Posted on 06/30/2019 5:32:25 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
In a pilot study of 14 older adults with mild cognitive problems suggestive of early Alzheimer's disease, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet may improve brain function and memory.
"Our early findings suggest that perhaps we don't need to cut carbs as strictly as we initially tried. We may eventually see the same beneficial effects by adding a ketone supplement that would make the diet easier to follow," says Jason Brandt, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "It's something that 400-plus experimental drugs haven't been able to do in clinical trials."
Brandt explains that, typically, the brain uses the sugar glucose—a product of carbohydrate breakdown—as a primary fuel. However, research has shown that in the early stage of Alzheimer's disease the brain isn't able to efficiently use glucose as an energy source. Some experts, he says, even refer to Alzheimer's as "type 3 diabetes."
Using brain scans that show energy use, researchers have also found that ketones—chemicals formed during the breakdown of dietary fat—can be used as an alternative energy source in the brains of healthy people and those with mild cognitive impairment. For example, when a person is on a ketogenic diet, consisting of lots of fat and very few sugars and starches, the brain and body use ketones as an energy source instead of carbs.
When comparing the results of tests of delayed recall—the ability to recollect something they were told or shown a few minutes earlier—those who stuck to the modified Atkins diet improved by a couple of points on average (about 15% of the total score), whereas those who didn't follow the diet on average dropped a couple of points.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
I don’t know if it’s possible to do IF without Keto. The blood sugar spikes would make it pretty tough to do if you ate too many carbs.
With Keto, it’s a snap, it’s basically eating an early dinner and skipping breakfast.
Our daughter did this diet.Stayed overnight and the only snack she had was pork rinds-yuk.:)
I have these 100-calorie packs of walnuts and almonds, probably a good thing, because I could probably snack on 1000 calories of nuts in no time.
It took me one year to loose 17 pounds. HIIT classes, spin classes and changed my diet. No fad diet for me. Just cut the fats and carbs and lessened the wine.
The Business Insider story you(?) were touting was about a world wide study. Regardless, why does the global focus of the study published in the Lancet make it worthless?
Here’s the deal: You stated hyperbole in your comment by suggesting that keto is a lifestyle.
Keto was never anything more than a treatment for epilepsy and extreme health matters until the wellness industry saw dollar signs.
The overwhelming majority of comments in support of keto reinforce my statement. If, after thousands of hours of research (equivalent to a higher learning degree, mind you), I had found any reason to not denigrate keto, I’d be promoting it. Period.
The problem is that we as humans go for the easy fix, the solution on a plate, the “named brand” and refuse to acknowledge that for decades we were all lied to by doctors and government (industry lies in the form of advertising, a given).
The other problem is that until there is decades of research showing the organ damage I outline from using keto as anything other than a short-term treatment for weight or other matters, many will be in the same denial mindset as smokers in the 60s.
Houston: We have a cultural problem bookended with multiple aspects of our biology/genetics.
In my fourth volume, I outline how health is more a psychological matter than a physical matter.
It was compulsory move despite my hatred of psychology as a result of my interaction with others who “say” they want help but 100% of the time compromised their own efforts with self-inflicted effects of poor choices.
keto is especially dangerous because it takes so long to cause damage which cannot be seen, particularly to the gut and organs, especially to those with vulnerable biology and the fortitude to adhere strictly to its requirements. Once symptoms present, a person is in a world of shit.
Yes. Contraindicatory research. Confirmation bias is something I write about at length. We are genetically-inclined to it as a survival mechanism.
Ask why there are no long-term, large-group studies just here in the US. Ask why the Army would implement keto without valid research as I outline to back up such a change. Ask why we don’t have national nutritional guidelines which prescribe keto over the food pyramid/food plate/myplate hyperbole.
“Ask, ‘Why?’” is a theme in my books. The ghost of Edward Bernays infects everything in this country who fail to challenge...
Never said it was a lifestyle, more of a tool.
One good thing about doing Keto, even if you only do it short-term, is it instills discipline, once you lose the weight, there’s nothing wrong with starting to gradually introduce some more carb-laden veggies and fruit, like legumes and low-glycemic berries. But you’ll be much more aware of the carbs you are taking in.
Without the discipline gained from doing Keto, it’s going to be much easier to encounter “carb creep” over time.
I am having some trouble understanding your response. You are claiming that the global study published in the Lancet medical journal is “worthless” because of confirmation bias?
Oooookkkk
Since there are no essential carbohydrates (only essential lipids and amino acids) I may give a zero carb way of eating a try for awhile.
The carbs are not necessary, but you have to make sure to make up for the vitamins and minerals you are not getting. A Multi-Vitamin at minimum is a must. I usually take Potassium and Magnesium supplements as well.
