Jillian Michaels on the Keto Diet: ‘Why would anyone think this is a good idea?’

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As I’ve discussed before, I am not a dieter. I don’t have the willpower or the patience to actually follow a diet, nor do I really want to waste my brainspace learning about whatever diet is trendy at the moment. These days, the Keto Diet seems pretty popular, perhaps taking over from Atkins as the “carbs are the worst” diet. Where Atkins was anti-carb and pro-protein, Keto seems to be anti-carb and pro… fat?? Like, Keto says you need to replace all of your carbs with fat. There has been some evidence that Keto is successful and healthy for people with certain kinds of medical conditions like epilepsy, but on the whole, the Keto Diet just sounds like the latest weird fad. Jillian Michaels thinks it sounds awful and unhealthy too. She chatted with Women’s Health (via People) about the diet:

What Michaels thinks of Keto: “I don’t understand. Like, why would anyone think this is a good idea? ‘You know what we need to do? All fat and animal protein!’ No! Bad plan. For a million reasons. Your cells, your macro molecules, are literally made up of protein, fat, carbohydrates, nucleic acids. When you do not eat one of the three macro nutrients — those three things I just mentioned — you’re starving yourselves. Those macro nutrients serve a very important purpose for your overall health and wellbeing. Each and every one of them.”

The diet she recommends: “You don’t eat processed sugar, you don’t eat processed grains, and to make a very long story short: avoid the keto diet. Common sense. Balanced diet is key.”

Vegetable noodles are fine: “Veggies are great for you, so the more vegetables you eat the better off you’re going to be, right? With that said, carbs are not actually the devil, so if you feel like you want pasta, the key is: whole grain, go organic whenever possible so you’re not getting pesticides and all the processed crap. Again, don’t go overeat, but of course something like a zoodle is going to be better for you at the end of the day, so I’m all for it. If you feel like you just need to carb craze, if you adhere to those guidelines I set out you’ll be fine. I eat carbs all the time and I’m the picture of health.”

[From People]

I can see her point? But then again, my brain probably doesn’t work properly because I love carbs. I wouldn’t be able to function without carbs. What is the purpose of living if not to consume carbs? I’m like Jillian though, on this: we already know what a balanced diet looks like, we already know that avoiding overeating and eating your veggies and working out regularly will do wonders. Also: sleep. I feel so much better and healthier when I’m getting good sleep, and my eating habits are better too.

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218 Responses to “Jillian Michaels on the Keto Diet: ‘Why would anyone think this is a good idea?’”

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  1. Dttimes2 says:

    And right under this article i see an ad for Keto diet 😒

  2. Becks1 says:

    I don’t know how “bad” keto is, per se, because I know many people who are on it, love it, and have lost a lot of weight with it – but losing weight alone isn’t the only (or best) indicator of how healthy a diet is.

    I do think often Americans (and I’m including myself in this) tend to overthink eating healthy, and we like rules when it comes to eating, which is why diets like Keto, paleo and even whole 30 (although that is not a lifestyle diet) appeal to many of us. I know what it means to eat healthy like Jillian described, I just lose sight of it sometimes. For example, I love the blog Skinnytaste mainly because I think she has a very realistic approach to healthy eating. But I make her recipes and she’ll be like “1/2 cup of cheese” and I’m like “OKAY SO FOUR HANDFULS OF SHREDDED CHEESE.” It involves a certain amount of self-control lol. But something like the Whole 30 is easier for me in a way, because there’s just no cheese. I don’t have to self-regulate how much I’m putting in a dish. And I imagine keto is the same way for many because sometimes just following rules is easier.

    • gbut says:

      Processed meat is on WHO’s carcinogen list, along with asbestos and smoking tobacco.

      Not to mention what it does to your body, your kidneys in particular, to consume such big amounts of animal protein. My friend swore up and down keto is the best diet ever, until she started pi$$ing blood.

      • Meemow says:

        Keto doesn’t mean eating processed meat. I lost 60lb on keto and my proteins were chicken and beef. Not processed meats.

        Also, keto is a moderate protein diet, which helps maintain lean muscle mass. If your friend ate so much protein that it affected her kidneys, she was not following the keto macros properly.

      • Kitten says:

        Not to mention the fact that eating less meat is literally the best thing you can do for the environment. I eat a predominantly plant-based diet and I never feel like I’m missing out on anything.

      • KidV says:

        If people are going to bash this way of eating, they need to actually learn about what they’re bashing so they at least sound somewhat intelligent while doing it.

      • KidV says:

        My comment wasn’t supposed to land here. It was more a general comment towards Jillian.

        Didn’t want you to think it was aimed you gbut.

      • Anatha. A says:

        You know what is also on the WHO carcinogen list? Oxygen and sunlight. Most things can cause cancer when consumed in excess. It is always about moderation. Eating a lot of meat is definitely bad. In moderate amounts, it isn’t (at least when it is about cancer).

  3. Lindy says:

    I mean, I’m honestly a believer that people absolutely have to do what’s best for their bodies, in consultation with their doctors. That said, it was my dad (a Harvard trained oncologist) who first started me thinking about an extremely low-carb way of eating. He had done a lot of research and reading and decided to try it himself. He’s always been fit and healthy but in his 50sv he found his energy levels were lower and he couldn’t get rid of ten lbs. He decided based on his understanding of nutrition that super low carb was the way to go. That was 15 years ago and he’s never looked back.

    I had a baby 8 months ago at 41 and it’s been much harder to get back into shape than it was with my first (9 years ago so it’s no surprise). I just stopped breastfeeding and had a checkup with my OBGYN on Monday. She suggested a super low carb diet. That’s actually how I lost weight and got back into shape after my first, but I didn’t know that’s what it was. I just knew that when I ate a lot of starchy things I felt sluggish and tired. I cut that stuff out and ate that way pretty much until I got pregnant again this last time.

    It really does mean not eating carbs pretty much as a constant thing and I think that’s definitely hard. It’s also the case that when you’ve been eating low carb for years, you can have the occasional (and I mean rare, like 2 or 3 times a year) carb and not cause problems. After six months of eating that way I really didn’t even feel a big lack.

    All of that long winded post is just to say that I appreciate what Michaels is saying and I think it would be awesome if her approach helped everyone, but the science shows that low carb can benefit a lot of people. Bodies are different. They need different things. If her approach worked for everyone then we wouldn’t have an obesity epidemic.

    • Esmom says:

      Thanks for sharing your story. I also had trouble losing the last few pounds after my second baby and what finally worked was reducing the overall amount I ate, not reducing carbs. In fact I ate (and still eat) a lot of carbs and I’m also a vegetarian.

      Also, I don’t think we have an obesity epidemic because people are eating carbs. It’s a lot more complicated than that.

      I don’t mean to knock your and your dad’s approach, just sharing an alternative perspective.

      • Lindy says:

        Oh, I completely agree that the obesity epidemic is complicated and much more related to systemic poverty, food deserts, lack of access to fresh produce and capitalism squeezing too much time out of everyone’s schedules to prepare food. I’m a working mom of two with a supportive husband who contributes equally to household and kid stuff and we’re both often worn out with the constant effort to get quality food on the table.

        I totally don’t want to oversimplify. But it’s also true that those other factors I mentioned also often lead people to eat more carbs since they’re faster and easier in many cases.

        I’m just sharing my story and like I said, bodies are different and need different things!

      • Tigerlily says:

        The obesity epidemic? My two cents is that our lives are less physically demanding. I am 59 and when I was a child we walked approx. 6 blocks to school, then home for lunch, back to school then home again. Plus playing outside at recess & after school. Mom baked cookies so we had the odd cookie. We ate carbs (I know….children have growing bodies)-toast or porridge for breakfast, soup & cheese sandwich for lunch, meat/potato/veg for supper, plus always a plate of bread to go with supper. Usually dessert was fruit but sometimes ice cream. The kicker though is that chocolate bars, potato chips & soda were not a daily item. Sometimes on Saturday if Dad’ had had a good week at work, he would pick up a 6 pack of coke, some chips & we would have a glass of coke each and chips. Big treat. Now it seems that soda is a common daily beverage. And everyone drives everywhere, children chauffeured two blocks to school and back. Then they sit and play video games instead of playing outside.

        I think there has to be some middle ground and just a sensible healthy diet. My daughter in law is so afraid of having fat children that rather than letting her baby breast feed, she expressed her breast milk and put in a bottle so she could monitor how much baby got. Ridiculous.

        For those who think a vegan diet is kinder to the earth than meat. You’re clueless. Take a look at all the inputs to grow the plant based items & all the refining the food needs before it hits the shelves.

    • Bettyrose says:

      Lindy,
      Just to clarify, you’re referring specifically to starchy carbs and not fruit, right?

      • Lindy says:

        BettyRose, the first time I started eating that way was 9 years ago before keto was a big thing and so I didn’t even have a plan or anything I followed–I was trying to eat more intuitively and figure out what made me feel better and lose the extra baby weight after breastfeeding ended. My dad had actually done a lot of research before that but he was my dad so I usually just rolled my eyes when he started to talk about it 🙂

        That first time I did still eat some fruits. Now, though, I find that I just do better with as little sugar as possible. I eat berries, though.

      • bettyrose says:

        Lindy,
        That’s interesting. My SO is diabetic, so he’s not supposed to eat much fruit, but he has a couple apples and/or oranges each day, which seem to have very little impact on his blood sugar levels. Ditto for potatoes (which I mentioned below). Refined carbs of any kind tho
        . . . Based on the differences I see with him when he is or isn’t being good about avoiding bread, pasta, etc., I am very suspicious of refined carbs and try to avoid them.

      • North of Boston says:

        BR, when you start getting into diabetes and insulin resistance, it can be very different for different people, depending on how the metabolic pathways function in their particular bodies. (I’ve read that there are something like 10-21 different dysfunctions that express themselves as what we call ‘diabetes’ And for individuals, it can vary based on the time of day, their stress levels, their overall health, what their recent meals, activities have been – all things that impact and are impacted by the endocrine system.

