 You’ve been eating low-carb, keto, carnivore or whatever for the last couple months and doing great. You have lost weight, tamed your blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes too. People are beginning to notice your weight loss and you’re getting compliments. But now the holidays are here to put all your your gains in jeopardy.
It’s the time of year when people gain 80% of the weight they put on over the course of the year. Yep, it’s the holidays. As a doctor who tries to coach people about how to reduce and maintain fat loss, the holidays are…um…quite challenging. What are you going to do? Cave? Roll over? give up? Capitulate? Hell no! Instead of giving in to the annual eating orgy with the idea of getting back to diet sanity in come January 2, why don’t you develop a pregame strategy right now. It’s possible to stay true to your health goals even during the holiday season. You came to keto because you had health and weight issues. Taking a 6 week hiatus from that is clearly going to take you further away from your goals. Set some goals and try to stay true to them. Lets talk about “cheating”, a term I actually hate. It has some many negative connotations. It implies doing something bad and shameful. I like the term “eating off plan”. Eating off plan takes you further away from reaching your goals. Plan your off plan eating: When you eat something that is clearly keto-killing, it’s eating off plan. Want to eat some beloved traditional but clearly not keto-friendly at a holiday gathering? Of course, it would better to stay strict but….I get it…sometimes you just want to join in like everyone else. Here is what I do to do shame-free eating: Plan to go off plan! Give yourself limited permission to eat non-low carb. Put your non-keto treat on the calendar and enjoy yourself when the time arrives. Lots of spontaneous off plan eating clearly IS a problem. What’s the non-keto food that I can’t get through the holidays without? Latkes! Grated potatoes deep fried in oil! I love ‘em. I could eat a full tray by myself. I’m really good at making the too! Rather than deny myself this tasty holiday treat I make an advanced plan to go off plan for one meal. See it’s not cheating. Its planned and and its limited. Just do not do too many planned off planned meals. Make sure they are spaced well apart. The more limited the better of course. Clearly you’ll do better If you can keep the non-keto foods to just one element of a meal rather than the entire meal. Make a low carb version of your holiday favorites: Look online. There are many great low-carb holiday recipes on line. Bring your own keto fare so you can be certain there something there you can eat. DietDoctor.com https://www.ditchthecarbs.com/low-carb-christmas-recipes/ https://mariamindbodyhealth.com/category/christmas/ Learn to tactfully deal with the carb pushers: You’ve lost weight and it shows. You show up at the family gathering looking great. Someone brings a tray over to you and says “A little won’t hurt”. Try a little redirection: “Thanks, but I don’t want to risk not feeling good. So you go ahead and enjoy some and I’ll try some of thus delicious cheese.” Bring your own cheese tray, fat bombs, devilled eggs, low carb cakes or whatever. Eat before going to a holiday party: Don’t go get into a situation when you are surrounded by tempting food while hungry! Fill up on beef, eggs or whatever LCHF food you like before you go. This makes it much easier to exercise control. Be choosy. Take a hard look at the holiday buffet and more often than not you will be able to identify some keto foods such as turkey, ham (but not if not candied), cheese, charcuterie, cut veggies. A word about holiday imbibing: Alcohol is a toxin. It stops fat burning while the liver is metabolizing it. So the best alcohol is zero alcohol. That said, some choices are better than others with respect to alcohol. Distilled spirits like vodka, tequila and whiskey provide the alcohol effect without additional sugar. Dry wine and lite beer are better than the alternatives. A complete guide to alcohol while on keto can be found here: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/alcohol December is heart attack season: Heart attacks peak in December. While the link between the avalanche of festive food and heart disease isn’t proven, it’s seems like a safe bet to stay clear of the foods that were increasing your blood pressure and sugar. Calculated cardiac risk is lower on keto. A trip to the ER with chest pain would certainly kill the festive spirit.
