A Lower-Carb Tasty Thanksgiving Meal

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy - cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and dinner rolls - these are the traditional foods of Thanksgiving. They are hearty and comforting, filling and tasty, carb and sugar-laden. Thanksgiving might be a feast day in which we give thanks, but for those whose health dictates a low-carb diet, Thanksgiving might seem like nothing but a plate of turkey. Here’s a little secret, though: the familiar flavors of your Thanksgiving favorites can be had without piling on the carbs.

Is a Low-Carb Diet Ruining Your Health?

Chris Kresser is a practitioner of functional and integrative medicine and a licensed acupuncturist who blogs and is a very popular writer. A nutritionist on his staff, Laura Schoenfeld, caused quite a controversy recently with a blog post titled: Is a Low-Carb Diet Ruining Your Health? The low-carb "paleo" diet followers have reached a cult-like following in recent times, and it seems Schoenfeld had crossed a "holy" line in suggesting that not everyone does well on a low-carb diet. Many in the "paleo" diet crowd believe that carbohydrates have no place in human nutrition at all. Schoenfeld gave reasons from her own clinical practice as to why she feels not everyone does well on a low-carb diet, and listed several types of people that seem to do better with at least a moderate amount of carbohydrates in their diet. The article generated so many comments, that Kresser added his own blog post to the topic: 7 Things Everyone Should Know About Low-Carb Diets.

A Low Carbohydrate Diet Cures Diabetes

Diabetes is the great failure of the medical system. A generation of following the high-carb low-fat USDA approved food pyramid, along with Big Food's highly processed carbohydrate-rich products, have produced a national epidemic of obesity and diabetes. The medical system's answer to type 2 diabetes is drugs. These drugs, however, are highly toxic with serious side effects, and they don't work. A recent study that showed that insulin may actually accelerate death in type 2 diabetes, for example. Diabetes, however, is not a condition that is caused by a lack of drugs. Research clearly links type 2 diabetes (and now type 3 diabetes) to insulin resistance caused by excessive carbohydrates in the diet. This issue is finally starting to get more attention in the mainstream media, fortunately. In a recent article published in the journal Nutrition, the authors showed that there is continued success in using low-carbohydrate diets in the treatment of diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Ketogenic Diet Improves Insulin Sensitivity and Numerous Aging Markers

A high-fat low-carb ketogenic diet can optimize your metabolism. Numerous studies have shown that lowering your caloric intake may slow down aging, help prevent age-related chronic diseases, and extend your life. As you age, your levels of glucose, insulin and triglycerides tend to gradually creep upward. A 2010 study examined the effects of a high-fat diet on typical markers of aging. Study participants were given a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet with adequate protein, and the results were health improvements across the board. Serum leptin decreased by an average of eight percent, insulin by 48 percent, fasting glucose by 40 percent, triglycerides by nearly eight percent, and free T3 (thyroid hormone) by almost six percent.

Sweden Becomes First Western Nation to Reject Low-fat Diet Dogma in Favor of Low-carb High-fat Nutrition

Sweden has become the first Western nation to develop national dietary guidelines that reject the popular low-fat diet dogma in favor of low-carb high-fat nutrition advice. The switch in dietary advice followed the publication of a two-year study by the independent Swedish Council on Health Technology Assessment. The committee reviewed 16,000 studies published through May 31, 2013. The expert committee consisted of ten physicians, and several of them were skeptics to low-carbohydrate diets at the beginning of the investigation. They now conclude that butter, olive oil, heavy cream, and bacon are not harmful foods. Quite the opposite. Fat is the best thing for those who want to lose weight, and there are no connections between a high fat intake and cardiovascular disease.

Beyond Weight Loss: A Review of the Therapeutic Uses of Ketogenic Diets

Recent work over the last decade or so has provided evidence of the therapeutic potential of ketogenic diets in many pathological conditions, such as diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, acne, neurological diseases, cancer and the amelioration of respiratory and cardiovascular disease risk factors. The possibility that modifying food intake can be useful for reducing or eliminating pharmaceutical methods of treatment, which are often lifelong with significant side effects, calls for serious investigation.

Ketogenic Diet in Combination with Calorie Restriction and Hyperbaric Treatment Offer New Hope in Quest for Non-Toxic Cancer Treatment

A mounting body of research suggests most cancers are highly responsive to therapeutic ketosis - a natural physiologic state induced during prolonged states of decreased glucose - in combination with calorie restriction and use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Healthy cells have the metabolic flexibility to adapt from using glucose to using ketone bodies. Cancer cells lack this metabolic flexibility, so when you eliminate carbs, which are metabolized to glucose, you effectively starve cancer of its primary fuel source.

5 Most Common Low-Carb Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

There are many stumbling blocks that people tend to run into with a low-carb ketogenic diet, which can lead to adverse effects and suboptimal results. To get into full-blown ketosis and reap all the metabolic benefits of low-carb, merely cutting back on the carbs isn’t enough. If you haven’t gotten the results you expected on a low-carb diet, then perhaps you were doing one of these 5 common mistakes.

Low Carb High Fat Diet Blogger Lawsuit Challenges Censorship of Dietary Advice

by Bob Ewing
Institute for Justice

Arlington, Va.—Can the government throw you in jail for offering advice on the Internet about what people should buy at the grocery store?

That is exactly the claim made by the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition.  And that is why today diabetic blogger Steve Cooksey of Stanley, N.C. has teamed up with […]

Time to Stop Talking About Low-Fat, Say Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Experts

Harvard School of Public Health
It is time to end the low-fat myth, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) nutrition experts told food industry leaders at the seventh annual World of Healthy Flavors Conference held in Napa, CA, from January 19 to 21, 2011. The conference, co-hosted by the Culinary Institute of America and HSPH, […]