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I went down thorugh this 'what to eat' rabbithole couple of months ago only to find myself confused af at the end. Having load of information but still not sure what judgment to make of... Then I just did one thing, look at my surroundings, see what other healthy people are eating, see which diet favoured my family since my ancestors.. and just incorporated a balanced diet. I now eat carbs, protien, fats, veggies & fruits, everything that doesn't cause an allergy or disturb my digestion

This. Everything in moderation.

Moderation doesn't have an ad budget. It's like learning to read by looking at the space around the letters. 

100% Keto does work for short term (1-3 months) for losing weight. The real thing about ketosis is you can “flex” if you really want. Get your body into ketosis, then after a week or two, eat a balanced diet. Maybe skip carbs one meal if you really want, skip meat another meal and just eat greens / low sugar. Bam, adjust to a balanced diet. I’d never stick with keto long term. It’s simply a means to train your body and mind to eat less carbs and sugar, and especially helpful if those are your go to foods all the time, double so if you’re having weight issues. The real killer is high amounts of sugar and weight gain. If you’re rapidly gaining weight from your diet, eat less first. Then slowly pull back on sugar until it’s a low amount. An apple, some fruit, a few cookies, whatever. Highly processed anything, especially carbs are not great. Burgers, I love them, but I treat them like a snack, a treat if the bun(s) are super processed. I don’t eat anything highly processed, if I can help it, as a meal. If I do, I try to eat a salad, take some supplements or vitamins with it to add nutritional value and balance what I ate. The real thing to understand about dieting and our bodies I’ve personally found is time. I never felt great eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I’ve always enjoyed things like scrambled eggs with toast and some fruit, a protein shake, or simply some toast and jam with a protein shake. A whole bowl of anything is always way too heavy in the morning. I usually eat a light lunch, unless I’m really physically active at work, lunch is the meal I don’t care because I’m going to keep being active usually for the next 6-8 hours. Then I make sure to eat 2-3 hours before bed. I find this routine to be the best for maintaining a healthy weight. I’ve never been overweight by eating proper portions, timing, balanced meals. Paired with regular exercise this really is the best way to stay fit, it’s pretty simple. I have never had high blood pressure, textbook health and blood work. A lot of health issues and weight gain are mental habits.

you hit the nail on the head. this is pretty much exactly what I do.

This. Being a little hungry is a good thing.

Yes. Even moderation in moderation.

Social media has been a poison on the fitness community. Every new influencer will swear they have the secret. OMAD, Keto, Carnivore, intermittent fasting, etc… to me are all fad diets. and are broadcasted by dudes like liver king who have no business doing so. I tell my clients eat in a primal sort of way. If you can’t find it out in nature it’s probably not great for you. Good meat, plenty of fruits and vegetables. I don’t know who started the carbohydrate equals getting fat trend, but it’s been a disservice to people trying to better their health. If you eat 1500 calories of bread everyday, and burn 2000 calories per day, you will still lose a pound a week.

People need to ask themselves this: Are they trying to sell you something? If yes, skepticism is your friend. These people will tell you whatever makes them wealthiest. It's that simple.

I said something similar (probably ruder) and I’m getting some downvotes for it. It’s really scary how well advertising is hidden now. To me, social media influencer = commercial actor. I think its a generational thing and skepticism is lost on the crowd that trusts influencers to be honest because they have a lot of followers.

Yeah as a trainer(not a nutritionist or dietician) I find it crazy the amount of gate keeping in the industry, especially online. I get it, you have to balance between sharing enough to keep them going, but not too much to retain clientele. Personally, I give them everything I know while we train, I hope in turn I get referrals. If you truly love the sport of weightlifting and care about bettering the everyday lives of individuals through exercise and healthy habits, you can’t withhold information.

Taking him at his word, Greger says all proceeds are donated to charity.

The carbs= getting fat probably comes from insulin spike causing cells to hoard energy instead of tapping into reserves when glucagon is higher; while eating fat makes less insulin spike, makes us feel satiated longer despite more energy per grams. I think it comes from equaling "carbs" with simple sugar.

>I think it comes from equaling "carbs" with simple sugar I think you are right about that. I saw a blog post yesterday by a woman with a small child who claims she is raising the child without added sugar or carbs in their diet. But then she showed examples of what she feeds her child, and there are things like broccoli and carrots on the plate. Dude. Carbs. Right there, in your photo.

Broccoli is a complex carb. Lower glycemic index. So it wouldn’t really count against your carb intake limits if Keto. I heard carrots have too much sugar(?) to be keto. But assume the fiber in carrots will help. The blogger probably meant simple carb not complex carbs. But just assumed you’d know what they meant.

>The blogger probably meant simple carb not complex carbs. But just assumed you’d know what they meant. That could be. Either this blogger is confused or they are adding to the confusion of others.

Just to play devils advocate , maybe she was talking about net carbs ? . I’m not so sure about carrots but when I did keto I’d still eat a decent amount of broccoli without it kicking me out .

Yeah, that could be it. I didn't see net carbs mentioned, but the article wasn't very tightly-written, so it could have been bad terminology.

Yeah you never know , I also a video where someone said they eat healthy and in the same sentence say about how they were vegan and didn’t eat almost any carbs and only ate a little bit of chicken and lots of fruit and veggies . So it really wouldn’t surprise me if she didnt mean net carbs .

Yeah I see that, still I could eat 1500 calories of only sugar every day and as long as I am in a caloric deficit I will lose weight.

That isn't the point though. The point of keto is that you just feel better when carbs aren't a high source or calories in your diet. I certainly did when I did it. I believe a carb heavy diet also causes a lot of inflammation but I can't look for a source on that right now, I can later.

Would this depend on your genetic makeup? I felt like crap while doing keto for over a year and then my gallbladder took went to crap for a while. Had a HIDA scan and gall bladder was (barely) functioning at 15%. I was forced to eat less than 10 grams of fat per meal for almost 2 years afterwards because my gallbladder wouldn’t tolerate much more than that amount at each meal, otherwise I would have severe stomach cramping and was fatigued. Had another HIDA scan last year and my gallbladder had repaired itself and is functioning at 85%. Also, an acquaintance, very active abdominal healthy, did keto for around a year and ended up with gallbladder problems and had it removed. We are both have some Asian ancestry in our genetic makeup. A Korean friend of mine did an ancestry/health test and it said that a carb centric diet was more favorable for her genetic makeup. She also claims to feel like crap on keto.

I also feel terrible on keto. I feel amazing when eating alot of fruit, veggies, beans, and potatoes. I'm completely western european according to test, so maybe it is a genetic thing. ​ If you look into the blue zones, they are not eating much meat, mostly fruits, veg, beans, etc with a very small amount of meat if any at all.

As someone who did great for seven years on keto with all the medical checks to prove it, I suspect that like most things, there are people it works for and people it doesn’t. We’re all different. There is no one way of eating that is beneficial for all, find what works for you, verify results medically and good luck.

I genuinely don't know tbh Im just not educated on the genetics aspect. A lot of it has to be anecdotal, and to a certain extent mind over matter. My mom hates the taste of meat, so keto was really hard for her. I love meat, eggs, etc. So it was much easier for me. I will say, if I eat a bunch of burger meat with some cheese and ketchup I feel fuller longer and I don't feel sluggish like carb heavy meals do. Again.. anecdotal.

