Health and Fitness
Paradox: The More Healthy Fat I Consumed, the More Belly Fat I Burned.
Why ketogenic diet has become so popular in medical science, and what can we learn from this significant progress
Introduction and Context
For many years, healthy fats have been demonized unfairly by poor scientific conduct, political reasons, and several unknown motives.
These points are important but not the point of my story. I refrain from politics and focus on scientific progress in the high-fat ketogenic (keto) diet.
In this post, I provide a few highlights on the benefits of a high-fat keto diet, giving some prominent examples from the thought leaders in the field.
I shared my fat loss journey in several articles recently. This article shows the importance of hormones in fat loss. I highlighted insulin, cortisol, leptin, and ghrelin hormones. And this story reflects how a female friend used the same method that I used. She lost substantial fat in a short time and did not gain it again.
More inspiring today, I read this post from one of our senior editors, who shared a success story on the fat loss journey. Eliza Inspired Me to Shed 50 Pounds in 5 Months: Here is what I learned about losing stubborn belly fat with five easy and actionable tips.
The importance of healthy fats
As a follower of the keto lifestyle for a long time, I only consume healthy fats. Like many cautious people, I refrain from vegetable and seed oils, which could be inflammatory. The Keto diet is unfairly associated with unhealthy fats. It is a perception.
As David Gillespie articulated in his book titled “Big Fat Lies: How the diet industry is making you sick, fat & poor”,
“For decades we’ve been told to eat less, exercise more, eat less saturated fat, eat more polyunsaturated oils, and take vitamin and omega-3 fatty acid supplements. For decades this is what we’ve done, but the rates of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and cancer have never been higher.”
Nina Teicholz
An outstanding author, Nina Teicholz is a New York Times bestselling author and investigative science journalist who has played a pivotal role in challenging dietary fat issues. Nina’s leading-edge work, The Big Fat Surprise, is an outcome of the nine-year investigation.
The Economist named this work the number one science book in 2014. As an adjunct professor at New York University and a science journalist, she created a profound rethinking of whether we have been wrong to think that fat, including saturated fat, causes disease.
In addition, Nina keeps exploring the political, institutional, and industrial forces that prevent better thinking on issues related to nutrition and science. You can watch an insightful presentation on dietary guidelines in the US.
Gary Taubes and Dr Jason Fung
Another outstanding investigative science and health journalist who debunked the wrong claims about fat is Gary Taubes. He authored several best-selling books such as Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It, The Case Against Sugar, Good Calories, Bad Calories.
In addition to many research awards, Mr. Taubes received a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research and has won several other awards for his journalism, such as the International Health Reporting Award from the Pan American Health Organization and the National Association of Science Writers Science in Society Journalism Award.
Mr. Taubes is well educated in science, engineering, and journalism, graduating from Harvard College, studying applied physics, and receiving an MS degree in engineering from Stanford University and in journalism from Columbia.
I enjoyed the interview that Mr. Taubes conducted with Dr. Jason Fung on YouTube.
Dr. Stephen Phinney
I am glad many savvy health professionals, including researchers and medical doctors, support a high-fat diet. For example, Dr. Stephen Phinney is a medical doctor and a PhD-level scientist who has spent 40 years studying diet, exercise, fatty acids, and inflammation.
Dr. Phinney is a Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of California-Davis. He has published over 70 papers, including several patents. He received his MD from Stanford University, his Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry from MIT, and post-doctoral training at Vermont and Harvard.
Here is a valuable presentation by Dr. Phinney explaining the case for nutritional ketosis.
Dr. Jeff Volek
Dr. Jeff Volek is a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Connecticut. He teaches and leads a research team exploring the physiologic impact of various dietary and exercise regimens and nutritional supplements. Dr. Volek’s most significant line of work has been a series of studies aimed at better understanding what constitutes a well-formulated low carbohydrate diet and the physiological impact on obesity, body composition, fatty acid composition and lipoprotein metabolism, gut micro-biome, adaptations to training and overall metabolic health.
Here is a video articulating many facets of keto-adaptation covering health, performance, and beyond.
There are many more advocates of high fat keto diet such as famous Professor Tim Noakes, Dr Georgia Ede, Dr Peter Bruckner, Dr Shawn Baker, Dr Paul Saladino, Dr Prinyanka Wali, Dr Jason Fung, Dr Brett Sher, Dr David Ludwig are just a few of thousands of them. They appear on many media channels, TED talks, and podcasts, but you can watch most of their presentations in one place on this channel on YouTube.