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The facade is starting to crumble. New guidelines on consumption of red meat were published in the prestigious Annals of Internal Medicine last week. Using a rigorous guideline writing technique called GRADE, the authors concluded that there is flimsy to no evidence that red meat can be linked to any chronic illness including cancer or heart disease. NutriRecs, a consortium of authors across many countries were selected to write the guidelines because of their lack of conflicts of interest. Data from rigorous clinical trials were given more weight when compared to weak survey and observation based studies. For decades many guidelines issued to both the public and health professionals have been plagued by industry and ideological conflicts of interest. This has created a situation where the scientific literature on topics of public health concerns differs greatly from what authoritative bodies are recommending to the public. Outraged? You should be. The backlash has begun. Organizations including the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and Harvard Chan school of Public Health have already issued protests against the new guidelines on meat. For years these same groups have be criticized for their strong financial dependence on the food, beverage and drug industries. Do you believe a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, vegetable oils and "healthy" whole grain is the best? Most people I encounter do. Do you know that, as of 2019, diets of this sort have not been proved to reduce or prevent chronic illness? This diet has been gaining traction since the 1960s yet evidence of efficacy has yet to materialize. https://www.southernminn.com/faribault_daily_news/news/state/article_ea379f1a-4aac-5993-9d89-11c6a9c78449.html  Here is the link to the Red Meat Guideline
 There is a new food craze in the keto world. You might have heard of them already but if you haven't, keep reading. It's CHAFFLES!!
"But, what do I eat for breakfast?" Is one of the first questions a person who is first being introduced to low carb eating asks me. I tell them to quit cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, sugary yogurts, donuts, muffins and orange juice. Yest bacon and eggs are still on the menu but that gets old after a while. Here's a new option that is dead simple, quick and requires only two ingredients you probably already have in your refrigerator right now! Egg and shredded cheese (like cheddar or mozzarella). I've done both, and jack cheese. It all turns out great. If you already own a waffle iron collecting dust in the back of a kitchen cabinet, go dust it off and plug it in. If you don't (I didn't) go get one. I bought a mini waffle iron made by Dash off of Amazon or you can pick one up at Target. The basic recipe is this: 1 egg 1/2 cup of shredded cheese Mix together in a bowl & pour onto a preheated waffle iron. Let cook for 3-4 minute or until the steam slows down or it looks browned and crispy. That's it! You probably want to add salt. There are millions of variations. I've been mixing in Sriracha sauce and everything bagel seasoning. I also make a chocolate variety. Youtube has zillions of chaffle making videos!
Only one week after travelling to Washington DC to yell at....er...make a comment to the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee, I travelled north to New London, Connecticut, the home of the annual Ketofest.
Ketofest is a two and a half day party/barbeque/science conference occurring every July for the last 3 years. It's hosted by Carl Franklin, host of the 2 Keto Dudes Podcast. I attended the first Ketofest in 2017 and returned this year although only for Science Sunday. Ketofest is great for people at all levels of keto from those who are contemplating jumping to low carb to people who have been doing it for years. They turn tho whole town of New London, ketogenic. Several of the restaurants were prepared for the ketonians with special menus catering to the diet needs who follow this form of diet diet biohacking. As with all low-carb luminaries are available to talk with. I found luminaries in the audience who did not even have a speaking role.
 That's me standing up and speaking in public which is, frankly, my least favorite thing to do in the whole world. Yet I defied my stubborn phobia because I had some thoughts I wanted to get off my chest, live and in person, to the US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee (DGAC). The USDA Dietery Guidelines (DGA) are a big, HUGE deal. It's the mother of all food guidelines. It was formerly known as the food pyramid then they changed its name to My Plate.
Unfortunately the DGA has not really worked out well in prevention. OK that is a major understatement. It has been a been a calamity for human human health. DGA and the obesity epidemic both came into being in 1980. Let me reiterate that point. The food rulebook that was supposed to prevent heart disease, diabetes and obesity has completely and utterly failed. Imagine that the DGAC was an engineering company and the buildings made from its blueprints kept collapsing, that company would be sued into bankruptcy and the owners of the company would be thrown in jail for criminal incompetence. Everyday, over and over, I see people struggling with their health problems such as weight, diabetes, hypertension and digestion who are try to "eat healthy" like the guidelines say: Low fat/ lean meat/ high fiber/ whole grain/ low calorie....and fail miserably. Good intention are sabotaged by bad rules. I went to Washington to tell the people who have been been appointed to the 2020 guidelines committee that I am not impressed. MAny people are not impressed. Many people are laughing at them. This epidemic of chronic disease should not be a joke. Watch my friend Priyanka Wali MD tell some uncomfortable truths to the committee. The dietary guidelines now recommend 3 style of eating it calls dietary patterns:
Dr. Eric Sodicoff's comments to the DGACI travelled to Denver Colorado last week for the Low Carb Denver Conference. Three days of talks given by the big names in the Low Carb field. I had met many of them already but there were many I had yet to meet. Dr David Unwin, a GP (General Practitioner) with the Uk's National Health Service is one person I was most excited to meet. He is leading the charge in using diet as a way to reverse the big chronic diseases and obesity with less spending of drugs. His practice has the highest scores in treating diabetes while simultaneously spending the least amount on drugs! Of course you've probably guessed his secret. It's by getting his patients to eat less carbs. He created the little card I'm holding. I use it in my practice. It shows how many sugar teaspoon equivalents are in common foods. It is quite shokcki to many as a lot of foods they think are good for diabetes are really loaded with glucose. I also patterned my diet handout after his. He is also kind and soft spoken. In short he's a real role model.  Dr. Unwin's practice gets top diabetes results and spends the least amount of drugs! 