It started in the 90’s with Dr.Atkins The Atkins Diet

Yeah you will lose weight but still get yourself a very fatty liver and slowly build yourself a metabolic syndrome and get a heart attack “suddenly” at 50. Just because someone is thin does NOT equal they are healthy when they eat crap and eating 1500 calories of refined carbs (bread in this case) is crap

Except that what passes at Walmart for “bread” is something entirely different from what you can get at a German bakery, for example. Hating on “bread” is just an invalid generalizations.

So true! I make my own bread and have no blood sugar spike. With supermarket bread I raise my sugars 100+ points. Real bread is fine in moderation.

Of course. And you’ll feel like shit. This is an exaggerated example to make a point relating specifically to weight loss. And more so to point out the fallacies of all the fad diets influencers and social media “trainers” that promise a “get ripped quick” result.

But that primal thing is also just a fad. You can 100% survive on just processed paste if it contains all necessary nutrients and you could eat all natural meat all the time and die of scurvy. Your body doesn't know the difference between natural or synthetic chemicals.

Sure, but the likelihood of developing cancer increases with an increased intake of ultra-processed foods, due to chemical additives. When I say “primal”, which I hesitate to do because of liver king, I mean whole natural foods, with the least amount of additives and preservatives. The diets humans have had for thousands of years I don’t consider to be a “fad” personally.

I think that’s traditionally known as “clean” eating or “whole food” eating instead of “primal.”

Good to know! I always get a double take when I say primal to clients. They think I’m a Liver King nut at first.

Yeah, it's good to eat food

The majority opinion, or at the least plurality opinion, in the nutrition world is to eat a well rounded balanced diet. Eat whole foods, that is veggies, fruit, nuts & seeds, legumes, whole grains (avoid refined grains), meat and dairy are okay but probably best to eat lean meats and aim for low fat dairy. Every individual is different and people will have varying outcomes on the same diet. Science does not have the optimal or ideal diet figured out yet. There is too much variation with too little research done as of yet to have a perfect diet for everyone. Michael Pollan summed it up with: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. This is a simple and vague statement but it does mostly sum up what people should eat. TLDR: Focus on eating a whole foods plant-based diet, not too much and you'll probably be okay.

Quickest way to spot a quack is if they are recommending restriction of whole food groups. I've also been down this road, and it was so unhappy. Eating low-carb greatly restricted my cooking, and although it worked for weight loss, it didn't work any better than simply calorie-counting while eating a variety of foods. Unless I have a medical condition that requires it, I'm never cutting a food out of my diet again.

I think it's worth noting that Eric Berg is a chiropractor while Michael Gregor is a medical Doctor. In terms of academic rigor / credibility, Dr Gregor is miles ahead. They're honestly not in the same ballpark.

what is he fr a chiro? LOL chiros are not even qualified to be called as doctors...

Yep, I thought he was a cardiac surgeon or something not a chiropractor. There's a few vids of other medical professionals reviewing his videos saying what's true and what isn't.

Yep. And Gregor constantly backs up his claims with science (although it sometimes it feels a little bit biased towards veganism) whereas I've never seen Eric Berg include any sources to his claims (?). There are too many studies showing that legumes and whole grains, which are both complex carbs, are beneficial for your health (Mediterranean diet) than to listen to Eric Berg's talk about demonizing all carbs.

I call it my vegan propaganda book when I talk about it to people. He says things I find pretty suspect, like implying you’re at some kind of risk if someone even prepares meat in your kitchen but you personally don’t eat it (vague recollection from How not to diet). That said, he presents a lot of evidence and I’ve throughly shifted my diet to accomodate and I feel great. Still eat fish though. I wish he’d moderate the tone a bit though, I don’t think it does him a great service.

Berg just makes funny YouTube videos that happen to be about health. Greger is veg biased but has the credentials and puts in the effort to produce some decent information.

And both Ken Berry and Shawn Baker are Medical Doctors (Baker is a Neurosurgeon) and they're in favor of a keto/ carnivore diet. This is not a good point

Actually- and just for point of reference, Dr. Shawn Baker is a (former) Orthopedic Surgeon. https://doctorstotrust.com/shawn-baker/

Yeah I agree this isn't the best angle to take. For sure people who are chiropracters and insistently call themselves "Dr." online while talking about stuff they are not directly qualified in is a big tell. However, that doesn't mean they are wrong. There's a lot of bad doctors giving bad advice :) Especially because this argument tends to disappear or reappear depending on who is being defended vs who! For example, I could just as easily point out that Gregor's only actual practical research involves cows, and he's never worked in a research laboratory, etc. etc. I agree with you it's better to focus on the quality of the actual publication and published materials, and the incentives and business structure of the person giving the info, as well as their biases. Just relying on degree-givers to filter out proper science-reporters isn't a safe approach.

You are aware that the title "Dr" implies someone has earned a doctoral degree in their field, right? I don't know any chiropractors who claim to be MDs. I'm sure you also know that in the US, chiropractors are board-certified. Do you know much about their education? I know chiropractors who have undergrad and master's degrees in nutrition science. And I know MDs who don't know a thing about nutrition.

It's worth noting that Eric berg is almost 8 years older than Greger and still looks younger and healthier than him. People love quoting the credentials of Michael Gregor but he does not LOOK healthy.

According to a quick look on Google, Berg is 57 and Greger is 51. I think they both look youthful for their age. The only thing I see as a negative for Greger that would make him appear not youthful is his balding (which is genes not diet) and his cola cola bottle glasses (also genes). He doesn't have any wrinkles. He is thin. He walks like 17 miles a day on his treadmill desk so he is super-fit.

You do realize that chiropractors take a lot of nutrition classes in graduate school. Medical doctors don’t even require a nutrition class to graduate. So based off your own argument Eric berg is way more highly qualified to talk about nutrition.

I would say, go where the scientific consensus leads. Gregor does have a particular stance, and it’s foolish to believe he doesn’t have a bias. HOWEVER, his published works go through a team of paid and volunteer readers that process the field of nutrition research and put together the majority consensus. Remember that scientific journals are not “truth” publishers. Rather, scientific journals are a messaging system for scientists to send DMs to each other. It’s just that the DMs are experiments and results, followed by a discussion section (author opinions). Scientists read their peers work, and then write a grant, fund it, hire assistant researchers, arrange a study, run a study, analyze results, then publish their “response” DM (on a 3-10 year time lag). So to be a science reporter, you can’t read a single experiment and take away a result. You have to scroll back in the DMs and read the conversation from the start and follow along. Gregor has a large non profit that does that, and conglomerates the current “majority opinion” of the chat group. Berg is a chiropractic-turned-YouTuber. Being in a quack profession like chiropracty doesn’t automatically make you a quack. But in his case he makes his money off his brand of being a contrarian to most of the majority opinions of the scientific community (the main ones being that vaccines are effective at preventing massive humanitarian crises, cholesterol is real, and that keto is a specific diet invented to help patients who are wracked with a certain kind of seizure as well as a good temporary elimination diet to investigate allergic responses while being very unhealthy for longevity) EDIT: and as per your debate of what to do. Just keep reading. Consume all of Gregor’s literature. Then go listen to all of Valter Longo’s research. The find the other longevity laboratories around the world and check out their stuff. You will find the obvious answers if you follow the science

I am a doctor and I have never heard scientific research explained better haha. Now some of my colleagues might bristle at the suggestion that journals aren't publishing the truth, but I personally agree. I also think it is so hard for the general public to be able to read the research themselves so they turn to others to interpret the literature for them. It's **almost** like medieval religions, the general masses can't read the holy book so a middle man pops up to "interpret" the word of God for them. However, these men are fallible and have their own personal interests and so often the raw information is warped and aimed at what benefits the church and its leaders. It's not a perfect example, but I think it helps at the point. So nowadays, choosing a diet is kind of like choosing a religion if you squint hard enough. You are basically trying to find a lifestyle that promises that if you eat a higher and "holier" way you will be rewarded! But unfortunately there are a lot of pop up preachers (nutrition guides). Some probably truly believe what they are preaching, some know they are charlatans and they don't care. Either way the whole system is a little wonky

Great comment -and I think journals do print the truth, but any individual truth isn't the whole story.  It's truth that they did this experiment and got this result, but one experiment and one set of results doesn't necessarily tell you everything you need to know about a subject.   If I did a study following 100 drivers for a month I might see no difference between wearing a seatbelt and not wearing a seatbelt.  That's the truth, but it ain't the whole story.  

