The following is a guest post from Matt Stone of 180 Degree Health.
Carbohydrates Don’t Cause Insulin Resistance
In the fields of health and nutrition, certainly the whittled down fragments that make it to the general public, gross oversimplification reigns supreme. Everyone here should already be pretty familiar with the most prevalent health and nutrition oversimplification of the late 20th century:
Saturated fat and dietary cholesterol raise cholesterol levels, which blocks arteries, which causes heart disease.
This is to intellect what Bob Saget is to comedy.
There are so many complexities and contradictions to this widespread belief that a more informed researcher like me hardly knows where to begin when it comes to debunking it.
For example, saturated fat and cholesterol intake gradually decrease as one ages on a statistical basis, while cholesterol levels steadily rise. So how could you say eating more causes levels to rise? Or even pretend that it is a primary factor? Or how about this mind-blower — we know that the more clogged your arteries are, the more stable your plaques are, meaning that your risk of having an acute coronary event known as a myocardial infarction or coronary thrombosis (the deadliest kinds of heart disease), is actually reduced by having clogged arteries. Or consider that having low cholesterol levels is a risk factor for stroke, a disease of supposedly having clogged arteries thought to be caused by high cholesterol levels, not low cholesterol levels.
Confused yet? Good. If you think you know what causes heart disease, you are probably buying into some oversimplified nonsense being spoonfed to you either by the government, the medical establishment, the food industry, or some guru with a pet theory that claims to have the answer and that those aforementioned entities are all trying to kill you in their pursuit of financial gain.
Of course, we could examine any theory of any mainstream prevalence and find a similar phenomenon. Most of what the masses believe is pitiful oversimplification. Like carbon dioxide increasing the greenhouse effect and leading to global warming. Oh yeah, it’s like, so totally that simple! Let’s start a big movement and get our own personal identities wrapped up in this new knowledge we possess and can now share with those lesser beings. To save the world of course!
Sure, the human-caused global warming thing made perfect sense too, when carbon dioxide levels aligned with average temperature. Now that they don’t (we are in a global cooling trend right now, as CO2 levels continue to rise), we can all take a step back and realize that what we thought was so simple wasn’t so simple after all.
I would like to share another good one with you. I hope you’re sitting down for this, because this one is really hilarious! And that oversimplification is:
Carbohydrates raise glucose levels, which causes insulin levels to spike, and over time this causes our cells to become resistant to the effects of insulin. This is called insulin resistance, a metabolic state that is the root problem in diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and many other conditions.
The Low-Carb Honeymoon
Trust me, when I came across this I was so excited! And when I reduced the carbohydrates in my diet I felt awesome and got really lean without even exercising! Wow! All so simple and sitting right under our noses the whole time. I did what any weak-minded health and nutrition noob would do… I quickly started a website business and wrote a book about how cutting back on the carbs would heal everyone on earth of all health problems. Your welcome world!
Things worked out great until I started getting a lot of comments and emails from people who were losing their hair, couldn’t sleep, were having anxiety attacks, stopped menstruating, developed gout, had chest pains, lost their sex drive, had freezing cold hands and feet, and on and on and on (and on). That and of course, I developed some of the same problems myself, even eating a puritanical diet of grass fed, pastured, organic, local everything.
Eating Carbohydrates Doesn’t Raise Glucose Levels in the Blood
Eating carbohydrates doesn’t raise glucose levels in the blood. Especially not on a chronic basis. I regularly help people lower their blood glucose levels by increasing the carbohydrate content of their diets.
A type 2 diabetic that I’ve been communicating with recently lowered her postmeal glucose levels from 359 mg/dl to 132 mg/dl in just 3 weeks by switching from a low-carb diet to a diet with lots of starches, and plenty of tasty ice cream of course, and other important changes (like reducing her water consumption, eating a bigger breakfast, getting more sleep, etc.).
And eating more carbs most certainly doesn’t raise baseline insulin levels. In fact, my most talked about individual case was a girl who achieved one of the most impressive drops in fasting insulin levels (from 33 IU/m to 4.7 IU/m) perhaps ever recorded without relying on temporary tricks like cutting out entire food groups or cutting calories down to starvation levels (both of which lead to rebound and a net worsening of pretty much all lab values of not just glucose and insulin, but also triglycerides, HDL, LDL, etc.).
Carbs Cause Insulin Resistance?
Most people think they are stuck with insulin resistance. Like it is some kind of diagnosis of some kind that is a chronic, lifelong disease. Not at all. Insulin resistance, in my experience, is a condition that is easy to overcome assuming you are consuming plenty of carbohydrates and doing other important things to stimulate metabolism and decrease stress hormone secretion.
The girl mentioned above with the huge drop in baseline insulin levels saw this drop due to her dramatic improvement in her sensitivity to insulin. Once again, this was achieved by adding more than 200 daily additional grams of carbohydrates to the low-carb diet she had consumed for four years prior.
And her level of insulin resistance, measured by the HOMA-IR test, dropped from 4.1 to 0.6. 1.0 is considered perfect, more or less. So she actually went to the other end of the spectrum to have far above-average insulin sensitivity. Her blood glucose levels dropped by a third as well. Even 2 hours after a meal her fasting glucose is remaining around 80 mg/dl these days. Glucose metabolism excellence.
If anything, insulin resistance is a natural state to be in when metabolism is low and/or stress hormones like cortisol are too high. If you do even the most basic research on the disease of having an excess of cortisol (Cushing’s Syndrome), you see immediately that abdominal fat, severe insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, astronomical risk of heart disease — these are all brought about by excesses of cortisol.
And we know that there are all kinds of things that produce increased cortisol production. Carbohydrate restriction is one of them. Dieting is another. Carbohydrate consumption is not, and frequent carbohydrate feedings actually keep the stress response of the body suppressed (once glucose metabolism has been restored, and wild blood sugar fluctuation, a disorder caused by a low metabolism, has been corrected), which is why they are useful in restoring insulin sensitivity.
Say Goodbye to Carbophobia
So please, enough with the carbophobia. In the right context, carbohydrates are an absolutely essential tool in achieving many physiological improvements – certainly raising metabolic rate, decreasing insulin resistance, lowering blood glucose levels, building muscle, increasing fertility and sex drive, improving mood, lowering inflammation, and just about anything else that you could attribute to increased metabolism and decreased insulin resistance. You can even rebuild your gut and change your gut flora by changing your metabolism – a process that simply cannot happen without adequate carbohydrate intake.
The belief that carbohydrates, or any basic constituent of food, is single-handedly responsible for our modern disease epidemics is extremely foolish, and holding us all back from openly exploring the true medical use of dietary change. In more plain language… Don’t be no tater hater!
If this challenges your beliefs, I would like you to know that I actually think Bob Saget is pretty funny. So we are not all that different, you and me. And come on! A global cooling cycle? Like my Texan stepmother says, “It’s hotter’n sheeit!”
Seriously, though. If you are under the influence of low-carbism and not getting very far with it, I can promise that if you follow some of my most basic guidance I can show you a whole new world where carbs are our friends and can help us achieve everything a low-carb diet was promised to deliver but didn’t. And after all the dietary enslavement we’ve put ourselves and our families through trying to eat some puritanical diet — befriending carbs once again is a gluten tootin’ good time!
Learn More from Matt Stone
Click here to check out all of Matt’s e-books, including his brand new book, 12 Paleo Myths: Eat Better Than a Caveman (I’m reading this book now and enjoying it immensely — I’ll be posting a review soon).
Got questions? Click here to learn how you can do a one-hour phone consultation with Matt.
Share Your Comments Below
What do you think? Share your comments below.
Photo credit: Heart potato by cuorhome, on Flickr
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{ 239 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m intrigued, but also confused, by this post. You say insulin resistance is due to cortisol levels, but you don’t address how to reduce those. You indicate carbs can help glucose levels, but don’t explain why reducing carbs brings them down in the first place, or all of the other health benefits many gain from substantially cutting carbs from our diets.
Maybe part of the problem is that you’re considering all carbs, from sugar to wheat to corn to potatoes to those in vegetables, as a single group? I’d contend that it’s not so much carbs that are the problem, but wheat and corn and the inflammatory response our bodies have when we eat them. What do you think?
I’d be interested in more information on this subject and why, specifically, you’re convinced carbs are our saviors now.
I think it’s important to separate out the cause from the trigger. While any number of different foods or different substances can trigger an inflammatory response, that doesn’t make it the cause. It seems to me that this increasing wave of inflammation goes a lot deeper than “don’t eat corn and wheat.” Especially when I see people developing inflammatory conditions on a wheat and corn-free diet and overcoming the inflammatory condition by adding those back in.
It’s interesting that with all the replies to this post, none of Matt Stone’s supporters (or Matt himself, who replied to me) addressed any of my concerns in my original comment. How exactly do carbs HELP glucose levels? How do they reduce cortisol levels? If carbs are so good for you, why did I lose 50 lbs and gain a lot of energy (and lose my eczema) from cutting most of them out?
I’m not following a paleo diet, I just try to avoid most grains and potatoes as a rule. I do eat the occasional hamburger bun, tortilla, etc. but I really curtailed my sweet intake. Now, I do not crave sweets, am not hungry all day long, and like someone else posted, I feel like crap whenever I do eat something like brownies or cake so I tend to not want them anymore.
I’m not dogmatic about it but it would take a lot to convince me that carbs (in anything other than minimal amounts) are actually good for me, with all my personal evidence to the contrary. But I’m open to it, if someone can help me out here.
Jackie -
Read my post: http://www.cheeseslave.com/why-i-ditched-low-carb/
Read the part with Chris Masterjohn when he talks about the people who lived near the arctic circle and subsisted on almost no carbs. They could not reproduce. They had to eat thyroid gland from moose in order to get pregnant and have babies.
Okay, but what the Eskimos or Inuit who ate almost no carbs and had no problems with reproduction?
@Charisse
Read that post I just linked to. They did have problems with reproduction unless they ate copious amounts of glands and organ meats.
This may be why so many people who are on low carb diets, end up having to take dessicated thyroid supplements.
I didn’t answer because I think Matt and AM would do it so much better. I can say that I had terrible (tested) issues with cortisol, the beginning of insulin resistance, fatigue and more. Matt’s approach has really helped me.
As well, according to the work of PJ Randle and Ray Peat…and Otto Warburg and Bernard Houssay…..hyperinsulemia is not because of too much “sugar.” it is from not eating the right types of carbs, etc, etc, etc….but more importantly from a diet high in unsaturated fats (vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, greens, fatty fish, etc, etc) that inhibits glucose oxidation and promotes lipid peroxidation and lipolysis…which prevents cell metabolism and production of CO2, thus increasing blood sugar levels, exhausting the pancreas, etc.
Josh, where is your evidence that nuts, seeds, greens, and fatty fish deserve to be lumped in with processed, refined, rancid, oxidized, and damaged vegetable oils? Or Peat’s evidence? A rat study feeding casein, sugar, corn starch, corn oil, and supplements proves nothing.
Ray says in one of his articles that avocados are dangerous, because they are too high in unsaturated fats and cause liver toxicity. Where is the study proving that – which does NOT include the above mentioned “rat chow” diet study staples? Thanks in advance.
Here is the article where that claim is made and the quote. He also calls it carcinogenic, no references for this statement, as should be expected for such an extreme and odd view. It seems like dogmatic and prejudiced fear-mongering, to be blunt.
“Animal proteins, and fruits, because they contain the lowest levels of toxins, should form the basis of the diet. Not all fruits, of course, are perfectly safe–avocados, for example, contain so much unsaturated fat that they can be carcinogenic and hepatotoxic.”
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/vegetables.shtml
It is simple, but more complex at the same time….but to simplify. Cortisol is a GLUCOcorticoid that is used for fight inflammation. IN a low carb hypometabolic state, the body inc its production, along with glucagon (which slows peristalsis) and wastes Na, to increase gluconeogensis to increase “sugar” for cell metabolism. As that is what our cells primarily use for fuel for steroidal production and oxidative metabolism. So to make a long story short…the right carbs that contain sucrose allow for the reduction of cortisol, cause now our cells primary fuel source is coming in and our body does not have to compensate with cortisol and glucagon. Hope this makes sense…much easier for me to explain than type.
Very interesting, Josh!
I can totally relate. The low carb thing worked at first and I felt great and i’ve been doing it off and on for years. Then I started to gain weight for “no reason”. I had my daughter 14 months ago, and somehow I am now only 5 pounds lighter than when I was 9 months pregnant with her despite eating low carb wapf diet and breastfeeding. I also have all those symptoms you mentioned and I have been diagnosed with an under-active thyroid (dry brittle hair, cold hands and feet, extremly low body temperatures, dry skin, no libido, etc) . Now I am trying to add more carbs back to my diet. And even though I know this is what I have to do, it is still hard. I still feel like I’m going to get fat from adding carbs. Even though I was getting fat with no carbs. lol. Do you find that there is an initial weight gain when you first start adding carbs back and that it then evens out after you stabilize your metabolism and increase your body temperatures? I just want to heal myself now, I am sick of feeling “fat” and “ugly” and hopeless. I look back at pictures from a few years ago and think to myself “damn i used to be so pretty and skinny” haha.
Anna I can soooo relate! I have gone through the same thing 11 months after having my second son. Your thoughts have been my exact thoughts! I too have been looking at pictures thinking the same thing! Just want you to know you certainly are not the only one!
Cortisol is clearly an important factor in metabolism and health, but this new theory for insulin resistance that you post here is just as much of an oversimplification as the previous one that you are wanting to overturn. Another of the many pieces of the puzzle is that when people reduce one food or food group, they often increase another one as a substitute. Many people who cut back on grains and starches dramatically increase their intake of almond flour. Almond flour is EXTREMELY high in oxalate, which strips the body of minerals, is extremely physically stressful to the body, worsens inflammation, can damage organs such as the pancreas and glands such as the adrenals and thyroid, and injures the gut.
Oxalate can cause all of the symptoms you listed above “losing their hair, couldn’t sleep, were having anxiety attacks, stopped menstruating, developed gout, had chest pains, lost their sex drive, had freezing cold hands and feet”. I do love WAPF but one thing they are very wrong about is the issue of oxalates. This is a very significant issue for many people, is involved in diabetes and insulin resistance, and it is a factor that really needs to be considered as part of the bigger picture here. It is also a confounding variable that muddies the water here about which type of eating is “best”. Most online information about oxalates is outdated and wrong- this site is a reliable one: http://www.lowoxalate.info/
It’s not necessarily a new theory of insulin resistance. Just saying that carbohydrates don’t cause insulin resistance, which is common scientific knowledge outside of the realm of low-carb make-believe science. Insulin resistance can be caused by hundreds of things. To blame it, along with many other issues, on one of the 3 macronutrients exclusively is where people are making a mistake.
@Matt,
So you are basically saying that there are other underlying conditions and it’s not just the carbs, right? You are saying that we or whoever is just oversimplifying the carb/insulin relationship. In effect, it could be the carbs added to other things but we don’t look at the other things. We just blame the carbs… maybe????
Wow… thank you, Sierra. I believe that you gave me a very important piece to the health puzzle which I’ve been working to solve. I have been on GAPS intro for two months. I have had to stay on an herbal Kidney Cleanse regimen (which I discovered years ago and which saved me from continual UTIs). I know that oxalates are released in the detox happening on the GAPS Diet and they are the irritants I’ve had to fight. I guess I could feel sad that I have to eliminate even more things from my diet, but instead I feel hopeful. As I am in the last stages of Intro, I was greatly discouraged, when introducing fresh juices, to see that I was not handling them well. But, now that I see I was juicing high oxalate foods, it makes more sense. Sure… I would love to eat more carbs. I do not have any weight to lose. But they do not do my body good. And even when I was eating them normally, I had lots of health issues. I am hoping to heal through a couple of years on GAPS and then be able to eat nourishing, properly prepared grains and starches. And I am expectant of seeing even better results knowing I can limit the oxalate load on my system. Again… thank you!!