My High-Fat Keto Journey
Learning saturated fat was not our enemy for our health made a tremendous impact on my life and the lives of millions of other people.
Many people managed to lose fat easily and sustainably by eating healthy fats, particularly saturated, mono-saturated fats, and omega-3.
People tasting the mood-enhancing and inflammation-reducing benefits of ketosis have been attracted to the Ketogenic (keto) diet. It was endorsed by health scientists, dieticians, nutritionists, and medical professionals. Despite all, there are still some doubts and adverse claims made.
A few days ago, I read an article on this platform saying that the keto diet is a disaster quoting a review paper that was an out-of-context study. In any diet, people do unhealthy things. The article mentioned fried bacon with unhealthy fats. Like many health-conscious people, I don’t fry my food and only use the oven for cooking.
Those who adopt the keto diet and reap benefits know the importance of healthy fats. There are myriads of resources explaining a healthy keto lifestyle.
I briefly introduced the ketogenic diet along with OMAD and intermittent fasting in this article titled “Why & How Eliza Lost 30 Pounds of Fat in Six Months? She fired her nutritionist and hired a qualified fat-loss coach.”
The keto diet receives remarkable recognition from the public and health professionals. Some research institutes are undertaking studies focusing on the metabolic benefits of keto in various health conditions. The paper points out that over the past 15 years, there has been an explosion in the use and scientific interest in the keto diet.
Epilepsy patients have been treated using a more robust version of keto since the 1920s. The classical version requires a fat percentage of over 70% with moderate protein and very little or no carbs.
My lifestyle is similar to the classic keto diet. 70% of my calories come from saturated fat, and 30% from animal protein. Apart from negligible carbs from organ meats, I see my diet as zero carbs.
This high-fat-oriented diet is sustainable for me, as just one meal is sufficient to keep me satisfied for at least 24 hours. In health communities, this lifestyle is known as OMAD. I have been practicing this with success for over a decade and have no reason or intention to change it.
This lifestyle initially helped me lose unnecessary abdominal fat effectively. In addition, I stayed at my desired weight by keeping my lean muscles.
One of my main reasons for starting on a high-fat keto diet was to maintain my cognitive reserves. As mentioned in this paper, “The ketogenic diet as a potential treatment and prevention strategy for Alzheimer’s disease”.
The paper points out some potential causes of Alzheimer’s disease as impaired glucose metabolism and neuronal cell death. Emerging clues suggest that a low-carbohydrate, moderate protein and high-fat keto diet may contribute to mitigating the damage related to these pathological issues.
The opponents of the high-fat keto diet regurgitate the old and manufactured cholesterol story claiming that saturated fats cause cardiovascular disease. Recent studies debunked this, but the argument still happens to those who may not be aware of scientific progress.
As pointed out in this paper, “ saturated fat does not clog the arteries: coronary heart disease is a chronic inflammatory condition, the risk of which can be effectively reduced from healthy lifestyle interventions”.
Inflammation is the root cause of many diseases. One of the best benefits of a keto diet is reducing inflammation. Since I started eating high fat and my body produces a significant amount of ketones, my elevated inflammation markers have dramatically reduced. When I stay in ketosis, my muscle pain disappears very quickly. In addition, in ketosis, my brain gets alert, and my mood remains positive.
This scientific review (Multi-dimensional Roles of Ketone Bodies in Fuel Metabolism, Signaling, and Therapeutics) discusses how ketones serve discrete fine-tuning metabolic roles that optimize organ and organism performance in varying nutrient states and protect from inflammation and injury in multiple organ systems.
I came across many studies on researching inflammation in a high-carb diet. For example, this randomized trial in 2018 investigated the effect of a short-term low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet with or without post-meal walks on glycemic control and inflammation in type 2 diabetes.
Combined with intermittent fasting, a high-fat keto diet substantially reduced my pain and chronic inflammation. As soon as my body started producing ketones over 1.5 nmol, the symptoms substantially disappeared.
I started feeling great. Acute inflammation is not a problem as our body needs it for recovery. I shared my story on dealing with chronic inflammation in an article titled “How I Dealt With Chronic Inflammation: A personal transformation story.
