The Ketogenic Diet: Transform Your Health and Reverse High Blood Sugar

For many years I have advocated a detox program for high blood sugar. It started with a talk I gave in 2011 on the cause of this type of high blood sugar. I illustrated the fact that even though they have the same name, type 1 and type 2 are opposite illnesses. Type 1 blood sugar is a lack, or deficiency of insulin. And because of the lack of insulin, the cells of the body have a lack of glucose to make energy, and amino acids to make proteins. This leads to weight loss, wasting, and even death from starvation no matter how much they eat.

Type 2 blood sugar is exactly the opposite with high levels of insulin, too much glucose, fat, and protein, leading to weight gain. What they share is high blood glucose.

Type 1 due to not being able to get glucose into the cells.

Type 2 due to the cells being overfilled with glucose, causing insulin resistance.

Thus, in type 1 there isn’t any insulin, whereas in type 2 there is too much insulin, but it doesn’t work.

This research led to an amazing discovery. Doctors were treating type 2 as if it were type 1 because both had high blood glucose levels, but the underlying causes were different. If type 2 is toxicity due to excess insulin, then adding more insulin would result in worse problems – MORE toxicity. The treatment was causing more problems! This is exactly what the research showed. So, I had to find another way.

The obvious answer was detox. This would not work for type 1, but it could completely reverse type 2. If people with type 2 were toxic on glucose, then they would need to detox by going off it. Avoiding glucose would allow the cells in the body to use up their stores of glycogen (the storage form of glucose in the cells). Then they would be able to bring in more glucose, lowering the blood glucose as they become more sensitive to insulin. This is actually what happens. The natural answer was a ketogenic diet.

What is A Ketogenic Diet?

When we burn fat for energy, there is a by-product called “ketone bodies.” Ketone bodies include acetoacetic acid, beta-hydroxybutyric acid (BHB), and acetone. Cells use these ketones for energy. For example, the brain normally uses glucose for energy. Bt when we don’t eat it, or the glucose is low, the liver starts using fat and makes these ketone bodies, which the brain cells use for energy. On the other hand, the heart normally uses fat for energy, but can also use ketone bodies when available.

“Ketogenic diet” means you are generating these ketones by eating certain foods. Since glucose is a preferred energy source for most cells, if you stop eating glucose, the body will begin to burn fat. Most people make about 60% of their energy from fat, and about 40% from glucose. However, when there is too much glucose around, the pancreas makes more insulin. Insulin shuts off the use of fat for energy and people begin to store more fat. That’s why people gain weight easily from eating sugar or carbohydrates.

We were told that eating fat made us fat, but it’s really sugar, or carbs, that make us fat. If we stop eating carbs, then the body can switch back to fat-burning and people become ketogenic and lose weight, increase insulin sensitivity and reverse high blood sugar.[1]

Besides high blood sugar, ketogenic diets are useful for many other illnesses.

“This is your brain on ketones… any questions?”

Neurologists have recommended ketogenic diets for people with seizure disorders, or epilepsy, for over a hundred years.[2] The ketones are able to fuel the brain, and don’t require glucose. This miraculously stops even the most resistant seizures. As long as they remain in ketosis, they have no seizures. Interestingly, after a few years, the patient can go off the diet, and the seizures often don’t return. There’s something about ketones that heal the brain.[3]

A recent book by a psychiatrist, Dr. Chris Palmer from Harvard medical school, called Brain Energy,[4] emphasized the benefits of the ketogenic diet for mental illness. He had a patient with serious mental illness who had gained a lot of weight because of his medications. He was sent to a dietitian to lose weight and was put on the ketogenic diet. Not only did this patient lose weight, but he was also able to get off his medications and had no more mental illness. Dr. Palmer then tried this with other patients with a wide variety of types of mental illness and many of them improved on the ketogenic diet.

Of late, there are many programs to reverse Alzheimer’s Disease that use a ketogenic diet. There are many ways that a keto diet improves dementia. The ketones do not require transport so they can go directly into cells and provide energy for improved memory and function. They also decrease inflammation. And, lower insulin levels turn down the production of toxic proteins that are associated with dementia.[5]

Keto for Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury may be greatly benefitted by a ketogenic diet.[6] Studies in mice showed that it reduces cerebral edema and prevents apoptosis (cell death). It was also shown to be safe in humans, but there are no trials in humans.

