TriByran wrote:
Yes, he did actually recommend to Pete to only consume small amounts of honey during training and racing, this ridiculously low intake make Pete highly ketogenic.
I spoke to him on this but he was confident in Maffetones methods.
Please don't call what Phil has done research, it's nothing of the sort.
Also, Amanda Stevens was clever enough to not go ketogenic, and uses upwards of 100kcal of carbs per hour in ironman, which is low but not keto.
You have made the critical distinction between low carb and protein.
When exercising there is a need for carbs, as without them the body starts shutting down non-essential practice, this can impact on hormones, but it's pretty low. Really really low.
So that's why LOW carb can work.
You can probably get away with 50-100g and still be ok. But when you dip below that you start causing problems, I know this because I am part of the keto research!
Exogenous Ketones only work with lots of carbs around, why? Because they are effectively a starvation signal. So they tell the body to conserve and protect all over the shop, that's why they can be muscle/protein sparing as they stop non-essential breakdown.
But like protein when you consistently fall under your requirements day on day then 6-12months down the line you have problems.
Now, I'm not saying this is what happened to Pete. But he is a great athlete, had lot of health problems and sorted them, THEN took it too far based on Maffs advice.
Maff got one thing right we DONT need sugar, but apart from that the anti-carb stance is silly, as is anti-gluten, anti-dairy etc. The so called intolerance to these is likely a messed up gut microbiome.
Agree with most of your comments except-
- you state that Amanda “cleverly” avoided ketosis by consuming 100 kcal carbs per hour, which you state as the minimum needed. This is 25 g of carbs. You then state that anything below 50 g - 100 g of carbs per hour is too low, and cannot work. This is either a typing error, or a serious math error! You are also failing to acknowledge that Amanda was doing this as part of a closely monitored study with Maffetone, and her carb intake was clearly both known and approved by him.
- You state that Maffetone is anti carb, and this is simply not true. Maffetone correctly recognizes that carbs and sugars are metabolized in exactly the same way, and that TOO HIGH a level of carbs/sugars is a problem. Based on your statements you seem to agree with this. If you are going to trash someone, and least be fair about it. Phil Maffetone simply does NOT promote a keto diet for everyone, or even most people. His statements are very consistent in regard to low (low being based on the current cultural norm of much too high) carbs. I completely agree with you on the dangers of a keto diet, or any other fad, restrictive diet. I am pretty sure that you, I, and Maffetone can all agree that the current over consumption of carbs/sugars- particularly those void in nutrition (such as energy gels...) are not good for your long term health :-)