Thanks. Good points. I have been following a ketogenic way of eating for 1,969 days now and am already eating close to zero carbs most days. I have potassium, in particular, on standby for supplementation - I can easily tell by how I feel whenever I am low on this electrolyte.
“I don’t know if it’s possible to do IF without Keto. The blood sugar spikes would make it pretty tough to do if you ate too many carbs.
With Keto, it’s a snap, it’s basically eating an early dinner and skipping breakfast.”
Succinct and in my experience correct.
You CAN fast off of Keto, but it is incredibly hard.
Sweets, yes. Well, the 3 main food groups - sugar, grease, and salt, with a starchy vehicle to absorb it!! I’ve lost 6 pounds or so in a week. Most of that is probably water.
The late night “snacky” feeling is getting bad, too easy to break down. I can resist everything except temptation.
I was a notorious late-night snacker before Keto.
Now, no problem.
Fat bombs, pork rinds and dip, keto chocolate. You gotta get passed the cravings using keto foods, then they are gone for as long as you want them to be gone.
I’ve strayed a few times. Each time afterwards I asked myself, ‘was it worth it? was it better than you remember?’
‘No’ was always the answer. Hungry? Cook a steak, slice it up, snack on that. Can’t lose.
Circling back to the original theme of the article, an unhealthy diet fogs the mind. There’s a reason we run the coffee machine without any coffee first thing.
What doesn’t make any sense is doctors have long known carbs are turned into fat. What the. explains the 70s and 80s dietary guidelines? Remember when butter and eggs were “bad” and they were pushing margarine? Hydrogenated oils are less expensive than dairy butter but it tastes like ass and doesn’t really cook right. And the “Food Pyramid”. When people worked outside 16 hours a day, they could eat about anything and stay skinny.
I gotta admit like the idea of being able to eat fried chicken. Or chicken tenders. Easy to make and tasty. Not to many carbs there. Maybe the coating. Corn starch/Baking Powder/Flour.
Fried chicken fingers was the first food I replaced.
Parmesan cheese with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cut chicken thighs into strips. Egg white bathe the strip, coat the strip in Parm, drop it into a pan with bacon grease as the oil.
You can gather and store bacon grease pretty readily. I cook with it constantly.
Dip the chicken fingers in blue cheese dressing. Knee buckler. Chow on them until you are full.
Carb-quick is a great flower substitute. You know those cheddar biscuits you get at Red Lobster? How about one with two net carbs? Butter and sugar free strawberry jam.
Dude, you can do this and eat way more better. I’m tons more satisfied with the food I eat now.
True, I can’t just order a pizza any more. I can, however, get carb-free pizza skins and make one that is just as good as anything that is full-carb.
I just had a carb-free bagel with loads of cream cheese and bacon on it.
I’m going to have carb-free chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.
You aren’t losing water. Water weight loss comes from the liver giving up the glucagon-induced sugars stored in it. You’re losing liver weight, and your liver is getting leaner. Fatty liver is as pernicious a health issue as the most-often touted ones.
That sounds good! Parmesan is great stuff. They sure want a lot for it though. I like cheese, and dairy, and eggs. And steak, burgers. Thankfully for my newfound diet program.
Milk is a problem. It has always been my go to for filling those odd corners of the stomach, or a quick pick me up. A tall, ice cold glass of milk with a sandwich. Also good for cooking. Half&Half in coffee. Making sausage gravy.
And meatloaf, mashed potatos & gravy. Or roast beef sandwich smothered im gravy. There’s no way I can completely give that up, eating good food is good food, or what’s the point? Avocado on toast ain’t gonna work for me.
I can’t give up French bread either. Haven’t made any in a while, still. Yeah, I’ve got quite a stash of bacon grease saved. I can’t throw it away, so it’s in the fridge.
Plain Whole-Fat Yogurt is excellent especially with some frozen berries added to it.
Unsweetend almond milk and monkfruit sugar. Chocolate unsweetened almost milk and monkfruit sugar. Not horrible.
I went lactose intolerant, so milk ceased being an option.
Go to Walmart and look for the cheapest Parm you can find. Ensure there’s no carbs.
Potatoes are poison, sorry, and cauliflower hasn’t cut the mustard there for me. Oven roasted radishes with butter and herbs is pretty darn close to roasted potatoes. You can use it in a hash with ground beef, cheese, and egg too and you can’t tell the potatoes are not there. In that capacity, the roasted radishes are outstanding. Tremendous.
You can give up French bread. There are other bread analogs that will work. Meatloaf is on the menu (Carb-quick) Gravy is on the menu too. Sandwiches are on the menu.
Bourbon. Bourbon is ON THE MENU. So is red wine. No sooner have we been discussing this than I saw the Pentagon may be shifting the entire military to keto.
Again, this science isn’t exactly new.
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