Why You Need a Doctor to Help You Optimize Your Keto Diet

by Clara P. Triane, M.D.

      

       A great quantity of online resources are available regarding low carbohydrate, ketogenic and carnivore diets. Should you go it alone and try to navigate though all the information that you hear? Here’s why you would be smart to consult with a keto/carnivore doctor who will help you get on track and keep on track with the natural human diet:

Determining How Low to Drop Your Carbohydrate Intake

       How low do you need to go in terms of carbohydrates? It depends on the individual. A lot of people will experience improvements in their health from dropping their carbs down to 50 total grams per day or less. To derive optimum benefit, however, many people will need to decrease their total carbs to 20 gms/day, others even lower to 10 total gms/day, and some will need to go as close to zero as possible—a carnivore diet. A medical doctor with expertise in the low carb field can help you determine what amount of carbs would be optimum for you and give you some of the knowledge you’ll need to stay the course. 

Lab Interpretation
       What is considered normal in terms of lab tests is often a matter of scientific debate. Some lab results that fall outside the “normal” reference range may be fine and healthy for someone on the natural, species-appropriate human diet. Conversely, a result that falls within the reference range may not be optimal for human health. Most doctors, including those undergoing training today, look at blood test results from the perspective of an outdated paradigm—one that was developed based on data from patients on high carbohydrate diets. As a common example, many doctors will suggest unnecessarily to take statin drugs to people on ketogenic or carnivore diets who have no good reason to be taking them. A medical professional skilled in lab interpretation as it applies to people on a low carb/high fat diet can advise you about what tests to get and interpret the results properly so you can get a more accurate picture of your metabolic health. Some of these lab tests may not be the same ones that your regular doctor typically orders.

Avoiding Unnecessary Pharmaceuticals and Nutraceuticals 
       Many of you are taking medications for diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiac conditions, gastrointestinal problems, autoimmune conditions, to name a few. Physicians nowadays generally are trained to throw a new drug at each new problem a patient experiences instead of first recommending the natural ancestral human diet to improve and restore health. On an optimal carbohydrate, healthy fat diet, people are often able to decrease their dosage or discontinue their medications altogether. Some people are taking supplements which also can be minimized on an ancestrally appropriate diet as they become unnecessary. A physician accustomed to deprescribing can help you know when and how to adjust or stop your medications as appropriate. 

Sorting Through the Morass of Information
       Conflicting information abounds regarding what constitutes the best diet for human beings. Even among the low carb community many opinions exist. A keto/carnivore doctor can help you make sense of contradictory information and aid you in fine-tuning your diet to fit your individual needs, which is always going to be ancestrally appropriate to your species.

Encouragement
       Unfortunately, most physicians are not up to date on the latest nutritional science and are still recommending that you eat a plant-based high carbohydrate, low fat diet. Your family members may not want to change their own diet and may oppose you making changes in your grocery shopping and eating habits. Your acquaintances may be harassing you to become a vegan. The latest science is not promising when it comes to the plant-based food mythology. Consider the advantages of having a knowledgeable medical doctor in your corner to support and cheer you on as you assume a keto attitude toward optimum health. To enlist the help of a ketogenic/carnivore physician, request a consultation with Clara P. Triane, M.D. 

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