Then why is ketosis so beneficial for improving insulin resistance?
“The large categories of disease for which ketones may have therapeutic effects are:(1)diseases of substrate insufficiency or insulin resistance” - The therapeutic implications of ketone bodies: the effects of ketone bodies in pathological conditions: ketosis, ketogenic diet, redox states, insulin resistance, and mitochondrial metabolism - PubMed
And again I link to The Effects of The Keto Diet on Insulin Resistance
This is all stuff from the second year of my degree - I’ve been there and done that. What are you suggesting is actually the case then if what I said is wrong?
Again, assertion after assertion with nothing to back it up. What is insulin doing on a low carb diet then?
You’re arguing against a tonne of data.
"And sure enough, the weight loss studies indicate that during weight loss, very low carb diets improve insulin sensitivity:
In overweight women, a diet with less than 10% of calories as carbs improved insulin sensitivity, while a 30% fat, low-fat diet reduced it.
In obese, insulin-resistant women, both high-fat and high-protein low-carb diets reduced insulin resistance, while the high-carb diet was not as effective.
In obese kids, a very low carb diet was able to reduce indices of insulin resistance along with bodyweight and body fatness." - Does Eating a Low Carb Diet Cause Insulin Resistance?
Perhaps you’re getting confused with the fact that very-low carb diets when you’re already very lean can reduce insulin sensitivity. But 1) this is a thread about weight loss, so such a factor is entirely irrelevant as the person looking to lose weight won’t be very lean, and 2) again from the article I linked above, “Once you’re lean and weight stable, though, very low carb diets (less than 10% of calories from carbs) can reduce insulin sensitivity. This is normal and totally necessary in the context of a very low carb diet. If we didn’t become insulin resistant while eating very low carb, our brain wouldn’t be able to get the glucose it needed to keep us alive.” - this only occurs when someone is already very lean and weight stable, and isn’t the same as normal insulin resistance that is encountered in pre-diabetes and diabetes - it is done to ensure adequate glucose supply to the brain, and it decreases as you become more keto-adapated.
It is not my duty to answer every single one of your questions, and to expect such from me after such a poor showing yourself is absurd. However, this image shows insulin levels after a meal in response to two different high-carb diets and one very low-carb diet. ‘High Carb 1’ refers to a diet with macronutrient ratios of 70% carbohydrates, 10% fat (3% saturated fat), and 20% protein; ‘High Carb 2’ refers to a diet with macronutrient ratios of 50% carbohydrates, 30% fat (6% saturated fat), and 20% protein; and ‘Very Low Carb’ refers to a diet with macronutrient ratios of 4% carbohydrates, 61% fats (20% saturated fat), and 35% protein. The article writing about this study states:
"the VLCARB diet lowered fasting insulin by 33% and the HUF diet lowered it by 19%. [6] The VLF diet had no impact on fasting insulin levels. Additionally, the “the VLCARB meal also provoked significantly lower post prandial glucose and insulin responses than the VLF and HUF meals.” [6] Additionally, the VLCARB diet lowered triglycerides more than the other two diets. Because of these collective findings, the researchers suggested that “VLCARB may be useful in the short-term management of subjects with insulin resistance and hypertriacylglycerolemia.”
Bearing in mind protein is less ketogenic than fat, higher protein would be suspected to lead to higher blood sugar and hence insulin levels. This is not seen in these studies, and part of the reason is because even at a 35% protein intake, gluconeogenesis from protein is minimal.
This just makes you look like you’re spouting rubbish. People can google to verify facts, but your time is no more important than theirs. If part of your reason is you don’t want to take the time to source your arguments, why should you expect anyone else to take the time to google what you say for themselves?
Yeah, I’m not gonna trust anyone who has a page on their website that looks like this. His website is dedicated to maximising sales of his ludicrously expensive ‘custom meal plans’ ($77 for those wondering), so anything he writes must be taken with a grain of salt.
Nonetheless, on the page you link alone, there are a ridiculous number of errors.
“If we’re to believe the doomsayers, eating carbohydrates produces lots of nasty insulin, which in turn triggers rapid fat storage of damn near anything we eat.” - Nope, that’s not what we say. As I already told you, insulin has an anabolic effect on fat stores, meaning while there is a high level of circulating insulin, you can’t use your body fat reserves until it clears. This is a case of not burning existing fat (which is the topic at hand), not gaining more fat.
