My Back-Story

My version of SAD included a considerable amount of ultra and highly processed foods (e.g., breads, cereals, pastries, fries, potato chips, hydrogenated vegetable oils, fruit juices, and diet sodas). While on the SAD diet, my serum triglyceride level (the amount of fat in the bloodstream) had slowly crept up over time until it was finally flagged at 576 mg/dL at middle age. The upper limit of the reference range for trigs is 150 mg/dL so, by this measure, my triglycerides were sky-high. High triglycerides or high “trigs” are a major risk factor for heart disease — especially when HDL-C or “good cholesterol” is low, which fortunately mine wasn’t. My doctor prescribed a fenofibrate class of drugs which lowered my trigs to around 250 but it never got me to below 150.

II. Trying Different Diets

In my first attempt to reduce my trigs, I decided to dramatically cut my fat consumption because I assumed that dietary fat was the cause of my high trigs. Makes sense — right? But much to my surprise, after a couple years of consuming mostly low-fat and fat-free foods, my trigs remained unchanged. So, to avoid being prescribed more meds, I decided to try a plant-based diet because it seemed like a more natural and healthy approach. But again, to my surprise, after eating this way for 2 years, my trigs remained unchanged. What’s worse is that my fasting glucose had risen to the point that placed me in the pre-diabetic category. So, in my desperate search for my “optimal diet,” I stumbled on a YouTube video by Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD. Dr. Phinney was promoting a way of eating that he called “nutritional ketosis.” Further research into this led me to the keto diet, which is an ultra-low carb, high fat, moderate protein diet. This seemed counter-intuitive to me because how could eating a high fat diet help lower my trigs? But numerous sources claimed that the keto diet often lowers trigs, so I decided to give it a try. That was in October of 2018. I’ve never looked back since. After less than a year of following the keto diet, my trigs plummeted to 70. I was blown away.

III. What I Learned

When I was following the SAD, low fat, and plant-based diets, I was frequently flooding my bloodstream with glucose (blood sugar), which is a break down product of carbohydrates. This triggered my pancreas to excrete the hormone, insulin, which ushered the glucose into fat cells where it was converted into stored fat. The accumulation of stored fat likely helped maintain high levels of fat in my bloodstream. You’re probably wondering why insulin is enabling fat to build up. After all, fat build up is a bad thing — right? Not necessarily, because paleoanthropologists surmise that our ancient ancestors often experienced extended periods of famine because grocery stores didn’t exist back then. So stored fat helped them survive those famines, and they passed those genes down to us. The problem now, though, is that most of us do have grocery stores in or near our neighborhoods, and those stores are filled with cheap, carb-laden, ultra-processed “foods.” But fat build up isn’t insulin’s sole purpose. Insulin also prevents sugar from lingering in the bloodstream because glucose acts like glue causing lipids and proteins to stick together by a process called “glycation.” These sticky dysfunctional molecules are called advanced glycation end products or “AGEs.” Excessive build-up of AGEs is especially damaging to small blood vessels or capillaries. AGEs are a contributing factor to metabolic maladies such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, vascular damage, neurological disease, and vision loss. So, when I drastically cut my carb intake and started eating more fat, I forced my metabolism to primarily burn ketones which are derived from fats because the alternative fuel, namely carbs, had dwindled. The liver can make carbs and store them as glycogen so theoretically we don’t need to eat carbs. People who follow a strict carnivore diet don’t eat carbs. This may seem extreme, but I’ve heard numerous testimonials from people who report phenomenal health benefits from eating a carnivore diet.

IV. Final Words

Again, there is no single diet that is optimal for everyone. The keto diet may or may not be your best approach to achieving your health goals. But if my story helps just a handful people take ownership of their long-term health, then I will have achieved my goal. Eat healthy!