Why LCHF / Keto Diet Plan For Diabetes Reversal & Obesity Works?

There should be absolutely no doubt that Low-carb High Fat (LCHF) diet, in different shades, works effectively in reversing type 2 diabetes, in weight loss, and in fixing many metabolic syndrome related issues like insulin resistance, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, high triglycerides, inflammation, PCOS etc. If 200+ success stories on the forum here are not enough to prove this, then there’s nothing that can convince the naysayers. Some of these 200+ success stories have been posted on the front end, and the remaining can be found on the forum under different sections.

Diet Composition & Gastric Emptying

Though not exactly representative of an actual meal, we will use the following data to come to certain assumptions. Then we look at how & why our one size fits all LCHF diet turns out to be better than the mainstream recommendation of one size fits all solution of HIGH CARB LOW FAT (HCLF) DIET. Along the way, since no discussion can be complete without looking at the militant-vegan diet, we will touch upon that also.

I will keep it simple, instead of complicating it by delving into complicated equations etc. All equations, subject to certain assumptions, will be simple enough for even a grade 10 student to understand.

 

The Assumptions

1. 600 kcal single meal.
2. High Carb Low Fat is 60% carbs.
3. Low Carb High fat is 20% carbs.
4. Vegan is 70% carbs, though some go to extremes of 80% Carbs, 10% Protein and 10% Fat too.
5. We will look at retention % at 1 hr from chart A above (~38% for HCLF and ~78% for LCHF).
6. Presume that with all the fiber overloading, the retention data at 1 hr for vegan is mid-way of HCLF and LCHF – ie retention of 58%.
7. BMR for 75 kg, 68″ height, 50 yr old male ~68 kcal/hr — sedentary behavior.
8. Thermic effect of meal assumed nil to keep things simple.
9. Since carbs are different in different diets, we aren’t looking at the rest of the graphs in the source noted above.
10. None of the energy intake is excreted as waste (urine/stool/sweat etc), for simplifying the understanding.

Looking At The Delta

HIGH CARB LOW FAT

1. 62% of 600 kcal = 372 kcal/hr
2. Energy from Carbs = 372 x 0.6 = 223.2 kcal = 55.8gm carbs/hr
3. Delta (energy) = 372 – 68 = 304  kcal/hr

VEGAN

1. 0.42% of 600 kcal = 252 kcal/hr
2. Energy from Carbs = 134.4 kcal/hr = 44.1 gm/hr
3. Delta (energy) = 252 – 68 = 184 kcal/hr

LOW CARB HIGH FAT

1. 0.22% of 600 kcal = 132 kcal/hr
2. Energy from Carbs = 26.4 kcal/hr = 6.6 gms/hr
3. Delta (energy) = 132 – 68 = 64 kcal/hr

Covering The Delta With Activity

I have never been a fan of blind walking. What’s blind walking? In my own opinion, for a diabetic to wake up in the morning and go for a long walk, without knowing what the day’s starting blood sugar levels are, is BLIND WALKING. More on this later, but let’s look at the deltas first.

Whatever be the activity or exercise to cover the delta, let us presume the same for all the three diets. Taking LCHF delta as the base line:

LCHF : VEGAN : HCLF :: 1 : 2.875 : 4.75

So, for example, if we have to walk 1 km to cover the delta in case of LCHF, then the same would be 2.875 km in Vegan and 4.75 km for High Carb Low Fat diet. It’s no rocket science to figure out how bad HCLF diet is, if one were to cover the delta with activity.

During my own trials in initial days as a diabetic trying to control blood sugar without any drugs, I found that I had to walk roughly 6 km/meal to get 1 and 2 hr PPBS in the non-diabetic zone. I have covered the same in the following thread on the forum (this insane walking requirement was the primary motivation for me to dump HCLF and look for alternatives):

Covering Excess Carbs With Targeted Walking!

Now onto mindless walking in a single stretch. I was told by the doctor who diagnosed me as a Type 2 diabetic, to start walking. However, I was never told when to walk and how much to walk. Just getting up in the morning and going for long walks without knowing blood sugar readings is mindless or insane in my opinion. What if the blood sugar reading was above 200?

Also, I concluded that one long walk on an empty stomach in the morning, is again nothing but mindless walking. From an engineering perspective of potential difference, I always preferred walking when the levels are definitely expected to be rising, rather than mindless walks early in the morning. Almost everyone on dLife.in agrees with this, and their walking schedules are not one long walk, but split walking, if needed. What we at dLife.in have been doing since 2014, was validated when research proving that it works was published in 2016 (University of Otago in New Zealand). Always go by common sense and you won’t need published research to ratify.

One also needs to take a look at: Can Too Much Exercise Damage the Heart?

