal blood through diet and exercise alone.
I was not talking about Inuits who have not burned out their livers and pancreas. I should have been clear I was talking about carbs raising fasting and postprandial blood sugar significantly above normal levels and into diabetic ranges only for diabetics and prediabetics.
There is no doubt some people can be diabetic and eat beans, tortillas and potatoes for 50 years if they are willing to take medication to counteract the spike in diabetic level blood sugars this will cause.
Eating a lower carb diet and giving up processed foods is not impossible. Is it difficult? Yes. Is it harder than giving up smoking or a cocaine addiction? Maybe. I don’t know because I have never smoked or taking drugs.
But I do know I was a sedentary fast food, carb junkie and when I started eating a whole foods, low carb diet and exercising, I got my health and life back. I am not alone. I know many others who have had similar success.
I’m realistic enough to know that most of the 100 million diabetics and prediabetics in this country will not do what is necessary to reverse what is for most an optional, preventable disease.
The really sad thing is that there are probably millions of people who would do what is necessary to reverse or avoid diabetes if they knew that while it is difficult, it is possible..
I do not condemn anyone who can not do it because I know how hard it is to do.
But I still believe it is irresponsible to talk about increasing carbs in a diet without mentioning that there are 100 million diabetics and prediabetics that this may not be the best strategy for unless they want to be taking diabetes medication for the rest of their lives.
Most diabetics and prediabetics will find there symptoms become inevitably worse through a higher carb diet unless they have first lost weight, are exercising and closely monitoring the effect that the increased carbs are having on their fasting and postprandial blood sugar levels..
Hi Blane.
“very low cal, low carbohydrate 8 week diet.”
OK, so what happens when they come out of starvation? LC or HC, the dominant factor there, the one that can’t persist indefinitely is VLC (very low calorie).
Moreover, raw vegans can reverse diabetes, too. A post from 2008:
http://freetheanimal.com/2008/10/raw-for-30-days-vegan-cure-for-diabetes.html
“There is no doubt some people can be diabetic and eat beans, tortillas and potatoes for 50 years if they are willing to take medication to counteract the spike in diabetic level blood sugars this will cause.”
Your bias and prejudice shows through here. First, I acknowledge that VLC may be the better strategy for people who will not tightly control, won’t give up the junk food, etc.
But that’s not an argument based in human biochemical, metabolic physiology, but strictly behavioral. Or, as I like to say, it’s an Original Sin argument.
“willing to take medication”
Insulin is a human hormone essential to all mammalian life (no idea whether reptiles and others use it too). It’s produced by an organ called a pancreas. When this organ fails, and since we’ve yet to figure out pancreatic transplant, it turns out that we have another organ than can pinch hit.
It’s called a brain and incidentally, it required upwards of 130g of glucose daily, as an absolute requirement and your evolutionary adaptation will ensure it gets it.
Along with the tools of a meter, testing strips syringe and a human hormone called insulin, the brain is perfectly capable os taking up the slack of a lazy ass pancreas, and millions upon millions have demonstrated this.
I’m kinda getting impatient with this notion that the technology that even allows a brain and tools to be a pancreas is somehow sinful, worthy of condemnation, and you’re carbs just aren’t low enough.
I so salute Chris Kresser for having the courage to open this can of worms.
Richard,
If you are diabetic, eating carbs is like pouring gasoline on a fire and then using diabetes medication as the fire extinguisher to keep it under control.
Much better not to pour gasoline on the fire in the first place.
I’m aware raw food vegan diets can reverse diabetes. But if you look into it, you will find they usually start with a water fast, followed by a green drink fast, followed by a very low carb vegan diet that emphasizes green leafy vegetables and low glycemic nuts, fruits and seeds. This is the Gabriel Cousins diet. They did a documentary on it and for the very few people who can follow this diet, it is very successful.
A low carb vegan diet is even more extreme than the very low calorie diet currently in trial in the UK. When the 8 weeks is over, participants are encouraged to eat a balanced low carb diet with enough calories to maintain their weight loss.
Both diets are hard to follow they are both better than eating a high carb diet that requires taking diabetes medication to counter spikes in blood sugars that high carbohydrate diets will inevitably cause for almost every diabetic and prediabetic.
The only exception is a small percentage of people find that once they have lost enough weight and the liver and pancreas return to more normal functions, they may find it possible to eat more carbohydrates. But they also must maintain their weight loss and vigorous exercise or their diabetes symptoms will return.