        The people I know who manage it well over years focus on testing, monitoring how different foods meals, exercise routines, etc impact THEIR blood sugar. They don’t tend to proselytize about any particular eating practice, because they know each person’s body will react differently – to complex carbs, simple carbs, high protein, low fat, etc etc.

        What I’m trying to say is don’t base your meal choices on how someone else responds to certain foods. Listen to your own body.

      • Bettyrose says:

        North of Boston,
        Refined carbs are bad for everyone and should be consumed in moderation. My point about their impact on a diabetic is that it’s like time lapse photography. You see the negative results occuring faster.

    • tback says:

      Speaking strictly for the purpose of weight loss, one study just found that low fat and low carb diets netted the same results.

      https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2018/02/low-fat-or-low-carb-its-a-draw-study-finds.html

      • Zip says:

        THIS. For the vast amount of people it’s just calories in vs. calories out. One can also loose weight on eating chocolate and pizza as long as they’re in a caloric deficit. The question is just if it is sustainable. The food itself is secondary at best.

      • bettyrose says:

        Sustainable is a big factor, though. I guess if you’re young and bursting with energy, maybe a very limited diet of pizza & chocolate would suffice for weight loss, but at some point/age most of us are not going to lose weight without also putting in deliberate exercise, and I can’t imagine having the energy for that on a junk food diet (let along being mentally alert at work).

      • Bettyrose says:

        Posted in wrong place.

  4. Emily says:

    I have friends doing the diet too, and like most diets, it delivers results but I don’t see it as sustainable. You’re depriving your body of an entire group of foods that it needs, and animal proteins aren’t healthy in super large quantities.

    • hkk says:

      Vegan and vegetarian keto exists, just FYI for everyone.

      • isabelle says:

        Tried Vegan Keto and it messed up my hormones (periods lasting about 2 weeks) and gained about 15 pounds. It isn’t for everyone.

    • LadyMTL says:

      I’ve never tried any of these diets (unless you consider eating less and moving more to be one) but one of my friends has been on the Paleo diet for a while now and she loves it. She said it took her a while to adjust – especially considering she has 2 daughters who aren’t Paleo – but now she has no regrets.

      Mind you, she’s always been a big meat eater and was never that much of a carb-lover like me…if you tried to take away my baguettes or freshly baked bagels, we’d have issues hahaha.

    • Kitten says:

      I have a couple cousins who are doing it and that is at least partly why I stay off of Facebook these days. So annoying.

      • Lindy says:

        I ditched FB after the 2016 election (it was causing way too much stress and misery for me) so I luckily don’t have to deal with all of that. But even as someone who eats keto and has for years and loves it, I’m baffled at the need people have to try to shout about it from the rooftops and argue with anyone who isn’t on board. Like… why is that a thing?

        If someone asks or the topic comes up I’ll share my story. But have zero interest in forcing others to hear about it. Much less browbeat anyone about it. Hopefully your cousins will chill out with that soon, Kitten!

      • Kitten says:

        @ Lindy, yeah I’m totally with you on FB. I am rarely if ever on it these days. It’s such a problematic platform and I simply don’t feel safe posting on there.

        But yeah EXACTLY what you said about being so public about diets. It’s just so annoying. It’s like when my boss comes over to me and says he did 30 min on the stairmaster. I mean, good for you I guess but why are you telling me this? Why do you need people to validate what you are (presumably) doing for yourself? Just so odd to me…

        Anyway, I’m really happy that the keto is working for you, Lindy.

    • Felicia says:

      If one thinks about it from an evolutionary point of view, our ancestors (or at least those whose ancestors came from places with winter) probably spent several months a year in ketosis. And then also probably “fattened up” during the spring, summer and fall on a diet that would have shifted to far higher carb availability.

      • Chris says:

        I believe people should do whatever works for them under supervision of a doctor or dietician. Most people here are being reasonable, but this is directed towards all of the people out there who are taking these diets as gospel and shilling them on tv. That all being said it grinds my gears whenever people think these diets are all how ancient people ate food. It’s not. Different populations throughout the world had vastly different diets. None of the fruits, veggies, or grains eaten now existed in their current form thousands of years ago. Paleo and keto is a marketing gimmick, it’s not at all accurate to “humans natural diets” because theres no one such thing. I’m not saying there is no value to those diets or that they dont work for people, but I would hope people take these claims with a grain of salt and stop making assumptions about “ancient peoples.” Dont drag them into this. Dont assume they didn’t have nutritional deficiencies and diseases either.

      • Jaded says:

        Our ancestors also died by the time they were in their twenties or thirties. They suffered from osteoporosis, rotten teeth and a multitude of other preventable conditions. The healthiest diet that has stood up to decades of scrutiny is the Mediterranean diet – i.e. low fat proteins (fish, poultry), good fats (olive, avocado, grapeseed oils) along with complex carbs and lots of legumes, nuts and fresh veggies. Ditch the sugar and processed food. I’ve followed it for decades and have maintained a healthy weight as I’ve aged (I’m 66), work out almost every day, have lots of energy and look much younger than my current age.

      • Chris says:

        @jaded I completely agree about the Mediterranean diet and getting regular exercise. Theres no hidden secret. Dont eat too much processed foods, eat a balanced diet with plenty of plants. There are no evil foods. Dont buy into marketing ploys. We can definitely learn plenty of diet ideas from our ancestors. I am just wary of anyone who marches in and says “milk is bad for you because some of our ancestors didn’t eat it.” That’s not accounting for the fact that it’s not milk that is bad, it’s the way the food industry produces that milk that removes the nutrients. Also, yes our ancestors survived BECAUSE they could consume milk.

        Our ancestors didn’t die at the age of 30, that number pops up because it’s the median age not the lifespan. It takes into account the incredibly high infant mortality rate. So if you lived past the age of 1 you were likely to live well into your 60s and 70s. In hunter gatherer groups. Cavities didn’t really exist until intensive agriculture of grains. The sugar in grains caused cavities. I dont know about hunter gatherers getting osteoporosis, I haven’t heard of that. I would believe it became common in more modern times.

      • Veronica S. says:

        Milk has plenty of nutritional value in that it has fats, proteins, disaccharides, and various vitamins in it. The pasteurization process doesn’t inherently alter that – what it does is make it decidedly safer to drink because it removes pathogens. The reason it isn’t good for some people is because of lactose intolerance. Mammals are naturally evolved to lose their lactose-digesting capability by adolescence and adulthood. Certain Western and African populations retained the ability to drink it because of a genetic mutation, which was ultimately favored by evolution to stick around because, hey, more food = greater ability to survive. Our ancestors survived well enough into later decades of their life if they survived infancy and childhood, which is where most of the danger lie.

        Don’t be fooled by the traditional image of hunter-gatherers, by the way – our primary diets were likely more carb-heavy when possible. Hunting was far less likely to produce sustainable outcomes. It’s the gatherers – i.e. the women – who really produced the bounty in pre-agricultural society.

        Perfectly universal diets do not exist, and it would be unlikely to do so given the extensive diversity of human genetics and the biosphere we inhabit. The Mediterranean diet has fallen victim to plenty of scrutiny in recent years with numerous errors found in the original studies – enough that big one people were toting around as the definitive answer got pulled from the New England Journal of science. The reality is that we honestly just don’t have a clear answer. All we know is that our bodies are powerful machines – it can turn almost anything it can digest into fuel for survival. There’s really no such thing as “non-nutritious” food unless your body physically cannot digest it, i.e. cellulose and its ilk. What people really mean when they say “nutritious,” I suspect, is “foods that make it easier to stay thinner.” And even that’s proving to be a more complicated issue than we ever imagined.

      • Felicia says:

        @Chris @Jaded: My comment about the environment that our winter-suffering ancestors evolved in was not to “tout” any particular diet, but to point out that being in the state of ketosis was a natural part of the life cycle of those people. As was packing on the pounds for a portion of the year. The availability of carbs vs proteins seasonally. There isn’t much green stuff around under 3 feet of snow.

        Even what we think of as the “Mediterranean diet” is more like “The summertime Mediterranean diet”, at least as concerns the European side of the Med. And the GLARING omission on the list of “traditional food” is pork, with the obvious exception of those countries who don’t eat pork for religious reasons. Pork, be it raised or wild boar, at least in the Med place my husband’s family is from, is THE staple animal protein, generally in the form of charcuterie. That probably started out of self-defense against the wild boar population which will devastate all of your crops if you don’t control it.

    • isabelle says:

      I have kept my weight off after following Keto for 3 plus years. Only did Keto for about 3 months, went back to my normal diet just with less sugar and haven’t been on it since. Still follow intermittent fasting. It is the only part of the diet I still follow. Actually have to eat to maintain (can lose too much rather than gain) at this point.

    • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

      Protein macros in keto is about 20-25% of total calories- about 70% is fats- and we are not solely looking at saturated fats. Think olives, avocados, fatty fish, nuts & seeds. I started keto, but after a few months, relaxed a bit on the carbs by adding some fruit and root veggies like carrots. I still don’t eat sugary things, nor do I eat grains or potatoes. It is sustainable and I am very happy.

  5. Tw says:

    This needs to be said, over and over and louder! Keto is like a cult and it’s extremely unhealthy and not sustainable.

  6. OriginalRose says:

    I’d love to know what ingredients botox and filler injections have. I don’t mean it in a bitchy way but I’ve just always wondered how people who clearly have them but preach about purity of food (coughGoopcough) justify it to themselves y’know?

    • Tw says:

      Most fun fillers are composed of hylueronic acid, a polysaccharide that is highly polzarized and attracts water. Hylueronic acid is present in our sybovial fluid, cartilage and connective tissue. The “filling” is due to the attraction of moisture and water and not to the filler itself. Hylueronic acid is also used in many facial serums and lotions and even taken orally.

  7. Notyouraveragehousewife says:

    Our daughter was on the Ketogenic Diet about 10 years ago to help manage her epilepsy and it was an absolute nightmare! For all of us! Her food had to be weighed to the ounce and she was constantly hungry and irritable. She was suffering and I’m not being dramatic. She chewed her thumbnail off from hunger pangs. I’m sure (well, I hope) that it’s not like that for adults that do it to lose weight but after seeing what my daughter went through, it seems like absolute torture.

