Many of you have been curious as to what appears to be a drastic change from promoting ketosis, Paleo and low carb dieting, to what seems to be an anti-paleo, anti-ketosis stand point. I want to be clear that I am in no way opposing these diets. However, as someone with an understanding of biology, physiology and the workings of the metabolism, I find these diets have undisclosed flaws, mostly do to false data, inaccurate science and biased research.

That being said, I do want to take this opportunity to clear the air…

I think it was easy to assume I was “promoting” a ketogenic diet because of my love and support of Bulletproof Coffee (I still drink it and love it). Also, as an author for PaleoHacks, many might have assumed I consumed a Paleo Diet. And, while I did experiment with a ketogenic diet for over a year, I never promoted it because I do not recommend something that I have not verified myself. And during that time, I was still in the midst of verification.

Also, many of my “dietary philosophies” have commonalities and overlaps with these diets. For example, I strongly avoid the consumption of junk food, PUFA, most grains and legumes, etc. However, my diet has been always more refined than this, which is what I want to discuss with you in this post.

But before we get into what I perceive as pitfalls or overlooked subject matter in these dietary trends, I want to also acknolwedge the small, specific shifts I’ve taken with my diet. Due to my experience with ketosis and supplemental research, the most recent shift I have made in my diet is advocating the consumption of sugar, and strongly avoiding low-carb dieting. I will explain why in more detail later, but in short, this was born from my horrible experience with these specific aspects of ketosis and a Paleo diet. To be brief, my time on a ketogenic diet lead to an awful case of hypothyroidism and accompanying adverse symptoms.

Now, keep in mind that a Paleo diet does not have to be low-carb, that is a specification that can be altered while still adhering to a Paleo-ish diet. Ketosis on the other hand, is defined by remaining in a chronic state of gluconeogenesis, which insists upon the heavy restriction of carbohydrates and glucose. And as I discuss in this earlier post, this is not necessarily a health promoting metabolic state to be in, especially if you suffer from metabolic dysfunction, hypothyroid or any other stress.

The Paleo Diet

For the last few years, the Paleo diet has been the most popular diet in the United States, and it continues to gain popularity. In fact, according to statistics, there are roughly one to three million people hopping on the Paleo bandwagon, and to be honest, I’m not surprised, this diet has many excellent benefits…

For example, the Paleo diet advocates:

  • A whole foods diet, devoid of highly processed, industrial junk foods that often contain a variety of allergenic and biologically-disrupting chemicals.
  • Focusing on high-quality, local and organic food products (i.e. pastured meats, eggs, and organic fresh veggies and fruits.)
  • Eliminating common, digestive irritating foods and substances (i.e. commercial grains, beans and legumes)
  • Against the consumption of anti-metabolic, toxic fats like PUFA and vegetable oils, while promoting the consumption of anti-stress saturated fats like ghee, coconut oil and butter.
  • Proper digestive function.

These are positive dietary factors that most people could agree to. However, the Paleo diet is in no way complete, it does have its downsides.

Paleo Pitfalls

In my direct experience and as a health consultant, I notice that most people do well on a Paleo diet at first, but then things take a turn for the worse. Depending on the person’s previous dietary habits, they notice an increase in energy and decrease of symptoms as they eliminate common problematic foods, junk food and eat more natural, easier to digest foods. However, in time, many people will face new problems, specifically hypo-metabolic symptoms like lowered body temp (less than 98 degrees, indicating a decrease in metabolic rate), increased food cravings, especially to sugar (an indication of metabolic stress, glucose deficit & the body’s attempt to regain metabolic homeostasis), impaired liver function (due to glucose deficiency, lowered thyroid leading impaired detoxification), blood sugar handling issues (insufficient glycogen stores), and worsened digestive problems (increased food allergies/sensitivities as a result of slowed metabolism, therefore slowing digestive function and the secretion of digestive enzymes and fluids).