Even though Jackie is pretty much right, I am not gong to be as kind and civil as she is. I was able to endure to read only a few paragraphs straight and skimmed the rest. What a bullshitter, starting off with some obvious and not well explained info, no new info, nothing explained, in addition to telling us all his life he went running after each fad diet he heard, established websites…he was wrong or exaggerated in his beliefs. Such a character. Why does he and should I think that NOW he is any different or posseses any wisdom. Besides he talks about climate change/global warming and all as if he has any minute understanding of any atmospheric physics and chemistry. Of course any biological or ecological system is very complex…atmospheric physics is no less complex than human phisiology and nutrition. Not only he has any wisdom in nutrition (and in atmospheric physics/chemistry) he is arrogant enough to make definitive comments about stuff he has no idea non whatsoever. What a clown.
Ummmm…what? I have read your comment several times, scrolled up and read AM’s post several times and I am still lost. Who is the “he” to which you are referring? Bob Saget? Matt Stone? Your brother? Your neighbor? The almighty He we know as God?
IDK. Maybe I am just drunk on carbs. Perhaps your comment makes perfect sense and I am just a moron.
This is a really obnoxious reply. Obviously she is talking about Matt Stone. Your carbs may be causing brain fog.
Really? Obnoxious? That certainly wasn’t my intent. I wanted to be clear to whom all the vitriol was being spewed at, because as obvious as it was to you that this individual was referring to Matt, for myself it was less clear.
it is obvious that he is a clever businessman. all he does is to SELL to the unsatiated mental needs of people trying to find the perfect diet. and constantly coming up with so-called new ideas…new websites, new books, so you all pay
)
for my brain fog from carbs? i don’t think so…i went on a raw paleolithic diet some 4-5 years ago…i was about 90% that way for a about a year as part of my hg detox. i benefited it from it but i do NOT sell or proselyhhesize anything that i do not understand or anything one fits for all. i follow a loosely adhered weston diet, 30% raw, 39% cooked and 30% fermented. i am a phd atmospheric scientist and he has no clue what he is talking about. but he is i am sure making good business for years for selling the obsessions of the people like you all. so ungrounded.
“i am a phd atmospheric scientist and he has no clue what he is talking about.”
Just goes to prove how little a phd is worth.
I prefer to be called an “ass clown.”
Ass Clown FTW! hahahahahahahaha
Hi Ann Marie,
Thanks so much for this post. You’ve blown my mind with this and I couldn’t stop saying out loud, “What?!” I think my 1.5 year old son who was sitting w/ me thought I was nuts.
Anyway, I’m borderline pre-diabetic (according to A1C levels), had gestational diabetes w/ my 1st child and am pregnant again w/ my 2nd (hoping to not get diagnosed again). I have a strong history of Type II diabetes on my father’s side.
AfterI found out about my gestational diabetes, I went on a restricted carb diet where I was told to have no more than 15 grm for 2 daily snacks, 30 gms for breakfast and no more than 60 for dinner for the remainder of my pregnancy. Everything else was fair game. This was before I discovered “real food” eating. I often found that, depending on the carb type, my blood sugar would spike. Highest spikes were often due to me having a carb that had a high percentage of sugar or simple flour, I suspect (and little nutrition).
After my gestational diabetes, I tried to cut out sugar and flour from my diet. That naturally lowered my carb intake (though I certainly had fruit, had oatmeal and sprouted wheat bread). It helped me loose my pregnancy weight, but I still had some minor level of insulin resistance.
So my question is, how does one increase carbs w/o increasing blood sugar spikes? I am sure that carbs (NOT including refined sugar of course), does not affect insulin resistance, but it has been my experience w/ gestational that some carbs do in fact spike blood sugar so I am very curious as to the types of carbs you’ve recommended to the woman who has (maybe now had?) Type II diabetes. I assume properly prepared grains were part of the carb intake, but I wonder if fruit and natural sugar (in very small amounts) were allowed as well? Then there’s the magnesium deficiency thing, which you’ve spoken about in the past, and I imagine the increased carb intake is helping w/ that to some extent…
Thanks!
Candice, that very best thing you can do, is to get on high doses of fermented cod liver oil asap. Try to go through one to two bottles in the first month if you can. Then you can drop way back.
This method has reversed pre diabetes in several people I know in just a matter of weeks. They have the labwork to prove it too!
It also has stopped all issues with healing and propensity for infections in my husband, who has Type 1.
Gestational is tricky. You asked about fruit. Citrus is the one that will cause fast spikes, but apples and bananas tend to not do that.
If you find yourself playing around, trying to find the ones that will work for you now, http://www.fitday.com can really help you figure out the carb levels in the various foods you are having to figure out.
No need to go crazy, just use it as a brief tool to get an idea of where to start.
Paula, thanks for your advice. You’ve convinced me I need to take FCLO. I’ve been thinking about taking it for a while now but my budget just didn’t allow it and it still doesn’t really. Now, I think it might be worth it if I could save money, time and stress on having to manage gestational or any future diabetic concerns.
But, I assume you mean the non-pill form of FCLO when it comes to getting the bottles? I grew up around fish (my dad is an avid fisherman, though by hobby and not by trade) and I have a stomach for fishy stuff, but being pregnant I’m super sensitive to bad smells and fermented cod liver is probably going to set off my “super-spidey” pregnancy senses. I guess I could try both and see what works.
Candice -
My family and I are finishing our first bottle of the cinnamon flavored FCLO. I fully expected it to taste like “rotting fish guts” as I had read in reviews. Pure silliness. While it’s not delicious, it is not horrible to smell or taste. Honest. (Although, I did have to stop using my cinnamon flavored toothpaste… ugh. Ruined that flavor for me. – Not actual cinnamon though.
If you are a borderline prediabetic, are you saying you are borderline of borderline? It sounds like you must basically be in the normal range, so I must wonder if you are somewhat overly concerned about that. The number has dropped lower and lower, partly due to pushes from companies that market diabetic drugs. We attended a class because my husband is diabetic, and the educators there expressed this concern themselves. Everyone I know right now is either prediabetic or worried they will be. I just think it is odd.
The idea is not to avoid foods that spike blood gluose, but to not have big spikes in blood sugar when you eat those foods. For example, if you took a basic meal and saw your postmeal blood sugar go to 150mg/dl after, you would then try to work on eating that same meal but getting your glucose response to that meal down to 100 mg/dl. That would represent a genuine improvement in your glucose metabolism. I have people make this improvement routinely.
Matt- you say in this reply “The idea is not to … but to not have big spike in blood sugar when you eat those foods” and then give an example. You say the goal is to eat the same thing but end up with a different postmeal blood sugar. My question is how do you change your postmeal blood sugar if you aren’t changing what you eat? Are you saying that the more frequently we eat carbs the more our body learns to handle it and so, eventually, our blood sugar will be lower postmeal b/c we are processing it better now?
I also have the same question as Jennifer. Thanks for your response, Jennifer. And yours too, Matt.
I will have to try the cod liver oil…
Oh and to clarify the borderline pre-diabetic…. I guess I’m technically considered normal by “standards” because my A1C is just below the starting number for being pre-diabetic. That said, I don’t think I’m normal. My fastings, after pregnancy have been low 90s and I’ve gotten over 120 several times after 2 hr meals (but below 160), depending on what I eat. I know I’m developing insulin resistance or have some sign of it. From what I’ve read from Matt, these numbers, while not diabetic, are not ideal.
I’d be interested to see how to improve insulin resistance so I can eat carbs (I assume it’s complex carbs) and not spike. I cut out sugar and refined flour for from my diet for about 2 months after I was pregnant and that didn’t seem to help with insulin resistance (but then again, I wasn’t eating a good amount of complex carbs, though I didn’t restrict them).
Perhaps Mr Stone does not deign to share with us his extensive wisdom on how we poor saps can reduce our cortisol levels because this bandwagon, like the countless others he has joined and even led, will make him lotsa bux. Interested? Like the snarky tease? Buy my book! Visit my website! Pay me for a consultation! Perfectly legal, of course, (three cheers for capitalism!) but leaves a trail of off-odors in its wake.
study the work of Ray Peat, that info is free, he is also all about increasing metabolism and decreasing stress hormones. Unfortunately nutrition is not simple, and I appreciate the free advice given by Matt Stone since it takes a lot of research to get to where he is at, and I don’t think its one size fits all which where consultations come in.
Wow. 600 free articles (including this one), 150 free videos, hours of free phone, email, and social network interaction. I have written 2000 single-spaced pages per year for over a half-decade and charged nothing for 95% of it. What this sounds like is a character judgment built on knowing absolutely nothing about me and my work – complaining that I didn’t synthesize what I’ve put in those 10,000+ pages into a single article for you. Sincerest apologies.
Pfff… you don’t work hard. Reading and writing is easy. Any 1st grader can do it. You don’t have the right to make a living from it.
Haters gonna hate.
Taters gotta Po Tate
Okay this made me snort. Out loud. Lol!!!
Love Matt Stone’s work. I commend him for being brave enough to experiment so much and share his findings with everyone else…for free! Selling a few books does not mean he’s only in this to make money.
I don’t know why anyone gives bloggers a hard time about making money. Most people write a book, and then they sell it. They don’t write blogs and give away tons of free info. Nobody gives authors a hard time for trying to make money off their books. I just don’t get it.
I agree 100% Ann Marie. Matt has been kind enough to personally consult with me by email and phone, both at no charge. I don’t know why he does it though…I’d have charged me! I honestly don’t know how either of you do it. You simply share your thoughts and findings and then get gutted by every ninny that doesn’t like what you have to say. If you don’t like it, don’t read it!
Poverty mentality, jealousy, wishing they had done it first… monkeys who don’t want the other monkeys to escape from the barrel. I don’t get the Matt Stone haters either. He’s just trying to figure stuff out like the rest of us.
Char….wtf? have you ever even visited Matt’s blog or fb page? I think it’s safe to say that Matt has answered thousands of questions, including my own, FREE OF CHARGE!
It’s a FACT that Matt Stone gives and has given LOTS of information for free. His blog is packed with articles and the comments under the articles are priceless. And his books and consultations cost less than any “low-carb,” “low-fat” or “low whatever” health gooroo will charge. Really.
AND what the heck is wrong with Matt Stone charging money for the information he gives?!?! It’s HIS time and no one should expect that he give up all of his time for free. He records the information, thereby giving value and people pay him money for the value. Those who don’t believe it’s valuable, won’t pay. It seems likely that you’ll never, ever become a customer of his. It’s illogical for someone to believe that a blogger shouldn’t receive any compensation for his or her time.
I’m fascinated by what I have found at 180degreehealth and Cheeseslave. And I’m thankful that these blogs have enough guts to go against the “Health Fogma de Jour.”
Oops! “Health Dogma de Jour.”
Fogma is probably more accurate.
Word!
Char….I think you might want to check before spouting. Most of his work is free. He has devoted his life to testing these things on himself, so he knew how it affected him….he thinks critically, and knows more than most….put simply. He can be confusing at times—I think he says it all when he starts this article….”where to start?” I don’t ever feel he is trying to “catch us” and get rich. Every book I have gotten from him is frrreeeeeee. And he answers posts!!
I understand being bitter for a million reasons today, but, I think you got this one wrong, if I could be so bold. He understands the differences people ARE biologically….and he shares what he knows….so far. I appreciate all of his forays!
that comment did not post where I expected it too….sorry for the confusion
Matt, branching out into climate denial now, are we? Why do some many in the alternative health community put their tin foil hats on with this one. Look the basic mechanism was established in the late 19th-century (CO2 absorbs heat and we are manifestly releasing far more CO2). The models ALL predict warming within a range since that time (Paul Edwards, A Vast Machine, is an exhaustive treatment of this history). The overall increase in warming combines with all kinds of other weather patterns, so what you expect is what you get: a fluctuating warming pattern, which means a given year might be cooler than the year before (which the tin foil crowd calls a “cooling trend”), imposed upon an upward tendency. There are positive and negative feedbacks which mediate the extent of the warming but do not turn the warming into cooling. And we just had reports that the 2000s was the warmest decade on record, not to mention the completely unprecedented warm winter in the Midwest, for instance, which is undoubtedly partially connected to this warming trend. What’s especially odd about the dismissal of a very well-confirmed trend with a well-understood causal basis is that most of Matt’s hypotheses, as interesting as they are, have nothing going for them but some highly speculative alternative account with scattered anecdotal reports. I’m a bystander on this carb issue–I’d like to know more about which view makes the most sense and I appreciate Matt’s willingness to experiment with new ideas, but seriously let’s not overtstate the case at the same time that we start doubting the validity of all science.
Discredited nonsense. Go see “The great global warming swindle”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtevF4B4RtQ
You are welcomed.
I am not a fan of Matt Stone and I think he is just messing with people in a vulnerable state. There are lot of people who were helped with GAPS, and paleo diet .In his books he says that people should eat high quality foods but then he says on his blog that they should liberally eat all junk food like pizza, ice-cream …(ok, homemade pizza and ice-cream can be healthy, but he is not referring to those). Store bought ice-cream is full of artifical sweeteners, preservatives and I heard that they even put anti-freeze in it. People on lets say GAPS go through the detoxification which means they can loose their hair for a while, and they sometimes have some deficiencies so they should take vitamins, minerals, etc along with the diet. Maybe they have intolerances that they are not aware of but they could try NAET treatments which eliminate allergies, or they overeat on coconut or almond flour baked products, or they don’t eat enough calories . There could be million reasons why they develop these symptoms, but I am sure that sugar and junk food deficiency is not the one….Maybe people are too stressed about following a strict diet so when they stop they relax and that actualy helps them. Also when you read Matt’s posts he is always losing or gaining weight, or solving his cold hand and feet problems with pretzels, that sounds to me like taking a pill and working just on the simptom, not the cause.Maybe people who need some healing and are considering GAPS, or Paleo or LCHF should work with doctors and nutritionists that have some experience with it like dr. Cowan and not do it on their own
(p.s.I live in Croatia and english is not my language so I apologize if I made too many mistakes)
Hey, Dr. Cowan’s failures come to me all the time!
This is why I find it so difficult to answer short questions from people…. I’ve read too much, still don’t know enough, and there are too many pieces to the puzzle that nobody knows yet… Blaming any single item is always the wrong way to go though, even if it would make life simpler!
Matt Stone,
If you are open to learning, you may be interesting in hearing my constructive criticism:
You are philosophically corrupting the minds of innocent people by reinforcing that the fallacy, Appeal to Emotion, is part of a logical argument. Rather than teaching them to identify logical arguments themselves, you are presenting them with more trash than any one person should read. Not all people read independent websites to be merely entertained; some of us choose to spend our time wisely, critically engaging our rational brains in the pursuit of knowledge. Knowing, sharing knowledge, and then openly inviting all to critique your work is not what you are doing here, though you may want desperately to believe you are doing so. Innocent readers already don’t have the time to examine and appropriately interpret primary source documents. After a few clicks, they won’t have the money to buy their family farm-fresh food, either.
Potatoes are a great food; I don’t believe that ‘carbohydrate’ is an evil just by virtue of its existence. But, in order for conclusions to be formed, one has to sift evidence initially and then form the conclusion. Show us your method.
@Katie Lynn Carbaugh
Can you please point out to me where the appeal to emotion logical fallacies exist in this article? Matt is an entertaining writer, and he likes to make jokes and have fun, but I don’t see any appeal to emotion fallacies. Maybe I’m missing something?
I’d love to take on the challenge, as my support for you and the blog (and because I am a philosophy geek). One example lies here:
“Trust me, when I came across this I was so excited! And when I reduced the carbohydrates in my diet I felt awesome and got really lean without even exercising! Wow! All so simple and sitting right under our noses the whole time. I did what any weak-minded health and nutrition noob would do… I quickly started a website business and wrote a book about how cutting back on the carbs would heal everyone on earth of all health problems. Your welcome world!”