    • Esmom says:

      Yes, my friend’s daughter had the same experience. She was so sick from the ketogenic diet she was hospitalized for a while. It did stop her seizures, though, which was the point since meds did not. Her parents tried every med first before the diet, knowing how difficult and traumatic it would be. So I also kinda marvel that people willingly do this if they don’t need to.

      • Here or there says:

        It really isn’t traumatic. I was keto for a solid 4 months and was fine. Slept fine. Skin looked great. No constant hunger pains. Where it gets problematic is social life – which for a kid to be constantly tempted with sweets and such I imagine would be hard.

      • Esmom says:

        Yes I imagine it’s different for an adult than a three year old who has no idea why she has to eat these things that are making her sick (as I said she was hospitalized because at first she had severe diarrhea and vomiting as her body adjusted to the diet) and why she can’t eat what the rest of the family is eating. That’s on top of dealing with seizures so traumatic was a pretty accurate way to describe their experience.

      • Mel M says:

        @esmom-agreed that it can be traumatic for the exact reasons you said. These kids aren’t choosing this.

      • isabelle says:

        You are confusing the mass Keto trend with a diet specifically targeted for Epilepsy. It is highly more restricted & controlled than so called normal Keto. While it is the same diet, concept.. the restrictions & methodology are different & the calories a well.

    • Mel M says:

      My daughter was also on Keto for her epilepsy from 9mo to about 2 1/2 and it was stressful and gross to me. I had never heard of it before and honestly thought it was just for epilepsy until I saw people who frequent the gym talking about it. Adding all the butter to her puréed veggies and weighing everything, ugh. Her first birthday cupcakes was so gross I can tell you that. The frosting was basically a hunk of butter. It helped her seizures for a while but she we ended up weaning her two years later. By that time she was only on formula because she just couldn’t get all her nutrition from solids. She was on a special keto formula (ketocal) and we had to add MCT oil to get the ratio up when it seemed to stop working as well. We had a plan to wean gradually by adding in regular formula little by little because coming off it cold turkey is dangerous for obvious reasons. She ended up getting a stomach bug at the beginning of the wean and started refusing to eat and then would throw up anything she did. She also had to take a supplement called L-Carnatine while on the diet and when you don’t get enough loss of appetite is a side effect, so since she wasn’t eating or getting her meds that we would put in her formula it was a perfect storm. We ended up in the hospital for refusal to eat, and because of the biproducts that keto makes in your body she was acidic. I won’t get into all of her levels or anything but she had to stay for two weeks to get all of her levels back to normal. That’s the longest she’s ever been in the hospital to this day and she’s almost seven now. They took her off keto in the hospital right away because they could manage the seizures and levels. She came home with an NG tube because her appetite was still not back to normal though. Anyway, Keto doesn’t give me happy thoughts.

    • Ann says:

      I’m epileptic and never heard of using this diet for seizures until reading this story just now. I’m glad to read it works but also feel kind of sad for the kids to miss out on carbs. Think of how tricky birthday parties must be for them and their parents. No pizza or cake or juice/soda: all the fun carbs are eliminated, which must be a bummer.

      CBD is also showing a lot of promise with treating epilepsy in children and it seems a lot easier than doing a special diet. I was able to buy CBD bottled water in Oregon over the holidays and it blew my mind. It was in a grocery store with all the other bottled water and it was cheap! I personally love CBD as a pain reliever and anti-anxiety aide but it doesn’t do anything for my seizures so I still have to take Keppra. Still, if I were the parent of an epileptic I think I would prefer CBD or meds over a diet like Keto. I know people have to do what they need to do and it’s different for everyone but it seems extreme to me to push a diet like this onto kids, and adults for that matter.

      • Mel M says:

        My daughter is actually on both keppra and CBD oil. She was in the trial for epidiolex which is the first CBD oil to be FDA approved. It’s just now starting to roll out so technically she’s still in the trial’s open label phase because we still have to report to them and she still has to go for visits and physicals for it. We were able to wean her off of one of the first line meds she had been taking for a while that can cause side effects that are permanent.

      • Esmom says:

        The diet is used in epilepsy as a last resort, and under the close supervision of a doctor. At least in my friend’s daughter’s case. They tried every med and intervention available and nothing stopped the multiple seizures she was having every day. The diet finally did. Almost 20 years later, she is ok but disabled because of cognitive challenges related to the seizures.

  8. Snowflake says:

    I always resisted dieting and tried to exercise instead. I never really got the results i wanted esp as I got older. So i unwillingly decided to try counting calories. I downloaded the lose it app. It’s free and makes it pretty easy to count calories. The only time it’s a pain is when you are doing a receipe with a lot of ingredients. But if it tells you calories per serving you can manually add the calories. I also downloaded the emeals app. That one’s not free. I want to say its like $30 every 6 months. You can pick out receipes, make a shopping list on your phone. You can also print it out or using the app, go online to buy your groceries and even pay and schedule a time to pick it up from a grocery store, i used Walmart. It was really great cause i hate running around the store, trying to find something. And they bring it out to your car! Now I’ve been doing the calorie counting for a few years now just cause it works. I never realized how many calories were in some things and the app helped me to be more aware and know what to avoid.

    • Kitten says:

      It is literally the only way that I’ve been able to lose weight over the years: cutting cals. I’m already a really active person, so the exercise doesn’t so much for me. It’s all just a numbers game: calories in/calories out.

      Also, people have a tendency to GROSSLY overestimate how many calories they burn during exercise. If you want to lose weight, you MUST end the day with a calorie deficit. That means that just because you did 45 min on the elliptical doesn’t mean you can have four slices of pizza for dinner. I mean, you CAN, but you won’t lose weight.

      • dlc says:

        That’s why my fitness pal didn’t work for me! I’m pretty sure it was overestimating my calories burned in workouts, so I would look at my calorie goal and say ooh, I can still have a slice of cheese! I joined weight watchers and lost my last 10 lbs in 2 months.

    • nb says:

      Same here Snowflake and Kitten. I have never been a dieter and have always been about 20 pounds heavier than I should be. Honestly it doesn’t bother me that much which is why I’ve never dieted, but I reached a high weight last year and none of my clothes fit so I said enough is enough. I tried counting calories for the first time at the age of 33. I was shooting for 1500-1750 calories per day and was being very strict about it and lost 12 pounds in 2 1/2 months without exercising. I honestly just never realized how many calories are in some things, but now that I’m aware it becomes like second nature sticking to your calories for the day. Over the holidays I stopped and gained it all back but I just started again this week.

      I try to eat 400-500 calories per meal and a few low calorie snacks in between. I have hypoglycemia so I have to eat small meals every 4-5 hours so this ‘diet’ is perfect for me. At first it was hard and I was hungry a lot because I was seriously overeating before but after a week or two my body got used to it. Plus it really helps me eat healthier (a lot of veggies, whole grains and lean meats or fish, and it reminds me to just say no to the random office sweets that are always around) and saves me money since I meal prep everything on the weekend and don’t eat out for lunch or dinner like I do when I’m not counting calories. Another great thing is that my husband is on board and does it with me. I make his portions a little bigger but he’s very supportive of being healthier with me. I do still allow myself 1 cheat day per week so I don’t go totally crazy from lack of pizza though!

  9. detritus says:

    Your brain actually works (or uses food) differently when you’re on a keto diet.
    When you remove carbs (your brains preferential food) it has to go into ketosis (hence keto) to produce an appropriate energy source for your brain. Ketosis allows for fat metabolism at a higher rate that non ketosis, but this may also be achieved other ways (caffeine w no sugar also increases preferential fat burning for example, fasting and post work out ketosis exist as well).

    The diet version has a lower concentration of ketone bodies (brain food when carbs aren’t available) in the blood than ketoacidosis which is highly dangerous, but it’s a spectrum of the same thing. It will also change the way you smell, your breath in particular.

    I don’t think that forcing your body into a secondary coping mechanism (unless for medical reasons like epilepsy) for long periods of time is advisable, but that’s my gut instinct. At the end of the day, everyone has to chose what works for them.

    I can’t leave without the tie in, so, it does make me sad that we are so focused on weight though. I think diets like this show that for most people, almost all people, weight loss isn’t actually about health. It’s just purely about weight loss and the glorification of low body fat.

    • Here or there says:

      There’s plenty of arguments that it isn’t a secondary coping mechanism. It isn’t first, best, latter secondary, but more either/ or. Phinney and Volek discuss indigenous cultures that survived on high fat, low carbohydrate diets. Part of human evolution is credited with our ancestors eating the fattiest parts of animals (brains, organ meats over muscle meat which is mostly consumed today).

      As a molecular biologist, I took some time to read the actual science behind this stuff. It makes sense. Whether or not it works is up to an individual – how much of a lifestyle change are they willing to make. I fluctuate – sometimes I want all the carbs, other times I go back to a low-inflammatory diet, which then naturally shifts into keto. This will last for a few weeks, and then I shift again. Consequently, when I’m in keto mode, the weight falls off and my skin looks amazing.

      I’m really tired of people who don’t read up and do the research just judging and parroting headlines from news articles (not you here). It just adds to the cacophony. People just need to butt out. Don’t want to do keto? Fine? Don’t know anything about it either? Then just shut your face already.

      • detritus says:

        Can you hear me from that high horse, or do you need a stool?

        I’ve read the research, also a microbiologist, but also with a graduate public health degree if we are dick measuring of non related degrees. My impression is different from yours, which I even noted as non scientific fact because the jury is out, weirdly you’ve presented your ideas as scientific consensus. There’s a much better way to discuss differing scientific opinion.

        I’m really tired of people thinking they are the only educated or smart person in the room, and the condescension is completely unnecessary.

        This is part of the reason I quit CB, originally. I appreciate the reminder.

      • Here or there says:

        Wow, ok. You’re mighty sensitive. I wrote: not you here.
        I don’t think I was being disrespectful or condescending, but go ahead and march on out. I certainly won’t be needing that pole.

      • detritus says:

        Maybe cut out the humble bragging and positioning other opinions as uneducated, and you won’t be misconstrued.

