Services
I can help you with implementation of these dietary patterns
Low carb diets help:
- Diabetes – Non insulin dependent Type 2, Insulin dependent Type 2 and Type 1 Diabetes
- Weight loss
- Fatty liver
- Lowering triglycerides and other blood fats
- Heart disease
- Reflux
- Constipation
Low carb diets are the first step in weight loss, and improving blood glucose and insulin levels. And it’s easier than most people think.
How it works:
Low carb diets work by reducing glucose (and other sugars), which in turn reduces insulin (hormone that promotes fat storage). When the body does not have as much access to sugar as fuel (glucose) you can then use more fat (ketones) for energy.
Removing sugars and starches improves vascular health as sugars and insulin can cause damage to blood vessel walls, nerve cells, impair energy production in the mitochondria, leading to cell malfunction and death.
In the liver, excess sugars get converted into fats called triglycerides, and a build up of these fats can contribute to fatty liver. Removing sugars, reduces triglycerides and assists the liver to repair itself.
Keto Diets help:
Mental Health / Neurological conditions:
- Alzheimer’s, dementia
- Anxiety, depression,
- Schizophrenia, bi polar disorder, schizoaffective disorders
- Epilepsy
- Parkinson’s disease
- Multiple Sclerosis
Endocrine conditions like:
- Type 2 Diabetes*
- Hyperthyroidism/Graves Disease
Joints and bones: arthritis, osteoporosis
Cardiovascular disease, COPD, asthma, weight loss
Digestive disorder: Reflux, constipation/diarrhoea, gastritis, bloating, IBS.
How it works:
Keto diets reduce carbohydrates even further, usually less than 20-50 grams per day depending on your starting weight and measured ketones. When glucose is not available, the body instead uses fats broken down to ketones as fuel for most metabolic functions.
The brain and the heart love ketones. It has been shown that when the brain and the heart use ketones as energy, the mitochondria work better, producing less oxidation. In the heart, ketones produce higher levels of ATP (that’s cellular energy) compared to glucose.
Whilst most cells can use ketones as energy, there are some cells that have an absolute requirement for glucose. Your body can make this glucose on demand from glycerol in fats and from protein.
*This diet is not suitable for people taking insulin with Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes.
Methionine Restriction
Methionine restriction can assist:
- As an adjunct to cancer therapies – increasing the efficacy of conventional treatments
- Resistant weight loss
- Fasting mimicking for people with hypoglycemia
- Insulin resistance / diabetes – for those who have difficulty with keto / low carb
How it works:
In its simplest application, methionine restriction ( also called fasting mimicking) is the reduction/removal of protein from the diet.
It mimics fasting because methionine – found in protein foods, is an amino acid required to make new cells (DNA). When methionine is not supplied to cells, cells cannot reproduce as efficiently. The body will respond by finding methionine in cells that are no longer maximally functioning – autophagy or “eating oneself”. The immune system will then break these cells down, recycle the parts and deliver the methionine (and other nutrients) to the cells that are absolutely required for survival – mimicking the autophagy stimulated in pure fasting.
Methionine restriction has been found to be a useful adjunct to cancer therapies (Valter Longo – Longevity Diet) as many cancer cells have been found to have an absolute requirement for methionine and removing it (along with cysteine) prevents cells from reproducing and activates cell death. Healthy cells remain unaffected in a “fasting” state.
It has also been used for resistant weight loss because this diet works by upregulating energy expenditure pathways (uncoupling) – increasing your metabolic rate – regardless of the calories you consume.
As all nutrients are not supplied maximally on this diet, some mineral and vitamin supplements will need to be included.
Low Calorie
Low calorie diets can assist with :
- Weight loss
- Improved metabolism
- Improved nutrient density
How it works:
Calories in = calories out – simple calorie reduction. What’s important here is to also give consideration to the types of foods you are eating. Different foods contain different nutrients and your body needs a vast array of nutrients to complete all its metabolic functions – to have a fast metabolism requires ALL the nutrients. So simply going low calorie may not always work if you are not also providing your body with the nutrients it needs to use the calories effectively. This is called nutrient density.
In the clinic I have seen patients fasting, exercising and greatly restricting calories, and yet still unable to lose weight. If this is you, I’d be happy to help you on the path to filling nutrient gaps to assist you optimise your energy metabolism.
Carnivore
Carnivore diets can assist with :
- Food sensitivities
- Weight loss
- Type 2 diabetes
- Improved metabolism
- Improved nutrient density
- Digestive disorders
How it works:
The carnivore diet is the simplest elimination diet, as most food sensitivities come from plants. If you are struggling with food sensitivities, eating only non aged meats for a while and then testing the introduction of other foods over time can be the simplest way to find which food sensitivities you have. This approach can work for FODMAPs, as well as salicylates, amines (as long as meat is not aged), glutamate, lectins, oxalates, etc. This diet will require the addition of electrolytes and certain supplements to fill the nutrient gaps.