Translation: “I claim authority based on the fact: I made the same mistake you made.”
Appeal to Emotion (Favorable emotions are associated with X, Therefore, X is true) is present in the above statement because he associates his empathy and his authority. He claims his authority to be true, when ‘authority’ itself is a fallacy. In context of the entire article, this section actually demonstrates two fallacies. Another fallacy demonstrated by Matt is Appeal to Authority. That is an official (yes, capitalized) nonsensical argument as discovered by some of the greatest minds in history. Authority, in this sense, means a claim to be an expert or a claim to know. The fallacy looks like this:
“Professor X believes A, Professor X speaks from authority, therefore A is true.”
If a man claims “authority,” it cannot be implied automatically that his claims are true. By virtue of the fact that Matt made the same mistakes as other ‘low-carb’ individuals does not make him an expert. He cannot claim to know because he has “been there.” Yet, this is exactly what Mr. stone has just stated; instead of writing a romantic logical essay, he wrote something akin to a faith-based sermon.
Again, there is nothing wrong with romantic, informative writing–such a piece wouldn’t require faulty logic. However, Matt is not able to distinguish fallacies from truths because he presents his “factual” information with nonfactual statements.
I hope this helped!
@Katie Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I am also a lover of logic.
However, I don’t see that Matt was relying on an appeal to authority to make his point.
An appeal to authority, as I understand it, is when you say something to the effect of, “I’m a doctor. I say carbs don’t cause insulin resistance. Therefore, carbs don’t cause insulin resistance.” (In other words, you should automatically believe me because I am a doctor.)
Matt telling the story of how he went low carb, did better, then did got worse again, is simply laying out the facts. He’s not positioning himself as an authority. And even if he is trying to do that, he’s not using that to support his arguement. He has lots of other evidence to support his argument that carbs don’t cause insulin resistance including case studies and blood work.
I also don’t see where he is using an appeal to emotion.
This would be an appeal to emotion: “Everyone enjoys eating carbs. Carbs are delicious and you know you crave them.”
Or this: “If you don’t eat enough carbs, you will end up with diabetes and have to have your feet cut off and you may even die.”
The first example is an appeal to good emotions, but it offers nothing in the way of evidence to support the argument that carbs don’t cause insulin resistance. It’s just saying, “Hey, you know you want to. It will taste so good!” I don’t see anywhere in his post that he did that.
The second example is a scare tactic, designed to strike fear in your heart. No evidence offered, just “you’d better eat more carbs or else you will die.” I don’t see where he did anything like that either.
I almost forgot about this comment! It’s good to see you responded because I don’t mind teaching more about the practical applications of logic–it helps me lean the process better myself. Logic is not an easy topic to apply to real-world situations, so I’ll get into more detail this time.
Actually, the sentences don’t have to be structured in such a strict way to be considered fallacious. The fallacies are long and complicated and there are many, many of ways to demonstrate each one. As I said, empathy is the emotional medium used when he claims,
“I felt the same way that you did when I made the mistake of going low-carb, therefore I know.”
Of course, he is using more than one sentence when he makes this claim, so this is the simplified version. He is claiming empathy because he recognizes and understands the audience’s feelings. Empathy used in this context fits under ‘appeal to spite’ because the goal of his empathy is to create a negative feelings about the opposing party (the low-carb camp):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_spite
If you think critically, you can see that these appeal categories are ultimately very helpful but that the process of categorizing the arguments is difficult unless you think about the goal of the statements in question. It is difficult because the speaker’s language is more elaborate than the examples given with each appeal’s definition. To demonstrate, Matt associates ‘weak-minded nutrition noobs’ with the low-carb camp in attempt to discredit the camp. This is another, very obvious example of appeal to spite. However, this can also be classified as ‘appeal to pity’ because the reader may feel guilty for being associated with the ‘low carb noobs’:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_pity
It’s not so straightforward; he did not actually say the words, “Feel guilty for being a ‘noob.’” But, you will know that guilt is implied if you understand how to identify the goal of his statement. For some identification practice, try to predict the fallacies stated in these videos before they pop-up on the screen:
http://www.popupfallacies.com/
I must mention that the site appears political only because it’s political stance rests on logic. Also, I think these videos are excellent examples and tools for learning because many individuals are likely to believe what a president says because he uses several tactics: he uses advanced rhetorical language, he mixes facts with fallacies to persuade, and he claims authority (claims to know truth; claims to know what is best for you). If the speaker or writer is more advanced in the art of convincing, his sentences can dip into several philosophical categories, increasing confusion for those who have difficulty identifying the intentions of the speaker or writer.
The way Matt uses empathy qualifies as appeal to emotion, but it is coupled with (and worsened by) the fact that he claims to know because of this emotional state. He even says, “Trust me” at the beginning of the section in reference (quoted in my last comment). Feeling a certain way about low-carb dieting does not automatically mean that that feeling leads to knowing. Again, knowing is claiming authority fallaciously. Matt may believe he is an expert on the subject because he ‘used to be low carb, too’, but this circumnavigates the intellect because there are no facts involved in the change over, just feelings. Authority has nothing to do with formal education and he does not have to say the exact words, “I am an expert, so what I say is true,” in order to demonstrate the Fallacy of Authority.
Authority is claiming to know and that is all. For example, I know that I am an authority on myself because I know what is best for myself. I know that other people do not know what is best for me; nobody actually holds authority over me. People can change my emotional state , but they can’t know for me. To admit that someone may know you better than you know you is similar to saying, “Okay, I’m a slave and you can control my mind with your rhetoric and faulty arguments because, that way, I don’t have to do any thinking myself.” Believing others blindly does not increase my happiness; knowing and discovering the use of my own brain allows me to relax into a state of clarity. I slip up, of course, and let other people control me sometimes. However, I feel that the more I practice being logical and the more I give into my desire to learn and understand, the more stress I eliminate.
When a person like Matt uses poor logic, I am forced to discredit them and everything they say, even if some of their sentences are logical. It creates more room in my brain to focus on other things.
Yes, low-carb dieting has side-effects. I would appreciate it if Matt showed some responsibility by teaching us those effects rather than telling us what to think.
Love this response Katie Lynn Carbaugh, love it.
I got off the Matt Stone roller coaster.
“Another fallacy demonstrated by Matt is Appeal to Authority. That is an official (yes, capitalized) nonsensical argument as discovered by some of the greatest minds in history.”
An Appeal to Authority while trying to discredit an Appeal to Authority.
Inception.
Hmm…so there really was not anything helpful in this post. “Eat carbs! Talk to me and visit my website for more info!” I am surprised this guest post was used. Ann Marie, unfortunately you seem more interested in money and driving people to your site than actually helping people. You seem to just follow the fad or whatever gets a reaction out of others. Sad.
Every time I get a post update I think to myself, “What is Ann Marie peddling this week?”
@Jen
What is this criticism based on? I don’t get it.
If I were really just focused on money, I’d be going after advertisers like Kraft and Pepsi and selling out to the highest bidder. I’d write guest posts about how Silk soy milk is good for you and how Doritos are a health food.
I am doing better following Matt’s advice. My body temps are way up (from the 97s to 98.3-4 on average), my menstrual cycle has completely regulated, the red spots (caused by low thyroid) on my skin are fading to pink, and my sex drive is beginning to come back.
I am posting this stuff in an attempt to help others out there who have been suffering like I have. If you don’t agree with it, that’s fine.
But you might want to actually research it before you reject it out of hand. And if you are going to accuse me of being faddish or driven by money or controversy, you will need to present some evidence to back that up.
Anyone that thinks that eating HIGHER carb is a “fad” is wrong, in my opinion. It is Low carb that is a fad, and can cause success in the short term, while doing damage to the metabolism in the long term. Thank you to people like Ann Marie and Matt Stone, who are sharing their findings with others! Their information has helped me! : )
“the red spots (caused by low thyroid) on my skin are fading to pink”
Ann Marie – I have read that it is bromide toxicity (which also causes low thyroid)
http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowFulltext&ArtikelNr=51587&ProduktNr=227775
I have cherry angiomas and have been excreting bromide when I started high iodine protocol. Have you taken iodine?
bromide!! True that! It was totally unnecessary to add to flour products——in the halides we only need iodine! The others will fill iodine receptor sites, and they do damage.
Great Call!!!
Who has seen Bromide research results from reliable work and reliable reports?
great article matt! some rough comments here. ya’ll need to chill out.
I’m not bothered by the rough comments. I think anytime you put yourself out there, you are going to be questioned. I did buy Matt’s book and have been going through his website. I have been following Ann Marie and I am curious about her journey. I had already come to the conclusion that I want to start adding in more carbs before I read anything about Matt Stone.
But, I am curious to about what Jackie wrote: “I’m intrigued, but also confused, by this post. You say insulin resistance is due to cortisol levels, but you don’t address how to reduce those. You indicate carbs can help glucose levels, but don’t explain why reducing carbs brings them down in the first place, or all of the other health benefits many gain from substantially cutting carbs from our diets.”
I half buy into what he says and I’m half skeptical by what he says. Some of it makes sense, but I’d like more information.
completely understand where you’re coming from Lori! it’s good to be skeptical!
@Pennyylane and @ Matt
Okay, now that I’ve seen more posts, maybe you are right about the rough comments. We shouldn’t be attacking Matt or Ann Marie even if we disagree with them. For me, this whole thing has just helped me rethink my diet and also look at my emotional issues around food. I didn’t realize how huge my issues were surrounding diets and food are. I hate it and I hate feeling guilty for eating ice cream which I’m doing as I eat this. These to me are the bigger issues, which cause me stress and I’m assuming are upping my cortisol levels which then makes me gain weight.
I did low carb and did a fasting glucose. After doing low carb my fasting glucose went from 100 to 101.
Anyway, I’m still skeptical, but the issues Matt is making me face are more important than whether I should or shouldn’t eat carbs.
Hey Lori
Matt has helped me stop fearing food. It was a huge relief to know that some pancakes, some cheese, whatever, a cookie, would not kill me or make me gain ‘insidious’ amounts of fat overnight. His blog is full of great content, free of course and to be honest, he is a friend now. He is actually a big softie and really cares about seeing people get off the Diet Train and have a happy life.
I think Matt would agree that Coach Scott Abel has some great videos and blogs too about food obsession and dieting and how to get off the hamster wheel of restricting too much.
My two cents,
deb
Yes, Matt is a total softie. What a sweet, kind and generous soul. After getting to know him, I adore him.
Of course, that’s NOT why I published this guest post. I also think he’s really smart and he is challenging some big dietary myths.
But I just wanted to point out that if you don’t know Matt, you should get to know him before you go around saying that he is a money-grubbing salesman/charleton. That could not be further from the truth.
@Ann Marie,
I hope your response wasn’t to me. I don’t think Matt is a money-grubbing salesman/charleton. I bought his book and might get his other ones. I am skeptical, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to learn and hear new ideas!
Lori
By the way I have 4 of his books and they more or less say all the same.
@ Debbie,
Thanks, I will look into Scott Abel. I have started to read more of Matt’s website. I have break coming up soon, so I’m planning on reading a lot of different stuff! Ahhh…the freedom to spend a whole day reading different blogs! : )
I just wanted to address those who are saying that to benefit from Matt’s research you have to spend tons of money on his books and consults – that’s totally not true. I have been following Matt for over a year now and have been greatly benefited just from following his blog and reading his free e-book. On a strict WAPF diet, my body temp was in the 96/low 97 range (sometimes lower) – I am now following Matt’s advice – watching my sugar/salt/water intake and have raised my temp to a health 98.6 almost consistently. I feel better and have a much less restricted diet. Along this journey, I have had questions and Matt has been kind enough to answer those on his blog. He often helps people trouble-shoot through his blog and facebook without charging a dime. Maybe his program isn’t for you, but I am thankful to have someone like Matt doing research for me and giving me a multiplicity of suggestions to try – many of which have been a great blessing to my health! So, thanks for getting the word out, Ann Marie! :0)
agreed Keli! congrats on your success!
it’s all about experimentation. seeing what brings your body results and adjusting those things in time. no ONE thing works for everyone and no ONE thing will work forever. just have to stay open and roll with it!
I have to agree with Keli. I have only been following Matt for like a month and have had help just reading through his blog. Yes a lot of it was confusing at first, but now it makes sense. Raise your body temps, even if it means using refined products and then you can do a whole foods diet and incorporate exercise.
So many of you are putting him down just trying to make a buck, but I have seen him answer so many people’s questions personally through his blog or on his 180degreehealth.com facebook page. I have personally emailed him several questions and he quickly responded, no charge required. I have also seen him make a comment to someone his blog that if someone needed help and the money isn’t there for the consult he wouldn’t let that stop them from getting help. Very quick high strung judgements to this post. Maybe you aren’t getting enough carbs
(sorry I had to put that joke in there)
“Eating carbohydrates doesn’t raise glucose levels in the blood. Especially not on a chronic basis. I regularly help people lower their blood glucose levels by increasing the carbohydrate content of their diets.”
I beg to differ. Carbs DO raise blood sugar. Any diabetic knows that. You may be able to “get away with it” for now – if you aren’t currently diabetic – but then you’ll be diabetic and any amount of carbs will send your sugars through the roof.
“A type 2 diabetic that I’ve been communicating with recently lowered her postmeal glucose levels from 359 mg/dl to 132 mg/dl in just 3 weeks by switching from a low-carb diet to a diet with lots of starches, and plenty of tasty ice cream of course, and other important changes (like reducing her water consumption, eating a bigger breakfast, getting more sleep, etc.).”
Yes, low-carb. Exactly.
“And eating more carbs most certainly doesn’t raise baseline insulin levels. In fact, my most talked about individual case was a girl who achieved one of the most impressive drops in fasting insulin levels (from 33 IU/m to 4.7 IU/m) perhaps ever recorded without relying on temporary tricks like cutting out entire food groups or cutting calories down to starvation levels (both of which lead to rebound and a net worsening of pretty much all lab values of not just glucose and insulin, but also triglycerides, HDL, LDL, etc.).”
My husband is diabetic. With my help, we got him off insulin simply by cutting out carbs. I do agree cutting out ALL carbs can be damaging. But to say carbs don’t raise blood sugar levels is ignorant and potentially harmful to your readers. People will read this and justify their excessive carb intake, all the while getting closer to the diagnosis of diabetes.
As for cortisol, both low carb AND high carb can stress your adrenals, thus causing high cortisol. I suggest you research adrenals and you will see what I mean.
I know going against the grain can be sensational, but think of your readers and the misinformation you are giving them. They trust you, and you are inviting them to harm themselves with this talk of “high carb diets are great.”
Just to be perfectly clear, the people mentioned in this post – the type 2 and the severely insulin resistant girl both improved their condition on a HIGH-carbohydrate diet. Both were getting more than 50% of their dietary calories from carbohydrates. Do not let Lea convince you that this was low-carb in disguise. Far from it.
It looks like Lea just parsed Matt’s comment, but many low-carb fatheads do make the argument that any diet that helps people lose weight or improve their health is low-carb or lower-carb by definition, e.g. zero carb zealot Charles Washington, Stan “Heretic” who who claims that Asian people were not eating a high carb diet because white rice is only 20% carbs (by weight I guess), and others who claimed that people in Kitava did not really eat a high-carb diet because of their fiber intake. Ideological gymnastics at its finest. Just force the facts to fit your model (the procrustean bed approach), rather than adjusting your models,
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
- Arthur Schopenhauer
I like your beliefs Emily!
I am also confused. I received a sourdough starter about a month ago and went a bit gung ho baking ten loaves in three weeks and consuming them along with my husband. Even though we both exercise 4-5 times a week and eat reasonably well, we both gained seven pounds each in those few weeks. A friend of ours recommended cutting our carb intake, and I lost four pounds in less than a week.
Carbs are not only bread, but starches are carbs as well. On a low carb diet, you take out healthy starches, potatoes, brown rice, sprouted breads etc. I wonder if you ate that much in potatoes instead of bread if you would have gained so much weight Monique. Just a thought.