There are many, many Seventh Day Adventist diabetics who have had good success following a low carb vegetarian diet and exercising.
I have never heard of a high carb eating vegetarian who avoided losing weight and didn’t exercise that still managed to successfully reverse diabetes. Dr. Joel Furhman has acknowledged diabetic vegetarians need to eat lower carb diets and exercise.
I eat about 2600 calories a day and keep my carbs to less than 100 grams following a Paleo based diet. I am not starving. I have been doing it for several years and my blood sugars are completely normal.
I eat 80 to 100 grams of protein every day. Most of it animal based as it seems to be easier to follow without undue hunger.
I have zero doubts if i stopped exercising and starting eating a higher carb diet, I would once again find myself developing type 2 diabetes with all the complications that entails.
Where do you think I’m going wrong here?
“If you are diabetic, eating carbs is like pouring gasoline on a fire and then using diabetes medication as the fire extinguisher to keep it under control.”
I don’t know what I can add to my previous comment. Insulin is hormone replacement, analogous to taking thyroid hormones.
We have to come to grips with the idea that people are different, not so much physiologically as they are psychologically or behaviorally.
And this is the precise role of a CLINICIAN with EXPERIENCE like Chris. He’s not sitting at a computer spewing out hypotheses and proclamations like a preacher. He sees INDIVIDUAL patients.
So, what’s he supposed to do when he finds a patient like my FIL, 50+ years a T2, 86 and in great health because while the man finds Bernstein (yea, he read the book, Sisson’s and mine too) way to complicated, he measures BG tons of times per day, has a very good bead on just how he feels and can keep his BG under good control by using his brain like a pancreas (he’s a retired air traffic controller, so smart and alert).
So, is Chris supposed to get on his pulpit, condemn the man for his weak sin of liking and eating the foods he likes, such as refried beans, potatoes, tortillas, and instead eat the LC foods he has no experience with and at the cost of quality of life?
As Chris wrote in his comment that was gold, this is about putting the patient first and I salute Chris for that. A lot.
Richard,
I’m aware insulin is a replacement hormone. There are type 1 diabetics that have won Olympic Gold medals eating high carb diets and using insulin. There is a long list of professional athletes who are type 1 diabetics that would die without insulin. Carbs and enhanced Athletic performance are extremely well documented
However, there are virtually no active professional athletes who have type 2 diabetes even though the incidence of type 2 in the general population is 10 times greater than type 1. Why is that?
Could it be that when you are exercising at the level of a professional athlete, it’s almost impossible to develop insulin resistance and the fatty liver and pancreas that leads to type 2 diabetes?
“We have to come to grips with the idea that people are different, not so much physiologically as they are psychologically or behaviorally.”
Exactly!
In the last 50 years people have become addicted to fast food, processed foods, supersized sugary drinks and deserts coupled with a more sedentary lifestyle. 70% of the calories of the average American’s diet comes from processed foods, most of which didn’t exist 60 years ago. We spend more time sitting on our buts than at any other time in human history.
There is now an explosion in obesity, diabetes and heart disease. For the most part, they are all behaviorally induced and can be prevented with a Paleo diet and exercise.
The answer for type 2 diabetics is not more medication and insulin as a benign hormone replacement therapy. Although in the absence of behavior modification, there may be no other alternative.
According to the CDC, over 90% of American seniors are taking at least one prescription drug and over 50% are taking five or more drugs with all the risks and negative side effects that entails.
By some estimates, prescription drugs are the 4th leading cause of death in America.
In 2012, Glaxo Smith Kline plead guilty to 3 counts of criminal fraud for their diabetes drug Avandia and over 500,000 Avandia users sued GSK for damages.
If there is a natural way to reverse type 2 diabetes with diet and exercise, isn’t it far preferable to using drugs and insulin to control it?
The problem is this story is not widely told and many times as with Laura’s post here, little mention is made of the extensive research that shows a low carb, whole foods diet can reverse this disease without resorting to drugs.
My analogy of carbs raising blood sugar levels in sedentary diabetics and using drugs and insulin as a fire extinguisher to control the disease is directly analogous.
Will it work for every one, especially those with other endocrine or gut biome issues? I would not argue with direct clinical experience to the contrary.
I can testify it has worked for me and many people I know.
Dramatic weight loss, exercise and a low carb diet that excludes processed foods will reverse type 2 diabetes in many people and since the risks associated with this approach are very low, it should be the first option for those willing to try it.