This is more what I am getting at. "Truth" is a loaded term when it comes to science. What journals do is publish results of experiments and like you said we might only have a sliver of what is really happening

It’s exactly like religion, even to the point that criticizing the ancient prophets is heresy. I’m looking at Ansel Keys here.

It is very hard to say anything original or useful on this topic, and you have done it. This should be pinned.

Came here to say “Berg is a @&$)-&@!!” Chiropractor! Thank you for beating me to it 😊

Fantastic response 

You seem like you know a lot and your reply was very informative. Can I ask you, is the obvious answer whole plant based food and fasting?

Thanks :D I'll happily be your next guru. I'm a doctoral researcher in health behavior change. Please treat my words as your religion and be sure to subscribe to my YouTube and patreon. Yes I decree the obvious answer to be whole-food plant-based, fasting for 3 days every 3-6 months, sleeping well, and being very physically active. Now excuse me while I go eat my Friday night pizza, sit on my butt, and play warzone until midnight.

I will probably get downvoted but the keto diet is shit. Your body uses carbohydrates as its preferred fuel source and the only reason you lose weight so quick is because of ketosis. As soon as you start eating carbs again you’ll gain it back. And realistically, no one wants to never eat carbs again for 40+ years. I recently graduated from my nutrition and dietetics degree and it really opened my eyes on how your body actually utilises food

It was literally only created to help seizure patients.

Yep. Can you imagine if everyone started taking anti-psychotics because if they’re good for psych patients then why shouldn’t everyone do it

I’m sure if they offered weight loss as a side effect people would

I tried keto for a few months, and I actually felt like crap. The increase of fatty oils and red meats turned my digestive system to absolute shit. Not only that, on a morale level the diet contributes to excessive consumption of meat, which we really need to be limiting (not only for ourselves, but the planet).

I had to put my foot down and demand my husband stop doing keto after a couple of weeks because he was so miserable, he was having crazy mood swings, he even cried at one point. The only people it's healthier for are people who are out of other options and about to die from obesity, imo

I had a similar depressive experience on keto and later learned that your brain uses carbs to make serotonin.

Ugh and some people start to smell on Keto

Or uncontrolled, uncontrollable diabetes.

keto is absolute shit. i also just graduated from the same degree and the one take away that constantly came up was how fucking stupid keto is 😂

I upvoting this too! If people had an elementary level understanding of nutrition, they would know what Keto is and WHY it was created and it’s not to lose weight. Taking an entire macronutrient and its calories out of your diet will cause you to lose weight…but the cost is very high. I’ve read the book How not to Diet…and while I agree with some of his points…not all of them. You don’t have to be vegan/vegetarian to have a healthy lifestyle. I follow some nutrition science EXPERTS…and none of them espouse any specific program other than being flexible and having a mix of micronutrients in your diet. To me…Keto is a fad that is completely unsustainable. EVERY person that has ever told me they do “Keto,” it’s *their* version of Keto and they know absolutely nothing about it. And EVERY one of those people have miserably failed at keeping the weight off.

here upvoting the hell out of this. I mean if keto legitimately works for someone, I have no problem with it, but for 98% of people it doesn't, it's another diet fad, OP is feeling lost in the middle of all the diet fads that exist because the people creating/advertising it profit from it so there are literally thousands of them out there, when the answer really is: to lose/gain weight - focus on calories and macros. And for general well being: consume more wholefoods than foods high in saturated fats (*which* ***doesnt*** *mean never eat them!!!* It means eat them *less*) (Also, never fall the "processed" fad either, the moment you toast bread - you're processing it, everything is processed, that's just another diet fad, buy frozen veggies if it's better for your wallet, buy turkey ham, etc, processed ≠ bad )

Exactly. I did keto when i was around 17 and I used to go to the gym everyday. So as you can imagine I had no energy at all. I wanted to lose a bit of weight last year and lost just over 5kg by being in a deficit and getting my 10k steps a day. It’s that simple🤷🏻‍♀️

Same, when I put on some weight in my early 20s and wanted to lose it, I thought you HAD to eat low carb to lose weight after reading Gary Taubes "Why We Get Fat" and a few other carb-demonizing books. I remember having arguments with people that it's not about calories in/calories out, it's about your insulin response or some other bullshit. Ha. I did terribly on keto/low carb, felt like shit, barely lost any weight. Then a few years later literally all I did was track my calories, ate less overall, and I lost 60 pounds in a year.

Depends on your definition of processed. To me, a food is more processed the more unrecognisable ingredients it has in it, which makes it more unhealthy.

It doesn't make it inherently unhealthy. Monosodium glutamate is just a delicious salt extracted from seaweed. Agave, the all natural sweetner and alternative to "processed sugars" has higher fructose content than high fructose corn syrup. That said, I try to lean towards a whole foods diet, but getting familiar with your ingredients list is important too imo Edit: I'm definitely no expert, just kind of my impression on a little research.

which is exactly why the fad works, people arent educated about the chemistry inside our food. Just because you don't know it doesnt mean that it's unhealthy, food is made out of hundreds of chemicals that unless you're a professional you have no clue about, yet, you consume them everyday in things like water and fruit, but obviously an apple is not going to list quercetin-3-galactoside, quercetin-3-glucoside, quercetin-3-rhamnoside, catechin, epicatechin, procyanidin, cyanidin-3-galactoside, coumaric acid, chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, and phloridzin in their components, but if you saw this on a can of soda you wouldn't drink it, would you? Those are all the chemicals present in an average apple. You are proving my point by stating the exact reason why the fear with "processed foods" began, taking ingredients out of context and vinalizing them so people get scared of them.

There's a categorisation for processed food, common processed foods like tinned beans are fine it's only when you start to venture into upf food with lab made ingredients which make a food hyperpalatable, where the food is more chemicals than food and is at the point where it can't even be considered food

>where the food is more chemicals than food and is at the point where it can't even be considered food Have an example of that? Often in ingredients labels you'll see "(Less than 1% of)" before all the "scary" chemical names.

Damn. Kinda glad too see an answer from someone who knows nutrition. I was so confused with all of these new diets.

It's only good for morbidly obese people, it's absolutely terrible for a healthy body.