I hope this doesn’t sound sarcastic but it sounds to me like you gained seven pounds because you went overboard on the bread. I know, I know, homemade sourdough bread is pretty hard to resist but still… There is a world of difference between a couple of slices of bread a day and 5 loaves in three weeks (I’m assuming you shared fairly
). And I would venture to say that you could have had 2 slices of sourdough a day along with very different sources of carbs – veggies and fruits – and not had that drastic of weight gain. Moderation in all things is key.
As a side note, my understanding is that Matt is not suggesting moderation. 200-300 grams of carbs in a day I don’t think is “moderation”. He suggest a “high everything” diet I believe.
You are correct, Nicole. Matt recommends “aggressive refeeding” for a period of time to help the body heal.
I’m eating at least 200-300 grams of carbs per day and honestly, I’m probably not eating enough. It’s not easy eating more!
This can sort of be compared to the Gerson method, no? As far as the “aggressive refeeding” is concerned. I was confused but then your reply was my light bulb moment. lol
What carbs are acceptable to eat? I’m assuming not refined carbs or very sweet fruits. Or does it vary by person? thanks!
Ann Marie,
What does 200-300 grams look like? I haven’t been tracking my carbs, but I think I’m eating a lot but somehow think that in reality I’m not. Plus, I eat a lot of fruit and I know that’s different than bread. I’m also eating a lot of things with coconut flour! Yum…I’ve completely transformed your coconut flour bread.
It was probably four pounds of water you lost. Glycogen is stored with water, something like 3 grams of water to each gram of glycogen. When you cut the carbs, you deplete stored glycogen and therefore water.
Because I want to understand more, I am commenting here in order to be notified of further comments. ‘Everything’ always makes sense to me, so I am constantly reading and re-reading to try to figure out what will work for MY health. Thank you all for contributing your knowledge and understanding for others like me.
I don’t buy any of it. I’ll stick to Paleo, as it’s been great for me. If I wanted carbs I would probably find a way to justify it, but I am fine without them and my body is doing much better nowadays, as well as for my older parents. They love the lifestyle change and unlike Matt Stone don’t find our meals “boring”. I won’t attack carbs, but lets face it…the majority of high carb foods are over-processed crap with little to no nutrition and are allergenic for many. If your having sweet potatoes or a homemade bread once in a while no big deal. If it’s a emotional or addictive reason why you eat them I’m not so sure it’s a positive thing…
Matt gives away and incorperates copious amounts of 80′s nostalgia, and never asks for a dime.
woot woot for 80s nostalgia!
for the main thread: He has given me free personal advice and books too!
I’m willing to believe that carbs causing blood sugar spikes is a symptom of another problem such as cortisol. But I’ll be honest, I feel really confused. I used to eat a lot of carbs and I could feel my blood sugar bouncing around all day and it was most definitely causing problems. I lowered my carb intake to what feels healthy to me (it’s not low, just moderate). I see symptoms going away. I’m positive I am/was in the insulin resistant category. I just ate some really sweet cookie dough (pecan and walnut meal, butter and honey) and now I feel as sick as I ever did with sweets. I’m also cuddled up in bed because I am freezing. Sugar and high carb meals have always done this to me. I took my temp and it 98.7. I do have slightly impaired kidney function and I’ve been told that’s why I’m cold. Just seems there is no one-size-fits-all but I’d sure like to know what fits me!
Thanks for this post, Ann Marie and Matt. It takes guts to put yourself out there with controversial ideas. I’ve spent hours reading Matt’s posts this week and the very thoughtful comments. I appreciate your generosity in sharing what you’ve learned and your endless quest for true healing. I think you are really on to something with the HED and getting over food phobias, raising metabolism. My daughter is using WAPF diet, healing from severe rheumatoid arthritis which she likely developed from over-training endurance sports thru high school. Over the past several months I’ve read Paleo bloggers and mulled over their admonitions to avoid all grains as toxins. It just never rang true to me. Since we’ve been eating grains for 10,000 years, wouldn’t problems with grain consumption turned up sooner, like maybe 9,900 years ago?
I wonder if lots of health problems stem from antibiotics and steroids used, prescribed for every earache, cough, sore throat, sniffle, etc. Killed off beneficials and now can’t digest anything properly. Matt’s Eat The Food concept would provide the substrate to re-establish microbiome. Food restrictions a la Paleo or GAPS would maybe make you feel better for awhile avoiding allergenic triggers but over long term would starve out beneficial organisms as well.
@Charlene
Thanks. Yes, it does take guts, I guess, because people really like to attack you personally when you challenge their beliefs. It is not easy being honest and sharing what you have gone through. I am hoping others out there will be helped from what Matt and I are sharing.
“I wonder if lots of health problems stem from antibiotics and steroids used, prescribed for every earache, cough, sore throat, sniffle, etc.”
So absolutely true! I never blamed grains for my health problems (I was arthritic and suffering from multiple allergies and chronic fatigue by the time I was 24). I always blamed the antibiotics.
lisa, i’m with you! too many sweets or carbs in general make my blood sugar extremely erratic, and my hunger out of control. i’ve been doing low carb for a little over a month now and my appetite is finally getting under control. personally i think we’re all different and there is no one size fits all approach. i also think age has a lot to do with it-i was a vegetarian in my 20’3-30′s and ate tons of carbs but never had blood sugar problems or weight issues. now in my 50′s i’m realizing i don’t tolerate carbs the way i used to.
i gained a lot of weight going through menopause, eating a moderate to high carb diet (no junk food, not too much processed food, but lots of potatoes, whole grains, fruit etc). i also developed adrenal fatigue and low thyroid. so for me eating high carb is certainly not the answer!
You don’t think that all of these bad symptoms that occur after a while on low-carb are the result of the body spitting out all the gunk that we’ve been inhaling our entire lives? I subscribe to the belief that when we lower our carbs our body has the chance to start doing some cleaning— no pain, no gain. We seek instant gratification as we do with everything… I worry that we are just not waiting long enough (a month for every year we’ve been unhealthy?) I think that when you raise your carbs, that ends the cleaning process(and the symptoms) and causes your body to again focus on the over-indulgence of carbs. You are superficially healthy, but deep down dirty. Who knows really… but I cured my insulin resistance with a VERY low carb diet, so there’s something to it…at least for some of us.
@ Julie I have been relatively low carb since mid 2007. That’s almost 5 years.
I recognize that most of my problems with my hormones were probably caused by years of not eating a nutrient dense diet (think skipping breakfast most days, drinking tons of coffee and Diet Cokes, and eating 1-2 meals per day) and then having a baby. Not to mention overwork and lack of sleep and relaxation. After my daughter was born, I started having problems with my adrenals and thyroid.
Doing low carb (which I started in 2007) has not helped me. In fact, it has made me worse. Only since I increased the carbs (up to around 300 grams per day) have I started to feel better and my symptoms have begun to dissipate.
I do not believe we are “deep down dirty”. I believe that our bodies naturally are healthy and our instincts will guide us to health. We just need to remove the obstacles to health. Like restrictive diets and puritanical exercise programs and excessive work and other forms of punishment.
I say listen to your instincts. And be open to doing things differently. That’s what I’m doing and it is working for me.
It kinda scares me when people think that long periods of feeling like crap is “detox”. If you feel miserable for a long time, your body is telling you that something is wrong! It is probably not detox if it lasts for a long time. Especially if the symptoms mimic a slowing of metabolism—cold hands and feet, low body temp, thinning hair, dry/itchy skin, ect.
Well, firstly.. I do have lab results showing high toxicity with mold toxins from stachybotrys so.. maybe some of us are pretty toxic? Not sure I dumped it all in that I dumped it all in that one urine sample.
I’ve been tempted by paleo and low carbs, told low carb for my daughter who is seemingly loaded with fungal markers on her OAT test and this is validated with a scope.But the PHD caught my eye and is leading me to ask questions. I also just downloaded one of Matt’s e-books.
The Jaminet’s seemingly are upping the upper carb limit to 800 carb calories which I think is 200 grams per 2000 calorie diet. As I get it, different conditions in body might require different carbs (200-800 carb calories, 10-40%) at different times. I don’t see a variance with time of day from my readings but makes sense to me.
I appreciate your sharing your experience with low carb, cheeseslave. It will be interesting to read the e-book and think about this more. I am curious about gluten sensitivity from this point of view and the importance one way or another of lectins, PUFA and fiber. Are you adding in “empty” sugars (glucose and fructose?.. not sure the role of the latter) sources or are you still focusing on high nutritional content? I have not been reading your blog. Was lead here by a friend.
Thank you for putting yourself out there!
also wondering about phytates.. just skimmed Diet Recovery by Matt and didnt cathc if he mentiones lectins or phytates. I’m not WP educated… this sounds to me like WP with a twist of the Perfect Health Diet (Jaminet’s). The Jaminet’s also quesion too much Omega 3s (they also question too much vitamin A) but only incude what they consider “safe starches” for the carbs and give a carb range of 10-40% depending on the individual. Similar thoughts on butyrate though leaning less towards fiber as a source but also acknowleding that carb fibers are actually benefical fats once the bacteria in the gut ferment them. I am remembering an article in some science magazine? about bacteria in gut governing what we can eat I think by culture and made me wonder if it was the foods the cultures ate that determined the bacteria.
I have an autistic daughter who also has Down Syndrome. Our kids are very susceptible to yeast toxicity and also have issues with gluten. If your child has yeast, feeding it with carbs for the time being is not a good idea. There are diets like GAPS, SCD, Body Ecology, things like that to help clear the yeast. And of course adding in good quality probiotics. We will be starting GAPS ourselves in a few weeks. It is temporary but necessary. Then if you can get yeast under control and add in grains, then great. But with yeast overgrowth, eating grains is not a good idea as yeast feeds on these sugars. Talk with your doctor and work together on this. Meanwhile remember, paleo and GAPS or SCD do NOT have to be low carb. You just need to remove (temporarily) CERTAIN carbs (SCD diet means Specific Carbohydrate Diet.)
So Paula Deen’s diabetes really WAS caused by butter!!!
I’d be curious to hear Matt’s take on it but I doubt he would say it’s the butter. I’m guessing he would say that her diabetes was caused high cortisol. Who knows what is causing that for her. Could be a grueling work schedule, excessive stress, lack of sleep, lack of nutrient-dense foods (she probably eats a ton of white flour, refined sugar and vegetable oils — all empty calories), etc.
I would have said the same thing, Ann Marie. I doubt it was the butter (though I’m sure she never used grass fed stuff). When I tell people I use butter in and on everything, they think I’m following the words of Paula Deen. But I seem to think that all the sugar and refined flour she uses in her recipes and certain has consumed over that is what has lead to the diabetes (as Ann Marie suggests) and those things I know Matt says to avoid if you want to recover from insulin resistance.
BTW, I saw a recent video of her where she was trying to show a new recipe modified for a diabetic lifestyle, and, sure enough it was modified to cut fat but the recipe still called for flour!!! *Roll eyes*
It read my response as HTML, so we’ll try it this way:
**end sarcasm
Her diet included a lot of refined white sugar. Her recipe for sweet tea includes a a quarter cup per quart and she supposedly drank it with every meal before her diagnosis.
But it’s possible that the diabetes wasn’t her fault. Maybe she was exposed to pesticides as a kid or while in utero. Or something else. I mean, there are so many things that can make a person sick and we shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that all sick people have done something lifestyle-wise to cause their illness.
As I mentioned ^^ Note the sarcasm.
Wow that is a lot of sugar!
I found this video to be extremely interesting and fact-filled and it just might answer that simplicity problem. Note: the video by Hungryforchange.tv is free until March 31st. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/03/24/hungry-for-change.aspx?e_cid=20120324_DNL_art_1 It mentions how one culture, Eskimos, can eat a perponderance of meat and fat (raw?) and little in the way of veggies and another culture can eat the opposite yet they both are relatively disease free. This video makes our American diet problem seem clear, foods vs non-foods. So I would say if the food you are considering eating is closer to the “God made it” side of the spectrum whether carbs, proteins or fats and your choices make you feel good and healthy, then you can hardly go wrong.
Interesting — thanks! I am watching it now.
I just watched a very interesting video from Hungryforchange.tv about the hidden ingredients in foods. At the same time I thought it a compelling and motivating movie especially as a couple of the people speaking had been obese and lost the pounds they needed to look great and a couple others had been stricken by cancer but, they too, look great. The video is free to watch until March 31st. I think it addresses well the problem us Americans are having with our diet namely, foods vs non-foods
Sorry, I didn’t realize I had posted twice. I thought the first one didn’t go through but I’m glad it did because in the second one I forgot the link.
I’m disappointed. Not so much in this article, but in CHEESESLAVE. I’ve been following her posts for a while. They’ve usually been well researched, with good advice. It seems now that she’s decided carbs are ok, all judgement and reason is out the window. For the record, I think some carbs are ok, it doesn’t contradict WAPF. As long as it’s nutritionally dense. Not starch though (which Matt advocates).
This article is a huge waste of space. Half of it is filled with emotional fluff to ‘connect’ to the audience, with about 10% of anything of any interest at all. I’m suprised it wasn’t vetted by CHEESESLAVE. Seriously, this kind of article might work for the sheeple, but we’re a bit more educated here.
Regarding Matt, it seems he never did the Paleo diet properly, and he’s starting to look all puffy from all his high-carb allergies. Hey, good luck with that diet Matt. Simple googling reveals much of what I needed to know about Matt.
http://freetheanimal.com/2010/03/poor-poor-matt-stone.html
Just google ‘Matt Stone carbohydrates’ (to avoid South Park references).
Just to re-iterate, I’m not against carbs. Big plate of veggies is good for you. Breads and processed starch? That’s some bad crap, which Matt advocates, even eating ice cream. Wow.
@Alex
Puffy? Really? Have you seen him lately? I had dinner with him in January and I took a photo:
So NOT puffy!
“It seems now that she’s decided carbs are ok, all judgement and reason is out the window. For the record, I think some carbs are ok, it doesn’t contradict WAPF. As long as it’s nutritionally dense. Not starch though (which Matt advocates).”
WAPF is pro-protein, pro-fat AND pro-carbs. Nowhere in the literature does it say that “carbs are bad” or that we should reduce carbs for health.
Dr. Weston Price went around the world and studied folks who ate ALL kinds of diets. From the Eskimos and Native Americans who ate low-carb diets of mostly animal fat and meat, to the Swiss and Scottish people who ate 50% of their diet as either oats or wheat. That’s a lot of starch.
“Breads and processed starch? That’s some bad crap, which Matt advocates, even eating ice cream.”
Again, the Swiss villagers ate about 50% of their diet in the form of bread. The athletes ate bowls of cream. How is this different from ice cream, other than the added egg yolks and sweetener? I make my ice cream with maple syrup or honey, which the WAPF also advocates.
People are saying that I “flip flop”. This is simply not true. I have never claimed to be Paleo. I have always aligned with the teachings of Dr. Weston Price. I have not veered from that one iota.
By the way, Matt addresses his getting “puffy” in this quote from him on Youtube:
“I got fatter after a summer of wrecking my metabolism doing a lot of endurance exercise in 2009, capped by a vegan diet experiment. The fat I gained took place in a very short period of time as my body temperature went from 96.2 back to 98F. I have the same amount of fat now as I did then. My body fat levels have been stable for 3 years, with brief dips in body fat depending on what I’m doing.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpViCAalhV8&feature=youtu.be
I was there and I certify that this is the Real Matt Stone in the flesh. Not puffy and a hell of a Wii Dancer.