Read Ben Goldacre’s, Bad Pharma on the high cost of resorting to drugs to treat entirely preventable diseases.
blaine,
I’m buying what you’re selling. When I began LCHF my energy returned and exhaustion disappeared in a few short weeks, it was miraculous, so I jumped at the opportunity to exercise again and my body recovered well, lost 10 lbs, then stopped loosing but probably gained some muscle, net effect was 2 pant sizes. But then after a few months it levelled off and exhaustion and non-recovery crept back in, it kicked my ass. Do you think I should just drive myself through these plateaus, which frankly are life sucking exhaustion events beyond any remote definition of fatigue. Any thoughts ….
Greg,
Body composition and physical fitness is more important than weight. Every Kroger store in the country has a health kiosk next to their pharmacy that will give you your body composition with a bioelectrical impedance test…also blood pressure and weight.
If you are under 15% body fat, can jog a mile or a mile and a half at a 10 minute mile pace and are still feeling crappy, it is time for a physical and comprehensive blood test.
Just to be clear, I have eliminated all fast food, all grains, liquid dairy and sodas, (even diet).
I now eat a ridiculous amount of greens every day. 7 to 9 cups and I limit fruit to one or two small servings.
I eat eggs, fish, foul, pork, and red meat in moderation.
Grass fed butter, coconut and olive oil… no manufactured oils. The only sweetener is stevia.
I lift heavy weights twice a week. I run twice a week and I ride a road bike or mountain bike at least 40 to 50 miles a week.
After being an overweight couch potato for the last 40 years, I can now pass the army’s physical fitness test for someone half my age.
Eating right is 80% of the battle but the 20% that is physical fitness will make you bullet proof.
Good luck.
PS: Buy a blood glucose monitor at Walmart for $25 and test intensively for a week to rule out diabetes and prediabetes.
blaine,
Your transformation is miraculous, congratulations! Thank you for your insights and experience.
We are a bit opposite. I was the farthest thing from a coach potato for 42 years to the extent of running ultra marathons and numerous other physical pursuits, managed a gym, and at one point I lead a team of navy divers, I was always fit, then non-recovery and chronic exhaustion hit at 42 and I became a couch potato.
I’ve had (?) nearly every test the medical system will allow, and a binder full of results. Only thing I can see is boarder line prediabetes or metabolic syndrome. So I bought a blood test kit last month, FBG averages around 110/6.1, the odd reading of 125-150, while on a LC to VLC diet. So taking metformin and green coffee beans now to bring that lower and see how it feels, no change yet. Daytime and post meal glucose is lower so no issue there. I always wake with significant joint and whole body pain and non-restorative sleep is a big issue so perhaps I’m getting a glucose liver dump while sleeping or waking, and that is throwing everything off. Or glucose isn’t the issue and it’s insulin resistance. This is my latest experiment.
LC brought down my BP from 150/110 to below 140/90. It’s lower now then when I was running ultras. I gained 50 lbs over these 12 years, lost a quick 10 on LCHF, estimate my body fat to be around 25%, was 30% at one point. No longer loosing fat, plateaued.
If I could exercise more I would. It’s my passion. I’d do it every day twice a day if I could. But the sensations of non-recovery are overwhelming, it’s exhaustion on steroids, and it can last days or weeks. So I walk a fine line between just moving and exercise. Early days on LCHF I was recovering wonderfully, started lifting heavy weights and sprinting, and felt like a million bucks. But for some reason it only lasted a few months, then back to non-recovery and exhaustion. Ugh! Now I just walk.
This is when I began experimenting with adding back more carbs, but no joy. Like you I eat lots of green veg, although not as much as you, plus seafood and meat, good fats, zero processed or refined anything, no industrial oils. I’m now eating more fish and less meat hoping that might help.
This debate over more or less or no carbs appears to be ongoing. I’d guess it’s individual and experimentation is key.
I don’t have Dr support. They regard all my tests as normal. But I do see a GP who allows the tests I request, most of the time, but he adds no value or insight. So I’m relying on my own research to guide me, and insights from others like you. It’s a big witches brew, adding new ingredients, testing theories, doing experiments.
Bottom line for me is when I hit hard on ketosis something changed dramatically, I felt like I was 20 y/o again, my body and brain lit up like a road flare, it was incredibly transformational. So something good happened, but it didn’t last. Why?
