Skepticism is Part of a Healthy Diet, —& So is Sunshine, Animal Fat and Ketosis
"Dr Mercola" is a brand name. On a daily basis he writes provides information, that with appropriate "fact-checking" provides interesting, often contrarian, "health tips." His recent Joseph Mercola (29 Feb 2024) Tips for Optimal Health had great observations on getting sunshine & avoiding seed oils, —BZ!
Then the cargo ship got torpedoed with,—
"Why I Changed My Mind About Low-Carb Diets. One of the foundational concepts of health that I’ve had to radically revise my thinking on, based on the work of the late Ray Peat1¹ and his student Georgi Dinkov, is the idea that eating a low-carb diet long-term is the best way to optimize your metabolic and mitochondrial health.
I now realize that this was misguided, and the reason for that has to do with the fact that your body requires glucose and if you aren’t eating it you will go into a hypoglycemic coma and die. Obviously, your body has safeguards to prevent that and the major one is the hormone cortisol."
Wow! Gross Conceptual Errors (GCEs) galore, —“eating a low-carb diet long-term is [not] the best way to optimize your metabolic and mitochondrial health,” not eating sugar causes the body to go into “hypoglycemic coma and die” & “the major (safeguard) one is the hormone cortisol”?
Haul down the BZ flag and raise the BS flag.
If any of this B.S. was true then fasting would have killed me years ago. How about a 382 day fast with hypoglycemia, —why didn’t this individual die? "Blood glucose concentrations around 30 mg/100 ml were recorded consistently during the last 8 months, although the patient was ambulant and attending as an out-patient." 2
Non-reactive hypoglycemia, i.e., low blood glucose with ketone bodies fueling the mind, heart & muscles is, alongside our large brains, one of humanity's peculiar endowments that allows humans to live off their fat for extended periods (fasting metabolism.)
On the other hand, ”Wide blood glucose level swings due to metabolic illness such as diabetes, hyperglycemia to hypoglycemia, are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. (Monnier 2012). Additionally, blood sugar levels dropping precipitously after consuming refined carbohydrate laden meals, postprandial hypoglycemia, can lead to acute and severe symptoms.
When ketone bodies are present, the brain, heart and muscles use these energy substrates instead of glucose resulting in asymptomatic non-reactive hypoglycemia. (Drenick 1972). Therefore, blood sugar levels and ketone body levels interact in beneficial ways in healthy individuals to maintain energy homeostasis." 3
So, no, you don’t eat sugar. In fact the white stuff is quite harmful. I’d heard that Dr Mercola stopped walking barefoot because he developed a painful bunion, perhaps it was a toe stub to blame.
(Update 8 Mar 2024) Read past the 1st section of The Arrow #1664 to see where Michael Eades blows Joseph Mercola's "eat carbs" theory out of the water! The SS Mercola freighter, full of B.S., sinks faster than a RO-RO heavily loaded with Teslas when its keel is snapped-in-two by an Advanced Capability (ADCAP) MK-48 Torpedo with a high-explosive warhead of FACTS.
I’ll end with this article for your own research,— Volek JS, Noakes T, Phinney SD (2015) Rethinking fat as a fuel for endurance exercise, Eur J Sport Sci. 2015;15(1):13-20.
Elaine K. Howley (8 Nov 2023) Ray Peat Diet: What Is It, and Does It Work? —Heard of the Ray Peat diet and not sure what it is? Read an in-depth review of what this diet is and whether you should try it.
"Peat, who passed away in November 2022 at the age of 86, didn't publish a book outlining how to eat to improve thyroid function. He also never offered a monthly membership program, cookbooks, recipe lists or simplified lists of foods to eat or avoid in prescribed amounts, like so many other diets."
"The Ray Peat diet encourages the consumption of:
• Healthy fats, such as coconut oil and butter.
• Dairy products, with a strong emphasis on milk, cheese and ice cream.
• Lots of fresh fruit and fruit juices.
• Root vegetables.
• Protein from muscle and organ meats.
• Collagen, a protein the body uses to keep bones, tendons and muscles strong and support skin health.
• Eggs.
• Shellfish.
While most dietitians and doctors tend to warn against the overconsumption of sugar,* the Ray Peat diet does not shy away from it."
*Elaine K. Howley (3 Jun 2020) How to Cut Out Sugar From Your Diet, —Moderating your intake of refined sugars may benefit your overall health and wellness
W. K. Stewart and Laura W. Fleming (March 1973) Features of a successful therapeutic fast of 382 days' duration, Postgrad Med J, 49(569): 203–9
PDF Version: Features of a successful therapeutic fast of 382 days' duration
Mani Malagón (21 May 2020) Layperson terms for ketone body metabolism? Metabolic Multiplier
Michael Eades (7 Mar 2024) The Arrow #166,