Low-carb 'keto' diet ('Atkins-style') may modestly improve cognition in older adults

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-06-low-carb-keto-diet-atkins-style-modestly.html ^ | June 27, 2019 | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

[Deaf Smith]

I have already cut back on the bread & sugar.

Have to draw the line on my beer.

[DuncanWaring]

I’ve been watching him for a few months now.

[ican'tbelieveit]

I unintentionally did OMAD today. Started early, about 7 am, without stopping until it had been 24 hours since our last meal.

I usually shoot for 16-18 hrs fast daily. But today, I never had a moment where I needed to stop for food. And when I finally did eat, man did it taste good.

[Patriot Babe]

Are you allowed some carb on rare occasion? When I see the word Keto all I see Eggs and bacon only.

[dfwgator]

I even found a place here that has Keto Ice Cream, sweetened with Monk Fruit.

But I only allow myself that as an occasional treat.

[Patriot Babe]

That is awesome that there is a different way of eating without denying yourself some goodies. It’s just the way it is prepare.

[Freedom4US]

No.

The first thing is losing weight. A high carb diet just means the body never burns any fat. Carbs get “burned” first, as they are basically sugar. It’s easier. And sugar is in everything. Even milk. Any excess to daily needs gets stored in the liver. When that’s full, it gets turned into fat cells.

Eating 3 high carb meals a day, snacking on chips, soda, beer, instant recipe for Obesity.

Ever notice you never, ever see any elderly people who are obese? They die young. Always.

The Ketones they talk about are what happens in the bloodstream when people fast for just a while, and cut back on carb calories. Also known as Ketosis. The body first burns up through the glycogen stored in the liver and then only starts burning fat. This is healthy and is shown to improve cognition and alertness and more energy.

It’s pretty strange to think that eating primarily a high fat diet causes people to lose weight, but it’s true.

Over a 100 years ago it was observed that the Eskimo stayed healthy and trim, until they adopted a high carb diet. Then it was Obesity and Diabetes.

[Deaf Smith]

I am just wanting to reduce the risk of Old Timers, not lose weight.

Dad was skinny but got Old Timers.

[crosdaddy]

I’m 18/6, and I’m in ketosis a lot of the time. I workout fasted on the weekends, but not on the week days.

[SunkenCiv]

I'll get right on a low-carb diet, if I remember to do it. Thanks ConservativeMind.

[BobL]

Welcome to the club. People have been screaming about the health benefits of Keto for over a decade (and related diets much longer), whether it’s this, or diabetes, or simply losing weight. But we keep being called kooks.

But no longer

Finally Big Medicine and Big Carb are being dragged into accepting us, although they were certainly in no hurry to get people healthy - that’s for sure.

[Onelifetogive]

I have been on OMAD for some time. The meal generally lasts as long as I am awake.

Kidding aside, I have been starting with intermittent fasting and keto.

[logi_cal869]

Oh, God: Please stop with the keto BS.

.02

[ConservativeMind]

;-)

[Flaming Conservative]

Get back to us in five years; we ought to have plenty of data, yes or nay, for keto.

[pepsi_junkie]

Using brain scans that show energy use, researchers have also found that ketones—chemicals formed during the breakdown of dietary fat—can be used as an alternative energy source in the brains of healthy people and those with mild cognitive impairment. For example, when a person is on a ketogenic diet, consisting of lots of fat and very few sugars and starches, the brain and body use ketones as an energy source instead of carbs.

This has been proven many times previously and should not be in dispute. Why waste time reproving the known? The results on cognition sound like good new work though.

[pepsi_junkie]

Ancel Keyes used the fame he gained for inventing K-Rations in WW2 (he's the K in K-rations) to push his pet theory that the heart disease crisis was due to consumption of saturated fat. He did some half assed epidemiological studies where he cooked the books (left out populations that ate loads of saturated fat and had no heart issues) to make his theory equal to the word of god in the medical community, and crushed the reputation of anyone who even tried to study alternative ideas. For 40 years doctors were taught that if people ate fat, it was a death sentence and they, like sheep, have just gone along. Dr Atkins was a jerk apparently but he was also a cardiologist and he pushed low carb because it worked wonders for his heart patients. They very thing the low fat diet was supposed to fix but didn't. And still he was relentlessly demonized as a killer.

Getting the medical establishment to even acknowledge that the rise of the low fat diet correlates perfectly with the rise in obesity and diabetes and has resulted in no measurable reductions in heart disease has not been an easy task, and frankly they still resist it. But people are starting to ignore them and that's whats pushing them to grudgingly go along, a little.

[rightazrain]

There are a wide range of foods you can eat following Keto. Also, you are the captain of your own ship, and you can go off the reservation and carb up on a meal when you want to. You’ll still be on board with weight loss if you return to the general guidelines.

Very obese people are more strict and serious in their approach since they have much to lose and are striving to improve serious health problems via weight loss.

One other thing about keto: You never have to be hungry. You just select foods to eat that are low carb.

[DuncanWaring]

Stop the “High-carb diet is good for you” BS.

[newfreep]

I have lost 35 lbs. on the keto diet, keeping on or below approximately 20 carbs per day. I have reached my goal weight and am keeping below 50 carbs to maintain.

I eat a fairly healthy diet - lots of water, chicken and veggies - and go to fitness club 5 days a week.

My morning breakfast is oatmeal topped with strawberries, a banana on the side and a skim milk "chaser" - a total of 100 carbs.