Maybe it was the change, transition, switch into ketosis. Perhaps it has more to do with the metabolic flexibility involved vs remaining in one steady state or the other. Wish I knew the answer.
Any/all feedback is welcome. The quest continues…
….also
I thought it interesting to note my 23andme DNA test displayed my greatest health risk to be diabetes and the medication I’m likely to have the best response to is metformin, go figure. I have no family history, and DNA is not epigenetics, but in combination with everything else, I wonder if this has merit.
Greg,
I’m not a doctor and not qualified to even speculate about your condition. I can tell you though that there is a lot of recent research on “cardiac overuse injury” for people who have engaged in too much exercise or endurance events.
Mark Sissons who used to be a pro triathlete calls it “chronic cardio.”
Here is a link to his posting on the subject. I urge you to read it. Perhaps you are still suffering an overuse injury.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-evidence-continues-to-mount-against-chronic-cardio/
It’s interesting that your blood pressure is lower now than when you were running ultra marathons.
If you weighed 40 or 50 pounds less now then when you were running marathons, I would think your blood pressure back then should have been lower.
If it’s a diet issue, Chris Kresser is about the best I’ve read for dealing with endocrine issues and diet. So keep following him.
If exhaustion after physical exertion is an issue, a cardio CT scan may be in order. They are relatively cheap at less than $200 and would indicate if there is heart issue.
Here is another article about cardiac overuse injury although the study dealt with overexercising in people who had already had a heart attack.
http://www.universityherald.com/articles/10872/20140812/too-much-exercise-may-increase-risk-of-cardiovascular-death.htm
good luck.
blaine,
I think you’re right about chronic cardio. I’ve read all Sissons’s stuff and most others in the ancestral/paleo area. There’s a vein of truth that “feels” instinctively right to me. Science and how we interpret it is nothing more than a belief system, but it’s important to believe in something. Truth is relative.
I’m in Canada so can’t just order a test. It needs to go through a GP who first needs to agree to it and then you have to wait in line. Eg last week my GP suggested a kidney scan, received my letter from the hospital a few days later, appt is in 7 months, what a racquet.
In regards to heart, I’ve had several tests including, EEG, stress, echo. All fine. But I feel there is something to the whole chronic cardio idea. My last year of running training was difficult, not recovering normally, in spite of more rest. And then my last ultra race put me in emergency. They said it was dehydration, which may have been part of it, drank lots during and after, but I dialled 911 on myself after I got home, it felt like death was immanent. It’s a queer feeling to dial 911 on yourself. That ended exercise as I knew it. But 12 years later and every form of relaxing, recovery, and rest under the sun, you think I’d be recovered by now!?!
So hello paleo and nutritional ketosis. If FBG of 110 is boarder line or not optimal, could driving it down to 85-90 help me, and if LC or VLC is not budging those numbers, does it make sense to add some pharmacy support like metformin which appears to be risk free from every angle. Could the issue to insulin resistance and/or elevated glucose and it’s toxic effects. Is insulin the key factor in all this? I’m just now reading about Cycloset which has recently been discovered to help with insulin by resetting the hypothalamus. That’s a bit advanced for me but trying to read and understand better. I do have a big problem upon awakening so this makes sense at that level. A reset button would be nice.
Short intense exercise is manageable at times to I should do that when I can. I was doing short sprints in the pool which felt good but it bores me, so should get back to that. Slow hikes are good and I need to simply eliminate running and probably sprinting from my program, even though sprints felt great in early days of LCHF.
Keep those tips and ideas coming. It’s frustrating when I try to do everything right and it works for a short time, but then the benefits fade away. I’m truly open to all ideas in this area although I do need to lock myself into some strategies for long enough for them to work.
So the plan now is no processed carbs, no processed anything, no starch, just veg, meat, seafood, healthy fats, whole foods. Exercise short and intense, rest or walk in between. Take metformin and monitor FBG and try to reduce below 90. Hope for the best.
Greg,
Sounds like a plan. I’ve found I like biking and can do it longer without as much stress as running. I also swim but do no like it as much.
Here is a YouTube video you may find interesting
You bring up some interesting points in this article. Especially with regards to pregnancy, thyroid and athletic demographics, how would one consume 150g+ carbohydrates each day when following a seasonal diet plan? If grains, beans and tubers are out, what may one turn to? Thanks
Tubers are definitely not out! Sweet potatoes, white potatoes, yams, taro, yuca, etc. – all these starchy root veggies are great sources of paleo-friendly carbohydrates that most people can do well with.
