Why Keto? Informed Breakfast Choices

Good day and welcome back to the channel! Today we're making breakfast and explaining the "why" for this specific meal. The reason? The need to maintain metabolic health!

Some background: As I entered my 50s, my fasting blood sugar starting increasing. That forced me to investigate what was happening with me and why.

As a pharmacist, I was taught that type 2 diabetes (T2D) was a disorder of blood sugar. That was a long time ago and that was the understanding at that time. That explanation is no longer correct.

What's known now is that T2D is REALLY a disorder of insulin sensitivity. A consequence of reduced insulin sensitivity is an increase in fasting blood glucose measurements. Unfortunately, many clinicians were taught what I was taught all those years ago. They continue to look at T2D as a problem of blood glucose. Which means, the root cause of T2D doesn't routinely get addressed.

The reality: T2D is reversible. It's not just treatable. It is reversible.

How do you reverse T2D? Change your diet. Not just what you eat, but when you eat.

Why?

In patients with T2D or pre-diabetes, you see increasing fasting blood glucose measures. What this means for the vast majority of people is that insulin, the hormone primarily responsible for maintaining blood glucose, isn't working the way it used to, so the pancreas spits out more and more insulin to try to maintain blood glucose levels. This is insulin resistance. The consequences of insulin resistance are profound. Insulin resistance (aka, T2D) increase the risks for developing cardiovascular disease, T2D, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and many, many, MANY more diseases.

NOTE: there are cases of adults developing type 1 diabetes, which is a case of the pancreas no longer being able to produce adequate amounts of insulin to maintain normal blood glucose concentrations. This is an entirely different disease than T2D, even though both diseases include the word, "diabetes" and both result in increasing fasting blood glucose measures. If you are seeing increases in fasting blood glucose, please get medical attention to find out exactly what's happening with you!

Back to my situation: I changed my diet 8 or so years ago and dramatically reduced daily carbohydrate intake. The result? I lost weight, my fasting blood glucose levels dropped, my HbA1c levels never went above 5.

Awesome! Along the way, I've learned how to eat and how to maintain metabolic health. However, the rest of the world doesn't always embrace the ketogenic lifestyle. And, there are times that I chose to eat something with a lot of carbs. The question is now: if you know you are at risk for developing T2D, how do you respond if you happen to stray from the keto path?

That's what this video is about.

I enjoyed some celebratory pizza with my wife two nights ago. It was a terrific treat! When I checked my ketones this morning, I saw that I was still in ketosis, but just barely (0.3). My fasting blood glucose was OK (100), but not ideal.

These data points informed my breakfast choice. I wanted to have something that had some protein, a substantial amount of fat, and very low carbohydrates. I happened to have a link of some already cooked hot sausage in the fridge (1 gram of carb), which made the rest of the decision very easy: sausage and eggs with some Cooper Sharp cheese (0.5 gram carb)!

This meal will not only meet the macro requirements I need, it will also allow me to remain sated for the rest of the day. I'll be able to omit lunch completely! That's not only fewer total calories ingested, it also means that I'll have a prolonged period of no external calories. That will allow my body to burn glycogen stored in my liver and in my muscles.

Wait, why would you want to reduce glycogen stores?

Reducing glycogen stores does several things.

1. It allows insulin to work much more efficiently (which addresses the root cause of T2D);
2. It results in body being able to switch the source of energy that will be used to power your body through the day (moving from utilizing glucose as the primary source of energy to fats/ketones as the primary source of energy). Another way of saying this is: eating this way and having extended intervals between eating allows the body to burn fat. That means, increased ability to lose weight.

For many people, using ketones as brain fuel can result in improved energy and mental clarity. One additional benefit is that it's one less THING to do during your day! You now have whatever time you would have devoted to cooking-eating-cleaning up from lunch that doesn't have to happen.

If you have questions or comments, please let me know!