If I had to cover through walks the delta of HCLF diet, I computed that I had to walk almost 18 km/day to be medication free as a Type 2 diabetic. That’s insane, and it meant around 3 to 4 hours of walking per day – impossible for a working professional, who has to spend 10 hours a day in the profession to earn a living. Add 2 hours a day for commuting, and then where’s the time left for other things? So, I decided to come out of that insanity as I wasn’t prepared to have a side dish of pills.

Insulin Needs

Again, taking a base of LCHF as 1, we come to the following from the carb energy components above:

LCHF : Vegan : HCLF :: 1 : 6.68 : 8.45

From this we see why it becomes almost impossible on High Carb Low Fat diet to go off insulin. On the other hand, the above observation is ratified by the success stories of Indian diabetics who have gone off insulin only on an LCHF diet. Five of the many interesting cases of going off insulin on dLife.in are:

1. R Vijayasarathy – off 70 u/day insulin after 19 years of diabetes history
2. Suresh Gulwadi – off 30 u/day insulin after 25 years of diabetes history
3. S K Sharan – off 34u/day insulin after 20 years of diabetes history
4. Bhaskar Motadoo – off 44u/day insulin after 28 years of diabetes history
5. Susan – off 24u/day Basal and avoided bolus completely

Susan’s case is interesting for one more reason. She had tried all shades of veganism, and it did not help her with eliminating insulin. So, just stuffing up on more fiber to slow down gastric emptying doesn’t help much. LCHF did, and this just reiterates the ratio computed above.

The same would apply to pancreas whipping and other anti-hyperglycemic oral pills. There are many cases of pills like Amaryl, Invokana, Jardiance, Januvia etc eliminated once the diabetic switched to an LCHF diet. Also, I won’t talk much here about why VEGANISM (same old drivel packaged as new) fails, as this has been touched upon in this article.

Six to Eight Meals a Day Insanity

From the delta ratios computed above, we can now decode why one-size-fits-all HCLF diet peddlers come up with another insane idea for diabetics — six to eight small meals a day. They are aiming to reduce per sitting delta. The idea is not just insane, it is also not practical for working professionals and is a HUGE NATIONAL LOSS, besides being just a BAND AID solution. One wonders when these so called experts will wake up and look at the bigger picture, rather than just catering to the financial interests of the drug & food industry.

Eating six to eight times a day still does not help in reducing the need for insulin for processing carbs, as at the end of the day one is processing the same amount of carbs. It does not matter whether one covers a full day’s calorie needs in one meal, or twenty four meals a day – a diabetic will still need the same amount of insulin, presuming insulin sensitivity is unchanged.

Satiety & Weight Loss

Lower insulin needs on LCHF, fewer wild swings in insulin and blood sugar, and highest GE are the contributing factors to satiety. As a result of this, the need for 24×7 grazing is eliminated. One feels so satiated that it is not difficult to skip a meal — intermittent fasting. None of us on dLife.in have really counted calories to control weight. It’s next to impossible theoretically, and fighting perpetual hunger on HCLF is also impractical. The moment one switches back from hypocaloric diet to normal diet, weight climbs back up again – all a result of the delta computed above as an example.

Weight loss stories of 5 to 35 kg (diabetics and non-diabetics) on dLife.in are very common. Here’s a thread on the forum showing a few pics before, and after LCHF. If obesity was all about Calorie In Calorie Out (CICO) model, then why does one lose weight on LCHF/ Keto diet? Obesity is more of a hormonal problem, and CICO has nothing much to do with it. It is a food industry nonsense peddled as science.

Wrapping Up

1. One size fits all HCLF diet peddled as healthy is the worst diet for a diabetic or non-diabetic.
2. One size fits all LCHF diet works great. Trumps the HCLF and VEGAN diets by miles, even in a timeline of 1 to 8 years, as we see on dLife.in.
3. Yes, the Keto end of the LCHF diet is not for everyone. So, we do not talk much about the Keto diet. It is an option for those who want to move into that subset of LCHF diet.
4. Six to Eight meals a day just to change the delta is meaningless. It is not practical for office-goers. Besides, it is a huge NATIONAL LOSS.
5. Insulin need per day is the least on LCHF diet, versus HCLF (or VEGAN which is also HCLF).
6. If anyone from the other side of the fence says LCHF is difficult, they need to come out of their cave and see how Indian diabetics are living that life on dLife.in for as long as 1 to 8 years now. The demographic covers ages from 7 to 70+. All participants find it easy, and healthy too.
7. HCLF is an OLD SCHOOL thought that is benefiting the food and drug industry. Needs to be dumped.
8. On the contrary, LCHF is a NEW SCHOOL thought benefiting diabetics, obese and others.

If you are an Indian diabetic or obese/over-weight person, choose well; be the next success story by clicking the JOIN Now button below.

 

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