Some people include white rice if they can’t tolerate some of these root veggies for whatever reason (i.e. FODMAP intolerance.) Or if they just like it.
Legumes are unnecessary but some people do fine eating them (when properly prepared), but they really come down to individual tolerance.
I started on a pretty strict low carb diet 2010 – amazingly pain and stiffness disappeared, I started to sleep (instead of waking up every other hour) and I didm´t get tired after lunch or in the afternoon anymore. And my stomach was finally in order. Just happy.
After about 6 month I started to lose a little bit of the benefits, and overtime it increased. After two years I started to take medication T4, and ever since I have struggled with doctors to get the help I need. Now I have met an specialist and also get T3, so I´m feeling a little better. Just wanted to know if my low card diet might have caused me the growing problem with thyroid? For a year I haven’t been so strict, but always thought I ought to go back to strict low carb to see If I got any better …
Anyone else like me?
If you “haven’t been so strict” for the past year and you are STILL having thyroid problems, is it really fair to blame low carb?
My personal experience with thyroid and low carb was that when I was eating too few calories I experienced difficulty with my thyroid. As soon as I brought my calories up to a reasonable range, the thyroid issues disappeared. If low carb was implicated, it was implicated only to the extent that the appetite suppression of very low carb permitted me to remain quite comfortable with CALORIES that were too low. I remained VLC with higher calories, and my thyroid function has been fine ever since.
Ugh, so confusing, I’m on my 12th ancestral science related book and it’s getting more confusing, can you help me? I was an ultra adventurer and very fit. Then 12 years ago at 42 became chronically exhausted, unable to recover from anything physical, severe joint pain, non restorative sleep, parathesia. I was a big quality carb eater to that point. 12 years of misery and no diagnosis. 6 months ago discovered LCHF, Paleo, Nutritional Ketosis. Dropped everything carb and processed, ate only whole food, veg, meat, and lots of fat, <50 g carbs, 50% fat. Gains were quick and dramatic, dropped 2 pant sizes, BP normalized, could exercise again and recover, exhaustion gone. But 3 months later it all began to return. I tried adding back some starch, rice and potato, cycle an extra 50-100g carbs on and off, intermittent fast, less exercise, more rest, but no effect. So now I'm back in the ditch again. I did notice my 12 year history of fasting blood glucose in the 108-110 range, and I matched the other criteria for MetSy. So recently I began taking metformin in combination with my LC diet to reduce my FBG. I obviously don't have full blown diabetes but could this level of hyperglycaemia cause all these issues or am I barking up the wrong tree with this experiment? Any other ideas? LCHF did something for a short period, but what, and how do I get it back?
Maybe we need to change things around every once in a while, mix it up. If we do anything for too long we can get diminishing returns, or maybe too much of a good thing in terms of gut bacterial populations. Also, there’s a lot to be said for a “novelty effect” whether mental-emotional, or physical.
Hi Laura
Thanks for this article.
If you are carb sensitive, then you may want to temporarily eliminate fruits and eat less than 50 grams of carbs per day.Chronic stress can have negative effects on your hormonal environment, making you hungrier and preventing you from losing weight.
My son, who was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis 4 years ago, had the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial studying the effect of fecal transplants on people with active UC. Unfortunately he was told at the conclusion of his treatment that he was one of only a few participants up to that point who did not show some degree of improvement. I’ve come to believe that this was at least in part due to the fact that he was on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet at the time of the trial, and the transplanted bacteria were unable to survive. I recently read (on Dr. Ayers Cooling Inflammation site I think) that fecal transplants have the best chance for success when the donor and recipient eat a similar diet.
I would LOVE to know where clinics exist that will do fecal transplants! Does anyone have any leads on this…or on clinical trials that involve FTs?
“While some people do incredibly well following a low carb Paleo diet, there are many people who crash and burn on this type of dietary plan. ”
How fast will one see which type one is? I am on a low carb paleo since 4 months (40g carbs / day + 5.5g GOS) and feeling better than ever before. Am I out of the danger of “crash and burn”? Is this time enough for proving that this is safe and good for me?
One of Laura’s main points is diversity regarding carb tolerance. Laura or Chris, are there any ideas as of today what biological or even genetical differences are responsible for this?
Hi Laura
Thanks for this article.