I understand these are large claims and that not everyone experiences these problems – they can be avoided while adhering to a diet very close to Paleo. Nevertheless, these are issues I have personally faced and have helped thousands of others with over the last few years.

At this point, you’re probably wondering where Paleo goes wrong exactly, and how these imbalances occur.

Here’s how…

1) Paleo & Low Carb: It seems that most people in the Paleo community automatically lean toward ketosis and low carb dieting. However, it is this specific condition that can lead to the many problems previously mentioned. Low carb dieting can slow the metabolism by many mechanisms, all of which are interrelated. First off, many argue that sugar is non-essential, and this is true. But just because it isn’t essential to survive, doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly helpful for thriving. Glucose (derived of the substrates of carbs and sugar) is the primary (not essential but important) fuel source for the liver. Yes, the liver can manufacture some glucose and store as glycogen to survive, but not enough for things like hair growth, skin regeneration and fighting other stressors like environmental estrogens. When you eat low carb, you starve the liver of its major fuel source, forcing it to go into a survival condition called gluconeogenesis, where it breaks down proteins (your muscles and organs), and fat (ketosis) to create glucose for energy. However, this is done very poorly, and has other negative side effects. First, to initiate gluconeogenesis, the body must be in a state of stress (marked by elevated levels of cortisol, a catabolic hormone that leads to muscle wasting, hair loss, and wrinkles when chronically elevated). This in of itself will slow the metabolism, leading to a hypo-metabolic state like hypothyroid. Also, because the liver provides up to 70% of our active thyroid hormone to the cells (by converting T4 to T3), a starved liver that doesn’t get adequate glucose will poorly convert thyroid hormone. This will lead to all the problems of a slowed metabolism, including:

  • Decreased hormone synthesis (the liver secretes the enzymes that methylates and synthesizes hormones)
  • Impaired detoxification (slow metabolism = slow detoxification)
  • Decreased digestive function (slowed bowel motility aka constipation, low HCL production, causing bloat, SIBO, leaky gut and essentially all digestive problems)
  • Makes the body reliant on stress hormones (stress metabolism, i.e the need for cortisol to stay in gluconeogenesis)
  • Decreased appetite (due to slowed metabolism) resulting in nutritional deficiencies and increased stress.

2) Imbalance of Amino Acids: While the Paleo Diet advocates foods like bone broth, gelatin and collagen, many make the mistake of consuming too many muscle meats, which generates inflammation. Something not many people are aware of is the importance of amino acid balance. Meat gets a bad rap, but it’s not meat itself that causes inflamamtion and cancer, it is the overconsumption of muscle meat, without a focus on balancing it with the other half of the animal (gelatinous cuts of meat like oxtail, shanks, gelatin, cartilage and broth), along with other anti-inflammatory proteins like quality dairy, fish, and shellfish.

The fact of the matter is, not all meat is the same, different cuts and types contain different amino acids. For example, most muscle meat contains a higher amount of the amino acid methionine, which if is chronically higher than glycine, creates inflammation. 1

So, not only do we want to keep methionine lower than glycine, glycine in of itself has many anti-inflammatory, anti-stress, health promoting effects on the body (hair growth, improved skin health, lower cortisol) that are overlooked unless once is consuming bone broth, gelatin or collagen.

3) Too Many Nuts/Seeds: To satisfy sugar cravings (a result of glucose deficiency and slowed thyroid function), many people on a Paleo diet will load up on an unnatural amount of nuts. There are two major issues here; first, nuts contain phytates and lectins, which can be goitrogenic (anti-thyroid), and difficult to digest leading to gut irritation. Secondly, nuts are high in inflammatory polyunsaturated fats (PUFA). As I discuss in this earlier post, PUFA are estrogenic, increase cortisol and directly impair the functioning of the mitochondria. 2

4) No Dairy: Most of the time, those on a Paleo diet will greatly restrict dairy, which is a highly controversial but nutritional powerhouse. The argue against dairy is generally that humans cannot digest it, industrial farming is evil and factory farmed milk is pumped with chemicals and estrogen. Please note that these claims do not provide a sound argument against all dairy, just factory farmed diary. Expanding the picture though, here are two things many people are not aware of…