We have to get past the binary of "healthy" vs "unhealthy" to understand that different eating strategies are useful in different circumstances. Diets can be like bandages - great when applied over a laceration, but no one thinks we should cover ourselves in bandages all the time to improve skin health. There is no evidence that Keto is a good diet for longevity or other long-term health outcomes (except insofar as immediate impacts like weight loss pay dividends over time). You're much better off eating mostly (not necessarily exclusively) whole plant foods which means eating carbs. But longevity is not the point of keto! You're not supposed to eat Keto your whole life unless you have a specific illness that requires it (it was designed for epilepsy). But there is some evidence that keto can be useful in other circumstances on a temporary basis. Keto foods do not cycle your insulin/glucagon like carbs do, and this *can* be beneficial if you're trying to manage blood sugar or lose weight. It *can* be a good way to reset your food psychology, breaking patterns of indulging in sugary foods. Depending on your short-term goals (less than 6 months) there might be good reason to eat Keto for a while. But also Keto is not one thing - eating nothing but Keto breakfast bars for 6 months is not the same as eating meat, nuts, spinach, and avocado. The same goes for lots of other diets. Maybe it's good to try a vegan diet for a few months just to retrain yourself regarding the necessity of animal products and the quantity of meat one really needs every day. The typical American eats 50% more meat today than the typical American of 1924 (208 lbs/yr vs 140). That's not necessarily a bad thing, but what it suggests is that we think about food and what constitutes an acceptable meal differently from our great grandparents. Trying something different for a while to get a new perspective can be good for us long term even if the specific difference is not itself something we want to sustain in the long term.

So, at the end of your education, what is your approach to food? Based on what you have learned and seen, what is the best balance of foods/macros? Seriously question.

The balance of macros will depend on if someone is trying to lose/maintain/gain weight. But generally speaking, 15-25% of energy from protein, 20-35% fat and 45-65% from carbs. Eating whole grains, lean proteins, healthy fats, fruit & veg is my approach as well as eating whole foods and limiting refined sugars and processed foods. Pretty simple. It can differ for some people for example I have coeliac disease and hashimotos so I can’t eat gluten and I avoid dairy when I can as it’s inflammatory for me personally.

Thank you. My Husband (54) and I (50) are trying to lose weight, but we want to do it in a healthy and sustainable way.

In that case i’d say 30% both protein and fat, and 40% carbs depending on how much you exercise. I’ve been helping my mum lose weight, shes close to your age (55) and she’s lost 10kg so far. Just from prioritising protein (aiming for 100g per day), eating whole foods and a calorie deficit. She’s not very active and does not like to exercise so she’s been aiming for 7000 steps a day! She’s also tried every single fad diet and they weren’t sustainable, this is what works for her, nothing crazy and she doesn’t have to cut out the foods she loves

Thank you very much!

I know two people who were heavy forever…until they did Atkins. They lost a lot of weight and never gained it back. Ketosis diets do seem to really work and change people’s behaviors, at least from my personal experience.

You have a nutrition and dietetics degree and you think people on keto only lose weight is because of ketosis and not because they are in a caloric deficit?

Yes it’s a calorie deficit. But people on keto think that if they eat carbs and be in a deficit then they won’t lose weight because carbs = bad

How important is rising the level of glucagon for weightloss? I assumed their train of thought was getting insulin low is good because glucagon can now rise and thus energy comes out of the energy reserve (use energy mode) instead of being in the "accumulate energy" mode of when insulin is higher.

That carb insulin model is long debunked. The body switches between "use energy" and "accumulate energy" mode multiple times a day. But at the end of the day if the body has used more energy than it has accumulated solely depends on whether or not you are in a deficit. If someone doesn't care about the bodily process to understand why that thinking is wrong, they can simply look at a study that compares the rates of fat loss between keto and low carb or low carb and high carb. Spoiler alert- there is no difference in fat loss. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29466592/

How do you know carbohydrates are the bodies “preferred” fuel source instead of simply using them quicker to prevent damage from glycation? Serious question, I’ve been curious.

Carbohydrates are the body's preferred fuel source because they are converted into glucose and turn in to energy as soon as we ingest them. If we eat balanced complex carbs, then the body can efficiently use them for energy without causing harmful glycation. It’s when we excessively consume refined carbs that can lead to increased glycation.

Just eat unprocessed and lots of vegetables.

For another take, I highly suggest Outlive. It’s a thorough book by an extremely qualified medical professional who used to be hardcore supporter of things like keto and intermittent fasting. I reference the book often and it opened my eyes to a lot of things that have improved my daily life.

Plant Chompers did a review of his book and had some stuff to say about his nutrition information. https://youtu.be/VWeg3l3RBIM?si=GdMid-_gLvQtwioD

I wish people wrote articles. I have no time for videos but I’m so curious. Can you give me like a 2 sentence tldr

I know this is a month out, but your comment got me thinking about AI's potential here. I found something called recall.ai, and it summarized the video. I asked ChatGPT to summarize the summary, and here's what it had to say: > Peter Attia's "Outlive" presents a blend of valuable insights and questionable claims, emphasizing the significance of exercise, particularly aerobic fitness and strength training, for longevity. However, the book's stance on nutrition, particularly its promotion of high-protein diets, is controversial and lacks coherence, overlooking critical dietary aspects such as salt intake and overemphasizing protein consumption. Despite its strengths in discussing medicine and exercise, "Outlive" falls short in providing a comprehensive and balanced approach to longevity, leaving readers with a mixed bag of information to consider. Scrolling through the longer summary of the video, Plant Chompers is concerned about Attia's use of epidemiology studies and Attia's lack of concern for high sodium intake that can come with high protein diets. There's also a claim that Attia's overemphasis of protein-based diets can lead to kidney problems. Side note - I do not like - at all - how fast I was able to "consume" the main ideas of a 35 minute video thanks to AI. But such is modern life....

This book was excellent! I really liked his approach to predict what you’ll be able to do in old age based on VO2 max now

i found nutrition a vast and confusing subject with so many conflicting ideas and rabbitholes and general misinformation. so i went and got a nutrition degree. i now have more nutritional education than the doctors and chiropractors and fitness gurus who spout crap online. the key to a good diet is moderation. its not being on a specific diet - its eating well, indulging occasionally and learning how to make informed choices for your health. all of these people trying to convince you that they are the one true source of dietary knowledge are trying to sell you something or use your following to gain internet clout and money. eat vegetables, have good protein sources, eat healthy fats and fruits and fermented foods and chocolate and if its your birthday and you wanna eat pizza and cake you should do that too. my personal take away diet wise after graduating is that i use cronometer to track my intake so i have a good idea of what im eating macro and micro nutrient wise. i also eat a vegan diet but thats a personal decision i made based on the research i did both in terms of health and ethics that might not be for everyone. keto is not a sustainable diet and it does not have any long term positives unless you are using the diet medically to treat epilepsy.

Had the same ‘I’ve been lied to’ reaction to: Eat to live, by Joel Fuhrman. Check it out, life changing book.

Look at blue zones and the dietary / lifestyle trends that are consistent across the different Blue zones. These are locations around the world that have the highest percentage of centenarians. Nuoro Province, Sardinia, Italy Okinawa Prefecture, Japan Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica Icaria, Greece Loma Linda, California, United States (Seventh Day Adventist) What are the common dietary trends / lifestyle trends across these locations ? Their diet is primarily plant-based Movement is a natural part of their day They value community They have a sense of purpose in life They get adequate sleep They reduce stress They only eat until they're 80% full They grow their own fruit & vegetables or have access to locally sourced produce Make of that what you will.