Amen to this Anne Marie. I often have heated debates with educated people very deeply in the WAPF teachings (and so am I) that nevertheless cannot see that 90% of the cultures WAP studied were HIGH STARCH first and foremost! They all say that they were high fat, not true, not what WAP described! Even Sally Fallon Morell buys it unfortunately (and she is a friend) when she recommends to reverse the USDA food pyramid too put fats intake first and carbs in the low category. WAPF folks also buy the insulin resistance – Dr Cowan certainly does and some of their article clearly emphasize dripping any portion of carbs in 27kgs of butter minimum (sarcasm) to avoid blood sugar spike and insulin resistance. So it seems that even the best hearted people can buy something less than proven…and not part of WAP teachings. WAPF and WAP somehow differ on some points.
)/
That being said I will be at the conference this year and hope to meet you in the flesh (with some foie gras maybe
@Laurent, where exactly are you getting this information from? ” 90% of the cultures WAP studied were HIGH STARCH first and foremost!” That’s definitely not from WAPF. If it is, provide a link.
http://www.westonaprice.org/basics/characteristics-of-traditional-diets
“Total fat content of traditional diets varies from 30% to 80% but only about 4% of calories come from polyunsaturated oils naturally occurring in grains, pulses, nuts, fish, animal fats and vegetables. The balance of fat calories is in the form of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. ”
The WAPF folks ‘buy into’ the insulin resistance because there’s something to buy into. When you replace sugar with fat in your diet (and by fat, I mean raw, healthy fat, such as organic raw virgin coconut oil). The body will use that in it’s krebs cycle instead of burning glucose. Glucose not only spikes insulin, but feeds cancer cells. Fat burns as ketones, reversing Alzhiemers and insulin resistance.
As far as WAPF and starch, you also forget about the ‘high nutrient density’. Personally, I can only eat a small handful of wild rice, because it’s very filling. Therefore, there’s no way to be on a ‘high starch’ diet and be eating a WAPF diet.
@Alex I don’t get this information from WAPF but from the work of WAP. If you read Nutrition and Physical degeneration you will see that every culture describe by Price, except for the Inuits and Massais, based their meals on starch plus protein and animal fat. Oats for the Scottish, rye for the Swiss, taro in pacific islands, fermented sorgho, cassava or teff in Africa. Every single one of them. They were complete carbs, cautiously prepared, but carbs nevertheless, full of starch. If you have a knowledge of human history you will see that every civilization has been developed around some kind of starchy carb: rice on the Asian continent, cassava in Africa, potatoes and corn in South America. Price describe the carbs they eat. Sure they eat them with good fats. But pretending that these cultures have been built on FAT first and foremost is a denial.
@Laurent
This could be a whole blog post.
Here are a couple examples of quotes from the different chapters of Dr. Price’s Nutrition & Physical Degeneration:
Peru (Chapter 13) –
“Over twenty of our common plants had their origin in ancient Peru. In the high Sierras, their animal foods were largely limited to the llama, alpaca and wild animals. Each household, however, maintained a colony of guinea pigs. Owing to the difficulty of boiling in the high altitudes, they found it necessary to roast their cereals and meats. Their vegetable foods included potatoes, which were preserved in powder form by freezing and drying and pulverizing. Corn and several varieties of beans and quinoa were their principal cereals. The latter is a small seed of very high nutritive value.”
Peruvian Indians (Chapter 14) –
“The native foods of these Amazon Jungle Indians included the liberal use of fish which are very abundant in both the Amazon and its branches, particularly in the foothill streams; animal life from the forest and thickets; bird life, including many water fowl and their eggs; plants and fruits. They use very large quantities of yucca which is a starchy root quite similar to our potato in chemical content. This is not the yucca of North America.”
And, unrelated to carbs, here’s an interesting quote as well from the Melanesian chapter:
“At the season of migration, large numbers of the crabs are captured for food. These crabs rob the coconut trees of fruit. They climb the trees during the darkness and return to the ground before the dawn. They cut off the coconuts and allow them to drop to the ground. When the natives hear coconuts dropping in the night they put a girdle of grass around the tree fifteen or twenty feet from the ground, and when the crabs back down and touch the grass they think that they are down on the ground, let go their hold and are stunned by the fall. The natives then collect the crabs and put them in a pen where they are fed on shredded coconut. In two weeks’ time the crabs are so fat that they burst their shells. They are then very delicious eating.”
Not so different from foie gras!
@Laurent,
Your conclusions are incorrect. Suffice it to say, those cultures were based around starches from necessity rather then health. http://www.westonaprice.org/thumbs-up-reviews/nutrition-and-physical-degeneration
Whenever a culture had access to alternative meat/fish sources, they preferred it over starch based sources. It’s right there in the review if you put some thought into what you’re reading.
Here’s a link to an image of an old Eastern European woman on a mostly starch diet (potato): http://bit.ly/GSmfQW
(Taken from http://dablogfodder.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html )
I’m quite familiar with how my ancestors looked like because of their diet. You can enjoy that same look with a high starch/carb diet in your old age.
@Anne Marie
The quotes from Price are abundant about starchy food. Always consumed with rich animal products, but starchy nevertheless. Besides our civilizations have been based on starch: Europe is a wheat civilization, Asia a rice one, South america a corn one. Without the mastering of cultivation of grains we would not even be having this talk today, most likely
@Alex
The “puffy” look, ironically enough, is exactly the look induced by a lack of carbs that creates hypothyroidsim as you can see here.
http://180degreehealth.com/2011/06/hypothyroid-face
So you can probably enjoy this look yourself in your old age by limiting carbs – personally since I eat a lot of starch, like most Asian, I have never been so lean…
And sure, a few billion of people must have mastered the art of cultivating rice, which is one of the most demanding and complicated culture, because these poor guys were forced to do so and couldn’t easily access coconut or pig fat in Asia. So they were forced to make rice their staple food; not because they saw it was a more efficient fuel to their body. Make total sense. I guess everyone understand what they want to understand from the work of Price…So let’s agree to disagree. I have been in this game long enough and studied enough to come to my own conclusion, but I am grateful for your ideas nevertheless.
@Alex
You could say the same thing about hunter gatherers relying on mostly meat, fish and fat. They eat what they eat because that is what they have access to. If they suddenly had access to beehives loaded with honey and tons of taro or potatoes growing in the wild, do you think they would “prefer” meat which is harder to obtain to the starches that are right there, easily accessible (just reach out and grab them)? I doubt it!
Your photo of the old Eastern European woman is misleading. How do we know what she is eating in addition to potatoes? Also, maybe she had 10 children and her hormones are shot to hell. (Most likely that is the case.)
This is part of a letter written by Dr. Price himself to his nieces and nephews…..sounds to me like protein is relatively low and fairy high carb.
The basic foods should be the entire grains such as whole wheat, rye or oats, whole wheat and rye breads, wheat and oat cereals, oat-cake, dairy products, including milk and cheese, which should be used liberally, and marine foods. All marine or sea foods, both fresh and salt water, are high in minerals and constitute one of the very best foods you could eat. Canned fish such as sardines, tuna or salmon are all excellent; also the fresh seafood such as oysters, halibut, haddock, etc. The protein requirement can be provided each day in one egg or a piece of meat equivalent to the bulk of one egg a day. The meals can be amply modified and varied with vegetables, raw and cooked, the best of the cooked vegetables being lentils used as a soup. The cooked vegetables are cauliflower, brussels sprouts, asparagus tips and celery. Lettuce is the best of the raw vegetables.
Thanks, Kari,
This is of particular interest: “The protein requirement can be provided each day in one egg or a piece of meat equivalent to the bulk of one egg a day.”
I had read that before but I’m glad for the reminder.
Well from the horse mouth so to speak! Brilliant! As I’ve stated before, there is a small gap between the message of WAP and WAPF – slightly different on several points – but they do an amazing work anyway. Just go back to WAP books when in doubt…
Having trouble buying into this argument of high-carbohydrate diet being beneficial to anyone, much less those with type II diabetes. First of all carbs are not created equal. Sweet potatoes and ice cream are both high carb but will have completely different affects upon the body. Besides the fact that high-sugar carbs are typically lacking in nutritional value and should probably be avoided.
We know, scientifically, that carbohydrates convert to sugar in the body and trigger an insulin response. We also know that continuous high levels of insulin will eventually result in insulin resistance. So…. are you saying that all that’s a fallacy? That carbohydrates DON’T convert to sugar in the body? If so, please point to the research, because everything I’ve read says otherwise.
@Cathy F
“Besides the fact that high-sugar carbs are typically lacking in nutritional value and should probably be avoided.”
I agree with you that high-sugar carbs like Oreos or Coca Cola should be avoided, as they are lacking in nutritional value. However, sweet potatoes with lots of butter, and ice cream (particularly homemade ice cream made from grass-fed cream with maple syrup) are extremely nutrient dense.
“The athletes ate bowls of cream. How is this different from ice cream, other than the added egg yolks and sweetener.” Ann Marie, you answered your own question with your next sentence, “I make my ice cream with maple syrup or honey…”. I’m sorry, but no one is going to convince me that adding syrup and/or honey is just as healthy as bowls of plain cream. People need to know and remember that sugar is sugar is sugar. Even so-called “natural” forms have the potential to do damage.
If you read Nourishing Traditions, Sally says that all traditional cultures ate unrefined sweeteners. This is based on what Dr. Price found in his travels.
If you prefer, eat bowls of plain cream.
Re: “sugar is sugar”. That phrase is also one of the oversimplifications Ann Marie is talking about.
Read this: http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2012/02/is-sugar-fattening.html
Should be: “That phrase is also one of the oversimplifications Matt is talking about.” Just saw that this is a guest post.
This is a continuation of a long list of “diets” AnnMarie has recommended. Low carb, the mood cure, 4 hour body diet, gaps (which she did for what a whole week?), kettle ball challenge (was it a grand total of 3 while workouts?), & now more carbs. So confusing. Although sticking with the higher carb diet seems to be more lasting. I suspect because eating waffles, ice cream & nachos is a whole lot more fun than working out with kettle balls….
@Rebecca,
It’s cool that she’s sharing her journey with us. I love how human she is. How many of us have started a new exercise routine only to end it 3 days later, let alone a new diet. It’s interesting to see her progression, and it’s freeing–her example reminds us all that we are human and that we make mistakes or try things that don’t work for us. She allows us to be voyeurs! And through it, we get to think about what is important for us and what isn’t, what works diet wise for us and what doesn’t. I’m glad I started following her blog. It’s opened my eyes up, and no, I’m not a complete Matt Stone follower although as I wrote above, he has gotten me thinking, and isn’t what this is all about?
@Rebecca
It’s kettle bells, not balls.
I was not able to complete the kettlebell challenge because I got sick from overwork.
I did GAPS for a few months, and I did not do it for longer than that because I did not need to heal my gut. I was doing it to support my husband. I healed my gut 15 years ago on a similar diet. (GAPS did not exist back then.)
I have tried different diets in an effort to try to find something that would help me. Can you really blame me for that?
If you want to judge me, go ahead. That is your prerogative.
But consider this: even though you may think you know me because I share a lot about my life online, you know very little about why I do or don’t do things.
You said BALLS Ann Marie!
Hahaha! That is so Beavis and Butthead.
I am the great cornholio!
I appreciate your humanness, too, Ann Marie. Love that you are willing to change your diet when it doesn’t work and admit when you made a dietary “mistake.” I’ve never seen you veer from WAPF, I don’t understand why people are whining about that.
I can see that you follow Matt advice by consuming high quality homemade carb foods, and that’s great. But on his site he doesn’t say that. He recommends people to eat junk food. I really can’t understand that. And would you heal from reumatoid artiritis if you didn’t take gluten out of your diet? What about all the people that suffer from candida, gastritis, gallbladder stones, ulcers,reflux, IBS,allergies and intolerances, would you suggest to them to go high carb? I think the problem with this article that it presents that going high carb is a solution to every problem.
Matt recommends junk food if you need it — short term — to jump start your metabolism. In part (as I understand it) a lesser of 2 evils. And in part, to get over food-phobia — which is a worthy goal in and of itself.
@Sanja, my candida got WAY better when I went high carb. At first, it got worse, then, because I was feeding my good gut bacteria with starches, they started kicking candida’s butt!
Google “resistant starch”. There is a lot of interesting information online about how resistant starches undigested in our digestive tract feeds the good bacteria and helps to heal the gut lining.
Matt, what do you think of the work of Dr. Joanna Budwig and Brian Peskin? They are big into highly unsaturated fats that oxygenize the body. Peskin believes that most of us are deficient of unadulterated omega 6 fatty acids which I know you think are evil. Have you done any research on this?
I suspect it’s the sanctimonious attitudes more than the actual principles involved that so many folks find annoying. Stone often likes to make proclamations about his beliefs, and submit anecdotes to back them up, then treat those who disagree with him or have had opposite results with contempt. Everyone who has a low basal body temp is not on a low carb diet, or helped by increasing carbs, but this blog has been making statements to that effect a lot lately. A bit of humility goes a long way in getting people involved in a discussion, rather than sounding like a great benefactor of wisdom.
@Char
Perhaps.
Or perhaps it is the fact that Matt is challenging deeply-held beliefs.
How about we take the emotion out of it and just take a hard look at what he is saying? Logic is based on studying the evidence first.
@Cheeseslave
I don’t think that this is a challenge to ‘deeply held beliefs’. It’s more of a knee-jerk reaction to hearing BS. Sorry, the ‘deeply held belief’ is the mainstream. We’re far beyond that. Most of the people who follow your blog (myself included) have been doing so because we found a dietary ‘kinship’ if you will. A common understanding.
Now, it’s like seeing a good friend entering into a self-destructive relationship. As others have pointed out, Matt doesn’t differentiate carbs. A bag of chips, a pizza, generic wall-mart ice-cream, it’s all good in Matt’s world. If he’s telling you something different, that’s because he’s tailoring it for you. That’s not apparently what he tells others; which is only getting more people steamed.
@Sanja above made some very valid points. Also, if you ate the way Matt advises everyone to eat, yeah, you might be ok for 6mo’s. That’s because you’ve been eating healthy for much longer. Your body can fight off the bad stuff for longer.
Unlike most of the Paleo people, I make a distinction on different types of sugar, and don’t think it’s that terrible. But, I also believe in sequential eating, and groupings of food. I think anyone doing WAPF should get acquainted with this topic: http://www.drbass.com/sequential.html
So essentially, what’s happening when you go ‘all carbs’, or ‘all meat’, is that you’re doing an extreme form of sequential eating. You’ll be ok for a while.. then not.
Your adrenals could have been fixed just as well with lots of coconut oil, as they were with carbs. Except that long term, high amounts of carbs (at least the kinds that Matt suggests) will again damage your adrenals.
It’s like living under high-tension power cables. Just a bit stimulates your immune system, live under them a long time and you get an auto-immune disorder.
Remember that yes, the WAPF diet has carbs, but nutrionally dense carbs are not something you can physically eat a lot of. So people who’re saying it’s ‘high carb’ have never actually eaten nutritionally dense carbs, like wild grown rice, oats, etc. I have, and there’s no way you can go ‘high carb’ on those. They fill you up with minimum amounts.
@Alex
“A bag of chips, a pizza, generic wall-mart ice-cream, it’s all good in Matt’s world.”
Actually he refers to that kind of stuff as “junk food”. Here is a quote from him on his most recent post on his blog:
By junk food I mean basic, standard, yummy stuff. Breakfast classics like french toast, waffles, pancakes, and pastries. Snacks like chips and cheese and crackers. Lunch bombs like cheeseburgers and fries or pizza. Dinners like pot pie, pasta, or what have you. Drinks like bubbly soda, lemonade, chocolate milk. And rich desserts like ice cream, cheesecake, cookies, and pie. This is what I’m talking about when I say “junk foods.” What I should really say is, “the yummiest stuff.”
http://180degreehealth.com/2012/03/when-is-junk-food-healthy
He makes the point that this high-caloric, super-palatable “junk food” raises metabolism in the short term and can be particularly helpful for people who suffer from eating disorders or who are orthorexic. Those of us who have become obsessed with eating healthy (orthorexic) or who have spent a long time avoiding and restricting certain foods and food groups (due to dieting or trying to eat “healthy”) are often malnourished and need a big boost of carbs and calories.