Keto for Autism Spectrum

While the mechanism is not known, the ketogenic diet has shown improvements in behavior and function for those with autism spectrum disorder.[7]

Keto for Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis was thought to be a viral illness in the brain, but now it appears that it is more of a metabolic problem. There have been a number of studies on ketosis and MS which show benefit.[8]

Keto for Weight Loss

Weight loss is a different story. It seems to work in the studies, but as time goes on it seems to lose power.[9] The problem is not that ketogenic diets do not work for weight loss, but rather that they have been found to be hard to sustain for long periods of time. People begin to miss their carbs and add little bits back to their diet – and then they quickly gain back all the weight they lost.[10] I mean, who can go without carbs for such a long time? People who have seizures, or those who are mentally ill might have enough worry about eating carbs that could bring back their illness, but people who gain weight because they eat a lot of carbs, love carbs. That makes it especially hard. It is not a failure of the diet, but rather a failure of the desire for sweets and carbs.

Keto for PCOS

I had a single case of a woman who was trying for over fifteen years to get pregnant. She had PCOS and was very overweight. She started the ketogenic diet, and two months later she was pregnant! (Your results may vary.)

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a terrible name for an adrenal gland problem in women. The adrenal glands make excess estrogen when they produce excess androgens (testosterone). This causes irregular menstrual cycles, infertility, ovarian cysts, and excessive menstrual bleeding in women. It also has the effect of causing insulin resistance and even T2D in many women. A ketogenic diet can reverse both the hormone imbalances and the insulin resistance. It works by reducing insulin resistance. This causes the women to put on less fat in the abdominal area around the organs. This fat has an enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen, called aromatase. As women lose the fat in the abdomen, the estrogen decreases, allowing for a normal menstrual cycle.[11]

Keto for Cancer

There is a lot of controversy over cancer. Cancer treatment is a big industry, and anyone who tries to cure it will be spanked. Despite this, there is one treatment that works very well to stop the growth of most cancers, and even makes cancer more susceptible to chemotherapy and radiation – the ketogenic diet.[12] When cancer cells are grown in the lab, the medium used to grow them contains glucose, not fat, not protein, and not ketones. Cancer cells don’t use these. By not eating glucose your liver will make some – about one teaspoon in your entire blood supply. The other cells in your body can use fat and ketones, but not the cancer cells. Also, insulin is a growth factor that stimulates the growth of cancer, and a ketogenic diet lowers insulin. Starving the cancer makes it more susceptible to toxic chemotherapy treatments.

Trouble in Keto-land

Lest you should think everyone should always be on a ketogenic diet, it is important to know that it is not conducive to longevity.

Most problems associated with the ketogenic diet are short-term gastrointestinal issues like constipation, nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite, leading to weight loss, which is great if you are obese and have high blood sugar. But what if you are thin and have cancer?

Also, the diet is also associated with changes in the lipid panel. There may also be issues with hepatitis (fatty liver), pancreatitis (due to high fat), hypoglycemia, dehydration (low sodium), low magnesium with osteoporosis.[13]

Ironically, eating a high-protein diet can cause elevated mTOR which is a growth factor that increases the risk of cancer.

But the worst thing is that people who live on a ketogenic diet have an increased risk of death. A 26-year study on 15,428 people found that the optimum carb content in the diet was 50-55%. Interestingly, the people eating only 20% of their calories from carbs had a 1.5x increased risk of mortality. On the other hand, those eating 80% of their calories from carbohydrates only had a 1.1x increase in mortality rate.[14]

Notice how the higher carb diets had a wide area in the 95% confidence interval. This tells us that the diet is probably not the issue of their mortality, whereas the low carb diet seems to be a factor in increased mortality.

This is all to say that a ketogenic diet is not for everyone, but there are certain specific cases where it is very useful, at least for a time, such as those noted above. My recommendation is to set a parameter for how long you will do it. For epilepsy it may be 2 or more years. For pre- high blood sugar it might be a few weeks. A high blood sugar detox program is easy because you can measure your progress. Measure ketones to be sure you are burning fat for energy, measure morning blood glucose, HbA1c, and insulin levels, and keep going until you have a normal metabolism. Some might even do alternating months of doing keto, and then not. It is important to individually assess your own needs, and act accordingly.

How to Keto

Step 1: Clean all the carbs out of your house.