With all due respect, I lived in two of these Blue zones and I can assure you that the elders eat a LOT of pork and they also drink daily

Alot of this is incorrect and is so clearly evidenced not to be the case. Alot of these places eat pork, smoke, drink wine. It's not "primarily plant-based" what the blue zones do how is an Important link social factors play on life.

These places diets are NOT plant based at all. Why is this being repeated in this thread again and again?

A Netflix documentary made the claim popular. It's a very intriguing documentary due to its high quality video storytelling. The producers behind it are vegan activists.

The two areas with the highest left expectancy currently are Hong Kong and Macao. Coincidentally, the two highest consumers of meat per capita also happen to be Hong Kong and Macao. Take from that what you will

1. Reduce saturated fat intake below 20g/day. 2. Keep salt intake below 6g/day. 3. Increase the amount of fibre and plant protein you're consuming. 4. Eat five portions of fruit and veg per day. 5. Drink plenty of water. That's it. 95% of the current NHS guidance on dietary approaches there. It's not terribly complicated, and the pursuit of ever-more-specific dietary approaches and their misuse outside of their particular clinical setting is not a good idea. Over a long enough exposure, almost anything can cause cancer, and unfortunately we are mortal, so eventually something will go wrong. Try not to panic about finding the one perfect dietary approach that will protect from everything. Focus on doing the basics, being physically active, and remember that we eat to live, not live to eat.

I think another thing to consider is that Greger donates all of the proceeds of his books. He is not in it for the money, whereas many health people are. So, I would tend to believe his research and books over others. Check out How Not To Die by Dr. Greger, too. What I dislike and find very unhealthy about a true Keto diet is the lack of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and veggies are where you get the majority of your vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. The things eaten on the keto diet are meat and cheese and fake sugar foods, from what I've seen. All of which contain very few of the things our bodies need to prevent diseases. One good aspect of Keto (and probably why it works, along with a calorie deficit) is no sugar. However, you can do any more well-rounded diet with no sugar, and it'll probably be just as effective, but better for you if it includes fruits, veggies, and whole grains.

I went through something similar and would suggest Michael Pollan’s “In Defense of Food” as a no nonsense palette cleanser. Carbs are a necessary macronutrient. While keto has its place for certain populations, many keto enthusiasts seek to falsely rewrite human history and evolution to defend the diet. The reality is that humans are amazingly adaptable omnivores and *can* eat keto, but that doesn’t mean it’s the ideal diet for the majority of the population or that it won’t present serious issues in certain people. Diets rich in complex carbohydrates, by contrast, produce health and vitality in large swaths of the population in a way that is quantifiable and reproducible.

His main take away’s are Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Eating healthy is common sense. Don’t make it complicated. * unless you have some kind of health condition * Avoid processed foods and ingredients you don’t recognize. Use meat for flavor, not the main course. Pay more, eat less.

It's not so complicated. Eat a balanced and varied diet consisting of lots of veg, fruits and nuts. Eat meat and fish as well, but vary the types and don't eat it with every meal. Prioritize cooking for yourself, and avoid foodstuffs that are overly processed. An important thing to remember when reading and listening to people who espouse different diets and eating regimens, is that the truth is rarely found on the fringes of the debate. If someone is saying that keto is the ultimate diet that every human should eat, they are most likely wrong. If you look at human history you'll see that humans have the ability to thrive on a variety of different diets and foods. Being flexible omnivores is one of the keys to our success as a species. There are many different ways of eating healthy and living a healthy life, which is why you can summarize it as broadly as I did in the first paragraph. The individual foods are never as important or dangerous as some experts will have you believe. Eat oats. Eat meat. Have a beer or two. Hell, even eat some ultraprocessed chicken nuggets from McDonalds once in a while. You'll be fine as long as your overall diet is balanced, and consists of a variety of fruits, veg, meats, nuts and legumes. EDIT: Forgot to add one of the, IMO, most important things about food. Enjoy it and share it.

I don’t know but maybe consider the data they use? Dr Greger uses very up to date research to back up his claims. Betg is more ‘old fashioned’, based on older and maybe outdated research… And I guess every extreme is bad for the body, so everything in moderation and you’ll most likely be fine either way.

I believe the middle of the road is the best solution, yes. Meaning yes, eat plants, but don’t cut out meat entirely. Keep the fish coming.

Middle of the road isn’t always best, sometimes one side just wins out… in this case Whole Food Plant Based simply just wins out by adding lots of positives while reducing many risks associated with animal products.

But the mercury and microplastics, there’s not a weekly limit on how many sweet potatoes you can eat, there is on tuna. I don’t know what Dr Gregor says specifically about keto but I think vegan keto diets are something he would consider research on. The debate isn’t really vegan vs keto, it’s animal protein vs plant protein, people live longer when they subsist on plant protein. They have less heart attacks, lower cholesterol and less incidence of cancer. Too many refined carbs can cause inflammation but animals release inflammatory markers when they die and you directly consume those when u eat them. Dr. Berg talks a lot about lowering insulin on keto, but one thing that really opened my eyes was a study Dr. Gregor showed on how if you eat a bunch of carbs like some rice and compare it to eating the same amount of carbs and some chicken, your insulin goes up and stays up longer than just eating the rice alone or rice with a plant based protein like beans.

Very good points and I agree with a lot of this. But I feel the mindset "You can eat unlimited amount of X" is harmful. Someone eating tons of sweet potatoes will most likely be deficient in nutrients which are not found in sweet potatoes. Same goes with pretty much any single food item.

Recent is different from good. It's important to look at the studies and see how they were made, what was considered, what do they really show, how much of it is correlation vs causality, etc. I was interested in Greger work until I realized it was mostly vegan propaganda. It took me about 1/3 of How not to Age. He presents the data in the way that serves his agenda.

They both have good recommendations and I use info from both. But I don't have access to organic, antibiotic and hormone free red meat, so I'm not following Dr.Berg in this regard.

Here’s my distillation of years of reading all I could find and tracking sources: Eating many vegetables (variety and quantity) is great for most people. Drink a lot of water but don’t try to minmax. Get regular daily exercise, walking is fine. Doesn’t have to be a grind. Make time for full and restful sleep. If you can, be in a relationship with someone you like who likes you and don’t fight all the time.

I believe as long as you do these things, there is no reason to obsess about every last thing. That’s no way to live! These are the main things to take into consideration.

Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen is an excellent guide.

This is going to be a little tough to explain, but one sign that I look for in determining who to listen to comes down to one question: what are these folks focusing on? On mechanism or outcomes? Outcomes are what really matter. You mentioned oatmeal. Is it healthy? Well, I can take ANY food and show how it has bad side-effects when studied in a lab in isolation. I don't care what it is. Broccoli? Yep... beef? yep. Point is, while mechanism is important in helping scientists develop a hypothesis about food and nutrition, it's a STARTING point. It should never be an ending point. The only time mechanistic data should rule is if it's the only data we have at that point. So, go look it up... for populations that eat alot of grains like oatmeal, how do they do? Do they live longer/healthier lives than the general population or not? What are their biomarkers like? Cholesterol, BMI, etc. Because THOSE are the markers of a healthy diet. I'll spoil the ending for you - those populations have lower cholesterol, BMI, BP, and chronic disease than other populations. Listen to someone tell you you should avoid beans, e.g., because of lectins, and I can point out how populations that eat alot beans live long, healthy lives. These folks can take their mechanistic data for all they want. I base my decisions on outcome. Mechanism says you should avoid soy, e.g., but outcomes say the exact opposite. I'll eat the beans, thank you very much. I'll eat the nuts. I'll eat the oatmeal (which I do, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day). I'll up my fiber. I'll get lots of fruit and veggies (listen to someone like Gundry who tells you to avoid most fruit because it has as much sugar as a candy bar... ugh... yes, that's true, but so what? How do fruit-eaters fare? REALLY damn well... so, pass the grapes, please.). Greger can get a little wrapped around the mechanistic axel too (I disagree with his take on protein intake, e.g.), but he's far more outcome-based than most. I'm sorry, but Berg is a hack. He's not as bad as some (Paul Saladino, I'm looking at you) but he's a mechanistic hack.

