How Influencers Keep Perpetuating Nonsense Diets

Keto and fasting promises are many and when something sounds too good to be true, well, it usually is. It’s diet nonsense. We all fall for empty promises at some point because we want it to be true. If you want to stop getting suckered in by diet influencers, you are in the right place. You do not have to diet, it is nonsense!

Highlights of this episode:

• Keto diet explained and debunked
• Fasting myths debunked
• Diet warning signs and diet nonsense
• What we know about longevity

Episode Show Notes*: 

Warning: this episode contains diet culture concepts that David criticizes, not in support. That said, if you are not ready in your journey to be exposed again to these concepts, honor your mental health first and skip this episode. 

*Not a transcript

[00:57] Influencers Promote Diet Nonsense

A client of David’s was interested in the ketogenic, or keto diet because of another podcast he heard. David understands the allure of this diet. It comes with many promises and yet, what seems to be cutting edge, is really just another version of snake oil.

Promotors of this diet hope to be in ketosis, a biological process where the body is fueled by ketones instead of glucose. To break that down even more, glucose is the body’s primary and preferred source of fuel that is obtained from eating any food with carbohydrates. Promotors of the keto diet reject this primary fuel source and are promoting an alternative fuel source by eating mostly foods high in fat, at least 70% of your macronutrients. There are many side effects of this diet.

A while back, David did a podcast episode about the keto diet, you can listen here, if you want to hear about the keto diet basics and criticisms of it. This episode is more criticism of this diet and a response because the promotion of this keto diet is not going away, sadly.

One of the biggest promotors of the ketogenic diet is Joe Rogan and many of his podcast guests come on the show to discuss it, like Dr. Rhonda Patrick. She is not a medical doctor, although some doctors pedal the keto diet as well. Rhonda earned her Ph.D. in biomedical science from the University of Tennessee.

David is going to criticize this promotion of the keto diet because Rhonda is pedaling a lot of diet culture and the thin ideal, which damages and hurts people around the world.

[04:25] Info on the Influencer, the Diet, and Why it is Nonsense

Rhonda studies many things and it boils down to longevity research. Her resume is impressive. She is well-read and highly educated. However, having a good education and being smart does not mean a person is immune to diet culture.

On Joe’s podcast episode, Rhonda claims when she is in ketosis, she is on top of her mental game with more mental focus and endurance. She promotes keto and fasting research with Dr. Mark Mattson, who is a neuroscientist that promotes the 5:2 fasting diet. The 5:2 fasting plan is one form of intermittent fasting, a diet plan which touts if you restrict the time of day you can eat, you will lose weight. This is highly doubtful considering what we know about people subjected to food scarcity.

With intentional fasting, they claim the human body has adapted to the stress response of starvation. Add a high fat diet onto this time restricted diet, and your body produces a specific keto compound called beta-hydroxybutyrate. This ketone is promoted as being “key” to increasing a compound called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

Now, BDNF is a compound of interest in research because of its role in DNA expression. If you are still reading, the bottom line is some researchers think if we have more ketones like beta-hydroxybutyrate, we have more BDNF, and we somehow live longer and without disease or functional disorders. Sounds awesome, right?

No, not really. It is not awesome because this dieting plan has major red flags of a diet that does not work. If you have not listened to Episode 111, 7 Warning Signs Diets Don’t Work, that is a great one to understand why Rhonda’s pedaling of the keto diet is problematic and diet nonsense (21:55 minutes long). In summary, diets are

1. unsustainable behaviors
2. unscientific, no evidence
3. unrealistic promises
4. crazy extremes
5. supplements, can be harmful
6. endorsements, not evidence
7. feelings of increased desires

With Rhonda, she is a smart person, and she is using her education without context and all things considered. She cherry picks information that makes the diet sound appealing, that’s #2 on our red flag list. For example, many diet influencers are promoting gluconeogenesis, a metabolic process. David and all dietitians understand gluconeogenesis, okay? And it is not just from fat breakdown. It also comes from lean muscle tissue. Your lean muscle tissue is very important for you to do your every day living activities. Do you really want to lose that?