      • Erinn says:

        So I assume you’ve read the research on how ketosis can trigger ketoacidosis. And the literature outlining the risk of heart failure, kidney stones, etc etc.

        Nobody is saying it won’t cause weight loss or that it doesn’t make sense in a literal way. The issue is that there’s so much more added risks to doing this diet that are absolutely not worth it for the average person. Someone who is morbidly obese that needs to lose weight quickly…under physician supervision can benefit. But most people AREN’T consulting doctors or nutritionists and are blind to the dangers that this diet can bring.

      • detritus says:

        To be fair to here or there, I didn’t read the (not you). Either I was already too annoyed, or it was an edit. Either way, I need to take at least 10% off my attitude.

      • Kitten says:

        I mean, people have a right to have an opinion about a fad diet. Instead of telling people to shut their face you could just, you know, NOT read the comment section when the subject is keto.

      • Beth says:

        Whoa,@Here or there, you seem sensitive. I have uncontrollable epilepsy, and my doctor told me about this diet and explained that it works for some people but causes bad, bad problems for others, just like any other diet or medication and it probably would do no good for me since there is a long history of heart disease in my family. It sounds like @detritus read some research and was just giving her opinion. What kind of person tells someone to shut their face when they’re just giving their opinion about a diet? If you’re going to get so pissed and rude, take @kittens advice and don’t read comments about this diet

      • Tracym says:

        I like what you’re saying here. I also want to add that I think a lot of people don’t understand that on keto, you absolutely eat vegetables and can eat fruit if you work it in to your macros. As a lifestyle, it’s actually pretty easy and you can adjust carb levels to fit your activity levels. The “NO CARBS” is meant to be processed Carbs as in flour, pasta, also I avoid corn and beans but will have some occasionally.

        The black or white thinking is where you get into trouble. The way I look at and practice this lifestyle is to focus on getting my protein first, fat second, but, every meal is based on a huge salad. When you subtract fiber grams from carb grams, you could probably eat an entire tree (not just the trunk or leaves, the whole tree) and work that into a keto diet.

      • Here or there says:

        Per my original reply: “Don’t know anything about it either? Then just shut your face already.”

        I DID NOT say, “Know a ton about it? Then just shut your face.” There’s a big difference. Please take what I say in context.

        And @detritus, I definitely wrote “not you here.” It wasn’t an edit. I was truly not trying to be condescending.

      • KidV says:

        All I know is this Keto fad diet has been around longer than the farming of carbs. That puts the plant based diet more of a fad than Keto.

        And in my 25 years of being on low-carb/keto forums and in groups I’ve never, ever heard of ketosis ending in ketoacidosis.

    • Celebitchy says:

      This thread! You half made up there at the end.

      • detritus says:

        Lol, halfway is the truth, but since the misunderstanding is on my half, I think Here or There is good to go. My half’s what was needed.

        Nice to see you CB 😉

        .

  10. Ren says:

    Keto is not for everyone, but I’ve lost 145 pounds and my inflammatory markers have dropped. If I have a cheat meal, my inflammation and pain comes back. It does work well for those who have insulin resistance, Pcos, and and type 2 diabetes.

    I also recognize this is not a diet but a lifestyle change.

    Also, you don’t replace carbs with fat. You use fat to make you feel less hungry.

    • hkk says:

      I tried balanced diet, exercise and counting calories and it didn’t work. I was still gaining weight and was depressed. On vegetarian keto I’m a healthy weight and the depression and fatigue are gone.

      • Kat says:

        I agree hkk, the veg “keto” has helped with many ailments. Cutting out sugar and processed foods and actually having to plan meals–has made a huge difference in my inflammation. The “diet” is probably the trigger word here. It really is a lifestyle shift that either helps you or it doesn’t. To each his own. No need to be ugly to each other.

    • lucy2 says:

      I’m now watching what I eat because my blood sugar numbers were inching upwards. My doctor is very practical about it – no fad diets, just avoid sugar and flour as much as possible, drink lots of water, eat healthy fats, and some exercise 20 minutes a day.

      Lifestyle change is the best way to look at it, not ____ diet.

    • Berries says:

      Ok, but this makes ZERO sense to me. I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 1995 (they called it juvenile diabetes back then, and I was indeed a juvenile-7 years old). For the past twenty-odd years I’ve been taught that having ketones was a dangerous condition, serious enough to warrant staying home from work, school, what have you. Those little urine strips that people use to test and see if they are in a keto state? I used to have to get those by prescription, and if you got the dreaded highest result (the strip would turn an ungodly shade of fuschia) you got rushed to the hospital. Throws me off now every time I see them in CVS now marketed as diet tool. . .

      Anyway, NOW it’s suddenly a dream diet for diabetics and we don’t even worry about the ketoacidosis side of it? Not even my endocrinologists can give me straight answers. In addition, frustratingly, it seems like the only answers that exist are for Type IIs. More common, I get it, but I feel like we Type Is get completely ignored by the research and health communities. Odd, because we are more prone to complications due to the fact that we typically have the disease longer, and it’s often more “severe” because we make no insulin whatsoever. But that’s healthcare for profit for ya 👍🏻

      • Jaded says:

        I hear you Berries – my partner is Type 1 and he has to have carbs at every meal otherwise his blood sugar crashes. Believe me, nothing is more terrifying than seeing your loved one collapse and go into seizures with a sudden sugar crash. Type Ones have indeed been ignored by the medical community for the most part and have to spend a ton of money managing it. His insulin pump alone cost $7K. It will be decades before researchers finally develop a permanent cure.

      • blondie says:

        I’m a type 1 diabetic (for 10 years now) and I do the keto diet. It helps keep my blood sugar stable so no highs or lows. Ketosis is different than diabetic ketoacidosis…Ketosis just means your body is using fat as your fuel, while DKA is obviously very dangerous acidic state in conjunction with high blood glucose. If your’re interested there’s a book by Dr Bernstein, “The Diabetic Solution”, where it’s basically a keto diet…he’s type 1 himself.

      • Berries says:

        @blondie oh trust me – 25 yrs diabetic out of 31, I’ve definitely read every book! 🙂 of course Ketosis and ketoacidosis are two very different things, my points were more that a) THAT’S how behind care of the Type I community is, that you cant get a straight message about ketones (which are at the heart of both of the aforementioned states) and b) that I have a hard time trusting this as a solution because the line for most of my life has been ketones=Damaging and harbinger of death. There’s so damn little in the literature for Type ONE people, especially on long-term effects, and given that diabetes is all about the long term, it makes me very nervous that they tout this so loudly. Of course high protein/low carb-low starch nutrition is not going to make your blood sugar spike as much, but pushing your body into what is supposed to be a survival state for a sustained time on an already out of whack and strained body. . .my intuition just tells me we are going to look back on this and roll our eyes.

        And @jaded – I would not be shocked if they already have one-but look how much money they make off keeping us sick 🙁 and the costs just keep getting higher!

    • Anitas says:

      I had gestational diabetes and low carb high fat diet was the only way I could keep my blood glucose under control.

    • shanti says:

      Ive been on keto since just the start of dec .. not strict as im too slack for that but Ive easily given up sugar, and alcohol and lost nearly 7 kgs ,, I seem to have a bit of control over what I put in my mouth and no cravings, not even missing my beer in our tropical summer ,, surely that cant be bad ..

  11. Lizzie says:

    my MIL did this and lost a ton. then she re-added her usual servings of **FRUIT** and blew back up 15 lbs in about 2 months. it is literally the same thing that happened to my dad and 2 good friends who each lost over 70lbs on atkins 20 years ago. they lost fast and blew up fast when they re-added carbs. i get kidney stones so i will not be intentionally dehydrating and putting myself into ketosis thank you very much!

    • Myrtle says:

      Yep. Diets that you follow for X amount of time and then go off almost always fail to provide long term weight loss. I’m reading a terrific book called Why Diets Make Us Fat. Explains everything. If you go on keto for life (probably not a good idea for most people), you might maintain the loss. If you go off the keto diet and add carbs back in, you will regain the weight.

    • vesuvia says:

      Yes, modern fruit has been selectively bred over centuries and centuries to be as sweet as possible, which means it’s full of sugar. It’s also got lots of lovely vitamins and nutrients and whatnot, but one large banana has 31 grams of sugar-rich carbohydrates — more than a Snickers bar (26 grams). So, if sugar has been proven to be a problem for you, yes, you do need to watch how much fruit you consume.

      As for the general complaint that adding back in carbohydrates causes people to gain back the weight — of course it does, in the same way that if I lost weight by cutting out my regular tub of ice cream, adding that ice cream back in would cause me to gain the weight again.

      No one on keto is cutting out ALL carbs. If you do it right, you’re eating a lot of leafy greens etc. But what you won’t be eating are sugar-rich foods like bananas, mango, Snickers bars, ice cream, or baguettes (because, yep, starch breaks down into glucose very quickly in your body).

  12. Hunter says:

    I think the description people are using for the keto diet is the problem. No, carbs are not “bad,” and they are not “replaced” by fat.

    For an insulin-resistant person, the keto diet works wonders for resetting insulin sensitivity. Carbohydrates are limited (people love to give numbers, but the fact is, everyone is different,
    and an amount that promotes ketosis in one person is different for another) and should be consumed in the form of nutrient-dense greens and vegetation. Abundant healthy fats are incorporated after Western society’s long ridiculous war on anything fat (thanks Ancil Keyes!), and should, of course, not include trans fats.

    While a person without insulin resistance can get away with eating sugar and refined carbs occasionally without devastating effects, that’s just not the case for some of us, and so a diet that forces our bodies to burn stored energy is pretty great, and the added bonus of weight loss, energy and mental clarity is just the cherry on top!

    At the end of the day, any eating plan that forces your body to burn fat for fuel instead of glucose is considered ketogenic ( P.S. ketoacidosis is something different entirely), and sustainability depends on how balanced of a person one is and, you know, common sense.

    It’s just this particular diet’s turn to be demonized, and this woman is jumping on the bandwagon to stay relevant.