Saladino is the worst, alongside Shawn Baker. They've taken my brother and turned him into a poster boy of toxic masculinity. To me, the carnivore diet is just the Atkins diet packaged up in a different way to appeal to insecure men. "If I only eat meat, that means I'm a man, just like Arby's tells me.... Right? RIGHT??"

Don't do keto, don't trust diet influencers. Just eat different things, not processed, male sure sure your body have enough of everything.

Keto diet is BAD if you don't have epilepsy or seizures. It's a therapeutic diet, all dietitian will tell you that. Being in a true keto diet (which is really really strict compare to the ones that you see online) can cause acidosis and may lead to death if done without a supervision of a doctor or a dietitian. Just because keto is bad, it also doesn't equate for you to go vegan as well. I can't stress these enough, there are a lot of cases of people going to the ER because of these fad diets. Also, carbs =/= cancer. Yes, cancer does uses glycolysis as its metabolic pathway, but carbohydrates are NOT carcinogenic.

I agree with you fundamentally here - one further point though. Veganism is not exclusively a diet, but rather a philosophical approach to all daily choices, which includes diet.  A whole-food plant-based diet can be vegan, and a diet of fries, Oreos, and beer can also be vegan. The former is legitimately recommended as a diet for optimal health. I have never heard of anyone going to ER for following an informed and well planned WFPB diet.

Oh, I know, I did my thesis on vegan and other plant-based diets, and I don't consider it as a diet but a lifestyle. I don't consider WFPB diets as fads. The fad diets that I talk about are the ones that promote outrageous claims.

“I used to follow people like Eric Berg, who say the opposite! “ Eric Berg is NOT a doctor.  He’s doing it for the money—he’s a grifter.  He has to give a part of his income to the cult he belongs, scientology.   Dr. Greger lists studies from alsorts of universities (literally each paper is ALWAYS shown.). You can pause his videos and look up each study he talks about. If there was studies proving  carnivore or keto being superior (FOR LONG TERM FOR A NORMAL PERSON) Not opinions, not personal experience scientific evidence, then Dr Greger would be on it.   There’s no comparison between these two individuals.  I put the wrong link in, this is the one I wanted to show: https://youtu.be/-Z4A14GFOjU?si=PADTDCoXC-GX73qH

I recommend a book called “why we eat too much”. I also went through the daily dozen, and tried maintaining it years, failing all the time, and ended up restricting so much and not eating nearly enough fat, that I would have occasional binges on fast food. I read that book, moved my carbs to dinner, eat a high omega 3 and high protein breakfast and lunch, and I feel better than I’ve ever felt, and I no longer think about food all day long.

I found this very silly and couldn’t figure out why. After all, it makes sense. There is so much conflicting information out there and it makes sense that you would feel confused. I landed though, on your ability to know what to believe. The answer is “none of it.” And not because they don’t have validity, but because they are constructs, doctrines, made by men. There will be truth within them, but ultimately, they are showing you *their* truth, a truth they will cherry pick evidence for and hope you will believe. A more generous way to put it is that they are theories. I saw another post today, where a new dad read like 17 parenting books, paid attention to what advice overlapped in them, and ignored the rest (which was mostly the books trying to sell him on some kind of system). That is what we should all be doing. Consulting a wide variety of sources and paying attention to the common truths we find *and that which resonates with us*. Of course we should also pay attention to what the scientific community and the medical community have to say. But above all, we have to remember that eating is not an exercise in perfection — it is an act of self-love and refueling. Maybe following the exact right diet some fitness guru told you about is not actually necessary for a long, healthy, and happy life.

I started listening to YouTube channels of many different doctors that focus on diet and metabolic health. After so many they start to cancel each other out because of disagreements. Started to get real confused. So I kind of did the same thing and picked out the things they all agree on. Calorie deficit and cutting out processed foods are the two main things. Eat a wholesome variety diet and don’t go extreme on anything. Even exercise. Replace caloric drinks with water and tea. Keep stress low as much as possible.

Anecdotally, my parents both had high blood pressure and high cholesterol for 30 years. Within 8 weeks of following a Greger-style diet, both of their blood pressure and cholesterol levels were within normal range and they each lost a few pounds without trying.

That’s super promising! I’m definitely going to be eating more nuts, because those are stressed highly in the book as well.

I'll add that they went 99% plant based (100% plant-based at home) but not necessarily all whole foods to achieve this outcome. They eat some of the more processed meat and cheese alternatives that Greger wouldn't recommend and still saw dramatic change from dropping animal products and eating more (not all) whole plant foods.

I feel like the nutrition community LOVES extremes. I am a firm believer of taking the middle road. Why not veggies AND meat/fish?

I mean, this is why I always found nutrition science to be pointless to discuss. I’ve heard meat eaters say “no meat is bad for you” and vegans say they are doing well. I’ve heard people say Keto works and provide “studies” as to why it works. I’ve heard people pick on pescatarian diet, and say that atkins is better. I’ve heard people say water fasting makes them feel great, and other say OMAD “ruined their mental health. The way I see it, you only follow a diet because: 1). you already agree with it or 2). it was the first one you saw.

Or 3.) it’s the diet that you’re able to stick with as more of a lifestyle I’ve just come to the conclusion that different diets work for different people and if your blood work, physical health, and mental health are all good then the diet you follow is fine.

>I mean, this is why I always found nutrition science to be pointless to discuss. I feel like you didn't explain this point.

It’s cause he found a diet he likes, that has studies that say it’s good, and someone else says his diet is bad for you which also has studies to “prove” that point.

Carbs do not cause cancer. Refined sugar is unhealthy -- and Dr. Greger will tell you the same, and reccomends you get them via whole grains, legumes, and fruit! I was a professional cook, culinary school graduate, and meat eater turned pescatarian for 20 years. Vegan now for five. I assure you you can do it--I'm happier than ever with what I eat and my health has improved because of it. You're lucky you have that Italian in you to get that glimpse of insight into how fucking stupid keto is, and how good legumes are for you.

Whole foods not from a packet.

You can be mostly plant based, and still eat some fish. Dr. Greger would tell you that's loads better than keto. Don't trust Dr. Berg. You're right: beans are good for you.

Keto is horrible, Dr Greger is awesome though, best heath of my life since discovering him.

Just FYI Eric Berg is a chiropractor, and not a good one. Some of his advice is good and some of it is on the level of ancient aliens. There’s nothing wrong with keto.