[13:45] Diets are Nonsense

Now, Rhonda has a tremendous following on Twitter and YouTube. Like doctors and celebrities who pedal diets, she is personally pedaling a diet that is currently having a positive effect. However, she is promoting something while on the 13^th day, which is not a long timeline. That’s #1 and #6 on the red flag list.

In order to have access to fats wherever she goes, she mentions carrying around avocado, sardines, and bacon in her purse. That’s #1 and #4 on the red flag list.

So why was Rhonda interested in doing keto anyway? She tells a personal story about an abscess that was anti-biotic resistant. She was researching supplements derived from food and claimed a strict supplement regimen cured her. This anecdote does not mean it will work or be safe for everyone. That’s #5 and #6 on the red flag list.

In addition to carrying around food, time restricted eating, eating mostly fats, Rhonda also promotes sauna use for longevity. Like a good researcher, she promotes studies about saunas and ties them into longevity.  This is #1, #2, #3, and #6 of the red flag list.

If she is going to explore longevity, let’s examine Blue Zones again. David talked about Blue Zones in Episode 131, 4 Ways To Finally Ditch The Diet Mentality. People in Blue Zones are not going to saunas all the time. That was not a finding of that epidemiological study that examined factors of populations with a long lifespan. Ronda has a sauna in her house. Good for her but that is very idealistic, elitist, and privileged. It’s diet nonsense.

Overall, her diet promotion, pedaled as healthy lifestyle, is very idealistic, elitist, and privileged.

What we see in nutrition counseling is that so many people don’t have breakfast and skip lunch. A lot of people do this and yet, they are having problems with their weight. This is because our bodies won’t be tricked. The more you try to trick your body, the less it will work.

Rhonda pedals what she learns from the research and if it works for her, then she gives the impression it will work for everyone. That is othering for most people. Many of the behaviors she talks about doing are descriptive of disordered eating patterns. The issue is that influencers like this may have undiagnosed eating disorders. There’s a pre-occupation with food, food rituals, a high concern about the health of ingredients; an inability to eat anything but a narrow group of foods that are deemed ‘healthy’ or ‘pure.’

[21:53] Research Misused into Diet Nonsense

Rhonda’s cited research may sound promising and impressive, but does it actually back up her interpretation? Let’s go over the study.

The study, Long-Chain Omega-3 Fatty Acids Improve Brain Function and Structure in Older Adults, analyzed the effects of a supplement with 2.2 g of Omega 3 (EPA and DHA) for 26 weeks.

Participants were recruited via advertisements in Berlin, Germany. All studies exclude persons with any factors that may compromise the results. Exclusion criteria included diabetes mellitus type 2, neurological disorders, psychiatric medication, a mini-mental state, examination of < 26 points, a body mass index (BMI) <25 kg/m2 or >30 kg/m2, intake of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), daily consumption of  >50 g alcohol, >10 cigarettes, or >6 cups of coffee, non-fluent German, and left-handedness. Subjects did not take dietary supplements containing fish oil before starting the study.

The persons included in the study were 80 people, mostly women of 65 years old, and 4 years of higher education. However, only 65 people were in the follow up, after the experiment timeline ended.

Whenever people drop out of a study, it creates a false denominator that potentially changes the statistical results and findings of the study. Considering the population and the study size, we cannot generalize the results. That means, you should not make recommendations based on this one study. If you want to know more about research, check out Episode 88, 8 Red Flags of Weight-Loss Research.

Overall, 65 people had a minor improvement after 6 months. That’s great, but what about follow up in a year, two years, five years?

David is not arguing that Omega-3’s are not function and beneficial. They are! However, what about real food? Supplements are supplemental to food. Salmon, mackerel, sardines, nuts, seeds, flax, chia, etc., all provide Omega 3 and more nutrients than one supplement alone. However, those foods are not cheap and available to everyone. Supplements are not cheap or available to everyone either.

The bottom line is the research is not bad, but it’s not the solution to longevity. That is not what the study showed so we get diet nonsense.