Chris has mentioned on his podcast a few times the importance of taking a break from technology but to my knowledge has not commented explicitly on the biological effects of EMFs. (Future article please Chris…)
There is considerable evidence that you may not be aware of that shows that excessive electromagnetic radiation (EMFs from wifi, ‘smart’ phones, ipads, laptops, tablets, TVs etc) causes disruption in cellular signaling that effects our brain glucose metabolism and consequently impacts the desire/need for carbohydrates
For example in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2011 there was an article called “Effects of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Signal Exposure on Brain Glucose Metabolism”, (plus 36 other cites). See http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=645813#CONCLUSIONS
I would be interested in your thoughts on this as it seems to be in the blind spot of many people. I know from personal experience that if I spend too many hours on the computer I start to crave carbohydrates.
Chris or Laura, if you could please answer this, I’d really appreciate it.
I am 17 months postpartum (2nd child), no return of menses yet. I am practising ecological breastfeeding, so I nurse during the day and a lot at night, as I co sleep with my son.
I was 117 lb pre pregnancy, and now I’m at 132. I tried a ketogenic diet 9 months ago,and went back to my pre pregnancy weight within a few weeks. After a while, I started craving lots of carbs, especially at night. I would essentially be low carb during the day, and would binge on a bunch of dates or honey.
I am exhibiting some symptoms of hypothyroid, got my levels tested and they were a bit low.
How do I lose my belly fat without going low carb? And what is a good carb intake for a nursing woman who hasn’t gotten her period back yet? Does a nursing woman require as much as a pregnant woman?
Also, how do you increase carb intake, without messing up insulin levels, so it doesn’t affect the calcium/phosphorus ratio in blood, responsible for healthy tooth remineralization?
I started taking Bob’s Red Mill unmodified potato start for RS intake. Despite my high intake of refined carbs, my calcium phosphorus ratio has never been better. But is it messing up my metabolism of carbs, and affecting thyroid?
Please advise.
I am so confused about what I should be doing. I have been on low carb for months with no weight loss and none of the miracle energy I am supposed to have. I feel well in general for a 60 year old obese woman. I keep doing this because I don’t want diabetes and cancer, which sugar feeds. I don’t even know where to turn. I have been to a Naturopath who ran extremely expensive test after another and no real answers and exhausted my funds. I figure if I keep trying things I will stumble on to what works for me. FRUSTRATED!
Hi there,
Just wondering if arrowroot starch works the same as potato starch in the department of prebiotics.
Thanks
Daisy
Ahh the quandary of being both hypothyroid and insulin resistant/prediabetic. If I increase carbs, I gain weight and my blood sugar shoots up. If I keep carbs low, 30 – 50 grams/day, apparently that’s harming my thyroid.
Oh an that darling little BMR calculator was brought up … It tells me I can maintain my current weight with 1900 calories a day. Hardie har har har. If I am to lose weight, I have to keep calories half that number, and still, I am lucky to lose 2 pounds per month.
Hello, after reading your posts on the cortisol, I too am experiencing a problem with My own cortisol but mine is extremely high early-morning lasting most of the day. I have extreme anxiety and depression with severe shaking and I feel that it’s due to the cortisol being so high. Eight months ago I started the SCD diet due to ulcerative colitis. I also have fibromyalgia. But four months ago all hell seem to break loose and that’s when the depression and then anxiety with panic attacks came into play. Now I am placed on Effexor and Ativan to try to control the anxiety and depression. I take multiple supplements, which are multivitamin, omega-3, Tumeric, D3, digestive Enzymes, and probiotic. I also use GABA to try to avoid taking Ativan when possible. I have recently started HRT therapy two weeks ago hoping to see a change with that.
I was hoping you could possibly shed some light on why the high cortisol in early-morning and could the diet being no carbohydrates have Any affect on the cortisol and the anxiety. I am a 55-year-old woman going through menopause and trying to regain my life back with hopes that someone could give me some advice.
Sheila, grounding or Earthing normalizes our physiology, including cortisol and menopausal symptoms. The Earthing Institute can explain better than me, so here’s some research to get you started. http://earthinginstitute.net/menopause-transformation-a-case-history/ and http://earthinginstitute.net/research/
Chris or Lara, do you have any advise you could give me on my situation? Really need some good advice.
Sheila,
I don’t think cortisol is causing your problems. More likely the cortisol spike is in response to your adrenals being spent from the low carb diet.