When I was a vegetarian, I stayed away from fat. As a result, all my blood markers were problematic. When I gradually started eating saturated fat, all markers turned to normal. I am not vegetarian anymore, but I know many vegetarian and vegan friends who have adopted the keto lifestyle. There is a movement called keto-vegan. Here is a well-presented Healthline article introducing the keto-vegan diet with helpful tips.
I introduced my keto-carnivore diet in the attached article.
Conclusions and Takeaways
Unfortunately, good, healthy fats have been demonized for a long. Low-fat diets create bad results, causing issues and creating obesity globally.
I don’t fear saturated healthy fats anymore. I see healthy fats serving me as a friend rather than seeing them as an enemy. Years ago, I used fear due to manufactured cholesterol stories. I believed those stories and suffered by not consuming healthy fat. Low-fat diets damaged my metabolism.
Despite my love of fats, I don’t eat more than my daily caloric requirement, which is around 2400 calories, as I explained in a story titled Here’s Why and How Eating 200g Fats Daily for Decades Helps Me Thrive.
In addition to many benefits, the keto lifestyle helped me naturally and easily fix my leaky gut and helped me gain a defined belly sensibly. Ketosis also contributes to eliminating excessive loose skin after shedding a significant amount of abdominal fat. In short, a high-fat keto lifestyle is best suited to my genetic makeup.
Ironically, the more fatty and cholesterol-containing foods I consumed, the better my cholesterol results. When I was not eating any saturated fat, my cholesterol blood markers were terrible. Our body creates cholesterol as a necessity. When we don’t eat cholesterol-consuming food, it makes more cholesterol.
Here is a glimpse of my fat loss journey.
Here are my perspectives on hormones that I have been studying for many years.
I documented my review of the cholesterol paradox.
Healthy dietary fats are important for our health. However, not all fats are equivalent. Consuming only healthy fats can make the keto diet joyful and sustainable. It can be great to discuss with your healthcare professionals and get advice on introducing healthy fats to your diet.
I hope my case points out the benefits of ketosis, and the resources in this story can provide valuable perspectives on the necessity of healthy fats for health and fitness.
I provided more information on my fat consumption and reasons for the time-restricted eating regimen.
Thank you for reading my story. I wish you a happy and healthy life. I’d be delighted to obtain your feedback and learn from your experiences too.
I had a vision of humanity winning the battle against diseases in the 33rd century in a lucid dream. I hope my vision is realized one day, so sufferings end on this planet.
If you enjoyed this story, you might also check my experience on other topics.
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Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
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Disclaimer: Please note that this post does not include health or professional advice. I documented my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives only to provide information. If you have disease symptoms, please consult your healthcare professionals. Health is the responsibility of individuals.
Fat Loss & Healthy Weight Management Articles
If you enjoyed this story, you might also check the relevant articles listed below.
Three Tips to Eliminate Insulin Resistance and Shrink Waistline
Rewire the Brain to Melt Unwanted Belly Fat Preventing Obesity
Losing Fat by Understanding the Intricacies of Six Major Hormones
How Alberto Melted His Potbelly & Doubled Testosterone in a Year
The More Nutritious Fat Consumed the More Belly Fat Got Burned
Relevant Scientific References
Many studies are related to the ketogenic diet in the body of knowledge. I only selected a few to give you a perspective. These studies link to hundreds of other stories in their reference sections. This list could be a good start if you are researching the topic. They are all accessible via pubmed.gov.
The ketogenic diet as a treatment paradigm for diverse neurological disorders
Ketogenic diet in the treatment of cancer–where do we stand?
Neuroprotective and disease-modifying effects of the ketogenic diet
The OMAD Diet: Intermittent Fasting with One Meal a Day to Burn Fat and Lose Weight
The ketogenic diet for the treatment of childhood epilepsy: a randomised controlled trial
Application of a ketogenic diet in children with autistic behavior: pilot study
The ketogenic diet: from molecular mechanisms to clinical effects
Effects of ketogenic diet on development and behavior: preliminary report of a prospective study
Benefits of the nonfasting ketogenic diet compared with the initial fasting ketogenic diet
About the Author
Besides aiming to increase the hormonal intelligence of my readers and writing about neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine, one of my goals as a writer is to raise awareness about the causes and risk factors of prevalent diseases that can lead to suffering and death for a large portion of the population.
I aim to educate, create awareness, and empower my readers to take control of their health and well-being.
To raise awareness about health issues, I have written several articles that present my holistic health findings from research, personal observations, and unique experiences. Below are links to these articles for easy access.
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