[29:38] Research Misused into Diet Nonsense Part 2

Another study Rhonda refers to is titled Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves 24-Hour Glucose Levels and Affects Markers of the Circadian Clock, Aging, and Autophagy in Humans.

Remember the explanation from earlier about the brain-derived neurotropic factor (BNDF)?  Rhonda uses this study to justify her fasting diet plan. Now, David reviewed this study and it was a high quality, a randomized controlled trial with all the gold standard checkmarks.

This time, the exclusion criteria included diabetes or other significant chronic conditions; regularly used antidiabetic medications, steroids, beta blockers, adrenergic-stimulating agents, laxatives, or any medications or supplements known to affect sleep, circadian rhythms, or metabolism (with the exception of caffeine, which was allowed, except on the day of and prior to 24-hour testing); were pregnant or lactating; used Depo Provera, an IUD, or a hormonal patch for birth control; or had changed their hormonal birth control dose within the last 3 months. They were also excluded if they performed overnight shift work, had irregular sleep and/or eating schedules, regularly fasted for more than 15 hours/day, smoked or used nicotine/tobacco products within the last 3 months, consumed an average of more than 3 servings of alcohol per day, or regularly engaged in competitive sport training.

With an exclusion list this long, there are more questions than answers. The point is that nutrition research has to exclude any cofounding factors, no matter how common. This tells you how hard it is to isolate one factor and come to a conclusion.

This study was not really mind-blowing information. The study found that lower blood glucose levels happen when you are not eating. Well, we already knew that.

The way the studies are presented in Joe’s podcast episode and throughout Rhonda’s promotion are glorifying the past which is highly problematic. Before WWII, famine was more common than today. Do we really want to experience starvation or even semi-starvation?

[36:56] Bottom Line:

David is not going to stick avocados, bacon, and sardines in his bag to go places and he does not recommend anyone do that because it is not necessary for our health. Although the cited research is well done, it does not describe the relationship to people’s nutrition status, longevity, or healthy eating behaviors. This idea that thin is better is simply not true. We are living longer than ever before thanks to modern technology and medicine.

Dr. Rhonda Kirkpatrick is just pedaling diet culture, not longevity. Longevity found in Blue Zones have better access to multiple factors more important than food. Things like healthcare, political will and policy, socioeconomic status, safe and secure environments, and jobs and purpose in life. It’s not just a food thing. It’s not a food thing, supplement thing, or intermittent fasting, or sauna thing.

[39:46] What Actually Helps Longevity?

1. Building a positive and secure relationship to food, no diet will do this.

2. Get enough food to fuel your body to have the energy you need throughout the day.

3. Slow down. You may be doing too much and de-prioritizing yourself.

4. Getting enough sleep. Start a shut down routine by turning off all devices to put yourself in a soothing place.

5. Get some movement in. It does not have to be joining a gym. It can mean standing up more often.

Bottom Line: be curious, consistent, and commit to just one thing. One Small Bite.

Resources:

Get Your Copy of the book – One Small Bite: Anti-Diet Stories that Empower You To Build a Positive and Secure Relationship with Food

Get Unstuck Class

Starts July 12, 2022. There’s an early bird special. Classes are on Zoom, so no travel necessary. Read about it here: https://orozconutrition.com/courses/

Where do I go from here?

• If you like this episode, then download the show wherever you listen to your podcasts at Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, iHeartRadio, Castbox, etc!
• Hit that subscribe button so you won’t miss another episode.
•  Big Ask: Leave a Review! Please, take a few minutes and leave me a review on your podcast app. Each review helps other listeners find the podcast, which provides me with the ability to continue bring you unique content. So spread the love. Loss for words? Just write what you like about the show.
• Share the show with friends.
• If you want to work with us, schedule an appointment or a free 15 minute discovery call. Explore our website and click Schedule an Appointment. Or, reach us by email info@orozconutrition.com or phone 678-568-4717.

 

Chop the diet mentality; Fuel Your Body; and Nourish Your Soul!