    • Tracym says:

      Thank you for saying this. I’ve even discussed this with my doctor and she thinks it’s a great way to go. But that’s for me and I adjust what I eat according to my preferences and what I can live with. The funny part is I have to make sure I eat enough because it’s so satisfying, I’m almost never hungry. But if Jillian Michaels can’t understand why someone might think this is a good idea, she ought to do a little bit of research into what it actually is rather than just spouting off with an uninformed statement as if it were fact.

  13. Steff says:

    You know what else was a terrible idea? The Biggest Loser. Make contestants lose weight at an unhealthy pace, working out 6+ hours a day, have a contest to see who loses the most in the least amount of time, all for them to gain the weight back and start off at square one because their bodies never got used to the sudden and intense lifestyle change.

    • Esmom says:

      Ha, very good point.

    • Here or there says:

      Yep. And who was that person screaming at those poor souls to pick themselves off the floor and work harder in the name of tough love? Oh yah…Jillian Michaels.

    • detritus says:

      Such a bad idea. They overwork them, cause too much weight loss too quickly, don’t provide coping mechanisms when out in real life… it’s bad.
      I think almost all biggest losers gain their weight back. Let me see if I can find the study.

      https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/6-years-after-the-biggest-loser-metabolism-is-slower-and-weight-is-back-up/
      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27136388

      Aha, yeah, the study actually showed that our current understanding of metabolism is flawed, or at least incomplete.

      “There used to be a mythology that if you just exercised enough you could keep your metabolism up, but that clearly wasn’t the case, these folks were exercising an enormous amount and their metabolism was slowing by several hundred calories per day”

    • sawshuh says:

      Not only did they not get used to the sudden and intense lifestyle change, it actually ruined their metabolism for (possibly) life.
      https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/6-years-after-the-biggest-loser-metabolism-is-slower-and-weight-is-back-up/

      (Edit: Just noticed detritus said the same thing after it refreshed when I commented!)

      • detritus says:

        Aha great minds and fools, yeah.

        Do you remember if Jillian ever commented on it?

      • Giddy says:

        My general feeling is that if Jillian promotes it I’m not interested.

      • Aren says:

        “Perhaps counterintuitively, participants whose metabolisms had slowed the most at the six-year point tended to have regained less weight.”
        I wish they had the answer to why that happened.

        Also this
        “But The Biggest Loser results are not uniformly dire, Hall said. On average, the group regained much of their weight but did maintain about 12 percent weight loss even after six years, had better cholesterol profiles, and none had developed diabetes during follow-up.”
        I wonder if they kept exercising or if it was something else.

      • lucy2 says:

        I listened to her podcast for a while, and it did sound like she had issues with a lot of aspects of the show. Her overall advice is pretty practical and good, but the extremes of Biggest Loser are always going to be a point against her.

      • Jaded says:

        It also plays havoc with your immune system if you exercise obsessively. When I was much younger I taught exercise classes at a local gym and was doing several a day. I lost weight and started catching every cold/flu/whatever going around, I was always sick. Then my doctor told me to cut back on the classes and get my weight back up or I would continue to get sick. Best advice I ever got.

      • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

        @Giddy- I have to agree. She’s just spouting off to reinforce her brand and availability for product endorsement. Persona non grata to me.

    • Mellie says:

      True…almost all of those poor people have gained their weight back and I can’t imagine what it does to their bodies.

    • SlightlyAnonny says:

      Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was scrolling down to say, “she may be right but she also was involved in the active promotion of eating disorders on the Biggest Loser so no, thank you.”

    • isabelle says:

      Exactly. Is Keto for everyone no? Does it work for some yes. Can it be bad for others yes. Is biggest loser a entertainment show with a load bad info & quick solutions for entertainment, 100%.

    • Sonia says:

      This!!!

  14. Bettyrose says:

    Potatoes are the best starchy carb. A million ways to prepare them without processed or refined ingredients. I picked up an air fryer you guys recommended in one of the affiliate posts, along with a potato slicer, and I’m loving my guilt free carbs.

  15. kellybean says:

    I’ve had anorexia and bulimia since I was 15(almost 20 years) and been in various levels of treatment for those years. I’ve seen many popular diets over those years and the Keto diet is hands down the trend to which I have seen the most opposition from doctors and nutritionists. Every one I encounter says categorically that they wouldn’t endorse Keto for any patient, even those in good health and without any history of an eating disorder.

    Sugar is about the only thing I will consume because I recognize my overall intake is too low that I would be even more at risk for fainting. As a result, I can’t speak from having any experience with Keto but in my support groups I have seen more women in various stages of recovery relapse, protracted and significant relapses, after following the diet with the intention of simply preventing weight gain. It’s just my observation that it has been far more destructive than South Beach, Paleo, etc. combined.

    • Kitten says:

      Take care of yourself, friend. Been there and it’s not easy.

    • Myrtle says:

      kellybean, I’m sorry to hear this. Do you know Tabitha Farrar? She is a fully recovered restricter with a wonderful blog and podcast that might help you. Also, Kathryn Hansen, author of Brain Over Binge, is doing great work. I recommend them both. xx

    • Rosie says:

      Kellybean, it must take immense strength just to deal with it day to day, I hope it will be in your past sometime soon. Kitten…keep going!! x

    • Jaded says:

      Been there briefly myself Kellybean, and my sister succumbed to it. Stay strong!

  16. Here or there says:

    How about people quit caring what diets people choose to follow.
    You know, you do you. I’ll do me. I think the keto diet is fine long term for those who choose to do it. There’s plenty of evidence of people with 100+ lbs to lose, and they do it successfully on keto.

    I dunno. How about celebrity trainers who partook in the Biggest Loser, which was a car crash of a TV show if there ever was one, have a nice tall glass of shut the f— up and let people get on with their lives however they choose?

    • Tw says:

      Except meat consumption is a major contributor to climate change. We should be cutting back not eating more. Diets like this affect everyone.

      • KidV says:

        So is the farming, processing and shipping/trucking of plant based and processed foods. Not to mention the slave labor hired to work these farms and the rain forests cut down to make room for more farms. The chemicals used to fertilize these farms and making their way into the water supply of surrounding communities isn’t good, and making workers sick. Diets like this affect everyone.

      • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

        For clarification, if you are referring to an increased protein diet, that would be Atkins. Keto recommends 20-25% of your total calories from protein.

        I tried keto, it’s not for me. I relaxed my carbs and added some low-sugar fruits (berries ) and veggies that I like (to include more than just dark green leafies, asparagus and the like). I do avoid sugary foods and grains.

        I focus on low-glycemic index foods. It works for me, it’s satisfying, it provides variety, and I don’t have those big hunger pangs or swings.

  17. Valiantly Varnished says:

    Keto is just dumb. I don’t get why people stull cant grasp the simple concept of a balanced diet. Any diet telling you to eliminate whole food groups isn’t sustainable.

    • Annabel says:

      I’ve heard the “not sustainable” thing before, and to be honest I don’t really understand it. I’ve been on the keto diet for years. I feel good and when I get blood work done, the numbers are excellent. I’d eat a balanced diet if I could (god I miss toast) but in my personal experience, going without carbs isn’t that big a deal when the alternative is feeling tired and sick.

    • OriginalLala says:

      I don’t quite understand Keto (granted I haven’t the slightest interest in it either) but I cut out a whole food group (meat, and dairy) years ago and it’s totally sustainable for me..but I think it’s because my decision was not based on wanting to lose weight but on ethics, it’s made sticking to it much easier.

    • Christina says:

      Valienly Varnished, a lot of people are trained to eat by parents who may not have the knowledge. Some who are in the position to study and work on their health And food sustainability at the same time do, and that may not work. I’ve been in pain for years and have blown 4 lumbar discs in my lower spine from years of helping my disabled grandmother get in and out of the folding bed we slept in that was in the living room of a 2 bedroom house near Watts in Los Angeles. I am now a professional in a major, health conscious region, and I ate what was supposed to be “healthy” for years. I’m 50, been diagnosed with hypertension and high cholesterol, and I’m allergic to the statins, so all I’ve got to stop a heart attack is diet. I was introduced to Keto by a vegetarian friend, but I started with meat. I did see some changes with Keto, but still tested poorly. Someone else told me about Plant Paradox to lower my cholesterol and within days ALL of the pain in my body VANISHED. I didn’t drop weight on Keto. I have lost almost 20 lbs in the last few months that have been with me for 17 years. Doctors and nutritionists for years recommended that I eat stuff that was slowly killing me. I am now finally able to accomplish what the doctors have said I should have been able to do given all of the work I’ve done to maintain being able to walk. I used to be on a cane off and on from my early 30’s to my late 40’s. I have done yoga and walk frequently and have taken stairs instead of elevators for 20 years, before and after neurosurgery, so that I can be able to walk and not end up in the wheelchair I have been warned about since I was 17 years old. Please understand that many of us follow what is recommended. I’ve never fad dieted or I’d be really big. I’ve always fought to be able to stay walking. I wanted to skip with my toddler, but couldn’t. I have the privilege to buy the right sustainable foods and healthy things and local fish and shit, but a lot of people can’t do that and just don’t have the time to figure it out because, at least in the US, we hate poor people.

    • Wendy says:

      But… the diet *doesn’t* tell you to eliminate a food group. People on keto eat carbs, in vegetable form and even in fruit if they want to do so. What people on keto *don’t* eat is bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar…

  18. BendyWindy says:

    A set of my in laws jump on every fad diet and always recommend it to us. Usually a few gentle rebuffs are enough, but they have been giving us the hard sell and s ton of grief about Keto for over a year. Plus, I feel like this was popular years ago. Why the resurgence?

    My diet could be better, but my idea of a good diet is lean meat, veggies, and a moderate amount of grains. And no soda. That’s the killer for me.

  19. Doodle says:

    I did a Keto Diet that was highly promoted and popular in my neighborhood. I lost a ton, I looked great then when I stopped losing my “counselor” dropped me like a hot potato and I gained it all back. This diet was a major contributing factor that lead to my eating disorder. I think the Keto Diet is horrific.