If you’ve ever gone out to dinner with WAPFers, you’ll see what I mean. They won’t touch the bread or pasta because it’s white flour, the butter is not grass-fed, won’t order the fish because it’s factory-raised, and forget about anything with PUFAs! I know a lot of WAPFers who won’t even eat out. This is crazy. I’ve eaten out with Sally Fallon Morell before — we had French fries cooked in soybean oil and we really enjoyed them.
Paleo folks and vegans are just as bad. Vegans are super restricted, especially low-fat vegans. Low-carb paleos are the other end of the spectrum. I heard a low-carb paleo lady speaking recently about how to navigate cocktail parties and not to give in to the peer pressure from people trying to offer you cheese.
“Your adrenals could have been fixed just as well with lots of coconut oil, as they were with carbs. Except that long term, high amounts of carbs (at least the kinds that Matt suggests) will again damage your adrenals.”
I’d like to see your evidence for that statement. And Matt is NOT recommending overeating and megadosing on the carbs for extended periods of time. It’s a jump start.
“Remember that yes, the WAPF diet has carbs, but nutrionally dense carbs are not something you can physically eat a lot of. So people who’re saying it’s ‘high carb’ have never actually eaten nutritionally dense carbs, like wild grown rice, oats, etc. I have, and there’s no way you can go ‘high carb’ on those. They fill you up with minimum amounts.”
I’m eating lots of carbs (200-300 grams per day or more) and they are primarily nutritionally dense carbs — soaked/sprouted/sourdough whole grains.
This whole thing of lumping carbs into one bucket is absolutely ridiculous. And this flat out generalized statement that carbs do not cause insulin resistance is contradicting the original assertion that things are more complex. First I’d like why you stopped short with a full explanation of the cortisol factor?
The liver is also implicated in insulin resistance. But you’ve left that out of the equation. You also leave out the myriad of issues related to carbs that can elevate cortisol levels
Fatty Liver is linked to insulin resistance. High cortisol levels promote a fatty liver with the consumption of REFINED CARBOHYDRATES. What causes the high cortisol levels?
“Perhaps the greatest challenge to getting cortisol output under control is appreciating the factors that cause it to elevate in the first place. The most appreciated is psychosocial stress, but it is not the most common.
The two most common factors in ongoing cortisol elevations are high refined carbohydrate consumption and food sensitivities/allergies. Refined carbohydrates cause an excessively fast rise in blood sugar after eating. This is met with an excessively high insulin response which tends to eventually drive blood sugar levels down aggressively causing “overshooting” or an actual period of low blood sugar. This causes cortisol output to block the further action of insulin and raise blood sugar levels. Unfortunately, the cortisol will remain elevated through the next eating cycle blocking insulin action so that much of those carbs can only be converted to fat.
With time, the adrenal gland becomes overactive causing ongoing cortisol elevations. Once this occurs the factors chronically elevating cortisol levels is just the behavior of the adrenal glands themselves independent of continued stimulus.
Quite simply, humans were not designed to consume refined carbohydrates. The first step in adrenal cortisol regulation is to cut out the refined carbs. Next week, I will discuss the symptoms associated with adrenal gland imbalance and when to suspect this is the problem.”
Quoted from: http://www.thinkingaboutnutrition.com/2011/01/does-everything-you-eat-seem-to-turn-to-fat-part-1/
So with REFINED carbohydrates (emphasis on refined) being one cause, we also have allergies and sensitivities. So common allergies/sensitivities including wheat and corn, gluten intolerance, celiac, improperly prepared grains all cause or can cause an inflammatory response and raise cortisol.
What about dysbiosis, what about Candida? These things like to feed on certain carbs which lead to inflammation, which lead to cortisol rise.
So once again this is being turned into a very black and white issue, not taking into account specifics or the individual. This article does nothing to bring people together in a fashion that is allowing for each person to glean insight for their individual situation. Plus, AGAIN, the generalization of carbohydrates and lumping them into one big box is ignorant and misleading.
I got my carbs today, it just happened to not be via my celiac inducing wheat, my allergy inducing corn, or joint inflaming rice.
Exactly. Matt’s article seems very dumbed down and on the same category as the ‘all fat’s are bad’, generalization. I don’t know if it’s simply to mislead, sensationalism or what.
It’s pretty obvious that a plate of salad is not the same as a bag of pringles. Yet, the article makes no distinction.
The issue is definitely complex, and generalizations don’t help anyone.
I decided not to base my sole opinion of Matt Stone on this poor excuse of an article. I’ve dug around his website for clues. Matt’s diet it seems, is not just High Carbs, it’s Fat, and high-glycemic carbs. This is very different from what this article is saying. I agree with Matt regarding sun exposure, so I figured he might have something interesting…
Let’s delve in…
http://180degreehealth.com/2011/10/180-degree-diabetes-ebook
“…I reveal how I dropped my fasting blood sugar by 26% in less than a month by eating a diet that’s high in saturated fat, high-glycemic carbohydrates, and calories while sitting in front of a computer writing this eBook in lieu of exercise”
So, drink organic virgin coconut oil, and eat nutrient dense carbs (wild rice, oats, etc.). Will this work? Definitely, the body will utilize the fats for immediate energy needs, utilizing the sugars slowly over time.
Is this different from WAPF? Not really:
http://www.westonaprice.org/basics/characteristics-of-traditional-diets
“..Total fat content of traditional diets varies from 30% to 80% but only about 4% of calories come from polyunsaturated oils naturally occurring in grains, pulses, nuts, fish, animal fats and vegetables. The balance of fat calories is in the form of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. ”
Diabetes is caused by refined oils and sugars. Hence, replace them, and you’ve got a cure: http://www.naturalnews.com/025388_oil_coconut.html
So, I’m not quite sure why Matt makes no mention of FAT in this article. It seems carbs play a minor role….
Besides the climate-change denial, which I find disturbing, the one-size-fits-all approach seems oversimplistic at best. I come from a family with a strong history of diabetes. I even learned that my insulin is running high, even with normal blood sugar levels. I have a candida problem, so I can’t just refeed myself with grains. I also learned that my thyroid is again at a poor level, probably due to low ferritin; my cold body temps are from tha! I fail to see how gorging on carbs would help, as I ate tons of carbs at the beginning of my health issues. And also, grains are not the only carbs! People are getting confused here, Ann Marie.
Matt says nothing about denying “climate change”, he’s referring to the “manmade” part. The “manmade” version is what is in question given the falsified statistics and other highly plausible earthly, atmospheric, solar and cosmic influences on the earth ,plus the shifty dealings and grand agendas propped up upon this one highly debatable premise. Obviously our polluting the earth is a detriment to our survival and health of the planet. But to stick with the “earth is heating up and co2 is the cause” line is being ignorant to all the fraud, falsified data and valid data that has come to light since the debate began. Any body who thinks that the crap we spew into the air, our energy methods etc. are all fine a dandy have their head in the “wrong place”. But to go in lock step with one side of the story is a denial in itself. There are many other truly detrimental manmade ecological and human threats that are beyond out of control that political poster boy is making a federal or global case over. Matt is referring to being stuck on the simplistic argument of co2 caused “climate change” as opposed to looking at the full complex picture that includes the multitude of factual components that make up the “climate change” arena, which sadly include government agendas.
Correction: “NO political poster boy”. Kind of an important point. Where’s all the concern for our water and air from other pollutants like mercury, fertilizers, radioactive waste, and so on and so forth?
Lily,
Seriously, what are you talking about? The anthropogenic climate change is not in question at all. What fraud? The climategate scandal? Some scientists didn’t like the ignorant attacks on them, and said so in private emails and plotted ways to thwart their political attackers and so now it’s fraud? The hockey stick graph, for which the statistical methodology behind it was criticized (a normal point of scientific debate) and reanalyzed with the same conclusions? Seriously, if you would look into all the different steps that have gone into collecting and analyzing climate data, and all the different parties to this effort, and believe that it was done fraudulently (for what purpose? any scientist would receive more credit for exposing rather than supporting an accepted view), then this is more absurd a conspiracy theory than the moon landings being faked.
CO2 is manifestly a cause of warming–you can show it in the laboratory with an infrared camera. A couple critics have proposed unsupportable views like solar activity being the cause. Even if there was support for this view, and there is not, you’d have to explain how all the emissions of fossil fuels had not increased warming given the basic, uncontroversial characteristic of CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Without the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere brought about by natural causes, the oceans would be frozen and life would not exist here. Anthropogenic (“manmade”) global warming refers to the increase in CO2 concentrations, measured for over sixty years directly and examined through trapped gas bubbles in arctic ice for a far longer period of time, that show an upward trend since the industrial revolution.
There are not two sides to this debate in the scientific community in the way that there are two sides to the lipid hypothesis or the science behind low-carb diets. On these questions, there are dominant views to be sure, with lots of holes and dissenting scientists with actual evidence, and lots of still not understood causal complexity. In climate science, the basic underlying causal mechanisms are completely straightforward. The details of the climate models, incorporating the range of feedback mechanisms in the climate system, predict the actual amount of warming within a narrow range of predictions and are still being worked out, but they all agree from the beginning that warming will occur with the CO2 increase that is going on.
I’m also not sure why other environmental problems means global warming is wrong. The only government agenda on climate change, in the U.S. at least, has been efforts to shut up scientists and shut down efforts to address the problem. That’s why the U.S. refused to adopt the Kyoto protocol, with the senate at the time voting UNANIMOUSLY to reject it. There was some talk early on in the Obama administration that carbon would be regulated, but that has been dropped completely. The Bushes were completely hostile and Clinton did nothing either, despite Gore’s advocacy on the issue.
Science does not always (or often) lead to this strong a conclusion, but in this case it did. There is a lot of room to consider alternative hypotheses in human health and medicine since there is a lot of contradictory and incomplete information and a lot of partial and contradictory theories about what is going on. That’s not the case in climate science research and the fact that corporate interests have been able to sow confusion on this score on the tobacco model is really sad and shows the easily manipulated public’s poor education in science. (Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming).
Dear Bill,
Please explore this site http://www.green-agenda.com/science.html. I am not in disagreement that emissions are a problem or something that should be dealt with. But being THE cause of “imminent destruction” is where things get shady. Agenda 21 is one of the many examples. When I see that such an issue is being made about other areas of pollution, like depleted Uranium, GMO’s chemical fertilizers, pcb’s, bromates, mercury, petrochemicals, etc. etc. etc. will I believe that the fear, hoopla, treaties, tax schemes, regulations and consolidation over “MANMADE global warming” are there to do what’s best for earth and humanity.
Lily,
That’s not a good source, I’m sorry. It cites the fraudulent Oregon Petition. In any event, science doesn’t work by petitions but by peer reviewed published criticism. There isn’t any opposing global warming–see the discussion of this issue, endlessly and misleadingly picked apart by the skeptics, here: http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php?a=24
You seem to object to Gore and company’s policies for remedying global warming and their priorities with respect to addressing other environmental problems. Why not just debate these issues directly (which certainly need debate) and not wrap them up with global warming denialism?
After reading through all the comments I want to share my personal experience. In the beginning of January I started a weight loss plan at the same time I decided to try low carb. I did this for approx 5-6 weeks and felt great. After that time period I felt like I needed to eat more carbs, I was hungry often and was having difficulty focusing. I slowly added in carbs and now I feel fine. I try to avoid refined sugars and white flour. I have lost fifteen or so pounds and I workout at the gym four times per week. I also wanted to mention about my two daughters, 3 and 4. Yesterday it was time for food and I decided some ice cream would be great, so I dished them each a bowl, my oldest ate hers and was happy and seemed to have a positive response. My youngest on the other hand had a meltdown about twenty five minutes later and she needed protein. I found this to be the only proof I need to know that there is no one size fits all diet, we are all unique and we each should eat what helps us to feel the best!
Amen! I think something else to consider here….our world is chemically a mess! Metals and other chemicals are wreaking havoc on our bodies so that each of us is a toxic soup walking around. Who knows how our bodies have been affected? So I fully believe that what works for one won’t work for the other. I was high carb (whole wheat/grain) and was having nasty exhaustion and almost hypoglycemic. It was awful. Then I dropped the grains, especially wheat, and my energy was much more even keel. I don’t feel like a ravenous animal if I don’t eat for a while. But that is me. I also think I can’t do nuts as I’ve been reacting to them. So GAPS it is for me and my kids. However for some, it doesn’t work. One size does not fit all, especially nowadays.
What about this doctor who cured herself of multiple sclerosis with diet similar to Paleo?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc
Would high carb diet do this?
Wow. Just wow. Here is how carbohydrates work, in the most basic terms even a 5yr old can understand. Carbs turn to sugar in the blood stream. Insulan pulls the sugar feom the blood and feeds it to the muscles (again, laymans terms a child can understand here). When there is too much sugar in the bloodstream the body must produce more insulin to process the sugar, either to feed it to the muscle or to store it as fat in sedentary people. The harder the pancreas has to work the faster it gets worn out thus producing lower levels of insulin which causes the blood sugar levels to be too high. High blood glucose levels cause massive damange to the body (just ask all the diabetics who have lost a leg or lost their sight due to damage from blood sugars). All foods, even meats become sugar for the blood at some point (my type 1 diabetic child can have up to 7oz of meat before we have to count it as carbs and give him insulin bolus for it) but carbs do this faster and cause sugars to rise higher. Cutting out all carbs or going super low carb is not healthy long-term but the more insulin your body has to use the more it takes to treat high bloodsugars. Only an idiot would think that 200 grams of carbs is good for a diabetic. It isn’t good for anyone. We eat NT/whole foods style. I live with, care for, and love my diabetic child. I KNOW what works for his bloodsugars and what doesn’t. Until you have diabetes yourself (which you will end up with if you eat like that and keep up your wine habit) you should absolutely NOT be giving advice on how to treat it. Lots of hopeful Type 2 diabetics that follow you are going to suffer needlessly and painfully because they follow you. Shame on you AnnMarie, when did trying to teach people to eat healthy become big business for you so much that you would rather cause harm than good?
I’m sorry but a lot of your facts are medically incorrect. Type 1 diabetics are very different from type 2 and almost all Type 1s need to inject insulin because their bodies don’t make it. Most people’s bodies can handle carbs just fine, and have been for millenia. Also diabetes does not develop from the pancreas getting worn out from producing insulin to deal with too many carbs. Type 1 diabetes develops mostly in children (and obviously most adults go on to eat WAY more carbs), likely from an autoimmune situation but the cause is not known. Type 2 diabetics actually produce a lot of insulin; their cell receptors become resistant to it, however, and they have high levels of both insulin and blood glucose as a result. Additionally, a lot of people on low-carb diets end up with high fasting blood sugar. Anyone who has studied nutrition can tell you that type 2 diabetes is associated with high-fat diets. There is no proven connection between eating sugar and developing diabetes. There is some association with high-fat diets however.
I am at a loss at the vitriol being spewed here. Luckily, Matt and Annmarie are used to it…
Look, if you have diabetes, and read one, slightly-snarky, overview article and change your eating habits based on that alone, you are a fool.
If, on the otherhad, the article intrigues you — and this is the purpose of this article as I see it — enough to ask more questions, then you are being wise.
Maybe I do not understand diabetes — no, I definitely do not understand it. Because not matter how many times I read this article, I cannot match what’s said in it with the accusations of irresponsibility — or profiteering?!? — found in these comments. So it must be I am clueless.
Get a life. And let bloggers have one too. Matt and Annmarie are NOT doctors, and don’t pretend to be. They are real life people who share what they learn, how they experiment with this or that diet, and aren’t afraid to say they were wrong. This is a process people.
Carbohydrates are not the enemy. Matt: Message received. And thank you! my temps, btw, are up from average of 97.5 to 99 since reintroducing gluten and carbs LAST WEEK. I feel full for the first time in many, many moons.