• Pasta
• Cereal
• Bread
• Rice
• Oatmeal
• Corn
• Beans
• Tortillas
• Sweet fruit, dried fruit, jam, jelly
• Candy, chocolate
• Bars, protein powder, smoothies

Step 2: Go to the store and buy only the food you can eat.

• Meat, fish, chicken, lamb, pork
• Eggs
• Vegetables (anything green)
• Cheese, plain yogurt, cottage cheese (fermented dairy, not milk)
• Avocado
• Tomato
• Cucumber
• Salads
• Mushrooms
• Nuts and seeds
• Coconut (unsweetened)

Avoid

• Sugar or anything sweet
• Starch
• Artificial sweeteners
• The taste of sweet
• Fruit that tastes sweet
• Salad dressings that have sugar

Please avoid any packaged foods, bars, and snacks that say “keto-friendly.” They are junk!

Step 3 – Enjoy

• Don’t focus on what you can’t eat, but rather on what you can. I found jicama had 11 grams of carbs per cup, but 6 of those were fiber, so there was a net carb of 5 grams per cup. Wow! I could enjoy a cup of jicama. Carrots have about 12 grams of carbs, but 4 grams of fiber in a cup, leading to a NET carb count of 8 grams per cup. So, if I have a few carrot sticks it’s about 3 grams. Cooked carrots are about the same as raw.
• Snacking is different on a keto diet. Peanut butter on celery, cheese nibs, cucumber sticks, jicama, beef sticks, and nuts are helpful. Have them cut up and ready. Keep track of any net carbs in your snacks.
• Eat twenty grams of NET carbohydrates or less per day. This means take the total carbohydrates and subtract the fiber, which is not digested or does not add to the sugar in the body. There are plenty of online sources or apps to help you. The Diabetes Solution Kit is a great program to follow. It is simple, and contains lists and recipes, and all the instructions on how to do it.

Those who have T2D should have a complete detox within three months. If not, there may be other problems, such as inflammation of the pancreas. Sometimes a few days of fasting will start the fat burning and produce ketones. Exercise also helps. The body must use up all the stored glucose before burning fat.

Measuring Ketones

Once you start burning fat, the ketones can be measured. There are three ways to measure: Blood, breath, and urine. The blood measures the BHB, the breath measures the acetone, and the urine measures any ketones. Many will tell you that the blood is the only accurate way, but accuracy is not an important part of the program. All we need to know is generally high-low or none. Any of the measurements is adequate. I used both the blood and urine, and found they correlated well. If I drink a lot of water, the urine is more diluted, but it still shows that there are ketones.

Keto or Fast?

A ketogenic diet is a great short-term diet for many different problems. I don’t think people should live on keto. It is best to do it for one to three months. I would suspect that instead of long-term keto, you would get the same benefits from periodic fasting. Those with cancer, for example, can fast for 48 hours before a chemo treatment, and keep fasting for 24 hours after, and they will not get toxic, and the chemo works 300% better![15] Fasting was shown to work in all the above issues, even epilepsy, but it isn’t sustainable. You can only fast for so long before you need to eat. Thus, the ketogenic diet is something like a long-term fast. But, even then, the keto diet may be best done for months and not years.

There’s got to be a morning after!

• I did the detox, following a ketogenic diet for three months, and I’m tired of it. What do I do now?

Hopefully, you learned a lot about yourself and your eating habits. It would be essential for you to intermittently burn fat to make ketones. You now know how to do that. You could continue to avoid processed carbs such as sugars and starches like white bread, pasta and white rice. The fiber in whole grains helps protect you from getting toxic again. Also, beans, peas, and lentils are great sources of protein and healthy carbs. So, focus on fiber, continuing to eat keto-friendly vegetables, and add in other whole foods. I would recommend making three commitments:

1. Eat non-processed foods — only whole foods.
2. Fast periodically to burn fat — 1 to 3 days a month, for example.
3. Limit sweet foods to occasional use meaning when there is an “occasion,” like a birthday.

The reason to live by these rules is because you did the ketogenic diet for a reason. You had issues because of a high carbohydrate diet, eating sugar and processed grains. To avoid going back into the same problems again, you would not avoid all carbs, just the ones that cause problems. Make it a point to eat nothing that has sugar in it. Eat sweet fruits sparingly. Eat only whole grains. Eat plenty of beans, lentils, and other legumes. It is a mistake to lump all carbs together into the “bad” category. Just avoid the processed ones.