    • Myrtle says:

      🙁 I hope you are better now, Doodle. There’s lots of awesome, non-diet support out there now, such as the blogs I mentioned above… Be well. xx

  20. Notanotherpostcard says:

    She says don’t eat processed grains, so that eliminates flours and things like pasta, pizza, bread, cookie, cakes , etc. So she probably gets her carbs from potatoes, veggies, fruits and other whole foods.

    She is basically promoting the primal diet!

    I think Keto (without eating fake sugar sweetened crap) is great short-term for weight loss. Amd think low-carb/real foods is a perfect forever diet. We don’t need processed carbs!

    • Arpeggi says:

      I think that by processed grains, she’s mostly talking about high-fructose corn syrup and stuff like that (things that are present in lots of pre-made food) and not flour (which is dried up grains that are crushed) and things we use flour for. Which in that case, she’s totally right.

  21. Jen says:

    I would take her opinion a lot more seriously if more than a handful of the contestants she trained on the biggest loser had maintained their loss and she hadn’t been busted for giving them weight loss “supplements.”

    • Valerie says:

      People got seriously sick on that show. They pushed them to the extreme for those weigh-ins. This one guy said he peed blood, he was so dehydrated.

  22. sawshuh says:

    When I was 15 and 110 lbs, I was told by my doctor to try the Sugar Busters diet. Over the years, I “passed” many non-fasting blood glucose tests, even though I’d feel weak and raid an entire candy aisle trying to fix it. Two decades later, a doctor tested my A1C and it was pre-diabetic levels. He didn’t offer up any advice and just handed me a prescription for metformin.

    After I moved to a new area, I talked to my new doctor about not being on medication anymore. He said I could do that if I went low carb. I would say that I follow more of an Atkins (under 40 net) approach to carbs, but often have to look up keto recipes because it’s so trendy. My health has greatly improved. I plan to slowly reintroduce some carbs (up to maybe 100/day) after I hit my specific goals, but I’m currently no longer considered pre-diabetic.

    • Aren says:

      Congratulations! A few months ago I was misdiagnosed as diabetic (had a kidney infection instead), which made me realize that most days I was eating cake for each meal, so I tried and failed to change my diet. I reduced the sugar but need tons of carbs (beans, flaxseed, flour) to not feel hungry, I gained weight and now I’m miserable.
      I also read that exercise is super important in preventing diabetes, don’t know if you do exercise but I hope you continue to do well.

  23. Valerie says:

    But no one’s getting rid of protein. And low carb isn’t no-carb, which I think is extreme and unsustainable, yet some people do it.

  24. Annabel says:

    “I eat carbs all the time and I’m the picture of health.”

    Cool story, Jillian. When I ate carbs, by which I mean steel-cut oats and whole grain bread in moderation, my blood glucose routinely spiked to diabetic levels and I was debilitated by constant hypoglycemic crashes. It’s almost like different people have different dietary needs depending on their individual health situations!

    • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

      I, too, had swings in blood sugar, along with awful hunger pangs, and acid accompanying those pangs. I slashed carbs to veg (& berries here and there), and, voila! Gone is the acid, the excessive hunger and fatigue due to low blood sugar. To each her own. Sometimes experimentation is necessary to find your best food maintenance plan. Occasionally, I will taste a sweet, and usually end up spitting it out when I realize I don’t like it anymore. My mother was a savory vs. sweet person, but she is a carb monster- however, it works for her. She’s a generally well 81 year old.

  25. DS9 says:

    I’m not sure why anyone thought the drastic measures featured in The Biggest Loser were a good idea either, yet there she was.

    Old girl can miss me. Keto probably isn’t good but neither was that easy nothing, run till you drop for a television series business either

  26. me says:

    I feel that Keto only works for disciplined people who don’t cheat.

    I’m a cheater and crave carbs. If I get into ketosis, then cheat like I usually do and eat a bunch of toast or a cinnamon roll after a 5 mile run – then I basically have just been eating horribly between the Keto food and cheat meal.

    I run almost daily and usually run and do an 1 hour long work out class later in the day and I just can’t do this level of cardio without carbs. Yes I’ve been told if I did Keto, my body would eventually get into Ketosis and I would have the energy to sustain my cardio levels but it’s just not worth it to me.

    Also, what about those of us with high cholesterol levels? I have high levels of HDL and I am concerned the impact of a keto diet on my HDL levels.

  27. teehee says:

    …Because we’re not genetically meant to eat processed carbohydrates and be sessile all day? Because diabetes and obesity is rocketing now, not by coincidence?
    *eyeroll*

  28. Meowwoof says:

    Why not try a plant-based diet?

    • me says:

      Yeah I’d just rather eat more veggies, a little carbs and a moderate amount of animal protein.

      I just believe in balance

    • Ashby says:

      Eating healthy VEGAN food works really well for me.
      I’m healthy, full of energy, I sleep well, my skin, hair and nails look wonderful, I have no weight problems, I’m not hungry or angry, I don’t feel deprived and I don’t count calories and I’ve never been to a gym.
      I do go out for walks, a bike ride, swimming in the summer and I skate, snowboard and ski in winter, so I’m active, but not regimented.
      I don’t eat out, because I love to know exactly what ingredients my food has and how it was prepared, so I cook and prepare my meals all the time.
      I’ve developed many vegan recipes over the years and I have friends that ask me to make my Lentil Loaf, my Chickpea and Cauliflower stew, the Sweet potato and Celery soup, the Red Lentil soup, Wild Rice Mushroom risotto, Blackbean Mushroom burgers, my no bake raw TIRAMISU and Nanaimo bars, my Sweet Potato chips with Cinnamon and Himalayan sea salt as Christmas presents.
      I make handmade chocolates for friends birthdays.
      I enjoy it all, it makes me feel great to prepare a nice, simple and healthy meal.
      Sweet potatoes, wild rice, avocados, mushrooms, chickpeas, cauliflower, black kale, Italian parsley, celery, celery root, turnips, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, quinoa, red lentils are food groups in my house.
      I hope that my vegan eating helps the environment.
      I compost, recycle, use certified compostable zip loc bags, car pool…..

      • Kitten says:

        I’m not vegan but my BF and I do plant-based diets. He took me to an amazing vegan restaurant for my bday a few weeks ago. It’s in Burlington, VT and it’s called Revolution Kitchen. The food was so incredible and SO creative. I think being *somewhat* limited in terms of ingredients can really push people to get more creative with recipes. But I guess that’s the concept behind “Chopped”, right? 😉

        Anyway, I’ve had vegan food before that I really enjoyed but this was on a different level and really changed the way I see vegan food,

      • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

        @Kitten,

        I went to UVM in Burlington, was back there last year. So much growth. It is ( and always was) a really cool, progressive little city. So many awesome eateries on Church Street.

    • Kitten says:

      “I compost, recycle, use certified compostable zip loc bags, car pool…..”

      Isn’t it interesting that everyone knows to do these things but very few people seem aware of the impact that the meat industry has on our environment? Or maybe they know but would just rather not think about it because steak is yummy.

      I just hope that people who are doing this diet are trying their best to source their meat from small, local farms–grass-fed and/or organic, preferably. I know it’s not easy and that it can get very expensive but we REALLY have to be more responsible about our meat consumption if we want this planet to stick around.

      • LoveBug says:

        Kitten, yes, when I hear about climate change, I often think that one of the easier ways to contribute less to the detriment of our planet is not eating so many animal products. It doesn’t mean that we all have to be vegan, but just reducing the amount of animal products a bit can really help, considering how many millions of people are eating a lot of meat and dairy. I have coworkers who are not vegan or vegetarian, but they are cutting back on consumption. One is eating meat only twice a week and no dairy at all, another one does meatless Mondays and dairy once a week, my boss eats meat only on the weekend, organic chicken and wild fish for lunch and my cousin eats wild fish only three times a week and no dairy at all, which cleared her acne beautifully.
        Many people have no money to replace their cars with a Tesla vehicle or put solar panels on their roof, but some people could cut out some meat and dairy without going vegan or vegetarian.

    • Veronica S. says:

      It can work if you’re eliminating high processed sugars with it, but honestly, there’s no substantial body of literature that suggests vegetarian diets are inherently healthier than animal-based diets. It’s a matter of what type of food resources you have access to and what you choose to put into your body. I personally cannot do vegan or vegetarian diets because I have a GI disorder that makes most of the protein alternatives unpalatable, so chicken and fish it is.

      • Bailie says:

        @ Veronica S.

        I don’t need any more evidence than that I never felt better health wise and weight wise in my whole life. ( without running to the gym trying to keep down the pounds )
        My doctors are very pleased.
        The meals and snacks are much more varied and interesting than ever before,
        I’m also spending less money on food and I only do activities like walking my dog and hot yoga for fun.
        It works for me and hopefully for the planet.
        I’ve found inexpensive BIOBAGS on the internet for food storage and compost that are reusable.
        I’m doing my best to be a responsible citizen of our Earth.

      • Veronica S. says:

        I’m sure it works plenty well for many individuals, just that there isn’t broad scientific evidence supporting the claim across the board. Personally, I was vegetarian for several years in my twenties and never noticed an appreciable difference in my health or weight. But again, a huge part of eating healthy is resource availability, which is not what everybody has. Eating with a sensibility toward healthier environmental conditions is certainly laudable, but that’s an entirely different issue than suggesting any particular diet is inherently better than others.

      • NYCTYPE says:

        I eat vegan for over 20 years now and it works great for me. I don’t care, if there is science backing it up or not, all I know is that I’m very healthy, happy and the weight I want to be without going nuts in the gym or counting calories or weighing my food or worrying about having a piece of dark chocolate once in a while. I enjoy shopping for food and planning meals for our family, cooking and baking without spending a fortune. I love my freshly made veggie soups and green salads. I’m not a big fruit person, because sweet taste is not my thing, but I love berries.

      • Barcelona says:

        Veronica, I don’t understand why are you nitpicking so much, the comments in regards to vegan eating habits are not saying that it’s the best diet for everybody or that it’s a better than any other diet.
        They are only saying that it works for them and they feel well.

  29. Scylla74 says:

    In traditional Chinese medicine they have 3 groups of people (with 3 subgroups).

