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Friday 25 April 2014

Jeff Volek: Low-carb diet wise for several reasons.

Noted diet and health scientist Jeff Volek gave a packed house at the IHMC Evening Lecture Series Thursday a new twist on an old saying.
“Rather than ‘you are what you eat,’ it should be ‘you are what you store from what you eat,’ ” said Volek, a professor and researcher at the University of Connecticut.

Volek presented the talk “The Many Facets of Keto-Adapation: Health, Performance and Beyond” as part of a series hosted by the Institute of Human and Machine Cognition, a technical research center with offices in Ocala and Pensacola, in cooperation with the College of Central Florida and local business sponsors.

The series has been ever-increasing in popularity, with several hundred in attendance Thursday.

“Tonight’s talk sold out within six hours of being posted on our website,” said John Rogacki with IHMC, as he introduced Volek. Mia Gottlieb with IHMC said “the audience for every talk seems to be increasing.”

Volek said he feels the typical American diet, typically rich in carbohydrates like bread and pasta, is a health concern that leads to more storage of fat than fat burning, the latter of which may be accelerated by a designed and balanced intake of more fats.

“Restricting carbs can increase fat burning, in some cases, more than exercise,” Volek said.

Volek cited studies with diabetic patients and world-class athletes on “ketogenic diets high in fats” to bolster his claims of the benefits of restricting carbs.

“Restricting carbs allows (the body) to use stored fat for fuel rather than the limited (fuel) obtained from carb intake. When body chemistry changes occur, including the liver releasing fat-burning ketones, a state of “ketosis” has been reached and fat is burned usually at a higher rate than a person on a high-carb diet.

“We’ve been condemning fats in the diet for decades,” Volek said, adding that sources of fat he may suggest as part of a personalized diet include meats, cheese, eggs and nuts. Urine and blood tests can be used to monitor proper intake, he said.

According to a biography on Volek distributed at the talk, his 15 years of research indicate the “metabolic adaptations” achieved from a properly designed restricted carb diet can have therapeutic effects beyond weight loss, including “reversing Type 2 diabetes.”

“There’s an epidemic of type 2 diabetes in the U.S. We now have about 10 percent of the population that has type 2 diabetes and (each patient) spends about $8,000 annually related to the disorder, or about $200 billion overall,” Volek said.

“(The medical profession) continues to recommend a high-carb diet, which exacerbates the problem. It boggles the mind,” Volek said, adding that diabetic patients typically end up taking increased medications.

Volek displayed a video that included tables indicating that the fat burning of long distance runners was significantly higher when the traditional carb-laden diet before an endurance event was changed to one higher in fats.

“We have studied athletes who ran over 100 miles,” Volek said.

Volek, who contributed to the latest Atkins Diet book — “A New Atkins for A New You” — and has written four science- and diet-related books, including “The Art and Science of Low Carb Living,” co-authored with Steve Phinney, espouses a reduction of carbs because “they block metabolism.”

Volek said he knew of “no effective and safe weight-loss medication, but if the pharmaceutical companies could replicate the effects of ketosis, they’d have a blockbuster.”

Following the talk, several attendees discussed the talk and its content.

Local dentist Dr. Keith Phipps said he is intrigued by the concept.

“This was an excellent talk, and it seems to be the cutting edge information on science and diet,” Phipps said.

Jillian Daniel Ramsammy, with the College of Central Florida, and her husband, Trevor, said they may gradually try the dietary change.
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Ken Ford, IHMC director, said he adheres to a “ketonic” diet.

“It helps eliminate brain fog,” Ford said.

http://www.ocala.com/

Graham

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this for us all to read and acknowledge. Volek and Pinney, good guys.

Jimmy

Unknown said...

The ketogenic diet is really working well for the pillsbury dough boy AKA Jimmy Moore isn't it.

Galina L. said...

I got adapted to exercising in ketosis and in a fasted state, it took me almost a year. I remember how horrible it felt before the adaptation took place, now I have much better endurance.

Unknown said...

Hope they publish the full talk on Youtube. If you didn't see his previous IHMC talk, it's at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC1vMBRFiwE

Unknown said...

"The ketogenic diet is really working well for the pillsbury dough boy AKA Jimmy Moore isn't it."

Maybe you should try it fat boy. Might help sort out that dodgy A1c and terrible blood work.

Anonymous said...

If "nutritional ketosis" is so great, why isn't it more prevalent among professional athletes?? There must be some reason. Maybe it does work as advertised at a higher level?

Anonymous said...

Charles Grashow said...

The ketogenic diet is really working well for the pillsbury dough boy AKA Jimmy Moore isn't it.

Looking at his latest pictures I'd say nope.

Anonymous said...

“We have studied athletes who ran over 100 miles,” Volek said.

Think Carbsane discussed this, he wasn't a true fat burning beast

http://carbsanity.blogspot.ca/2012/11/fat-burning-beast.html

Unknown said...

If "nutritional ketosis" is so great, why isn't it more prevalent among professional athletes?? There must be some reason. Maybe it does work as advertised at a higher level?"

Professional athletes don't generally reveal their nutrition plans, especially when it gives them a competitive advantage.

The word on the street is that both Wiggins and Froome used a keto diet in preparation for their TdF victories - including using a "ketone drink" during the races.

Remember that ketosis would ONLY be beneficial for endurance events at Marathon distances and above. They are no use for "anaerobic exercise" which is mainly glycogen dependent.

It's fairly well acknowledged that lots of ultra runners adopt low-carb diets. Including the greatest ever: Bruce Fordyce.

Tim Noakes (the world's pre-eminent running sports scientist) LITERALLY wrote the book on carb loading, and now says that you should tear those pages out of his book.

Unknown said...

And of course - if any of you want to test out your running skills against a ketogenic diabetic (with a busted knee) then Team BG are coming to Oak Hill parkrun on May 10th.

I'd welcome the chance to talk to any of you about the subtler points of sports nutrition.

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your park run on 10th May. My exercise these days is a daily walk.
James