Disclaimer

^{I'm not qualified in any way to provide health or nutritional advice, so any opinions expressed are just my own thoughts from the information I've come across. I also can't guarantee the accuracy of the information I've come across or anyone else's interpretations of that information.}

^{image courtesy of @anggreklestari}

Starting on the Pocast Roller-coaster

The radio in the little, old car my bosses provide me for work has decided it no longer wants to even pick up the last two radio stations it was begrudgingly playing, so I've started playing podcasts while I'm traveling between clients instead. It started with climbing injuries and evolved to nutrition in relation to chronic illness and mental health, as YouTube's algorithms moved me onto the next suggestions while I travelled. It's been a fascinating journey which has given me a whole new perspective on nutrition, health and disease.

Depending on who you're listening to they are big supporters of different dietary approaches for health and healing. Sometimes they really seem to push or defend their way of eating as the best dietary approach for everyone, especially if it's something that has worked well for them. I think it's great that they share their experiences and even disprove misconceptions people might have about their way of eating, but I prefer those who stay a bit more open to the fact that everyone is different and what works for them might not work for someone else.

I realise that those who follow what might be considered extreme diets feel they have to justify their way of eating to many; for example each end of the spectrum, either carnivore or vegan. Vegan is becoming more accepted these days and in some cases even pushed, so those who choose carnivore probably get the most pushback for eating that way. I think we need to bear in mind, however, that those who end up on these kinds of extreme diets usually do so because of chronic and debilitating illness. So if eating this way actually gives them a pain free, healthy life back, then who are we to say that they are eating wrong?

With social media there are so many people telling us whether something is good or bad and whether we should or shouldn't be eating it, but social media reaches people across the world of all different ethnicities, so these claims won't be right for them all. People have evolved in different climates with access to different kinds of foods. The digestive systems and metabolisms of people in rainforest regions will be used to dealing with completely different foods to those of people from cold regions, for example.

It's also super confusing for those who are starting their journey towards trying to get healthier to be told different, conflicting things on what's healthy for them or not. You can reach a point where you feel like the only healthy way of eating is not eating at all!!

To anyone feeling like that, then I recommend that listening to or reading Dr Chris Van Tulleken's interviews or work is a good starting point. I think nearly everyone, except for the big food corporations making these foods, will agree that Ultra Processed Foods (UPFs) are not good for anyone's body. No-one evolved to be able to eat and safely metabolise these super processed extracts of food which never existed until a few decades ago. One of Chris' interviews was what started me on this journey to understanding how our modern diet and lifestyles are making us sick, obese and shortening our lives.

Here's a snippet from an interview if you don't have the time for a full length one:

Chris' approach to this topic is a bit different to what we're used to in regards to books and advice on taking control of our health. He doesn't blame the people who are sick and obese for their issues, instead he blames the modern UPFs which are purposely manufactured to be highly palatable and addictive. They're also hard avoid, particularly in deprived and impoverished areas of developed countries. In addition, he doesn't like to give people advice, but instead gives them information and let's them decide what to do with that. The reason for this is that advice has a tendency to make people turn away from it rather than follow it, especially when it's unsolicited.

Someone else I enjoy listening to in interviews is Dr Georgia Ede. She's a psychiatrist who also has a master's degree in nutrition. Her reason for studying nutrition was from seeing and experiencing how it can impact mental health. Nutrition is now one of her main treatment protocols along with traditional methods. She finds she can use much less and often no medication to help her patients, even those with conditions like schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder. While this approach is keto based diets, she is actually very open with her approach and works with all ways of eating from carnivore, through omnivore, to vegetarian and vegan.

Keto is Probably not What You Think

There's a lot of scepticism around if you mention the idea of a ketogenic diet. This is likely because the traditional idea of one is high fat, low carbohydrate and low protein. However, eating a keto diet can be more broadly defined as any way of eating which puts the body into a mode where it's producing ketones instead of insulin. Effectively it's a way of eating which lowers your insulin levels.

Would it surprise you to know that our bodies actually evolved to spend most of their time in ketosis? It might surprise you even more to know that you can be in ketosis even while eating unrefined carbohydrate rich foods if you are calorie restricting. That's why people lose body fat on calorie restricted diets. These are not something I recommend, by the way, unless you enjoy self torture. When there is a lack of food available, as we often had as hunter gatherers, then you don't really get a choice in the matter, but abstaining when you have food you can eat is a different matter altogether.

The fact is that insulin resistance has become prevalent in populations eating modern ultra processed food diets. In 2015 6% of the world's population was estimated to have type 2 diabetes and 25% of Americans had it. The rates have continued to increase, with even children contracting it.

Insulin resistance happens when your insulin is constantly being spiked by high, particularly refined, carbohydrate intake. I think we're all aware that insulin resistance leads to type 2 diabetes, but that's just one of the outcomes. Some research scientists are calling Alzheimer's disease type 3 diabetes. Insulin resistance has been actually been linked to pretty much all of the metabolic diseases that have become so prevalent in recent years, including all of the neurodegenerative diseases (dementia and Parkinson's for example), a wide range of mental health issues, cancer, heart disease and autoimmune issues.

They often say that obesity is a risk factor for many of these illnesses, but I'm starting to view obesity more as a visible symptom of insulin resistance and metabolic disease. Obesity itself isn't so much the cause as the warning sign.

There's certainly a lot of nuance when it comes to what is a healthy diet, but one thing I think I can safely say I've gleaned from everything so far is that Ultra Processed Foods are not something I want to eat any more. If it's not something I can make in my own kitchen, then it's not something I want inside my body.