Fascinating stuff… esp since all my symptoms got worse on low carb too!!!! So, which one of Matt’s ebooks covers this topic best???? Thanks
I think Diet Recovery
Maybe I should say this. I did buy Matt’s books and follow his advice but I ended up with gastritis, ulcer, reflux and gallbladder problems. Now I am still eating grains but they have to be properly prepared rice, quinoa and amarant and limited and I have to forget about bread and gluten and even homemade ice-cream gives me a lot of pain. Do I blame him? No, but there are people who are so sure of themselves and give terrible advice to people when maybe they should just share their experiences and observation and live it to that.
I was so shocked when I started reading this article, and I want to thank Ann Marie for letting it be posted. It seems it is really a big taboo topic! But it is saying some things I’d been thinking about.
I’ve been low/no-carb for a few months trying to regain good health. I read a lot about Paleo and I got my family on board with the no-carb. I am feeling much better… I don’t crave carbs like I used to. Energy is coming back slowly.
That said, I had to rethink things for my kiddos. They were HUNGRY… all the time! Even with lots of fresh fruit, veggies, meat, bacon, etc, they were still hungry all the time. That is when I began thinking that maybe low/no-carb is not good for everyone, especially children.
I’ve begun researching this, but it is very hard to find information that contradicts the low-carb, so this article is enlightening to me and I will be checking out Matt’s website.
I feel the same way when I cut carbs too low. Too hungry all the time, even when I’ve eaten healthy fats and grass fed meats.
I love Matt’s work and have added lots of carbs back into my diet after 10 months on GAPS. At first I felt great! But now my digestion is bad again (constipation). I find that most starches (potatoes, rice, corn, bananas, apples) completely shut down my system. But those are the ones Matt advises to eat often. Any thoughts? I seem to do ok with properly prepared whole wheat, buckwheat and some oats. Any ideas how to get past the constipation? I’m really trying to eat more. I’ve already gained 8 lbs. in a few months. I keep thinking if I keep eating more eventually things will get going. But they don’t. Any ideas?
I would really appreciate anyone’s thoughts. I have commented on your blog quite a few times AM, but have never once gotten a response for my questions. I know it’s hard to reply to everyone. You get a lot of comments. Any thoughts? Suggestions?
Mary, For the most part, those will put a chink in my digestion as well. Not immediately, but maybe after a few weeks of regular consumption. I might be a little pickier on “perfect digestion” anymore, eating a diet based mostly around fruit.
This is all probably a highly individual thing based on a variety of factors including gut health. Of those things you listed above, white rice and white potatoes probably top my list of starches that run properly through me. Otherwise, it’s pretty hard for me to beat sweet fruits.
Maybe try simplifying your menu a bit for a while so you can better narrow down which foods are optimal. Test other factors like protein amounts etc… I know if I eat higher % of protein, this throws a curve to everything and would be easy to blame on the carb source.
From what I’ve been reading, it does seem to be highly specific to the individual. Everyone is different. I think Chuck’s advice is good. Experiment and see what works for you.
Are you on a strong therapeutic grade probiotic?
Thanks for the suggestions. I take biokult (one a day). I did GAPS for 10 months. Just started coming off in January. I have learned a lot about what does/doesn’t work for me since being on GAPS. And the first month or so of eating grains again (soaked grains) I was feeling great. My digestion was better than it has been in a long time. But now things have slowed down again. And my acne has really flared again (hasn’t been bad in quite a while). I’m sure part of it is hormones (I have a nursing 10 month old) and lack of sleep (again a 10 month old that is having major sleeping issues). I’m just trying to figure out what happened/why things were so good and then went back to bad. I know everyone is different. I just see Matt so often suggesting resistant starches like potatoes, corn, etc. But they just do not work for me. So I get confused. Also I read that sugar is bad but then he suggests eating ice cream, pancakes w/ syrup, etc. It’s hard to know what to try. I am trying to make sure I get plenty of cultured food again. Maybe I went too far with being laid back about what I ate. I stopped being so strict about ferments/cultured food, broth, etc. I need to find a better balance. I too can’t eat a ton of meat. I feel like I have a brick in my gut if I do. I have been eating a very high fat diet for a couple years now. But maybe I need to take that down a notch too to see if that makes a difference. Focus more on the carbs while my body heals from being low carb on GAPS. It’s all a big guessing game. I was just curious if anyone had any suggestions or any similar experience.
The nursing explains a lot, as does the lack of sleep.
Is there a way you can try to get more sleep? And perhaps eat more? Nursing requires a LOT of calories and nutrients. Ice cream is great for you (and baby) while nursing.
We’re dealing with some major sleep issues right now (all four 1-year molars coming in, possibly tummy troubles) so I’m really lacking on sleep. I sometimes spend half my night in the rocking chair with my son. He’s had some days recently that he was up by 2 or 3 am and did not go back to sleep. I can tell that impacts things.
I’ve been trying to make myself eat more. And I’ve been eating ice cream for breakfast many days (mostly homemade, some Mooville). Like I said, I feel like I’m doing what I can but still doing a lot of guessing and wondering what’s going on/why my digestion is so off. I’ll keep plugging along and hoping it improves. I think once my son starts sleeping better that will really help. But I want to be doing what I can with diet even if I can’t get the sleep right now.
I’m finding for myself that I have to do what works for me. I know I don’t digest corn well, so I’m not even going there. I tried rice a couple of weeks ago, and I felt like crap afterwards, so I’m laying off of that…well, brown rice. I might try white rice because that’s supposed to be different.
I also had pizza which was so yummy, but I felt a little gross. I think part of that was because I ate it late. I’m not giving up on that one; instead, I’m going to make my own dough and learn about the fermenting/soaking stuff.
Matt’s great, but even he says that we need to find what works for us. This isn’t a diet. Today, in fact, I was happy eating a salad with some some chicken on it. I also had a lot of fruit. I really didn’t want anything heavy though. So, do what makes you feel good. If eating rice isn’t working, then back off from it. If you’re not ready for pancakes, then don’t eat them.
Good luck.
@Mary
If there is any way you can sleep during the day when he is sleeping, I bet that would help tremendously. I’ve recently upped my sleep from 8 hours to 9.5-10 hours and I can see that it’s making a big difference in boosting my temps.
I’d love to get 11-12 hours per night (or at least with naps)… still working on getting that to happen.
If ice cream agrees with you, try eating it 2-3 times per day. If not, find something else that is high in calories and nutrients and eat it as often as possible.
Thanks again for the tips. I really don’t know of any way to get much more sleep at the moment. But this is just a phase. Hopefully it will turn around soon. Right now I’m lucky if I get a total of 6 hours…and those are never consecutive. I don’t remember the last time I slept 8 hours
Just ate a big ice cream cone for breakfast
Homemade cookie dough 
Maybe I’ll have to have some for lunch too. I add egg yolks to tons of food for nutrients. I’m trying to up my veggie intake too.
Mary,
I so understand what you are going through. My son is going to be 1 in two weeks and it has been over a months that he wouldn’t sleep at night. And I don’t mean wake up several times at night, but every 10-15 minutes. I was getting 3-4 of sleep during this time and thought I would loose my mind. And during the day I had other things to do and was rarely able to sleep. This sleeping problems started very suddenly and now they ended so suddenly as well. it has been several nights that he wakes up only 2-3 time to nurse but would go right back to sleep. I am still only able to get 5-6 of sleep. My mother is in a very bad shape and no doctor has been able to help so far, so I surf the Internet in search of some information to help her so all my free time I am online and just can’t afford to spend this time on sleep. We are going to start Intro GAPS next week and I am little concerned because I am still nursing, but I feel like my son needs it and needs me to do it.
Thought I would mention that a good amount of naturally fermented foods like kraut, pickles, Kimchee, etc with each meal does wonders for constipation. It is the live enzymes and friendly bacteria that we need for a healthy bowel.
My daughter’s son also suffered from sleep problems during his first few months of life. She did a lot of short, frequent nursing to help with his acid reflux but that may have caused his sleep problems. The way I understand it fat doesn’t come in until a few minutes into the nursing process so not getting enough of the fat may have caused him to wake from hunger.
Hey Ann Marie,
Maybe you can write a blogpost on the virtues of sleep. As a culture we frown on getting more than 8 hours as slovenly, and less than 6-7 hr/night being strong character. Much in the way that extreme athletes are admired. Or bony, starved starlets are idealized. The best diet of seal oil and raw fish buried in dirt isn’t going to do any good if we’re burning out on sleep deprivation.
I have been sleep deprived for many years due to children and severe OCD. I am gradually learning just how big of an impact it has on my body. I didn’t realize in the past how important sleep was…and good quality sleep.
Good luck Natalia! I always tell myself this is just a phase. The state of my life right now isn’t permanent. My son wil sleep. And I will get more sleep at some point. I just do what I can for now.
I did kind of a modified intro to GAPS while nursing a young child. You can do it, just be sure to not be too strict and to eat enough. You can check out my blog to see what I did if you’re curious.
@Charlene I agree with you and I should write a post about it. I just slept for 9 hours and the night before, I got 10.5 hours. I try to get as much sleep as I possibly can.
I know this is kind of a pro-dairy zone, but any kind of dairy pretty much does me zero favors. I’m not anti-dairy, it just doesn’t work for me. Everything from impaired digestion (in many ways), acne, muscle crapping, weight gain. Really too bad, because I LOVE the stuff.
Not sure what your dairy consumption looks like, but I thought I’d throw it out there.
@C2U I love dairy but I don’t judge anyone who doesn’t share my affinity. <3
Everyone is different!
I love it more than life itself, that why I keep trying to figure out how to make changes to include it. It just isn’t working though. At least not while I’m trying to reach fitness goals.
Ah yes I love dairy more than life itself, too.
I don’t have any fitness goals, so I’m good. LOL!
Hi Mary,
I found that when I went higher carb, I had to tone down the fat just a bit. Not low fat though! It seems my liver is a little sluggish (working on fixing that), and I just seem to feel a little better going a tiny bit lower on fat, while upping carbs. I know everyone is different though.
And I sympathize with you on the sleep thing! My 11 month old is fine now, but she slept terribly for a very long time. I was sooo tired!
I was dairy free for a while b/c of my son. He had reflux when he was born and when I ate dairy it seemed to make it worse. I have since gradually added it back (very slowly…ghee, then butter, then sour cream, etc.). I don’t think it causes me problems, but maybe I’ll try scaling back some time and just see what it does.
I am also cutting down slighly on fat. See how that goes. I was going a bit crazy with butter I think
Thanks for the suggestion, Kari.
I am trying to eat what sounds good and what I know works for me. Hoping my body figures things out.
In the GAPS book (pg. 37), Dr. Campbell-Mcbride says, “A diet high in fibre from grains (bran and breakfast cereals in particular) has a profound negative effect on the gut flora, gut health and general body metabolism, predisposing the person to IBS, bowel cancer, nutritional deficiencies and many other problems. Fruit and vegetables provide a better quality fibre that is not as harsh for the digestive system.”
Maybe a diet with using white flour would be better for you??? Of course, in the previous paragraph, she mentions not having too many processed carbohydrates in our diet, but if the fiber from grains is problematic maybe your digestive solutions could be helped by removing grain fiber. I would imagine having small amounts of refined flour in your diet wouldn’t be a problem.
To provide myself with every possible advantage of not re-damaging my gut, I’m going to exclude grain fiber from my diet and rely on white flour sourdough for my baking needs.
What do you think about this idea, AnnMarie? Have you noticed a difference in how you feel with whole grains vs. white when you eat them, both metabolically and how your gut feels? Not too many people talk about the fiber aspect of grains, but Dr. Campbell-McBride does mention it as being one of the things that can damage the gut. Maybe because it was just one paragraph, people just forget about that.
“A diet high in fibre from grains (bran and breakfast cereals in particular”
She is referring to improperly prepared whole grains.
Dr. Natasha is an advocate of properly prepared whole grains. If you read her book, she recommends them when you are coming off of the GAPS Diet. She does not advocate white flour.
That’s confusing though because fiber remains intact even if the grain is soaked, sprouted or made into sourdough, and she said the fiber of grains is what’s problematic.
@Emma I can’t seem to reply below so I’ll reply here. Dr. Natasha wholeheartedly recommends the Weston A. Price diet, which can include whole grains that are properly prepared. See Sally Fallon Morell’s book Nourishing Traditions.
Yes, I have both of their books. I’m not necessarily saying it’s a contradiction, but whenever there “seems” to be a contradiction I like to use my common sense to make a logical conclusion. I believe Dr. Campbell-McBride meant what she said when she said that fiber from grains can harm the gut, but I also assume that when she mentions the incorporation of grains that it’s for those who want to include them if they don’t bother them, or are willing to take the risk of seeing if they are problematic, or not. Kind of like, “if you are going to eat grains, eat them like this” type of thing.
I know she doesn’t recommend eating white flour, but since I don’t want to eat fiber from grains, if I want a slice of pizza I won’t hesitate to eat some just because it’s made with white flour. I definitely won’t make white flour the base of my diet.
Great article! I was wondering if you had some good tips for a big, quick carby breakfast? I don’t have time to make pancakes or waffles every morning. I’ve been eating a big sprouted cinnamon raisin bagel with schmear every morning, but that doesn’t seem to keep my hands and feet warm past 9:00 AM. I guess I could try soaked oatmeal with fruit and maple…. Any other thoughts?
A little off topic, but what do you think about giving soaked oatmeal to a 1 year old?
@Joel
I like to make whole wheat sourdough waffles on the weekend and then put them in the freezer. You can easily freeze them in Ziploc bags with pieces of wax paper in between to keep them sticking. Then just pop them in the toaster in the morning. You can do the same thing with pancakes. Or French toast. I am going to make chocolate chip pancakes one of these days.
Ice cream is also a great addition to pancakes or waffles, or by itself.
We’ve also been eating hash browns with eggs most mornings. But it takes a little time to prepare.
You could also eat leftover rice and beans with eggs and maybe some tortillas — classic Mexican breakfast.
Oatmeal is great, too. Or homemade granola — I have a recipe on my blog. It will keep in the cupboard.
This article and the comments are making my head spin. I appreciate not being tied to dogma so this is all very interesting. I was on a low-carb adaptation of the GAPS diet for about eight months last year. Last August, I returned to eating carbs (gluten free grains and beans), and since then, I have gained about 17 pounds. I can only attribute this to increased carb consumption. Also, when I eat lots of carbs, I generally feel tired, spacey, and I have a constant cravings for them. In regards to blood glucose, last year before starting the low carb diet, my A1C was 6.0, but almost about a year later (I had been eating more carbs for a few months), my A1C was 5.5. I really wished I had taken my A1C during the low carb period. All this is to say, that I am confused. I don’t know what make sense anymore. I have always had cold hands and feet. I am trying to lose the 17 pounds now and have gone back to carb restrictions (about 60-75 per day). Matt, I am assuming you would say the opposite, more carbs?! I have also had ongoing digestive issues and yeast overgrowth which is suppose to also be helped by being low carb.
Thanks!
I have a comment way back, I think lost to the stream here. I’ll cut to the chase and bear with my ignorance.. (I am not tied to one theory or another.. just need to address health issues including a wrecked gut and a seemingly resistant fungal infection in my daughter (scope reveals growth and OAT test reveals high fungal markers.. we moved out of a mold contaminated house about 2 years ago and still ongoing).
What about the effect of carbs on the gut? I am reading the Perfect Health Diet (the Jaminets) and just downloeaded Diet Recovery (Stone). There are similarities. All authors experienced issues with very low carb paleo diets and questioned. Mercola also had this experience and has posted info and a debate between Paul Jaminet and I think Rosendale?? Someone from the low carb spectrum.
The Jaminets are saying that there is a range they see 10-40% (recently raised from 30%) that is desirable. The “safe starches’ they refer to (no grains but rice and they prefer white rice, calling other grains “toxic with jury out on some non gluten grains-seeds) actually are needed to fight fungal infections. Lower carbs for bacterial infections. Needs may change.