    Basically you can be a person who needs lots of fat and protein, a lean protein and carbs person, or a very low protein person, mostly carb person.

    Therefore obviously there is food that is good for YOU but for another type it is bad…. does make a lot of sense for me (and also works for me).

    • KidV says:

      I agree with this. A plant based diet made me sick, and my son too. Yet my DIL thrives on it. I do better with proteins and fats. I do eat a lot of vegetables with my proteins and fats, but they’re not the focal point of my meal. I’m a complete zombie if I eat carbs, any type of carb, from high carb vegetables, fruit, bread, Snickers.

      Everyone is different. Just because something is working for one person doesn’t mean that’s the way EVERYONE should eat.

  30. Faithmobile says:

    I’m not on the Keto Diet, but I love how popular it is because there are so many great recipes online. I’m on the whole 30 diet for health reasons and am always on the lookout for menu ideas. My two favorite books right now: Hormone Balance by Magdalena Wszelaki and Heal Your Gut by Boynton and Brackett

  31. Patty says:

    Some cultures eat traditionally high fat diets, some high carb diets, some high protein. And they all work. People ate a diet that was local to their region. The real issue is the standard American diet which is loaded with sugar and processed food (simple carbs). Cutting out processed carbs isn’t going to kill you or deprive your body of nutrients – I know a few people that do Keto and they eat lower carb fruit and veggies up the wazoo and that’s real food.

    I think people forgot that processed carbs were not standard in the American diet until relatively recently and you know what people got along just fine without them.

    Jillian is trying to protect her business model of insane and unsustainable physical activity.

  32. BuddyJack says:

    My story…

    I’m 5’2” and just turned 60. Over the last 20 years, 20 pounds added on. Sat in meetings all day where food was brought in…menopause….stress eating, etc. carbs were my thing…bread, pasta, potatoes, yum! 3 months before I turned 60, I woke up one day and said “this weight has to go while I can still physically do it.”

    So it was 1200 ish calories a day, 6 days a week. Walking 3.5 miles with some elevation change 5 days a week. I didn’t particularly look at macro nutrients, just calories, but beans were a staple, and root vegetables. I lost 15 pounds in abou 10 weeks and then I seemed to plateau out.

    So I tried Keto and it jumped started the last 5 pounds. Those last 5 happened almost as easily as the first 5. I’m not super rigid about it, but I don’t eat many beans, pasta and potatoes are small servings are a treat. I want to drop another 3-4, move to maintenance and start more strength training….I’m now about the same weight I was when i was early 30s.

    At least for me, Keto Lite is my current thing. But I do miss freshly baked, warm bread ….

    • Apalapa says:

      Hi, please be careful.
      If you were in the hospital laying in bed all day they would give you 1200 calories. That level is also lower than what the UN defines as starvation. Older people still need to eat.

      People can develop eating disorders late in life and maybe see a certified eating disorder specialist just to make sure you are ok. Hope this doesn’t sound bad.

      • BuddyJack says:

        Thanks for the concern……I started at 144 and am about 124-125 now…..so on a small to medium frames 5 2 body …..I am at a healthy weight, not a low one.

        Admittedly 1200 calories has impacted my energy level, but I am retired and my life is relatively low activity…..but my weight is healthy, I saw a doctor in October for my physical and all is good, You are sweet to be concerned , thank you❤️

    • Ali says:

      @buddyjack I’m 43, also not very tall, and have put on an extra 5-7 pounds in the last year after being able to maintain a healthy weight with minimal effort for most of my life. I have so much less energy than I did 10 even 5 years ago so to hear that at 60 you’ve made the effort and been successful in making a health, body and lifestyle change is inspiring. Thank you for sharing!

      • BuddyJack says:

        I wish I had got on top of it when I was your age but I guess I was in denial about the shifting metabolism, I had always weighed 115-120 ish eating and drinking whatever I wanted through my 30s. But in my 40s that definitely shifted. Age happens to all of us, your body will change and respond differently….sucks. 😜

        Losing that 20 pounds was freaking hard. And I did it healthily (1.5 pounds per week is considered a pretty good pace) but it still took 3 months to drop it.

        Glad you are smarter earlier than me! Haha

  33. phlyfiremama says:

    Keto is fine. The key is LIFESTYLE CHANGE, not “just” a diet. Lots of veggies, and lots of water, are crucial to the keto lifestyle. It isn’t just fats and proteins like most people wrongly think it is, it is simply keeping your carbohydrate intake at a manageable level between 30-45 grams per day. Fats are the preferred food your brain WANTS, but since carbs are what most people shove down their pieholes today, and that is the easiest source of energy, that is what the brain will eat first. It then stores the fat for future energy usage, but since people keep stuffing carbs in, the fat just keeps getting stored. When your body goes into ketosis, it starts removing what I call the “easy” fat (your belly, saddlebags, and other fat stored around your body) very rapidly, which leads to astonishing and HEALTHY weight loss. The water is crucial to flush out the ketone bodies, and keep the fat burning process going. Where people go wrong is flip-flopping in and out of ketosis, and cheating with more of the REALLY unhealthy carbs when they DO go out of ketosis~which causes the weight to go right back on as fast as it came off~Just like it would with ANY dietary change. Balance and moderation are key components of ANY weight loss goal, but the unfettered truth is that we eat WAY too many carbs, and fruit isn’t really much healthier than eating a candy bar~the nutrients have been farmed out of the land for at least the last several decades, leaving behind the sugar and ILLUSION of a healthy choice. The reality is that even though our culture has become ALL about carbohydrate consumption, our bodies are in no way equipped to deal with the sheer amount of carbs that we throw into it~we are still hardwired for proteins, fats, and vegetables as the basis of our diet, and now we see the consequences of that with obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other “diseases of civilization” that are so prevalent today. You see it happening faster with animals, since their shorter lifespans give us a better look at what happens when we eat diets that we are totally unsuited for.

  34. Aerohead21 says:

    Background of nutrition here. Why keto is bad in a nutshell: to go into ketoacidosis you have to eat less than 50 grams of carbohydrates a day. Considering an apple is 30 grams of carbohydrates on average, and carbs sneak into many things…yeah, your body turns on itself for energy. Here’s the bad news: the brain only “eats” carbohydrates. If you don’t eat carbs your brain gets no food. Also, it turns on your muscles and bones to create enough “carbs” to fuel the other systems of your body. These carbs don’t fuel your brain, those have to come from food sources. Also, all this work is taxing to the kidneys. Ketoacidosis is a lot of work for the kidney to process. So, you aren’t feeding your brain, you’re breaking down your muscle, you’re breaking down your bones, and you’re hurting your kidneys…all to burn fat without carbohydrates. That’s why Jillian Michaels was saying all of the nutrients, carbohydrates included, are essential. It’s not that carbs are bad. It’s WHAT carbs are bad. Plain old white bread has been bleached of all it’s value and then they added stuff back in (enriched) because without these nutrients our body gets sick. Look at folate. They added it back in to help reduce the incidence of neural tube defects like Spina Bifida. Voila, add some folate into bread that they bleached it’s naturally occurring folate out of…incidence of Spina Bifida starts going down. Get rid of your processed stuff and eat your veggies. A lot of veggies. (Remember starchy veggies like peas, corn, and potatoes, go into the carbohydrate category and not the veggie category).

    • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

      Cabohydrates, in that instance, are obtained from vegetables. Also, 50 gms CHO would be considered low carb, not keto (CHO macros are to be approximately 10%/ 17-20g CHO), which seems a more healthy option. Anyhoo, avoiding sugary stuff & processed stuff is ideal. I don’t really eat grains- I’d rather get my CHOs from veggies. Quinoa kills me – the saponins in it give me major GI distress & pain.

  35. Aerohead21 says:

    If you want to do a “semi-keto” diet, just eat enough carbs to not go into ketoacidosis. There are test strips at the pharmacy you can use to see if you are in ketoacidosis or not. As long as you aren’t, your body is betting enough carbohydrates to function. So yeah, lower your carbs if you want, just don’t go into ketoacidosis. Your brain, bones, muscles, and kidneys will appreciate it.

    PS for women: osteoporosis is more likely for us because estrogen is one of the chemicals needed to regenerate bone (yes, bone is a living organ so it dies and regrows all the time just like skin, hair, nails, etc). Once our estrogen stops at menopause, we have a harder time regenerating bone and end up developing osteoporosis more easily. Think about how keto breaks down bone (where those carb type chemicals are stored) to generate those bigger carb type chemicals to fuel our body’s processes…is it worth it to have osteoporosis? Thin and can’t walk, but hey, I’m thin right? On dialysis, but I’m thin. My muscles are also a storage site for those carb type chemicals, so they’ll eventually atrophy, but I’m thin!!! My brain cells are dying off because I’m literally starving it, but I’m THIN! So worth it…

    • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

      Ketoacidosis is a dangerous state of metabolic acidosis that diabetics are at risk of if blood sugars aren’t managed properly.

      Ketosis is a condition wherein the body turns to fat metabolism (ketone bodies) in the absence of carbohydrates as fuel.

      Ketones in diabetics indicates that the body isn’t getting enough fuel from carbs, and that is a warning sign that blood sugar isn’t being managed properly, and can indicate that the risk of ketoacidosis is increasing, but again I stress that ketoacidosis is a metabolic acidosis wherein the pH of the blood has dropped below its homeostatic range of 7.35-7.45pH.

  36. Aerohead21 says:

    Fat: builds the structure of cell walls to keep it intact. Also helps flush food through the body if you eat foods with unsaturated fats.

    Proteins: these are the building blocks of many hormones, neurochemicals, and DNA inside our bodies. Animal proteins are very hard to break down as compared to plant proteins. Also, plant proteins give us some good fiber (more on that in a bit). You don’t need a lot of protein to get the job done. Of all the 21 amino acids, our body can make 12. That means 9 are essential, as in we have to get it from food sources. That’s really not a lot.

    Carbohydrates: fuels the processes in our body. Without carbohydrates, proteins and fats can’t do their jobs. Fiber is found here. Fiber doesn’t get absorbed like other nutrients. It actually helps take “bad fats” and other crud our body can’t use and flush it out (aka poop).

