NOTE: This article is an editorial but is cross-posted under Science Made Simple to make it easy to find.
Critics of the use of a low carbohydrate diet for weight loss and for putting the symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes into remission will often say that there are no randomized control trials (RCTs) showing that this diet is safe and effectiveness over the long-term, but what they often don’t realize is that there were no randomized controlled studies demonstrating safety and efficacy underlying the recommendation that people consume 45-65% of their daily calories as carbohydrate, while limiting their fat intake. What we do have in both Canada and the US since 1977 (when the Dietary Guidelines in both countries changed) is 40+ years of epidemiological data showing a massive increase in the incidence and prevalence of obesity and Type 2 Diabetes that shows no sign of letting up, and a millions of people that are fed-up of feeling “sick and tired”. Is it simply that people stopped “moving” as much or could it be the diet?
Recently, the therapeutic use of a low carbohydrate diet as a dietary option for reducing blood sugar, use of blood-sugar lowering medications and for weight loss has been recognized by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in the release their 2019 Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes (you can read more about that here. In addition, in October 2018 the ADA and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) released a joint position paper that classifies a low carbohydrate diet as Medical Nutrition Therapy for the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes in adults (more about that here). This means that physicians and healthcare professionals in Europe and the United States can recommend a low carbohydrate diet as one of the treatment options for their patients. This moves a low carbohydrate diet from the realm of popular lifestyle choice to Medical Nutrition Therapy for the purpose of disease management.
You can get a one-page downloadable summary (with references) of both the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 2019 Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes and the ADA and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) joint position paper here.
As covered in previous articles, there are ample studies showing that a well-designed low carbohydrate diet is both safe and effective for putting Type 2 Diabetes into remission and for weight loss.
In fact, there was a list compiled by Dr. Sarah Hallberg at the end of January 2018 of studies that involved a low carbohydrate diet which spanned 18 years, 76 publications involving 6,786 subjects, including 32 studies of 6 months or longer and 6 studies of 2 years or longer. Now, it is a year later and there are numerous other studies including very recent two-year data from the Virta Health study which demonstrates that a low carbohydrate diet is not only safe, but effective long term.
But there’s something about real-life, personal (n=1) accounts of ordinary people losing weight and putting their Type 2 Diabetes and other metabolic conditions into remission that people find very compelling.
Diet Doctor, a well-known website dedicated to a low-carb high fat / “keto” approach has a whole section of “success stories”, and a very popular ketogenic Facebook page from Nigeria which promotes a “keto” diet (mostly self-defined) does as well.
What about when the “ordinary people” that lose weight and put their own metabolic disorders into remission also happen to be healthcare professionals? It seems many find this particularly compelling because we know the full range of dietary options and have chosen the method we have after careful consideration.
As many of you know, I was recently the featured guest on the Low Carb MD Podcast which was hosted by Dr. Tro Kalajian and Dr. Brian Lenzkes. As outlined on the article at the link above, both of these doctors struggled with obesity their whole lives and both have lost weight and found improved metabolic health, and are now helping their patients to do the same.
Then there’s me, a Registered Dietitian in private practice who’s lost almost 50 pounds and put my Type 2 Diabetes of 10 years into remission.
The three of us are just ‘two Docs and a Dietitian’ who were sick of being sick, but there are many more healthcare practitioners just like us that have done similarly, including some of the more than 1500 that are part of the Canadian Clinicians for Therapeutic Nutrition (CCTN) Facebook group and members of CCTN.
We are ordinary people who as clinicians are knowledgeable about the therapeutic benefits of following a low carbohydrate diet and who have implemented it in our own lives. Our stories are not scientific case studies, nor are they part of a randomized controlled trials or research of any kind. Our single subject (n=1) anecdotal stories and those of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people from all walks of life are powerful because they stand in sharp contrast to the large percentage of the population that are overweight or obese just like we were, but who keep eating the same way and getting sicker.
We offer people choices.
The choice of turning things around.
The option of getting healthy.
The ability to achieve a healthy body weight and in the process be able to have our doctors reduce or eliminate medications for metabolic diseases.
If you’re tired of being “sick and tired” then I’d encourage you to listen to the podcast above or to have a look through some of the “Science Made Simple” articles on this web page under the Food for Thought tab. There you can learn about the different types of “low carb” and “keto” diets and get a feel for what eating this way is like.
If you would like medical support in the US, be sure to check out Dr. Kalajian and Dr. Lenzkes, other physicians such as Dr. Eric Westman and Dr. Ted Naiman, as well as the Virta Health Clinic, as well as many others who are knowledgeable and experienced to provide you with support in this area. If you are in Canada and are looking for a therapeutic nutrition practitioner, you can search the list on the CCTN website (link above) and if you’d like to know how I can help (either in-person or from where you are via Distance Consultation) then feel free to send me a note using the Contact Me form above and I’ll reply as soon as possible.
To your good health!
Joy
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