I have to re read the PHD book to compare with Stone’s info. I think I am seeing a similarity but different focus at times. I want to look up butyrate in PHD again and compare.
I am wondering about intestinal flora ability to convert carbs into butyrate and esp if there is an over growth of certain problmetaic bacteria that might also benefit form teh same carbs-starches-fibers.
(realilzing the post is about insulin resistance which i have no clue about)
Thanks Robin, for your comment
I have to read Perfect Health Diet — I just downloaded it.
On Jaminet’s blog, he said 40-50% carbs is best if you want to reproduce.
This is a lot of bolics. I have not lost my hair, lack sex drive or any of the so called other things you say caused by carbo restriction , that is because you replace the carbs with fats – you need cholesterol to make hormones – you dick
I find this completely fascinating. If you want to follow the debate between Paul Jaminet and Rosedale: http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?s=butyrate Mercola also has links to the “battle”.
I know what you mean about getting crazy about food, I always feel better on vacation when I eat only what I desire and always thought it was crazy since I eat “better” at home!
Ok, so I am totally on board with eating more carbs and have noticed lots of improvements from adding more BUT I’m on GAPS and am seeing TONS of improvements with it. BUT (again) I notice that I need more and more carbs. I have had symptoms return and then add more carbs and they improve, repeat. It’s hard to up carbs on GAPS without eating sweets which I am getting tired of very quickly.
I know I still have more healing to do with GAPS and it helped symptoms that wouldn’t budge (from before low carb) but how do I keep the carbs up without eating fruit and honey all day???? I know NCM says no to potatoes but has anyone healed eating them?
What do I do if I can’t continue on GAPS bc need more carbs but need to fix my gut???? HELP?!
Just to add: I went off GAPS for 2 weeks on vacation and at first felt fine but had stomach troubles by the end of 2 weeks, all the while on 10 biokults a day. Any advice????
A person I am consulting with does not recommend biocult. I actually have an overgrowth of lactobacillus in my small intestine and have to buy one without D-lactate.
“You can even rebuild your gut and change your gut flora by changing your metabolism – a process that simply cannot happen without adequate carbohydrate intake.”
I’m a little confused. How does this statement correlate with the whole GAPS diet idea?
My vote – Read Primal Body – Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudas.
That is next on my list to read
We all need some carbs, preferably from vegetables in the main, not most grains. But this article is simply whacky. Certainly people at extremes will get sick in the ways he reports. But his anecdotes are about as typical of what’s true for most of us as is his statement that we are in a period of global cooling. This is a guy with his head up his ass.
On the climate issue, to see what bogus science is being given here re. CO2, go to:
http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/12-02-08/
Global warming is the biggest hoax, or one of them, ever perpetrated on the world population. A HOAX. Of course, if you want to buy into the idea, go for it.
“Reduced her water consumption”. Huh? I’ve heard bad advice before but this takes the cake. Do you KNOW how many people suffer, especially as they age, from lack of hydration.
Never should anyone, not Matt Stone or anyone else, encourage people to drink less water. Ceramic filtered water (not the crap from the grocery stores in plastic bottles) is one of the best things you’ll do for yourself, and certainly for anyone you know past age 60. People with chronic headaches are usually dehydrated, and there are so many more indications that I could go on forever.
NEVER ENCOURAGE PEOPLE NOT TO DRINK WATER. Sorry, but that just doesn’t cut it.
Another reason to read foodie blogs with one eye closed.
I think it’s all too generalized here. We all need carbs, but nobody has mentioned the difference between good and bad carbs. Bad carbs can be a major contributor to insulin resistance, if you are not finding a way to use that energy. We do need carbs to burn fat, otherwise we begin to steal from our muscle. If we overeat the wrong carbs, we will store them as fat and become resistant. Too many carbs, especially the wrong ones, will force our liver to kick out too much C-reactive protein, which is a cholesterol and huge cause of inflammation.
Be more specific on the carbs: When your food pyramid says 2-3 fruits/day, remember, there are carbs in those. Even many veggies contain carbs.
Bad carbs are things like corn syrups (our insulin does not react to corn syrup like it does to real sugar). Fruit juice: 1 cup of apple juice is equivalent to 3 apples; would you eat 3 apples at a time? Besides its high amount of sugars, you are missing the fiber, which helps you process the sugar, and you are also losing so many minerals and vitamins when you just drink juice.
Refined grains: This one baffled me because most breads, tortillas and pasta you buy at the store contains enriched flour. If you are insulin resistant or diabetic, this is pretty much sugar to you.
I am not a huge carb fan, but I have had days where I eat them, sometimes too many. Stick with your whole grains. Stay clear of enriched grains, corn syrups and too many sugars.
I am relearning to eat them because of what I’ve learned from a nutritionist, internist and trainer. We need them for energy. Grains have our B vitamins; and without B’s we can cause havoc on our thyroid and other hormones. We also need B vitamins to absorb and digest our meat. If you cannot tolerate grains, get your B’s and other nutrients from other food or supplements.
Wow, just got through all the comments. Oh the drama!! I think diets are a lot like religion- everyone thinks they have the “right” one with the “special” knowledge that will save them from the suffering the other poor unenlightened jerks will go through. Vegans feel sorry for the dumb meat eaters, the meat eaters think the vegans are screwed, the paleos think both other camps are !#&*, and the raw foodists- well you get the picture. What is the common thread in most “diets” (with the slight exception now of Matt’s endorsing junk food, albeit for a short period of time) Well most agree that if you need a chemist lab to make an ingredient, you prob. should not be putting it in your mouth as food. Simple? We can argue for and against the ratios of carbs to meat, raw or cooked, but most never say hey-you need to increase aspartame over corn syrup, no matter what diet camp they are in. That is the only “truth” I think I can believe in, as the more you read the more you realize the less you know. Aren’t you all glad I cleared the whole thing up?
“The more you read, the less you know”…….Yep! That about sums it up! LOL!
I agree that “carbs” are likely an innocent bystander … the Asian high-starch diet just doesn’t seem to cause diabetes. But have you ever considered that maybe the “hidden factor” here is iron?
The iron-absorbability of the American diet is super high, and excess iron is absolutely *known* to cause oxidation, diabetes, heart–disease etc. Iron ingestion raises insulin levels too, and the iron doesn’t go away between meals. Iron levels are high in both red meat, and also in most starches … in junk food because it is added, and in potatoes naturally.
Some of the foods known to be problematic just happen to be the ones that promote iron absorbability … soda pop, for instance.
Your helpful foods, like milk, also happen to be low in iron and are iron chelators. The Maasai just happen to have low iron levels in their blood too, because of all that milk. Lowering iron levels directly … by donating blood or taking iron chelators … increases insulin resistance. Raising iron levels directly … causes diabetes and damage to the heart.
Anyway, there is a lot of good study on this in the last 30 years, and it’s surprising it doesn’t get brought up much. Iron is THE most common inflammatory substance.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/439591
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/10/26/health.heart.iron.reut/
I know i’m a little late here. I agree with this article but it doesn’t really offer a lot of help in choosing carbs – there are good and bad as with most food groups! I stick to whole grains and alternative grains when possible (not always eating wheat). Carbs with fiber are good – fruits and veggies! As my old nutrition instructor in college was fond of saying – variety and moderation are key. This article is not an excuse to go back to eating cake and donuts!
Here is what i find funny, I have a family that live a live filled with carbs and they ALL suffer from heart problems, cholesterol problems, high blood pressure and diabetes. I At on time was a very healthy individual eating mainly only meats dairy and veggies. Then I got married and started eat a high carb diet and I became obese very quickly and insulin resistant. I quit eating carb and returned to my old diet and I’m doing a lot better now, I still have some weight-loss I need to do before I’m what I use to weight but my chronic exhaustion is now some thing of the past and my blood sugar level have returned to normal. The same with my husband as he was pre-diabetic he is now doing a lot better. Can you explain this to me. It has been almost two years now.
I’m fascinated by the link between carb intake, metabolism and gut healing. I have low temp and a messed up digestive track – both of which I need to heal because I have 2 autoimmune thyroid conditions. However, before going Paleo (not the super low carb version except at first when I had to eliminate wicked lifelong sugar cravings) I was pre-diabetic and now I am not, plus I never have cravings anymore (this is a true blessing!). So the idea of adding lots of carbs to get my temp up is scary prospect because the last thing I want to do is raise my blood sugar levels and trigger sugar cravings again. My other problem is that grains and legumes cause undesirable digestive and neurological symptoms. So it seems to be a quandary. Any input is appreciated.
I think there’s more to it than low carb or gluten free. I also have thyroid disease. I was wheat/gluten free for 6 years in an effort to improve my thyroid health. I didn’t show any difference with my thyroid health, but the depression I had, which I was on medication for, disappeared. Because of that, I continued eating wheat free. After 6 years of being wheat free, I hoped that my gut was healed if there had been any gut problems that I wasn’t aware of (I never had gut pain, etc. just the depression). I decided to add wheat back into my diet to see what would happen. Having been wheat free for 6 years, I started out with the yummy stuff that I had missed…pizza, cinnamon rolls, etc. By complete coincidence, the stuff I was eating contained white flour. After a couple of weeks of eating white flour based foods, and noticing absolutely no problems, I ate two pieces of sprouted bread for breakfast one morning and, BAM, all my previous symptoms came back within minutes, headache, sinus irritation, depression, etc. It took a full day for my symptoms to begin to subside. I tried several times after this to eat whole grain and the same thing happened each time. I have been eating white flour based foods for about 5 months now and I still have no problems with it and am feeling good. Actually, the only time my thyroid showed any flare-up up was my short stint with paleo. I did paleo for just a couple of month and I had to have my thyroid medication increased, after 15 years of stable thyroid function with no increase in medication in all that time.
Anyhow, I think grains are more complex than to eat or not to eat, whole grain or refined, wheat or wheat free. Just as some people have a problem with different aspects of milk (casein, lactose, whey), I realize now that people are sensitive to the different parts of the grain. For me, it wasn’t the wheat/gluten itself that I had a problem with, it is the bran and/or germ portion of the grain that I have a problem with. This has been true for other whole grains as well, not just wheat.
The same may be true for many others. Until my experience, I had never heard anyone suggest this possibility. I hope this is helpful to some of you.
I think it’s a bit of a confusion with “grains” and “carbs”. Wheat, for one, has specific psychological impacts on a lot of people, but that is not from the “carb” part, it’s from the protein part of it. And for sugars, fructose has a very different effect in the body than glucose does. Fructose in fruit doesn’t react like fructose in fruit juice does either. Sucrose, high in fructose, raises uric acid levels. Rice syrup, which is mainly glucose, does not.
Basically I think we are going to rethink the whole idea of “cuisine”. The Japanese mountain people, the Okinawans, the Kitavians … all eat a diet rather high in “carbs” but are undeniably thriving on their diets. It’s not just “carb” vs “fat” vs “protein” … there are specific types of each, specific ways of cooking and eating and maybe even food combining. My health has improved immensely since I adopted more and more “Asian” types of foods, including loads of fresh vegies, fruits, seafood, eggs, spices. And rice noodles and rice.
Thanks Heather. I eat white rice sometimes but hadn’t thought of rice noodles. Sounds wonderful. I have Hashimoto’s and can’t touch gluten in anything. Oats also cause weird cognitive reactions, even properly soaked ones. I’m going to try some lentils (soaked of course) and see how I do with those. As for sugars, is glucose the only safe one? I’ve read negative things about fructose. What about sucrose? I’ll be SOOOO glad when my health issues are resolved and I don’t have to be so cautious about every bite. I’m trying not to stress over it so my cortisol doesn’t go up, but jeez….there is so much to consider given my situation.
I seriously wish I had a simple answer. I don’t. I experiment, food by food, meal by meal. What works? What tastes good? What makes me happy a couple of hours later?
Some things helped a lot, esp. at first … bentonite and konjac and probiotics to regulate bacterial levels. Once my gut bacteria were happier, “carbs” weren’t such an issue. No, I still can’t eat gluten, and am not tempted to. Ginger and cayenne seem to be really good at helping digestion too.
I’m new to Matt Stone, but interested.
I’m confused as to how Matt Stone’s diet or any other rev-up-the-carbs diet is different from SAD–a diet on which many people are quite sick.
Please help me understand. Thanks.
P.S. I know there is a difference, but not sure what it is.
Initially I thought it was that at least Matt recommended avoiding processed foods and additities and Omega 6 oils, etc., but what I am getting is that he pretty much says to have at it and eat whatever you want? I.e. gummy worms? (Don’t anybody take that for what Matt says, that’s just the hunch I’m getting. Or am I confusing him with Ray Peat?)
There are worse things than gummy worms and Matt’s goal is to get over cravings for those things as many people attest to doing, not to simply eat them for the hell of it. The idea is to improve your health and relationship with food so you can eat more flexibly, yes. See the high-everything diet guidelines, which Matt endorsed and called “bomb-proof.”
http://forget-about-diets.blogspot.com/2009/10/high-everything-diet-guidelines.html
I’ve known people to address high BGs by eating carbs, and aparently it does work for many type 2′s. A jolt of carbs initiates an insulin response. It makes sense, but it raises questions:
- this famous case mentioned certainly ate high carbs before becoming dabetic. Not many eat low carb without facing the wall first. What was her IR before low carbing? Why did she need meds before but not after?
Perhaps IR was improved because the case’s pancreas had a nice rest from pumping mega amounts of insulin out. Frankly, I find this whole page shoddy anecdotalism. Perform controlled IR experiments on say a thousand low carbers converting to high carb over a long term, and get back to me.
John, the claim that carbohydrates cause insulin resistance is shoddy anecdotalism. Where is there proof they do that in the absence of refined sugars, syrups, flour, vegetable oils, and food additives? Please present some anecdotes from people who ate NONE of those and got insulin resistance. I’ve read from several people eating zero-carb that their blood sugar rose over time. The Bear (Owsley Stanley – deceased) said this, and so did Charles Washington (who Matt calls Skeletor because his emaciated body from running marathons on a zero-carb “meat and water” diet). Maybe eating high REFINED carbs combined with JUNKY refined PUFAs and partially hydrogenated trans fats causes insulin resistance more efficiently than anything (a perfect storm, if you will).
Great post! I’ve been struggling with stomach disorders for 3 years now. Doctors have told me to go low carb, refined sugar, dairy, soy and gluten free. Clearly it’s not working as I’ve lost so much hair and have no energy. I need about 11 hours of sleep a night! They can’t give me any sort of diagnosis except they know I don’t have enough T3 and they’re now thinking it could be PCOS?
SO, if I were to go about this, would gluten be okay to put back in my diet? I have a wheat intolerance, but I do not have celiac. I’m also on Triiodo-LThyronine SOD 10MCG.
Thanks so much! Love the info!
Gianna,
How frustrating! Do you have Hashimoto’s? If so, gluten and dairy are typically huge culprits in causing high antibodies and low thyroid function. (I speak from years of first hand experience, although I’m not a doctor or nutritionist). If you are wheat intolerant I’d stay away from gluten like the plague – including in cosmetics and personal care products – it’s in almost EVERYthing. Even if you aren’t celiac, gluten can wreak havoc with the thyroid as well as the digestive track. The same goes for dairy and soy. Have you considered eating non-gluten containing carbs such as rice and sweet potatoes? I know if I go too low carb I feel horrible – which is typical for people with thyroid issues. It’s tricky, though, because there is alot of gluten cross-reactivity in different grains because of the similar protein structures. For grains and legumes, just be sure to thoroughly soak them to neutralize the phytic acid – which also is hard on the digestive track. Have you been tested for leaky gut? If so there are many things you can do to heal your gut lining, such as drink copious amounts of bone broth and eat fermented foods (like the GAPS diet recommends – although that protocol is too low carb for me too), plus take targeted supplements.
Good luck with your quest for health!
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