“You Don’t Lose Fat Faster on a Low-Carb Diet” - Very few keto proponents claim that for an equal caloric intake, you lose more weight on low-carb. What they do say is that you feel less hungry on keto (which is due to the suppression of the hormone ghrelin) so you are able to comfortably eat less, making it easier to maintain a caloric deficit, which leads to faster weight loss. This guy loves to straw man just like you.
“What we’re actually looking at in these studies is a high-protein, low-carb diet vs. low-protein, higher-carb diet, and the former wins every time. But we can’t ignore the high-protein part and say it’s more effective because of the low-carb element.” - Keto is never high protein, high protein inhibits ketosis, ketosis is moderate protein, high fat, low carb. The studies he is comparing against aren’t studies against a ketogenic diet and as such aren’t relevant to our discussion.
“In many cases, the high-carb groups were given less protein than even the RDI of 0.8 grams per kg of body weight” - Not in any of the ones I’ve linked which had a protein intake of ~20%.
“It’s Easier to Overeat on a Low-Carb Diet” - Incorrect. Yes, fat is more calorically dense, but we keep coming back to this point… ghrelin, the hormone that makes you feel hungry, is suppressed. Talk to anyone who’s actually done keto and you’ll find they sometimes struggle, especially in the beginning, to consume enough food to meet their targets, simply because they aren’t hungry once adapted to ketosis.
“Well, a low-carb diet basically guarantees that you’re going to struggle with hunger.” - For, like, 3 days, a week tops. From then on, hunger basically doesn’t occur at all.
“You see, carbohydrates (and especially the fiber-rich types) have a significant impact on satiety (fullness), whereas dietary fats don’t.” - Fibre is good (but also fine to have on keto), carbs and fats have similar satiety achieving levels.
“That is, eat a bunch of fibrous carbohydrates and you’ll feel very full for quite some time.” - Fibrous carbs are permitted on keto. As I said, a large part of my diet when doing keto is low-carb vegetables.
“This is why research has shown that it’s easier to overeat on a high-fat diet” - Citation links to a 1995 study with a single author. Nutritional science has advanced a lot in the past 23 years.
" low-carb dieters almost always have more hunger issues than high-carb dieters and struggle more with controlling calorie intake." - This is a lie to peddle his custom meal plans. Check the keto subreddit I linked and see how many people doing it for a couple of weeks struggle with controlling calorie intake and hunger.
“They also usually have problems with low energy levels as well” - One of the most widely reported benefits of keto is the sustained, high energy level once you’ve adapted.
“When you reduce your carbohydrate intake, you reduce the amount of glycogen stored in the muscles. This, in turn, compromises your performance in the gym–you can expect a dramatic reduction in both muscle endurance and strength, which then limits the amount of progressive overload you can subject your muscles to in those workouts. (And less progressive overload in workouts = less muscle growth over time.)” - All true, but dealt with entirely by a targeted ketogenic diet, where you consume a small portion of very high-GI carbs such as dextrose shortly before a workout. For those looking to bulk and doing keto, this is a very common method of achieving it.
“The result was the subjects on the low-carbohydrate diet (which wasn’t all that low, actually—about 226 grams per day, versus 353 grams per day for the high-carbohydrate group) lost more strength, recovered slower, and showed lower levels of protein synthesis.” - Neither of these are in any way low-carb. He’s trying to suggest that lowering carbs further must continue this trend, and he has no data to back it up. He’s comparing two high-carb diets together and forming conclusions about one which uses a completely different metabolic process.
“they first experienced the “keto crash” as the body adjusted to the lack of carbohydrates.” - Keto crash is entirely avoided by consuming adequate electrolyte levels.
“So what this precious low-carb study actually shows us is that a very low-carb (ketogenic) diet is useless for competitive cyclists…and in fact useless for any sport that involves periods of low-intensity and high-intensity activity…or just about every popular sport in the world.” - Again, targeted ketogenic diet deals with these issues, and also again, this thread is about weight loss, not athletes.
“Carbohydrates are primarily energetic–their purpose is to give our cells energy. If you don’t do anything with your body, it doesn’t need very much energy.” - Complete rubbish. The majority of almost everyone’s TDEE comes simply from keeping their cells alive, activity rarely even increases the BMR by more than 70% - at least 1500 calories per day will be burnt by a completely sedentary overweight person, often more. And all macronutrients give energy otherwise you wouldn’t get fat from overconsumption…
And then he goes into a shameless plug of his books to try and sell you stuff…
The problem is YOUR EGO!