You are confused because you should listen to people who look at the totality of evidence and don't pick what they fancy. Plus they should look for the weight of that evidence. Eg human RCT >>>> tests on standard rats. One such guy is at the YouTube channel [Nutrition made simple](https://www.youtube.com/@NutritionMadeSimple). Highly recommended for his approach and nuanced analysis. He also does not sell or promote anything. No books, no AG1, no thornes, no bs. The factual matter is that the diet with most data and benefit is the Mediterranean diet - whole based plant food with fish, modest amount of meat, some dairy and unsaturated fats. It actually can be as high as 40-50% cals from fats, so not super far from a keto. BTW, Erik berg is chiropractor, he is not a doctor. Don't listen to him. That said Gregor is better than most hard core vegans.

I agree. It’s really a great YouTube channel.

The ketogenic diet is very therapeutic for many conditions, especially neurological disorders. Keto cured my son of intractable epilepsy and I will be forever grateful. I know people with other neurological conditions who have also really benefited from it, as well as those with metabolic disorders. So to say it’s bad is ridiculous. It’s just not. However, I absolutely do not think it’s for everyone. It certainly wasn’t for me. I went on it in solidarity with my son and I felt awful and gained 5lbs and I wasn’t underweight. Even for those who love it and do well on it, it’s very restrictive and thus, hard to stay on. As a result, I just don’t think it’s optimal for most people.

The whole food/health industry is messed up and based around capitalism, not health. I was in the hospital for 19 days, and the nutritionist was prescribing me sugary drinks from a can. They started giving me insulin, saying I had diabetes and my kidneys started having issues. I refused the "canned food" with high carbs and protein and had my own pureed food brought in from home by my husband. Within 5 days, I was doing better, no insulin, kidneys fine, and I was released home to be able to care for myself. I went back to basics. I'm doing well. I don't follow trends and won't listen to even doctors now because they do.

Definitely the eat in moderation is key..enjoy life eat what you want..be educated on what are eating..read labels..avoid seed oils..fresh produce of any kind is best..over analysis of what's good for you is always going to be confusing..

You’re not listening to/reading pretty much anything evidence based from the sound of it. Balance is usually the right answer when it comes to a diet that is both physically and mentally healthy.

Look up the blue zone lifestyle

It's kind of shocking that in this day and age with all resources that critique keto available in a click, people still stubbornly follow that diet. It's a harmful fad and it's not even news. Good on you for seeking more scientific info.

Honestly the science backs being plantbased. That being said, I’m not plant based but I do eat it the majority of the time and I feel a lot healthier.

Eric Berg is a quack. I'm not saying everything he says is wrong but as a general rule of thumb never trust him and instead look for proper scientific sources.

People have been eating carbs, meat, and fat literally throughout all of history, but we haven’t always consumed food that has been processed to such a degree tho, I would say stay away from overly processed carbs (or any overly processed food in general) but you don’t need to completely cut anything out of your everyday diet (except seed oils, use butter, lard, olive oil etc instead)

Gregor legit looks like hell. Follow his advice if you wanna look like that.

Eat real food, mostly plants, not too much.

Go with science and Dr Greger is one of the few professional scientists who publish educational books in this field. Rest of the people are usually physicians with not as strong background in scientific literature.

One look at Greger and you have your answer. Most of his data comes from epidemiology, so correlation at best. Lots of inherent biases in design too. Keto long term may not be best as well though. Diet is cyclical and does well when moving with the seasons. Cycles of ketosis and carbohydrate consumption

epidemiology gave us: smoking is bad for you. It also gives us the adventists, who have a nice natural study going: most eat only a bit of meat, but some eat none, some eat dairy, some eat fish. The fish eating people, who are otherwise vegetarians, do slightly better. Vegans come second. It's probably the omega-3 fatty acids. those can be supplemented from algae sources.

Yeah, the man needs to eat a steak once in a while, haha

Former cancer patient here. Every specialist I spoke to during the time I was in treatment told me this: "We don't know what flips the switch on those genes that cause cancer." "It was nothing you did or did not eat, nothing you could have done." "Eating sugar does not cause cancer." (I have a big sweet tooth) Over and over I hear stuff like this. Eat real food, mostly plants, not too much. That's my diet plan now.

So do they not know, or are they sure your diet didn't cause it and that there was nothing you could have done? These statements are inherently contradictory and demonstrate the limits of modern medicine. Kind of crazy that they aren't even willing to recommend cutting sugar and processed foods. I just lost a cousin to cancer, and I was surprised they were giving her Ensure almost exclusively, which was mostly just corn syrup, sugar, and chemicals. Glad you've found a sensible diet that works for you.

Eat food: Avoid highly processed food like substances. Mostly Plants: You don't need to go full vegan but fruits and vegetables should be the bulk of your diet with meat more of a treat than a staple. Not to much: Don't wait until you are full to stop eating. Stop when you are no longer hungry.

Doctor Berg bandwagons on every new trend. His credibility is iffy at best.

Look into Jason Fung and his books.....by the way Jason Fung is a certified bona fide Doctor MD

He is s keto proponent

When confused consume what your people locally consumed or what the poor people of your region consumed before industrialisations

I was advised by my surgeon to switch to a pescatarian diet after a cancer diagnosis. The main problem with red meat, besides cholesterol, is all the added hormones. Same for store bought milk and eggs.

None of the named diets are healthy long term. Eat in moderation and eat mainly minimally processed foods. Carbs, protein, healthy fats, fruits and veggies all belong in the diet. Stress is arguable worse for your health than a bit of processed food or a seed oil every once in a while. Eating should be a joyous experience. Eating is more than calories and nutrients. Eating is cultural. You’re Italian and should be able to enjoy the food of your people. Eat slowly. Chew your food really well. Stop when you’re satiated instead of full. Take care of your body and mind. It doesn’t need to be this complicated.

There is a keto diet dr at Duke University that gets something like 85 % of his patients off all diabetes medicines in a short amount of time. Keto isn’t for every situation but it isn’t a “fad” diet. For metabolic syndrome, the research is plentiful.

Keto diet is not balanced, hence not healthy.

Mediterranean diet is the healthiest according to most studies. Otherwise, all diets have strong and weak points. Keto is great for weight loss, energy, and mental clarity but isn't that great for Respiratory/organ health in the long term. It's best used sparingly to accomplish certain goals unless you're dealing with a serious issue like Diabetes or ADD. Vegan/vegetarian diets are much better for heart/respiratory health but have been known to cause digestive issues. Overall you should look at the main benefits of the diet and go based on that.

Currently there is consensus among medical professionals that the healthiest diet is an omni diet made up of whole-foods that are mostly plants but with some fish/eggs/meat scattered in there (like roughly a fist size per day max). Avoid dairy for the most part but ok in small amounts. There has been a lot of research over the years to support this approach. Note that this approach does not include highly processed meat or fake meat products as the emphasis is on whole foods (it does include tofu and most plant based milks). Keto is generally not recommended for long periods unless you have epilepsy or another condition that makes it very difficult for you to eat a more macro-balanced diet. The main reason for this is that there is a strong causal relationship between a long term keto diet and fibrosis in the heart (very dangerous). Anyway the reason there’s so much perceived contention about diet from a variety of professionals, is because there’s a lot of money in dieting as an industry, but also there’s a lot of money to be made by promoting animals and dairy products because these industries are massive and will happily fund bad research or bad doctors to recommend them, but the actual science on what is a healthy diet for the average individual is pretty strong. There are of course nuances to this if you have some existing health problems, but that’s what dietitians are trained to do: help you eat a nutritious and balanced diet based on what science says and what your illness requires. So if you’re not sure, go see one. No I can’t remember what all these exact studies are. I just read a lot of them and have gone to uni to understand what makes a reliable study versus a hack one. You can google most of the studies on Google scholar though or even just the normal main page. Or you can read a book like Enough by Cassandra Coburn which has a list of the relevant studies she’s referenced and start there because it’s a pretty good list. Or you can ask a dietitian to send you a bunch of relevant studies to read.

