Dr. Dean Ornish has come under a lot of criticism lately for his misleading statements about diet and heart disease. See, for example: Critique of Dean Ornish Op-ed, by Nina Teicholz, and Why Almost Everything Dean Ornish Says about Nutrition Is Wrong, from Scientific American. Ornish made his name with a study that claimed to […]
One of the cheapest and easiest ways to measure ketones is to use ketone test strips, e.g. Ketostix. Ketone test strips use a chemical reaction to measure acetoacetate (see below), usually in urine, though the same method can be used for blood. (Not to be confused with the blood strips used at home for beta-hydroxybutyrate.) […]
It seems, from clinical claims and numerous anecdotes, that protein intake has to be below some threshold for ketogenesis to continue, all else being equal. (Conditions are rarely equal: the effects of fat intake, calorie intake, the profile of amino acids in your diet, the type of fat in your diet, exercise, and frequency of […]
Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) can be viewed as a set of symptoms of insulin resistance. Taken together, those symptoms signify a threat of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other diseases that appear to be different manifestations of a common cause. That common cause is likely to be insulin resistance. This hypothesis is supported by evidence that […]
In my last update, I had talked about the trouble I was having staying at the β-hydroxybutyrate level I wanted while eating to satiety. Not only was eating to hunger driving my ketone levels down, but higher ketone levels were correlating with irritability. Hunger and irritability are not my style. Besides, I have the intuition […]
In our last post, we discussed the relationship between protein and blood sugar in ketogenic dieters. Despite all the evidence we have brought to bear suggesting that increased protein does not increase GNG, there is an important line of argument that does support the idea that increased protein increases GNG. Although the data is indirect, […]
Gluconeogenesis is Demand-Driven, not Supply-Driven We have seen the claim that any protein you eat in excess of your immediate needs will be turned into glucose by spontaneous gluconeogenesis 1. (Gluconeogenesis (GNG) is the process by which glucose is made out of protein in the liver and kidneys.) Some people think that because protein can be […]
One recent myth, prevalent in the Paleo Diet community, is that the keto diet is stressful to the body1. This idea arises from misunderstandings about cortisol — “the stress hormone”. There are two different arguments we know of, and this post will address the first one, the “gluconeogenesis requires cortisol” myth. This myth comes from […]
What is keto-adaptation? Keto-adaptation is the process of shifting your metabolism from relying mostly on glucose for fuel, to relying mostly on fat-based sources of fuel. Not only does fat oxidation itself increase, but your body starts producing enough ketones that they can be used as a significant source of fuel as well. Ketones are […]