Q. Okay, I have a question. Many of my friends are losing weight on a Keto Diet and it is working. Why isn’t everyone on a Keto Diet?
A. The most obvious answer is that everyone doesn’t need or want to lose weight! However, more basic than that is a lack of understanding about “a Keto Diet.”
The word “keto” is short for ketosis and ketogenic diet. Ketosis is a natural metabolic state in which your body runs primarily on fats and ketone bodies, instead of carbohydrates. WebMD says, “[Nutritional] ketosis is a normal metabolic process,” when the body does not have sufficient carbohydrates (sugars and starches) to burn for fuel (energy) and so it burns ketones made from body fat. Ketosis, in fact, is the natural state of human metabolism, according to some experts. All newborn babies are in nutritional ketosis at birth!
We define a “ketogenic diet” as “the nutrition used to achieve and support the state of ketosis,” according to CaliDiet magazine. “‘Keto’ broadly refers to the ketogenic state—when the body uses ketone bodies for energy instead of glycogen derived from carbohydrates. This is only achieved when you strictly limit your consumption of dietary carbohydrates and eat plenty of fats to support ketone production.”
The most reliable source of information about “a keto diet” is from Dr. Eric Westman, author of End Your Carb Confusion (available on Amazon). Dr. Westman has more than 20 years of experience as an internal medicine doctor and obesity medicine specialist at his Keto Medicine Clinic at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. His patients have lost more than 26,000 pounds and reversed conditions like type 2 diabetes, PCOS, high blood pressure, and more. In this book, he shares his time-tested and science-backed strategy.
Q. Since diabetes runs in our family, our family physician recommended I stop drinking any sodas, including diet sodas. I don’t understand what the problem is with diet sodas; after all, they do not contain sugar.
A. Many diet sodas contain aspartame (Equal®, Nutrasweet®) which may cause obesity by killing good gut bacteria. Is also a trigger for migraines in some people.
JASON FUNG 10’ | ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS Raise INSULIN; shut down fat burning
Drinking artificial sweeteners gives a sweetness signal that sometimes raises insulin…
• newer ones don’t do it so much
• signal tells body, “we are going to eat”
• insulin rises and stops burning calories…
• prepares to begin fat storage
• so, whatever you eat, body won’t burn
• you will be hungry
Q. If sugar is not good for the brain, why are people given a glass of orange juice when they have low blood sugar?
A. You may have heard people say to drink a glass of orange juice or eat a peanut butter sandwich or hard candies. Dr. Richard K. Bernstein, author of Diabetes Solution, says, “Glucose, the sugar of blood sugar, does not have to be digested or converted by the liver into anything else. Unlike other sweets, it’s absorbed into the blood directly through the mucous membranes of the mouth, stomach, and gut.”
Typically, one glucose tablet has 4 grams of sugar. Dr. Bernstein says that 1 gram of pure glucose will raise your blood glucose about 5 mg/dL (0.2 mmol/l), so one tablet would raise your blood glucose by 20 mg/dL (1.1 mmol/l).
See full details in this article:
Q. Whenever my sister has a low-glycemic episode (she has a pre-diabetic condition), we always give her a glass of orange juice. So, why isn’t that good for everyone?
A. All juices are processed foods because they have the fiber removed. More importantly, fruit juice is just liquid sugar. The worst part is that the sugar in fruit is fructose, which is only metabolized by the liver. Excess fructose causes fatty liver disease.
Q. Recently I was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes. The nutritionist suggested I use a non-dairy milk. Why would that be?
A. The only truly “insulin-dependent diabetes” is type 1 diabetes, in which the body makes NO insulin and insulin must be injected. For type 2 diabetes, most diabetics make insulin but are not able to use it due to insulin resistance.
Even so, dairy milk is not appropriate for any diabetic because it contains too much sugar. If you would like to drink/use non-dairy milk, such as almond milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, etc., be sure to get the unsweetened variety. Check the label for the amount of total carbs/serving. Do NOT use oat milk or rice milk.
Q. What do humans need insulin for anyway?
A. How Insulin Works? – Insulin Resistance & Belly Fat Simplified by Dr. Berg (10-min. video)
Additional information from Dr. Berg:
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Adventist Vegetarian Diabetics™ Recipe Book was published in April 2023. It can be found on Amazon at (https://www.amazon.com/Adventist-Vegetarian-DiabeticsTM-Recipe-Book/dp/B0C1JJTGLW/) in both Kindle and paperback formats.
Our classic book, Adventist Vegetarian Diabetics, 2nd Edition, was published in May 2023. It can be found on Amazon at (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5KNKS8B) in both Kindle and paperback formats.
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