I had a similar experience with anxiety when going low carb (and I had absolutely no history of anxiety before that). It was awful. Turns out that all of the neurochemicials that your brain needs to be normal are produced in the gut:
——
From: American Pshychological Association: That gut feeling
With a sophisticated neural network transmitting messages from trillions of bacteria, the brain in your gut exerts a powerful influence over the one in your head, new research suggests… Lyte, in a 2011 BioEssays paper, proposed a neurochemical “delivery system” by which gut bacteria, such as probiotics, can send messages to the brain. Gut bacteria both produce and respond to the same neurochemicals—such as GABA, serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, acetylcholine and melatonin—that the brain uses to regulate mood and cognition.
—–
Like yours, my anxiety came from removing carbs from my diet. I had to take GABA and L-Theanine (two very safe amino acids for anxiety) for months, as my gut bugs apparently stopped producing those chemicals. I would have had massive panic attacks without them.
Eventually, over about 6 months, I was able to rebuild my neurochemical-producing flora by supplementing/eating resistant starch and other fibers while eating a wide range of fermented foods (for the probiotics), which allowed me to wean off of the GABA and L-Theanine.
When you cut out carbs and fiber, your flora starve and stop producing the chemicals that keep your brain normal. You can either buy these neurochemicals from the pharmacy, or you can get your gut bugs to make them. Either way, they are synthesized by bacteria.
My recommendation is to follow Chris’s advice in his book, the Personal Paleo Code or look into the Perfect Health Diet. Both offer a relatively similar diet in terms of carb choices, though Chris’s book is more personalized and more recent.
You may also want to consider eating and supplementing various fibers, such as resistant starch, as soluble fibers can do a very good job of feeding these gut bugs needed to produce the neurochemicals you are currently deficient in. However, you will likely also need to supplement with probiotics (Prescript Assist, L. Plantarum) as they are likely missing/starved from your gut now.
You may also find Paul Jaminet’s series on bowl disorders (including ulcerative colitis) to be particularly helpful.
Good luck to you.
Low carb, high fat & grain-free (gluten-free) works great for me. It’s the only way I can successfully lose weight, because I’ve tried every other diet imaginable, and they were massive fails.
Here is my 2 cents. I have been on a low carb/paleo diet for 5 yrs and a gluten free diet for 11 yrs. Currently I am eating about 30-50g carbs a day.
By going gluten free my health improved in numerous and significant ways but I was on a blood sugar roller coaster. In using a low carb diet I have been able to normalize my blood sugars and no more spikes. Blood sugar stays between 80=110mg/dl all day long. When I first started eating low carb these numbers were about 20 points higher. Before I stopped eating carbs my blood sugar often went over 200 after eating.
Over the years I have been able to cut my thyroid med in 1/2. I am still slightly low in T3, but if I add T2, I get heart palpatations. Recently I had to drop a blood pressure medication.
No, I don’t think everyone needs to eat like I do, but I have found that low carb paleo seems to be working well for me.
The person who probably has been on a low carb diet the longest is Richard K Bernstein, MD who wrote “Diabetes Solution”. He has been doing this for 50 yrs and reversed or stopped his diabetic complications. He is still treating patients. He is not really paleo, but it is easy to make his diet paleo.
Yes, there are some medical conditions that do much better low carb.
I know I do not do well on carbohydrates and the fewer the better. My biggest change to my understanding has been how little protein I (we) need and what a task it is to convert the excess into glucose.
Making my own sauerkraut from some red cabbage and then a good variety of vegetables (beets julienne thin is a fav), fruit (whole cut-up pineapple), berries, herbs fresh and dried, seeds, (chia & flax), nuts, probiotic starters (whey, juice from last kraut, Kefir), and fish has done an immense favour to my gut health.
I occasionally use carbs as my treats or deserts but I favour the simple things I do not add to my Paleo diet: Yam/red potato chips, ice cream (homemade), cream, Asian treats without much sugar and no wheat.
I figure that as long as my gut health is great, I am doing fine.
[I know Dr D’Adamo’s blood diet is often discredited but it helped me refine my ‘Atkins’ diet a long time ago. Interestingly, all the foods that were beneficial were already my favs and the avoids I never liked, even as a child, though I ate many of them as they were ‘good for me’. What delight I had tossing Brussels sprout from Sunday & holiday supers.]
Namaste and care,
mhikl