Kenna Morton's Journal, 06 Apr 19

Yes I see cheat days as being an issue for Keto people. It seems that you get out of Ketosis and there you are sitting with an abundance of fat and sodium in your system, but I’m sure they all know what they are doing and have it all figured out.so it works for them. 

I have also never noticed anyone besides Keto people having issues with cheating on their diets. 🤔 

“Study indicates large amounts of sugars ingested shows immediate damage to blood vessels” 

Keto people... funny!! I have heard tons of stories on this site regarding everyone eliminating food groups and certain foods to reach their goals; sugar, calories, fat, grains, etc... I am vegetarian, I tend to have a very heavy carb diet when I eat that causes me to gain weight. It's whatever works for the individual person. If you are educting yourself before any food changes and talk with your doctor you will be fine. You just have to find healthy choices instead of the food that triggers your weight increase. I hope everyone is successful in whatever choice that they choose and I it's a lifestyle change not a diet.. once you are ready you will be just fine...  

Being Low Carb and then Keto since August and having lost 82 pounds, personally, I am keto not simply for weight loss but for fatty liver, insulin resistance, diabetes etc. I equate keto to someone's EpiPen if they have a life-threatening peanut allergy. If I was highly allergic to peanuts, I wouldn't eat them. My body clearly can't handle sugar so I don't eat it. There MAY come a day I can and will introduce higher carb veggies and more fruit but until that time.... I don't cheat. And frankly, why would I? she asks as she finishes off her bowl of coconut ice cream with chocolate sauce. Another person's body will be different and they have to find what works for them. But this..this works for me and I'm not going to mess it up by cheating. Because yes, cheating for a keto following person causes a whole bunch of other issues.  

As long as your GI doctor who manages your fatty liver gives you the thumbs up— I guess you are good to go. 

People “cheat” because of the constant feeling of deprivation and forbiddeness. I hate that word cheat meal. It has the connotation of being a bad person, a weak person, that you have to”forgive” yourself for your sins. Like that is a healthy approach for people who might already have some self esteem, self confidence issues and may suffer from depression. These are good people — struggling with a problem. This is not about loosing weight for the prom here— many of these people have serious background medical issues and are fighting for their lives.  

Also many of these people have to-yo dieted for years and now science knows that there has been actual changes in brain chemistry as a result which makes their journey today that much more difficult. 

Well said Kenna 

Everyone, no matter what WOE they choose, has "cheat meals" or "cheat days". The verbiage of what it is called "cheat", "diet break", "binge", "off day", etc. does not matter. It is all the same thing: Eating food that is not on your regular WOE inventory. How or why a person chooses to go off WOE is up to them. No one should point fingers unless it is back at themselves. Each of us has our own issues and struggles. Each of our bodies is unique and each body will respond differently from the next person. Even in these 'studies', not one of the persons studied is going to be the exact match in response as another one in the study. The study results are just an 'average' of responses, not a absolute. While one person might do very well on a WOE that includes all food groups, another's health issues and metabolic make-up might find that toxic. And above all else, each person needs to do their own research carefully and take "Internet Knowledge" with a grain of salt and be sure they understand what they are reading and where the source is linked to. This study mentioned here only tested 9 young men. NINE. And only after ONE WEEK of being on a low carb, high fat eating. ONE Week, Not enough time for the body to adapt into fat burning, not enough time to become fat adaptive, nothing. And certainly NOT a cross section of the Keto population. Nine young men. Then the study is peppered with words, just as it the title ... "MAY" "POSSIBLY" "MIGHT" "SUGGESTS" - and yet people will read this article and quote it as gospel without investigating it. They will use the phrase "damage blood vessels" like it is an absolute guaranteed result of a 'cheat day' or 'cheat meal' ... thus perpetuating myth, falsehoods, corrupted information and being a part of the problem rather than part of the solution. FS should be a place of support and understanding. Not a place where crap journalism and NON-scientific studies are taunted as gospel. We should understand and accept that each of us is uniquely different and we all have to find that path that will work for us and our own body. That we will make mistakes along the way and we will made choices that might not be as beneficial as they should be. But instead of pointing fingers or labeling groups or 'profiling' ... we should be encouraging to each other and letting each person choose their own WOE without judgment or shaming.  

I want to change my comment to what Catzz2 posted, but I think Kenna knew I was being facetious when I first posted. 😁 

it is really interesting how loose the "medical community" is with what passes as news. The use of the word may really means " we don't actually know this is true". If you read and reacted to every published statement about the implications of our diet decisions you would be unable to eat.  

Unfortunately this is not an isolated article. It was even discussed briefly at my medical conference a few months ago. I don’t expect anyone to believe it but possibly it might be food for thought for some folks. I’ve shared some information from that obesity conference but basically I think a lot of folks don’t really want to hear it all. I expected more discussion on the Keto WOE because it is such a hot, polarizing topic right now but they kept the focus of the conference on the subject matter which was obesity. Not a diet related conference. Catz I think you missed the point when I spoke of cheat days. It wasn’t a criticism of people doing it it was that connotation that cheating brings to the table. It invokes quilt in many folks and that is what I feel bad about. It’s just a alternate choice of foods in their WOE and they have made a conscious decision to do it. Enough said. 

That's why I don't call it cheating, all foods are part of my diet. Some days my calories are higher than others. There are no cheat days that way. ;) 

The article was only published in March. I read it in the Nutrient I think. They had no control group so I don't think the result was very helpful. We have no idea what result a standard diet or a low calorie would yield at all.  

I thought that the most important take away from that study given its limitations was that sugar could actually have that much of an impact. I would be happy if there were more studies. But researchers and projects are often funded by someone and it is not that often we get good "negative" studies. (the bad effect of something... When some scientiist write papers on bad effects of fats or sugars or meats or whatever it is often based on those cohort studies and they can be hard to interpret.  

Here is a link to the published research paper: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/3/489/htm 

I like how Kenna was so passive aggressive about it, "I'm sure, 'Keto People', all know what they are doing and have it all figured out.so it works for them." Why don't you just say what you really think, Kenna? 😂