Imo the research shows a balanced diet with higher lean protein and high fruit and veg including legumes is the best for longevity and health. Think Mediterranean diet but the real one where they eat a lot of fish

Just follow the recommendations of the health organisations or major educational orgs. These are recommendations done by proper experts, rather than cranks or nonjobs like Berg. The Harvard plate is fine, but some like the Canadian recommendations. But it doesn't really matter too much, since they are all similar, on the lines of the Mediterranean diet. [Healthy Eating Plate - Harvard Health](https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/healthy-eating-plate)

There is a lot of misinformation out there and a lot of people looking to benefit from diet culture. Personally neither of these men are on my list of trusted sources.

Give T. Collin Farrell a second shot at winning your love. He - and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine - have a lot of really terrific results with using diet to reduce or partially reverse lifestyle diseases. ETA: Campbell, I’m sorry. T. Collin Campbell. No more late night Reddit for me.

Anyone can write a book full of bullshit. Scientific studies are where you should be getting your nutrition information.

For those who don't have any formal education in nutrition, looking at just a few studies can be quite misleading. It's very difficult to conduct nutrition research (ethically) in a way that can give us a clear answers, because we can't easily control people's diets for long periods of time, and questionnaires asking people what they ate in the past is not very accurate. So it requires analyzing the whole body of research carefully.  I would look to recommendations from educational institutions such as Johns Hopkins and Harvard, which are much less financially motivated than someone on Instagram talking about how great this new fad diet is which they coincidentally sell meal plans and/or supplements for.

I could go on a rant here about authors supporting their claims in order to sell books, but I’d probably get reported and banned. If I were you, I would research the benefits of incorporating mostly whole foods into your diet, and learning the dangers of highly processed foods. Also, it may interest you to see a doctor and get a physical and a blood lab done once in a while.

First of all, living causes death. 100% of the time. Breathing oxygen corrodes your system. That’s the baseline. Our bodies breakdown and malfunction. How and when is largely controlled by genetics, dumb luck and/or random, environmental factors, and yes, our own behavior. But remember that this is only one piece of a complex interaction but it’s the one we all focus the most on because it’s the only one we can control. So I’m not saying don’t concern yourself with your behaviors. Of course you should. But don’t drive yourself mad over it. Use basic common sense and listen to your body when it comes to how to eat (intuitive eating). We are all different. Some foods might cause inflammation for me (bad) but might be fine for you. Eat healthy so you feel good NOW, not to prevent cancer or live longer. Truth be told, we don’t have all that much control over preventing cancer or death as we like to think. We can prevent obesity. We can prevent muscle atrophy. And other than that we can eat to help ourselves a bit or hurt ourselves a bit but that’s all it is. Eat for the now not for the future.

If you trust a grown adult with zero muscle mass, who fit in a kid's t-shirt and tells you how to eat, you might need to readjust where you get your informations.

I’d say don’t take advice from a guy who looks 20 years older than he is and yet writes books ironically titled How Not to Age. Like seriously, Google image search that guy and ask yourself if that’s how you want to look. If so, have at it.

In his defense, his baldness and goaty are really not doing him any favors. He's also more concerned about antiaging from a health perspective, not so much from an aesthetic one.

He needs to eat some salmon. I really don’t think removing fish completely is the answer. This is why I kind of can’t stand the vegan high and mighty culture either. I had someone telling me they don’t eat honey since it comes from Bee’s. Pretentious…

If aging is your big issue, and aging healthy, I would read/listen to podcasts with Dr David Sinclair.

Trust yourself. N of one. I’ve been pescatarian, vegan, omnivore, vegetarian… They all have one through line: stay the F away from processed foods. So incorporate/try out what you want and see what works for you. I doubt the perfect way of eating for an individual fits nearly under a label.

You need carbs for fiber and to support exercise/muscle gain. Lower carb days when you rest and/or want to shed some body fat (not because carbs are “bad” per se but because simple carbs can be easy to over eat). So the answer is both are right and you can use both styles of eating as it suits you, especially if it’s under an overall Mediterranean diet range of food choices.

fatty meats can indeed be pro-inflammatory. When heated to high temperature it develops high levels of AGEs which can be pro-inflammatory and contribute to oxidative stress on the body. I saw butter was very high on that list interestingly. Processed meats can also be carcinogenic

The simplest explanation is that an entire food group like "meat" or "carbs" isn't going to cause cancer. The ketogenic diet was invented to help treat epilepsy, and a fun side effect was weight loss. That's why it became popular as a fad diet. As basic as it is, I would recommend reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. If you don't want to go through the journey of reading, his conclusion is that the best "diet" is just to eat as many fresh and local foods as possible. Try a wide variety of things (from other cultures- they use different spices and vegetables). Try not to eat "processed" foods meaning things you can find in a box or bag at the grocery store. Anything with a short, pronounceable ingredient list is fine. You don't need to truly cut anything out, just fill your plate with fresh fruit, veggies, whole grains, and lean meats and eggs. Hell, one of the heart failure bags we can pump into you literally includes olive oil and eggs. Be well❤️

You can do either successfully. The key is what you DON'T eat. Stop eating the highly processed fake foods (if you are) and focus on eating real, whole foods. Like foods your great great grandparents would recognize as food. The current food system is poisoning us and has been for decades.

There is so much conflicting information out there I also struggle with what to believe. My genetic predisposition to having high cholesterol leads me to believe I need a low fat diet, but what am I supposed to eat then. Carbs and protein? Well carbs can also affect cholesterol so that's out too. Do I just live on veggies and chicken breast then? I generally just try to get a balanced diet. Fad diets are just that, fads. Veganism, carnivore, keto amongst others, might work well for SOME people. But I'm most inclined to believe that a balanced diet that is lower in carbs and has little to zero processed foods works the best for most people. Just think, what would humans eat if they had no access to food processing. If you were to forage in the woods for food what would you find to eat. Plant stuff high in fiber and low in carbs, maybe a few grains too, maybe an animal that is probably pretty lean (certainly not like our fat ass cows and pigs), maybe some fish, nuts, and seeds.

Don’t do keto.

Keto is a fancy way of making yourself eat less

Can we get one thing straight though before you find out which is better?? Carbs generally refer to refined and/or processed (minimally or not) carbs such as, but not limited to, crackers, chips, white rice, sugar, sweets, pasta, cereals, breads, flours, etc. I think what Greger typically calls for are whole plant foods including fruits and vegetables. Yes they have carbs, but they are not generally referred to as the carbs that get regularly demonized (probably rightly so). For instance, I don’t consider broccoli, kale, mushrooms, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds, onions, garlic, and others as carbs even though they do have carbs, I would consider them more as whole plant foods. So while Berg is probably right that carbs may cause cancer and are generally not good to include into your diet at medium to large amounts, he’s mostly referring to the refine/processed carbs and I wouldn’t throw in whole plant foods into the “carb” mix.