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Comment by eclipxe | Hacker News Reader

What exactly is self-parodying about a "keto-adapted" lifestyle? Rice and bananas cause some of the same effects of sugar on the body. Some people can tolerate this and others can't.

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He's commenting on the fact that large populations of humanity (pretty much all of Asia and Oceania) subsist on high carb diets -- lots of rice and bananas -- yet don't exhibit massive rates of heart disease etc.

See glycemic index.

White rice contains very little fructose. Bananas have more but not compared to, say, an orange.

The willing ignorance of East Asia is part of it, but it's more that a lot of the keto diets I've seen draw people in with tirades against refined sugar and starch, yet it ends up with the dieters counting the carbs in their lettuce to maintain their ketosis. How do we get from Coca-Cola being evil to ketosis being necessary? It's a false dichotomy and as crazy to me as 0% fat yoghurt, but people only seem to respond to one extreme or the other.

I've never heard of anyone following keto counting carbs in their lettuce. I think the only thing extreme here is your characterization.

Fair point. Replace lettuce with nuts, sweet potatoes, milk, lentils etc. None of them in any quantity are a logical extension of refined sugar.

Misrepresenting much? We don't count carbs in lettuce. We generally don't count carbs at all. We just stick to eating lots of above ground vegetables, lots of fat, and only slightly increased levels of protein compared to a regular "balanced" diet.

Oh, and we avoid refined sugar for the plague it is.

But it might work differently in your part of the world.

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