Check out my discussion with hosts, Brian Lenzkes and Tro Kalayjian on there podcast. Join us as we talk about the realities and frustrations of practicing medicine today. We review our personal journeys and discuss recent literature regarding the Low Carb lifestyle. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot from each other. Please join us for this great discussion.
Once upon a time eggs were considered unhealthy. Can you believe it? Then, in 2016 the OFFICIAL government food guidelines (The Dietary Guidelines for Americans) DGA for short, changed its tune: Specifically they said this. "Cholesterol is no longer considered a nutrient of concern." What new science did they consider when making this change in recommendation? Well, the science wasn't new at all.There was evidence that dietary cholesterol was harmless as far back as 1937. It took 80 years for the USDA to acknowledge it. This gave rise to the practice of eating egg white omelettes and other travesties against good nutrition.True, cholesterol can be found in the walls of diseased coronary arteries but the reason is there has nothing to do with how much cholesterol we eat. The dietary guidelines still contain recommendations that had not been backed by science. Saturated fat is still demonized by most guidelines including the DGA in spite of evidence to the contrary. Recommendations to eat more whole grains is also extremely dubious. People serve whole grains to farm animals to fatten them for market. Welcome back eggs! Eggs are a complete source of nutrition! An entire baby chick develops from embryo to hatch-ling within that shell. Eggs are a nutrient powerhouse. They also are a rich source choline which is tough to come by in other foods except for maybe liver. Liver is not everyone's favorite, I know. Once upon a time eggs were considered unhealthy. Can you believe it? Then, in 2016 the OFFICIAL government food guidelines (The Dietary Guidelines for Americans) DGA for short, changed its tune: Specifically they said this. "Cholesterol is no longer considered a nutrient of concern." What new science did they consider when making this change in recommendation? Well, the science wasn't new at all.There was evidence that dietary cholesterol was harmless as far back as 1937. It took 80 years for the USDA to acknowledge it. This gave rise to the practice of eating egg white omelettes and other travesties against good nutrition.True, cholesterol can be found in the walls of diseased coronary arteries but the reason is there has nothing to do with how much cholesterol we eat. The dietary guidelines still contain recommendations that had not been backed by science. Saturated fat is still demonized by most guidelines including the DGA in spite of evidence to the contrary. Recommendations to eat more whole grains is also extremely dubious. People serve whole grains to farm animals to fatten them for market. Welcome back eggs! Eggs are a complete source of nutrition! An entire baby chick develops from embryo to hatch-ling within that shell. Eggs are a nutrient powerhouse. They also are a rich source choline which is tough to come by in other foods except for maybe liver. Liver is not everyone's favorite, I know. Washington Post: Why Americans are on track to eat the most eggs in nearly a half-century Think eating low carb/keto has to cost a bundle? I doesn't have to be. Bacon, eggs, ground beef, and eggs can be had for cheap especially at Walmart. True it's not the highest quality, grassfed, yada yada yada but cheap keto is still better than anything high carb. Matt spent $3.80 for an entire day's worth of food. Megha spent $2.50 for her day's food. Crazy cheap right? Check it out below.  Observations of diverse populations all over the world has found startling evidence. The groups with the lowest risk of death and heart disease are consuming twice of what the American Heart association considers optimal. They recommend consuming 1500 mg of sodium/day or lower. They believe americans are eating too much salt (3400 mg) now. This study, however, finds that populations with the most robust health are consuming about 5000 mg per day. This is consistent what we know of physiology. Humans evolved from ancient sea creatures. Our blood is about as salty as the ocean itself. If our diet is low in sodium our kidney actually have to expend energy to prevent it from being lost into the urine. When salt is consumed in excess of that the body needs the kidneys simply release what it doesn't require into the urine in a process places no stress on the kidneys.
A recent review of the literature of the effect of salt restriction in heart failure found little evidence of benefit. This is kind of amazing given that every heart failure patient is strongly advised to cut salt. There science and the official recommendations are far apart. |
Eric Sodicoff MDMember: Obesity medince Association Archives
November 2019
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