Muscle & Fitness recently published a Keto-based article based on an interview with Dr. Eric Berg. And while Dr. Berg might seem ‘controversial’ and ‘censored’ on YouTube in the eyes of the sleeping general public, he’s still somewhat trapped in the pseudoscience and ideology of nutrition. So, let’s see what Muscle & Fitness and Dr. Eric Berg has to say about the Ketogenic Diet and the multiple versions of it.
The article’s preamble paints a picture of the popularity of the Ketogenic Diet, claiming that “12.9 million Americans follow the keto diet each year. As of 2024, keto lovers across the globe contributed to a whopping 27 million keto hashtags on Instagram, making this high-fat, low-carb diet a household name.”
After that, they do distinguish between different approaches, and that of ‘Dirty Keto’ versus ‘Healthy Keto,’ and this is where Dr. Eric Berg comes in, and where he explains what ‘healthy keto’ is, and why you should do it.
“During his 30 years in practice, Dr. Berg has worked with over 4,000 people, including Hollywood top actors, Senior U.S. government officials, Medical Doctors, top CEOs of prominent corporations, scientists, stay-at-home moms, and high school students—helping them incorporate proper nutrition and Healthy keto into their lifestyle.”
Well, I guess we’ve been at it for about as long. I wrote my first diet- and exercise programs for high-school athletes back in 1990, and from there I got involved with the Bodybuilding and Fitness industry (around 1995,) and later on Strongman (1998,) and then Ice Hockey, Soccer, and pretty much every popular sport after 2000. And of course, I worked with just as many regular non-athletic people as well, and also a lot with the Military, the Secret/Intelligence Service, the Police, and so on (and that’s why I know so much about them, the personality types, and their Freemasonic ways.)
Anyhow, we have similar backgrounds, so let’s see what Dr. Berg says about the ketogenic diet.
“While there are strong similarities in their approach to restricting carbohydrates, healthy keto prioritizes the consumption of whole foods rich in vitamins and minerals over processed alternatives which may lack essential nutrients our bodies require for optimal functioning, explains Dr. Berg.
In short, healthy keto promotes nutrient-filled foods (higher-quality ingredients, grass-fed meats, wild-caught seafood, and pasture-raised poultry), while Dirty keto focuses on keeping carbohydrates low even if that means consuming conventional, highly processed foods, all while keeping healthy fats high and carbohydrates low.”
I’m happy to see that when Dr. Berg explained ‘nutrient-filled foods’ he only mentioned animal-based foods such as grass-fed meats and wild-caught seafood. In other words, our natural species-appropriate foods.
So, in short, ‘healthy keto’ focuses on nutrient-dense and clean foods while ‘dirty keto’ is simply about removing the carbohydrates and getting enough fat and protein no matter the source.
Also, keep in mind that vegetable/seed oils are extremely toxic and should never be consumed. All fat should come from animal sources, such as the animal fat in meat, from tallow and lard, and from butter/ghee.
After that explanation, Dr. Berg go through a few bullet points of the ‘healthy keto’ diet. Let’s examine each one.
- Purpose: mainly for weight loss, metabolic syndrome, blood sugar issues, inflammation, and much more. The purpose is to reduce the carbs low enough (50 g or less per day) so the body burns fat instead of carbs.
Actually, a ‘ketogenic diet,’ as in running on fat as our main fuel, is our natural diet. That is how we are constructed. While it is ideal for fat loss, and everything else, it’s the type of “diet” we should follow our entire lives – as in our species-appropriate, species-specific diet of animal-based foods, aka., the carnivore diet. It’s not a temporary fix, as you should never want to go back and consume toxic and damaging carbohydrates ever again. That would be insane once you experienced how it is to truly thrive.
And it’s not about “reducing” carbohydrates, it’s about eliminating unnatural sources of carbohydrates, as in every single plant-based source. The only carbs you’ll be ingesting is the small and natural amount of glycogen that is found in meat, and perhaps a little bit of sugars from unprocessed dairy, like raw milk.
So, forget about that 50-gram nonsense. No need to count anything, just consume the right foods and it will take care of itself.
- The macros are 20% protein, 75% fat, and 5% carbs. However, green leafy vegetables and other low-starchy vegetables are allowed and encouraged as much as you want.
NO! And this is where the slave-indoctrinated response based on the ideology, pseudo-science, and propaganda of nutrition replaced Dr. Berg’s common sense. Humans can hardly extract any nutrients from plants. Everything is tied up to fiber and antinutrients, and all plants are also filled with toxic and damaging defense chemicals. And on top of that, all modern vegetables are man-made and has no resemblance to what you once could find in nature. Adding total crap like this is what belongs in the category of ‘dirty keto.’
And the ratio between fat and protein should be about 1:1 in grams, which in pseudo-scientific energy units (“calories”) would be about 70E% fat and 30E% protein.
- The uniqueness of this diet is to encourage high nutrient-dense foods as well as quality foods. Examples of foods would be wild-caught salmon, organic broccoli and leafy greens, sauerkraut, avocado, organic steak, organic eggs and bacon.
