Comment by MCRed | Hacker News Reader

Comment by MCRed | Hacker News Reader

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Low carb for 8 months, so I think I'm beyond the short term measure. My bloodwork is better now than before. I can't imagine what nutrition I'm being deficient in, and the things that are potential issues I already take supplements (and since there's not a lot of risk in vitamins I take more than I probably need and for more types of vitamins than I need.)

Of course this is anecdote and it gets to the key problem the article is addressing-- there's no controlled group of statistically significant size who are all eating the same diet for decades.

When I hit my target weight I'll go into a maintenance mode anyway hat will include more carbs. I've done this twice- once when I was moving and once over christmas where I didn't want to be on the diet and increased carbs. I was able to keep my weight relatively flat.

But there are studies where people do this diet-- not just the scores of anecdotes on reddit/r/keto- but actual studies. And of course self reporting is not ideal, but I saw a meta study of a variety of diets that seemed to indicate the more low carb/high fat you went the more effective you were (there is a spectrum- keto, zero-carb, atkins, protien power, pescatarian diets, etc.)

The practical thing is, this diet not only caused me to lose weight ,but totally changed my relationship with food-- I'm not longer hungry. I eat as much as I want so long as I keep carbs under 20 a day (and really I usually hit less than 10 known carbs, often zero known carbs, but carbs slip in to all kinds of things, like cheese which should be no carbs has some, etc.) Sometimes I forget to eat meals. When I go off the diet and eat carbs, I find myself hungry soon after eating.

This change in my relationship with food and no longer being hungry indicates to me that part of the cause of my previous over eating is the carbs causing hunger. This points to it not being me starving myself, but an orientation towards food, or types of food.

Which I think is hormonal. Since many people report similar effects, and it is reproducible, there's room for real science there.

If low carb is working so well for you, why are you adding more carbs? Seems like people rave about ketonic diets but don't want to be on it for the long term.

Losing weight doesn't mean you are eating well.

It flies in the face of modern food culture, and it's a difficult decision socially. I think this drives a lot of people. That, and they're unable to remove their associations of "how normal people eat" and they feel a lust to consume sugars / complex carbohydrates again. However, the ones that don't start eating more have much better results long-term. You can't get fat again if you don't go back to eating that which got you fat in the first place.

  it's a difficult decision socially

This derails a number of people. Eating keto often means eating separate foods altogether from your family/peers, and your choices when eating out become limited and/or disproportionately expensive[0]. It also means that you are often put in a role of educating people (or trying to) about what you are doing, and why, and that can also mean overcoming skeptics.

Generally, however, after a few months of showing continued positive results, the skepticism turns more to curiosity... and you find people coming to you for dietary advice and reference material.

[0] some restaurants will work with you on this, and it never hurts to ask. For example, I've eaten at multiple diners where they would make a larger omelet in lieu of potatoes and toast.

One potential pitfall of improper long-term keto dieting is microbiome damage. If one isn't eating greens and such at all[0], the lack of other plant fiber could starve certain beneficial microorganisms to small enough populations as to become ineffective.

Having learned this, I now have a big-ass salad daily, generally, and I take a probiotic supplement. (Organic spinach is just $2/bag at Trader Joe's!)

[0] e.g. if one subsisted on mostly processed food before keto, if they don't add some appropriate carbs (even ones they didn't previously eat with any frequency), the microbiome will suffer... and it is difficult to repair without carefully culled fecal transplants.

What did this person do to deserve to be downvoted? They're trying to contribute to the conversation and you're being rude.

Sincerely, a lurker's voice.

I think it's because it goes against the last 45 years of common wisdom about why people get fat. Namely it's all about dietary fat and lack of will power. If you ask your doctor, nutritionist, your mom, or the man on the street they'll tell you this. Try to tell them different and they'll label you as crazy. (Hint hit the vote button now)

If you ask someone that does endocrine research, especially pediatric endocrine research they'll tell you that when you exclude people that are overweight for one of a large number of genetic reasons, the rest are fat because if a diet containing too much added sugars and processed carbs[1]. They'll also tell you normal dietary fat[2] is good for you.

[1] And booze though it breaks my heart to say so. [2] As opposed to trans-fats which are terrible.

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