Whaddup, y’all?
I am going to get back to
writing “real” blog posts soon, I promise!
Just been a bit swamped with
travel to speak at a couple of nutrition and health events, plus a move!
First, I spoke at the Weston A. Price Foundation’s annual Wise Traditions Conference. My Alzheimer’s talk was such a hit last year that
the president of the foundation asked me to give the same talk again this year. Nice!
I also gave two talks at a
keto event in Kingston, Ontario. If you’re in Canada and you’d like to find out
when more such events will be taking place in your beautiful country, check out
https://keto-retreat.ca/ (They also have a Facebook page
where you can get updates.) Videos of both talks will be available soon, and I’ll
let you know when they are. One of them was on the concept of the personal fat threshold,
and the other was a talk unlike any I’d ever given before. In fact, I think it
was unlike any talk anyone has ever
given in the keto community. I opened a conversation that is long overdue and
brought up some issues I’d love to see us all talking more about. I’ll leave it
at that until the video is available to the public and will explain more when
the link is live and I can share it. I’m excited to see what you’ll think of it.
Like I said, a talk unlike any I’m aware of in 15 years of following a low carb
diet.
About the move…
I moved three and a half
hours south, from Fredericksburg, VA, to Durham, NC. I’ve been crashing at a
friend’s place while I buy furniture and get things settled, because in all the
previous places I’d lived in the DC metro area since 2009, I always rented
furnished places, so until recently, I owned zero furniture. (Unless a Squatty Potty counts!) Owing to this furniture deficiency and the travel, I’ve
been living out of a duffel bag for almost a month. Eek! Even though I was
living in Virginia for the past 9 years, now that I’m in North Carolina, I’m
definitely in The South™. I’m already
a natural at saying “Bless their hearts,” and I look forward to making homemade
pimento cheese, because man, that stuff
is gooood. (It’s basically keto as
is, except if you read labels, many of the prepared ones you can buy at the
supermarket have added sugar. It would be delicious without any sweetening at
all, but for those who like a hint of sweetness to it, a pinch of Splenda, Swerve,
or your low-carb sweetener of choice would mix in just fine. What? Artificial sweeteners?
Yes. Yes, I use them. I’ve been
using them for 18 years and I’m not dead yet. But maybe tomorrow.)
To pass the time until I post
something more substantial, I wanted to share two more videos with you. One was an interview with me about Alzheimer’s
recorded at Low Carb Houston.
Many of you reading out there have probably already watched some of my other Alz
videos (and maybe you’ve even checked out my book). If you’re new to the concept of Alzheimer’s as “type 3
diabetes” or “brain insulin resistance,” this new one is highly recommended.
And it’s recommended even if you have
already seen some of the other videos. This one is only 25 minutes long, and
thanks to the good questions the interviewer asked, we covered a lot of educational
information in that time. Here’s the link.
Toward the very end, I buck
the keto police and explain that not everyone needs to be on a medically
therapeutic ketogenic diet. We can’t deny the millions (billions?) of healthy
people around the world who age gracefully and with their cognitive faculties
intact who do not follow ketogenic
diets. They eat fruit, they eat beans, they even … *gasp!* … eat grains. So no, a strict keto diet is not the only way to be healthy and
maintain a body weight you’re happy with. (I have to find a new way to talk
about weight, because I’d rather not use the phrases “healthy body weight” or “normal
body weight.” I know people who are heavy and healthy, and people who are thin
and quite sick. [In fact, this is exactly what the personal fat threshold is all about.] And who the heck gets to decide what a “normal” weight is, anyway? Certainly not me!) Yes, you can stick to 20g of carbs a day for the
rest of your life if you enjoy that and it works for you. But many people have
a higher carb tolerance than that. And not only can they “tolerate” more carbs,
but they might actually feel better, physically
and mentally/emotionally, with a bit more carbs in their diet. (Read this old favorite post for more on this. And here’s a video from my new YouTube
channel on the topic of keto police in general.)
I’ve gotta say, I think I look pretty good here! I should wear
bold makeup more often! (I would like to; the fact is, I’m usually just too
lazy to take the time to apply it before grabbing my purse and heading out the
door. Plus, I never really learned how to apply makeup correctly. I go into Sephora and I honestly have no idea what half
the products are even for, let alone
how to put them on my face without making myself look like a clown, or look 30
years older than I am. Anyone know
any good YouTube makeup tutorial channels for normal people? I’m open to recommendations.) I should also probably
smile more. That’s really the best makeup anyone can wear anyway.
The second video I’d like to share is even
shorter (less than 22 minutes), and it’s also about Alzheimer’s. I make a few
short cameo appearances, and there are appearances by some of my favorite Alzheimer’s
researchers, Stephen Cunnane, PhD, Dale Bredesen, MD, and Mary Newport, MD.
I cite and celebrate their work in my book and in every Alz talk I’ve given. The
video is extremely well done and provides a fabulous overview of the metabolic
aspects of Alzheimer’s, the latest research, and the therapeutic potential of
ketogenic diets and exogenous ketones. (Link to the video here.)
About the next “real” post: I
plan my next blog post to be on the topic of the personal fat threshold. There’s
a sneak peek in this video I did a
few months ago, but the blog post will dive a little deeper and will contain
links to relevant research for those of you who’d like to learn more. (Or to verify
that I’m not making this stuff up out of thin air. I try not to do that unless
someone is paying me obscene amounts of money to do so.) I suspect this
post will take a while to write, and if time gets away from me and I’d rather
not go too long without anything new on the blog, I might post a book review or
two. I’ve read several good nutrition books since the last book review post,
and those are usually pretty quick to write. (See here for all the book review posts.)
If you’re into videos,
don’t forget about my YouTube channel. Half ranting and half information that I hope is educational and
helpful. (Kind of like my blog!)
Back soon to what I love
best: writing.
Disclaimer: Amy Berger, MS,
CNS, NTP, is not a physician and Tuit Nutrition, LLC, is not a medical
practice. The information contained on this site is not intended to diagnose,
treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition and is not to be used as a
substitute for the care and guidance of a physician. Links in this post and all
others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the
purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links.
Amy, I'm a recent follower of you. I love reading your posts here, and I follow you on Twitter though I have a sort of dummy account that is set up just so I can follow people. I think you are one of the few experts whom I can trust in the low carb world so thank you for sharing your knowledge. I have been enjoying your videos on your channel, and I'd be interested in a video where you explain a typical day of what you eat and how you exercise. I know we are all different, but I like hearing how the experts do things.
ReplyDeleteAnd you look so, so pretty in the video where you're interviewd about your book!
Anyway thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Hey Ali, welcome to my corner of the interwebs. Thanks for following. :)
DeleteI'll keep this idea in mind, but as someone who wouldn't mind losing 10-12 pounds, I'm not sure anyone wants to hear about my personal diet and exercise. But with that in mind, I can talk about what's worked for me in the past, what *doesn't* seem to work so well for me, and how things have changed over time, depending on other things going on in my life. In *that( sense, I could see this possibly being helpful. Hmmm....Thanks for the suggestion. I have a few more topics I want to cover before I'd get to this, but I'll add this to the list.
I'm trying to find a prevention diet as I'm high risk for Alzheimer's. I've started the MIND diet which is recommended for Alzheimer's but after seeing your video and looking into ketosis a bit but it seems to be almost opposite of the MIND diet. The MIND diet has been shown to reduce Alzheimer's risk by 53% if followed religiously and 30% if followed moderately. Are there percentages like this for ketosis?
ReplyDelete