The first question is why is all the rage on Keto right now?
I’d rather chew on glass than read another “health expert’s” opinion on why ketogenic diet is the magic pill. I am not quite sure and it seems natural since it is transitioning over from Paleo to Keto. Back in the day, it was Vegan. Yeah… our job as Physicians is not to jump on board with each new diet fad and simply use our knowledge of physiology to teach you what is best for you. AND each diet, or “dieta”, is a lifestyle that should be customized to YOU. Unfortunately & fortunately, the model of one pill fits all model of Western Medicine is becoming an antiquated by the general public.
Not a single diet is for everyone. Focus on whole foods and plant based to avoid arachadonic acid that can results in unhealthy levels of inflammation. Although, ketogenic or extremely low carb high fat diets do increase glutathione levels, it may not be the miracle cure for inflammatory conditions that require metabolites to be excreted such as autoimmune conditions.
For certain, I do not see it do much for Haschi’s patients.
Haschimoto’s Thyroiditis is the most common autoimmune disease and the most common reason for fluctuating thyroid hormone -ultimately resulting in an underactive Thyroid.
The reason being is that free T3 or free Thyroid active hormone requires glucose from carbohydrates to function. You will hear others scoff at this. Here it is, broken down:
1. We need a whole rainbow of foods and what’s in season. If we don’t adhere to what’s local and in season how can we eat healthily?
2. Most of the studies that are anti-high fat studied the fats and low carb using vegetable oils such as corn oil. Of course this turned out not so great for healthy T3 levels.
3.When you loose weight and are doing heavy training or calorie restricting, T3 levels change, often lower and can at times go into reverse T3 which is basically the opposite of what you need to feel good.
Good news! Keto may help you drop weight quick! It is great for that and so not a sustainable diet if you are under any high stress situations.
Our body craves carbs when it’s stressed for a reason. Carbs = quick energy. And not all carbs are created equal. A carb from an anti-oxidant rich fruit is obviously very different than french fries, though coconut oil sweet potato fries are a fave in my book!
In high stress situations, there may not be a lion to run from, our HPA – sympathetic dominance still registers and reacts to the lion the same as it does a deadline at work or school. Keto is not for you if you are suffering from “adrenal fatigue” aka as an HPA axis imbalance. (I personally get irritated by the term “adrenal fatigue.” Our endocrine system consists of a complex web)
Well, this can get complicated. If I have to explain to another person that a pump cheese drizzled over bacon is not healthy, well… (I know that sounds absurd, but I said it for a reason 😉 ). Many of the studies with healthy fats also eliminate dairy and other inflammatory foods. The studies on the other end of the spectrum simply use the processed “keto-friendly” food that I mentioned above. So neither are very well controlled or exclusive to what the Copesthetic Keto plan would resemble. The point is… DO YOU FEEL GOOD! We are trained to look at labs and evaluate symptoms together. We cannot judge a person’s health by their labs or a persons labs by their health state. You are a whole functioning being, mind, body and soul!
What I do know is GUT HEALTH matters! In order to reclaim our gut health, we need to feed our microbes a wide array of mostly plants. We also need to cleanse it up, give time for intermittent fasting, avoid as many harmful toxins as possible that deplete our microflora variation, and repair.
If we have our microbes on our side, we got it on the physical (immunity) – emotional level.
© 2019 Copesthetic Health