Again, there is no such thing as a nutrient-dense plant food. The micronutrients, such as minerals and vitamins are not organically bound and has to be converted by enzymes in our bodies (with a 4 to 8% success rate.) Also, they are bound to antinutrients, making them almost impossible to access in the first place. And the macronutrients, as in carbohydrates and protein, are bound to fiber, which is totally undigestible for all animals, especially humans. At best, you might extract 50 to 60% of the macronutrients. So, while you think you might get 50 grams of carbohydrates and 30 grams of protein from a serving of, for example, rice and beans, you’ll only get 30 grams of carbs and 20 grams of protein at best (and that is very low-quality protein as plants lack a lot of key amino acids.) And again, that’s another reason why “calories” are totally meaningless, as all labels and nutrition tables are based on what “scientists” can find and burn within a plant food; it’s not based on what you actually can absorb and use in your body.
Only animal-foods such as meat and eggs are fully bioavailable, as the nutrients are stored in the same way we store them ourselves. Only animal-based foods can be nutrient-dense, and only animal-foods are our species-appropriate food source.
- People usually combine this diet with intermittent fasting to reduce insulin and reverse metabolic dysfunction. The lower the insulin, the more the benefits as you are correcting insulin resistance.
Yes, you can do Intermittent Fasting, as long as you consume your food early in the day and stop eating 4 to 6 hours before your bed-time to make sure your meal has been fully digested and that your sleep will not be affected.
Also, do not focus on insulin, as that is a response to glucose in the blood, typically from consuming carbohydrates, which is very unnatural. We are meant to run on a fat metabolism, hence gluconeogenesis which supply us with the perfect balance of glucose from converting fat and amino-acids. Insulin will always be present at the perfect amount in a natural fat metabolism. It’s only increased when our balance is disturbed, as when consuming something unnatural and our body need to clear out the excess of glucose as quick as possible or it would cause a lot of damage and ultimately kill us.
After that, Dr. berg goes trough a few conditions that might improve or even be cured by adopting a ketogenic diet, such as fatty liver, PCOS, inflammatory problems, improving metabolism, and reducing the risk of heart disease.
And this is true. Keep in mind that inflammation is part of the healing process. If you damage your body with the wrong kind of food, as in plant-based kibble, there will be damage, hence inflammation. If you stop that nonsense, your body will actually be able to heal, and when healed, inflammation will be gone.
Of course, this will go a lot faster, and be a lot more effective, if you do the ‘ketogenic diet’ the right way, as in only consuming animal-based foods, as in “carnivore.”
Towards the end of the article, Dr. Berg explain some of the buzzwords associated with the Ketogenic Diet.
Ketosis: “Ketosis is a state whereby your body is running off of ketones, which are more digestible forms of fat fuel,” explains Dr. Berg. “Since the majority of the population lives off of mostly carbs, ketosis is inhibited.” This is where Healthy KETO shines.
Actually, we will always produce ketones as it is part of our natural metabolism. However, it will be suppressed when you consume carbohydrates, as carbs break down to glucose, which is toxic, and your body must do everything it can to dispose of it, which includes using it as immediate energy (shutting down fat metabolism and lowering ketone production,) shuttling it to the liver, and converting and storing it as glycogen and body fat.
Now, some with low intelligence might say that it’s good for the cells to get some extra glucose. Well, it would be if they actually would need more glucose. But again, all the glucose your cells will ever need, no matter how hard you work your body or exercise, is supplied via gluconeogenesis. Your cells will always have the glucose they need. Any exogenous carbohydrates you put into your piehole will turn into glucose, which must be disposed of as it is damaging to your blood vessels and your cells, as they now get oversaturated.
Going back to ketones, in someone who runs on a heathy and natural fat metabolism, ketones might make up for 15% or more of the energy requirements, while in someone poisoning themselves with carbs, it might be as low as 0.01%. But it’s never shut off, it operates on a gliding scale. I explained this in my article about Keto misconceptions.
Ketones: That brings us to Ketones which are a cleaner, more energetic, and more efficient fuel, especially for your brain. “Since the majority of the population has some version of insulin resistance, glucose worsens their state of health,” says Dr. Berg.
Yes, ketones are a “super fuel,” especially for the brain, raising cognition and supporting mental health. And excess glucose, as in after consuming carbohydrates, will always worsen your state of health as it is damaging.
Insulin resistance: A state whereby the cells are resisting not only insulin but glucose too. “This means the cells can’t get fuel and the person can’t burn fat to generate ketones; This is why healthy ketosis reverses this state while providing the body’s required nutrients.”
This happens because these cells have taken so much damage from unnatural levels of excess glucose so that the cell’s receptor for insulin is turned off, or the cell would die.
As more and more cells are damaged and stop responding to insulin, especially the more complex cells in organs and muscle tissue, glucose takes longer and longer to get disposed of, which also means that the damage is increased. This is what we see in ‘diabetics’ where it can go downhill very quickly with blood vessel- and nerve damage, and later on tissue damage to the extent that they might need amputation.
Also, the less complex cells, which can more easily be reconstructed, as in the epithelial cells and red blood cells becomes the sacrificial lambs. And as they neutralize glucose and die, the reproduction of these cells causes mutations to be able to handle glucose better, forming cancer cells, as in tumors, which feeds on glucose in order to protect the more important cells. I Explained this in my article on Cancer.
So, that was Muscle & Fitness’ article on “healthy keto,” which by their and Dr. Berg’s definition is not as healthy as it could be. Make sure that you not only eliminate the carbohydrates, but that you also eliminate all kind of plant-based and man-made foods. As a human, you should only consume our natural and species-specific foods of meat and animal fats, and occasionally the produce of animals such as eggs and milk. That is our natural “ketogenic” diet, and it’s as simple as that.
If you need help with transitioning into our natural way of eating, or if you need help with body composition goals or other health problems, I’m available for coaching and consultation. Thank you for reading!