Those who do this are not at risk for getting high blood sugar, and will avoid all the complications of heart disease, neuropathy, dementia, blindness, and kidney disease. Blood pressure and cholesterol will be normal. Look at the problem as simple sugars, not all carbohydrates. By avoiding processed carbs, and fasting periodically, you can have all the benefits of a ketogenic diet, with all the benefits of a high-fiber diet, leading to a long and healthy life.

 

 

Sources:

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9408028/ Review Int J Environ Res Public Health; . 2022 Aug 22;19(16):10429. Ketogenic Diet Benefits to Weight Loss, Glycemic Control, and Lipid Profiles in Overweight Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trails; Chong Zhou 1, Meng Wang 2, Jiling Liang 3, Guomin He 4, Ning Chen 3
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9739023/ Nutrients. 2022 Dec; 14(23): 5003.Published online 2022 Nov 24. doi: 10.3390/nu14235003; The Role of Ketogenic Diet in the Treatment of Neurological Diseases; Damian Dyńka,1 Katarzyna Kowalcze,1 and Agnieszka Paziewska1,2,*
[3] https://www.epilepsy.com/treatment/dietary-therapies/ketogenic-diet
[4] https://brainenergy.com/
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6720297/ Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Aug; 20(16): 3892.Ketogenic Diet in Alzheimer’s Disease; Marta Rusek,1,2 Ryszard Pluta,3,* Marzena Ułamek-Kozioł,3,4 and Stanisław J. Czuczwar1
[6] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29359959/ Brain Inj. 2018;32(4):416-422. The ketogenic diet as a treatment for traumatic brain injury: a scoping review; Alexandre McDougall 1, Mark Bayley 2, Sarah Ep Munce 2
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8146910/ Front Pediatr. 2021; 9: 650624. A Ketogenic Diet and the Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder; Qinrui Li,1 Jingjing Liang,1 Na Fu,1 Ying Han,2,* and Jiong Qin1,*
[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4709725/ Mult Scler Int. 2015; 2015: 681289. The Therapeutic Potential of the Ketogenic Diet in Treating Progressive Multiple Sclerosis; Mithu Storoni and Gordon T. Plant *
[9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7480775/ Cureus. 2020 Aug; 12(8): e9639.Published online 2020 Aug 10. Advantages and Disadvantages of the Ketogenic Diet: A Review Article; Alexander Muacevic and John R Adler; Jennifer T Batch, Sanjay P Lamsal,2 Michelle Adkins,3 Senan Sultan,4 and Monica N Ramirez5
[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10814162/ Foods. 2024 Jan; 13(2): 248.Methodological Challenges and Confounders in Research on the Effects of Ketogenic Diets: A Literature Review of Meta-Analyses; Katalin Szendi,* Edit Murányi, Nicole Hunter, and Balázs Németh
[11] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9974679/ Curr Nutr Rep. 2023; 12(1): 56–64. Ketogenic Diet as Medical Prescription in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS); Luigi Barrea,#1,2 Ludovica Verde,#2,12 Elisabetta Camajani,3,4 Simona Cernea,5,6 Evelyn Frias-Toral,7 Dilusha Lamabadusuriya,8 Florencia Ceriani,9 Silvia Savastano,2,10 Annamaria Colao,2,10,11 and Giovanna Muscogiuri
[12] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6375425/ Fed Pract. 2017 Feb; 34(Suppl 1): 37S–42S. Ketogenic Diets and Cancer: Emerging Evidence. Jocelyn Tan-Shalaby, MD
[13] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30650523/  Nutrients. Role of Ketogenic Diets in Neurodegenerative Diseases (Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease); Dariusz Włodarek
[14] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30122560/  Lancet Public Health; Dietary carbohydrate intake and mortality: a prospective cohort study and meta-analysis; Sara B Seidelmann 1, Brian Claggett 1, Susan Cheng 1, Mir Henglin 1, Amil Shah 1, Lyn M Steffen 2, Aaron R Folsom 2, Eric B Rimm 3, Walter C Willett 3, Scott D Solomon
[15] https://valterlongo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018_Breast-and-Ovarian-Cancer_BMC-Cancer_Bauersfeld.pdf