One of the major underlying imbalances that leads to chronic inflammation is an imbalance or influx of dietary calcium to phosphate. When dietary phosphate is chronically higher than the dietary calcium, there is an increased functioning of parathyroid hormone and prolactin and those tend to overload the cells with calcium increasing inflammatory chemicals like nitric oxide. This impairs cellular respiration, leading to the loss of energy and therefore the generation of inflammation. And quality dairy happens to be the best source of bioavailable calcium we can get. It comes with all the important co-factors (vitamin D, K2, etc.) to utilize calcium properly. So, the truth is, quality dairy provides an incredible source of pro-thyroid, pro-metabolic nutrition.

It’s not true that humans cannot tolerate dairy. This comes from the idea that we lose the ability to produce the enzyme lactase after birth and therefore, it\s unnatural for us to continue consuming dairy. However, this is not a natural occurrence but the result of increased bacterial endotoxin in the small intestine. Bacterial endotoxin overgrowth (SIBO), decreases the small intestines ability to secrete lactase. So, oftentimes those who used to tolerate dairy, but cannot later in life, just have an overgrowth of endotoxin in their guts. I talk about how to correct this imbalance in my Perfect Digestion course, using a few simple foods and supplements, along with other helpful lifestyle factors.

5)Promoting Fat Metabolism: The Paleo diet seems to favor lipolysis (fat metabolism) for energy over glycolysis (glucose metabolism). In other words, the Paleo community often leans towards “burning fat” for fuel or using fat for energy (i.e. ketosis and lipolysis).

What they don’t tell you though is the all science behind these metabolic conditions. For most, just hearing the words “burning fat”, is enough to get them on the band wagon. However, what many do not realize is the stress of excessive fat burning. When you “burn fat” for energy, the body has to shift from glycolysis to lipolysis and then ketosis. Now, in the most simplest of terms, to enter either ketosis of lipolysis is a metabolic stress. To put it to perspective, this is what our bodies do when we are starving…

To enter lipolysis, the body must use up all its glucose stores (be in an energy deficit), which places a stress on the liver, and elevates stress hormone cortisol. In the most basic sense, being in ketosis or lipolysis activates the stress response, which is why it feels so good (you’re on an adrenaline and cortisol high). But this also decreases carbon dioxide production in the body, which accelerates the aging process. Also, when we liberate fat from our tissues, we have an increase in free circulating fatty acids in the blood (a diabetic condition), which increases the production of estrogen and cortisol.

Glycolysis is the more natural metabolic state we can be in, which is activated under a parasympathetic (relaxed, non-stressed) state, where our bodies effectively metabolize sugar for energy. This explains the correlation between chronic stress, cortisol, impaired sugar metabolism and diabetes. It also explains how sugar can safeguard us from stress (sugar regulates cortisol, as cortisol rises, sugar decreases vice versa). So in this way, the utilization of sugar for energy is actually going to keep us out of stress metabolism, increasing our resistance to stress, and providing many anti-aging benefits.

6) Anti-Sugar: This leads us to our last pitfall, which is that Paleo tends to demonize sugar consumption.

However, as we just learned, this simply is not the case. But to further explain why, consider the fact that all carbohydrates: starches, fruits, grains, etc. are broken down into single sugars (monosaccharides) in the body in the form of glucose. Additionally, even in ketosis, the body is breaking down fat and protein to make glucose. So, if glucose was so awful for us, why would our bodies go as far as breaking down our muscles, fat and organs just to make it?

Furthermore, when the metabolism breakdown fats for energy, free fatty acids and glycerols are liberated but only the glycerol backbones can reenter the Kreb cycle at the pyruvate state to be converted to glucose. Meaning, the remaining free fatty acids will circulate in the bloodstream. In other words, fats are ineffectively converted into glucose and therefore have to be used for energy. However, many glands and organs, like the hair follicles, cannot “sub-in” these free fatty acids for energy, which could explain the strong correlation between ketosis, low carb dieting and hair loss.

