Busting Myths -Part 4
This is the last of a four-part series on busting myths.
In Part 1, I covered specialty foods, whether you have to eat organic and whether this is an expensive eating style, whether you have to fast and whether you have to weigh and measure your food, and whether you have to count macros and calories.
Part 2 covered eating fats and adding them to your diet, metabolism worries, and what to do if you are not hungry. I also gave you some actional coaching advice to work with Parts 1 and 2.
Part 3 talks about how to not complicate things, especially if you are cooking for a family, and talks about eating on the go, whether you will have to give up drinking alcohol and what do you do with travel.
Part 4, which is this blog, will talk more about the medical side of things such as constipation, concerns about protein and your kidneys, vitamins and supplements, and, believe it or not, whether you can lose too much weight with Keto.
Myth #17. I’ll get constipated if I am not eating a variety of grains.
Myth #18. I heard there is a risk of kidney damage if I eat so much protein.
Myth #19. I won’t get enough vitamins and will need to take a ton of supplements.
Myth #20. I will lose too much weight with Keto.
Myth #17
I’ll get constipated if I am not eating a variety of grains.
One of the most common questions is the worry about becoming constipated.
You may find you will likely have regular, but less frequent and smaller bowel movements.
This is because the meat is more easily broken down and absorbed in the intestines and so there is less output vs. a diet high in insoluble fiber.
Your body just produces less waste because it is taking in less waste.
However, please don’t skimp on green leafy vegetables – I always have a large salad at least once a day, or non-starchy vegetables.
My favorite of the latter is an oven-roasted ratatouille using eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, onions and garlic.
If you are eating Low Carb, you can certainly enjoy roasted root vegetables like carrots, parsnips and beets, and a potato – white or sweet – occasionally.
Believe me, if you are eating like this, constipation will not be a problem.
Myth #18
I heard there is a risk of kidney damage if I eat so much protein.
There is strong research that disproves that eating protein above the recommended daily allowance damages kidney function.
It was thought that excess protein causes kidney disease, but about 20 years ago that was disproven.
If you have healthy kidneys to begin with, they will be able to handle the nitrogenous waste of protein.
It is at stages 3 – 5 of kidney disease that you have to be concerned about too much protein, but the protein itself will not cause kidney disease.
Jason Fung had used a wonderful analogy using a sieve and blueberries, with the sieve being your kidneys and the blueberries being protein.
If your sieve has no holes it will hold the blueberries and the water will wash right through them and out of the sieve.
If you have holes in the netting, then the blueberries will fall through. It is not the blueberries that damage the sieve. It is the already-damaged sieve that is the problem.
I encourage you to listen to the short-lived “Obesity Podcast” with Jason Fung and Megan Ramos, hosted by Carl Franklin. In Episode 10 he specifically talks about the connection between protein and the kidneys.
Myth #19
I won’t get enough vitamins and will need to take a ton of supplements.
Some people may find a benefit from taking some electrolyte support like a magnesium or potassium supplement.
A common worry is about getting enough vitamin C. This is not the case.
The vitamin C present in meat, along with the vitamin C-sparing effect of low-carb diets is enough to prevent scurvy which is a severe deficiency of Vitamin C, even without going out of your way to eat liver or other organs.
The bottom line is that even on a diet of just muscle meat, you should expect to get enough vitamin C, along with all your other nutrients.
With regard specifically to vitamin C, this seems to be of particular concern with the carnivore method of Keto, but there is no evidence to support that there is a Vitamin-C deficiency with this or any other method of Keto.
You must remember that the government RDA (recommended daily allowance) of Vitamin C and every other vitamin and mineral were arrived at in the context of the high-glucose Standard American Diet.
Your needs for many of these vitamins and minerals are lower when you are on a well-formulated Keto diet, even if following the carnivore method.
For other than carnivore, make sure you get the proverbial rainbow – such as colored peppers and carrots.
But this should not be a concern even on Keto, as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower are also good sources of Vitamin C.
With Low Carb you may eat 1 or 2 fruits a day and this can include citrus fruits.
For Keto, strawberries is a good choice.
Circling back to the electrolyte support, I cover this in my book, Conquer Cravings with Keto, in my course, Keto and Low Carb Success, and in several of my Keto blogs. The links to the book and course are below.
Myth #20
I will lose too much weight with Keto.
Okay my friends, is this really a worry?
Yes, I have heard that too.
I think those cases are few and far between.
Usually, the feedback loop on your hunger and satiety is such that it will indicate that you need fuel.
However, how everyone metabolizes that fuel is different for different people.
A person like that might feel that she has to override her hunger signals and eat all the time in order to maintain a healthy weight.
Sometimes, especially with Keto, adding more fat and protein will take care of that, or maybe that person has more leeway with the amount of carbohydrates that can be consumed in order to stay in ketosis.
In any case, increase the amount of protein so that there is no muscle loss involved.
When you restrict carbs on keto, your body rapidly burns through glycogen, the stored carbs in your liver and muscles.
After your glycogen stores are depleted, you shift to burning fat.
Many people notice dramatic weight loss during this transition. However, if, after the first few weeks, you are losing weight at more than 2-3 pounds a week, please do up your caloric (and macro) levels across the board.
If rapid weight loss is still a problem even after you have increased caloric levels across the board – including carbohydrates – please consider talking this over with your doctor to make sure nothing is amiss in your general health.
I like to call Keto the “shape-shifting” diet. I went a full 6 weeks with not a single ounce lost, but I dropped several inches in my waist, as well as down in my overall clothing size.
The other side of the coin is no weight loss and no “shape shifting.”
I don’t remember the source on this – it might have been Gary Taubes, author of Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It who said that our body’s primary goal is to seek health.
While you are eating Keto or Low Carb, you are bringing your hormones into line, especially insulin, the master hormone and bringing your blood sugar into normal range.
Your body isn’t saying to itself, “Oh my god I have to lose weight so Miriam will be happy with the scale.” It is saying, oh thank heavens she is finally eating in a healthy way and giving me a rest from treading water so that I can do some internal healing here.”
Okay, so your body isn’t saying that… but you get the point.
With either Keto or Low Carb you must cultivate patience.
Appreciate that your body is working hard to heal years of poor eating and yo-yo dieting.
Yes, you might – and probably will – lose rapidly at the beginning.
But if you stop losing weight, take a step back:
How long has it really been since you have been in a stall (and the general wisdom is that you can’t call it a stall or a plateau until you have been four full weeks with no weight loss)?
Do you need to dial in your eating because you’ve become careless with a few things?
Do you need to eat less because now that you have lost some weight your calorie and macro demands have grown smaller?
These are all things to look at if you have not been losing weight even after giving your body at least four weeks to level out and start weight loss again.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog, Busting Myths - Part 4, and I hope it will help you navigate your journey. Don't forget to subscribe to the mailing list (below) so that you don't miss the next blog! If you are interested in my course, Keto Fundamentals, please take a look at it here.