    Excess of any of these macronutrients get stored in our liver, adipose tissue, muscles, and bones. Overeat fat? It gets stored as far. Overeat protein? It gets stored as fat. Overeat carbohydrate? It gets stored as fat. Really, really simple.

  37. Aerohead21 says:

    And hey, those saturated fats like butter? Want to know where they go? Saturated fats are bigger in size than unsaturated fats and their chemical structure is harder for the body to break down. Instead of being processed for use by the body, it gets transported to our hearts. If we eat it in excess, we can develop heart disease as plaque builds up in our arteries.

    • Veronica S. says:

      It’s not really transported to the heart, per se, so much as gets deposited in vascular areas where it can cause problems. How well your body handles trans fats is influenced by genetics, but the real issue has to do with structure of the molecule. Trans fats are highly saturated with hydrogen during chemical production and more rigid in design than the more flexible cis variants, which why it can pack together tightly as a solid at body temperature. Use them in cell walls, a place where fatty acids are essential for cellular transport, and that’s how you get “hardening” of arteries.

      • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

        The mister is an interventional cardiologist, who says that inflammation (carbs, particularly refined carbs, are pro-inflammatory ) is thought to be the first step in CVD. Inflammation encourages plaque growth, to which lipids stick. Another good reason to shitcan sugar, and reduce other refined carbs. I suppose, going a step further, that nightshades should be reduced if you have other ( autoimmune) inflammatory disease processes.

  38. Aerohead21 says:

    So for the people who say “keto works” of course it works. Because carbohydrates fuel the body. Without carbs the body turns on the storage (see comment above). But it comes at a really big cost. (See other comments about brain, bones, muscles, and kidneys). Is that cost worth it? What if there is a better way where we don’t have to damage these vital systems of our bodies?

    • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

      If “the body turns on storage” the result is deposition of fat. That is the purpose of storage- to store energy in the form of fat. This statement contradicts your assertion of “keto works,” whose purpose is to burn fat.

  39. Eden75 says:

    My trainer has me on what she calls Veto, kinda the same idea but with more veggies and no trans fats. I eat 4 to 5 times day and it’s working for me. Since I am still not allowed to do much (hysterectomy 4 weeks ago) its kept my weight relatively under control.

    I have a massive overload of estrogen so losing weight is an issue gaining it is no problem. Would I recommend this for everyone? No but it works for me. I lost 17 pounds with it and kept it off until the surgery. I regained only 3 since and am resolute on not putting on more. My weight causes my hormones to go mental as I carry it all on my waist/hips. One can do a healthy version of the keto diet without resorting to pork rinds (sadly for me, I love them…..).

    I exercise regularly but need help with the diet end as I am a junk foodaholic. Do I know what I should eat? Sure. Will I? Not without a scheduled eating plan. Do I cheat? Depends on how you look at it. I get more carbs than most on this plan as I get the keto rash within about 5 days. This allows me to have carbs to keep it at bay.

    In the end, do what works for you. Only you know your body. Listen to your health care professional as well. If what you are doing is causing issues, change it.

    • kg says:

      I do something similiar following a book called Ketotarian. I like it so far.

    • H says:

      Thank you, @Eden75. I had a hysterectomy two years ago and packed on 20 pounds. Currently trying Noom, but won’t be trying Keto no matter how much weight I could lose. Prior to the surgery, the tumors in my uterus were pushing on my right kidney and damaged it. There’s no way I would do Keto and perhaps do that again.

      PS I was a vegetarian for 22 years, I might try it again, but will talk to my health care provider first.

  40. Deedee says:

    I agree with everything she’s saying except the myth that organics don’t use pesticides. If your produce is pretty, it wasn’t because there were tiny organic fairies swooping in to shoo away bugs and pull weeds. Some organic pesticides are more toxic than synthetics. Look up copper sulfate, for instance.

  41. Tiny Martian says:

    So I wonder which diet we will be discussing 5 years from now? 10?

    Ideas about foodways and dieting are constantly evolving. Interestingly, all diets seem to work for some, Keto included.

    Personally, I don’t think that there will ever be a singular way of eating that will be defined as healthiest for everyone. We’re all different, with different body types,constitutions, metabolisms and health issues.

    I honestly think there’s no such thing as a “good” or “bad” diet: we each need to find our own way.

  42. Pandy says:

    She’s right re common sense. Any diet that tells you to avoid vegetables is not a good diet. People want something easy and every fast food resto has a million meat choices. But it’s such a bad diet and teaches nothing about nutrition.

  43. HeyThere! says:

    I can’t do any diets that tell me a banana, or fruit, is bad for me. I simply won’t. All about balanced diet and working out for me. I’m busy with my babies so finding time to workout is hard. I don’t have two and a half hours to burn at the gym anytime I want anymore! Yes, I use to workout a few hours a day 5/7 days a week….best shape of my life. Fitness model status. Lol. Maybe someday when my babies are older I’ll have that kind of time.

  44. Veronica S. says:

    Your body has alternative mechanisms for turning fats and proteins into essential glucose, but she’s right that you’re essentially carb starving yourself to lose weight. It takes more ATP to prepare those molecules for the glycolytic cycle, which lowers your overall energy output and forces accessory metabolism of fat and protein to kick in. There are people who can certainly benefit from a milder version of it than the intended epileptic populations, but it does disturb me when those specialized diets hit the mainstream. Taken to extremes by people lacking proper understanding of biomechanics, it can absolutely be antithetical to healthy lifestyle.

    Of course, layman’s knowledge of how metabolism and weight gain/loss actually works is painfully outdated or just wrong, considering it would do significant harm to certain industries to publically acknowledge the numerous studies that flat out state diets don’t work and sustained weight loss is almost impossible for most. The “calories in/calories out” model is so outdated as to be considered farcical by most of us who work in medicine.

  45. Littlefishmom says:

    I loathe this chick. I find her to be very arrogant.

  46. A says:

    She’s actually not wrong. She’s giving some incredibly sensible advice for a change, and I’m to commend her for it.

    Carbs are not the devil. I don’t think you should be demonizing any sort of food group actually. You need to eat food in order to survive, and that includes carbohydrates. They are what give you the energy to get through your day, and you shouldn’t be cutting them out wholesale if you ask me.

    She’s right about keto as well. From my understanding, an actual ketogenic diet is vastly more stringent. It’s something that is used to treat a specific illness, and it should only be done with the supervision of medical professionals to make sure that you’re not harming yourself. The amount of carbs you have to be on to enter ketosis is extremely minimal, and the diet has the potential to cause serious damage if you’re following it properly and doing so without proper care and consultation.

  47. Smogfest says:

    Can you eat complex carbs on the keto diet? This study just came out and it was widely reported that it contradicts the low-carbs philosophy: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190110184737.htm. No one is taking my carbs away from me!

  48. Sara Martin says:

    Huh. I lost 50 lbs in 3 mos on keto.

  49. Erun says:

    And yet here she is promoting a keto shake!!
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q7HJ6aFivRc

  50. Rebecca says:

    I actually passed out while on the South Beach diet. I have low blood pressure; and, for some reason, it brought my blood pressure down too far.

    I did some reading and found that women especially are made to eat some natural carbs such as nuts and whole grains. It has something to do with evolution and millions of years living in hunter/gatherer societies. Women were the gatherers so we ended up eating more vegetables, nuts, grains and fruits. Our bodies (especially our brains) developed to depend more on carbs. In some women it can even cause brain damage from severe oxidative stress if they completely avoid carbs. I think I’m one of those people.

    I found I was more successful on a diet if I ate natural carbs, especially in the morning. It took longer to lose weight, but there was no passing out.

  51. AnotherDirtyMartini says:

    Lol! I had a Keto ad before and after this article. To be honest though, I had a finger slip & open some diet ad before I even read the article. Later I clicked on a clothing ad (on purpose) and now the ads have partly changed to clothing. Good! Because dieting depresses me. I need an assistant and a personal chef first, then maybe a good diet would be easier. I am disabled and can’t do much of anything for very long. Cooking is practically impossible. We’re trying to get healthier takeout now.

  52. Kirsten says:

    I have my PhD in dietics and micro biology and Keto is not recommended for the average person by any registered dietician or someone with extensive knowledge in the body.

  53. MeghanNotMarkle says:

    My ad is for clean water. Probably pretty accurate considering I have not just an autoimmune digestive disorder but also multiple food allergies and intolerances to fermentable sugars, amines, oxalates, and salicylates. Some days water is the only thing that doesn’t bother me. And yet I still don’t lose weight. Not that I really truly need to. Having that buffer is helpful when my UC starts raging.

  54. waitingforthesun says:

    A lot of the comments here revolve around ads people saw under this article. IMHO, it just dilutes conversation.

  55. noway says:

    Here’s one issue is Americans eat too many bad carbs, specifically processed foods, white pasta, white bread, etc. When you go on Keto you probably do lose weight, because you have eliminated these things. But you have also eliminated a lot of fiber and other nutrients. She’s right, eating a balanced diet is better.

    Al Roker got into a twitter war with her about this, as it’s working for him for now at least, but he had gastric bypass surgery before so there’s that with him. He brought up how she was a bully on the biggest loser and how he thought that was crazy and she shouldn’t really say this. I don’t know about you, but I think there are a lot of people who need a trainer who yells at them to stay motivated, not sure that is crazy. Plus isn’t Roker on tv, and doesn’t he realize it’s an entertainment show, and they highlight the crazy to make people watch. You would think he’s new to this. She has also been a trainer for a long time, and knows a lot about weight management. Plus, most doctors aren’t really high on this diet especially longterm, and certainly not dieticians. They don’t seem so upset about eliminating sugars and breads, but about other fiber rich carbs and the added fat. I don’t think her comments are that “out there” or even out of line for her occupation. Roker, on the other hand, is a weatherman who spent most of his adult life overweight and even with surgery has not been able to control it. Why does he comment on these kind of things it’s just stupid.

  56. HelloIsThereAnybodyOutThere says:

    This probably isn’t the article the Keto Diet ads had in mind as their go to marketing 😆