Lastly, I think in order to be truly healthy, we need a healthy level of communication with our bodies. And the way the body communicates is not words, but feelings, cravings, etc. In fact, cravings are one of our bodies many, built-in mechanisms for helping us restore homeostasis. So if we ignore these cravings, we are essentially saying we know better than our bodies, which to me is incredibly unwise.

With sugar cravings being so prevalent in the Paleo community, and with cravings being a powerful biological mechanism for correcting nutritional deficiencies and imbalances, I would suggest at the very least, we set aside what we “think” it healthy for us, and start listening to what our bodies are telling us. But also consider this, if you’re craving sugar, your either not consuming enough for the body’s needs, or something is interfering with your body’s ability to use sugar. Therefore, you crave it because if you don’t eat it you will waste protein to make it, something your body is trying to help you avoid with its cravings. So ultimately, sugar isn’t the problem, what matters more is your body’s ability to metabolize and utilize sugar correctly.

Signs That Your Diet NEEDS Tweaking

To close, I want to remind you that this is not an “anti-paleo” post. This post was intended to bring your attention to more refined details you may be overlooking in your diet. I do think a Paleo Diet can be done correctly, with a few tweaks.

So, if you are adhering to a Paleo diet, and experiencing any issues at all, here are a few signs you may need to make some adjustments:

  • Intense sugar cravings (paleo desserts anyone?)
  • Strong cravings for chocolate and salt (this indicates your body is likely in gluconeogenesis, or that your body is under heavy stress. Elevated levels of cortisol, adrenaline and aldosterone can lead to a loss of salt and magnesium)
  • Your waking body temperature is below 97.8 F
  • Your resting pulse rate is low (below 77-88 bmp)
  • Your intolerant to cold (poor circulation)
  • Poor digestion, bloating, constipation, bloat, etc. (as the metabolism slows, so does the secretion of digestive enzymes and fluids, you’ll want to correct your digestion, as well as improve your metabolic rate)
  • Low energy and chronic fatigue (this indicates hypothyroid – the cells need thyroid hormone to produce cellular energy, and this is interfered with by cortisol, which is elevated under ketosis.)
  • Problems losing or gaining weight (impaired metabolism from excess stress hormone and low thyroid)
  • Edema (water retention)

Conclusion

Personally, I eat what I would call a “modified Paleo” diet. The only differences are that I consume a moderate carb diet (200 grams/daily) to avoid going into ketosis, I consume generous supplies of quality dairy to keep the calcium:phosphate ratio in check, and at the end of the day, I do not fuss over food. As much of a “foodie” as I am, I understand the paramount effects that physiological stress has on our health. So, I keep my diet simple, and focus more on maintaining my happiness.

For some final tips, I would definitely utilize the additional resources below:

  • For those interested in getting a handle on their mental and emotional health, be sure to check out my book The Fundamentals of Success.
  • To learn more about revitalizing your metabolism, be sure to check out my online course, Healthy Weight Loss.
  • Also, because of the strong influence digestion has on metabolic function, it is imperative to correct digestive issues like chronic gas, bloating and constipation. Be sure to check out my best-selling online course, Perfect Digestion.

References

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5350494/
  2. Bruning, P.F., and Bonfrèr, J.M. Free fatty acid concentrations correlated with the available fraction of estradiol in human plasma. Cancer Res. 1986 May;46(5):2606-9. “A physiological in vivo increase of plasma free fatty acid concentration after an overnight fast was found to be accompanied by a rise of the non-protein bound estradiol fraction.” “…was markedly dissociated by oleate and even more by linoleate, linolenate, or arachidonate.” “These results suggest that physiological diurnal elevations in plasma free fatty acids which are amplified by high fat consumption, obesity, and stress may imply major proportional increases of available estradiol, exerting a promotional effect on breast and endometrial cancer over the years.”