Because I am in the health care field I am often asked for advice on lifestyles and medical decisions. My experience over the years taught me that while acting as an advocate for the patients, I can share what information I have personally seen, but I draw the line at giving actual advice.
I can say ” yes I found so and so to be helpful”, but I do not advise people to “stop taking this medicine” or “don’t have that surgery. ”
I do not have a medical degree or other credentials. I do my best to readup on responsible information sources about the latest procedures and trends. Lately I have observed the keto diet trend. This is what I have found.
Many foods have sugar in them in the form of seasonings. Salad dressing can sometimes have as much sugar as a donut! Pickles and other condiments such as ketchup have sugar in them. When we add up all these hidden sugars it becomes clear why we can’t control weight easily. I think the best thing about the keto diet is that it has raised awareness of how addicted we are to sugar and excessive flavoring. When we eat cleaner we learn to enjoy the taste of real food.
The other side of the diet that I question is the exclusion of beans and some vegetables such as beets that have health benefits. Moderation is a good idea when it comes to these kind of decisions. I feel that some people respond well to a particular diet because of our blood type and or other heredity factors. I have a friend who is a vegetarian who lives primarily on carbohydrates but she also doesn’t eat processed carbohydrates other than pasta sometimes and mostly eats whole foods. She has no health problems and her lifestyle is active and her food plan support that.
Some people who are sedentary might find the keto diet easier because they don’t require a lot of energy expenditure throughout the day that someone who is physically active or has an occupation that demands a lot of muscular work from them.
I have another client who often ate milk and ice cream and bread ,he was very heavy. His wife put him on strict keto diet and was able to stop high blood pressure meds and prevented him from tipping into being a diabetic. Starting that food plan saved his life! You can’t argue against that .
I congratulated him for reaching his goals. If someone finds a plan that works,it will show in their blood work. I say find what works for you and don’t shame other people for not getting the same results.
