Histamine has important functions in the body such as promoting muscle contractions in the gut and stimulating the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. It also has an immune role as it's released by mast cells when exposed to foreign substances. Histamine is also found in certain foods.

A healthy body can keep histamine levels in check. There are two enzymes that help break down histamine, and one of them is mostly produced in the gut. For a variety of reasons, including certain medications, gut infections, and dysbiosis, these enzymes dont work properly, and your body loses the ability to get rid of excess histamine. The result is a condition known as histamine intolerance.

Histamine intolerance symptoms include redness or flushing in the skin, eczema, rashes, hives, sneezing, congestion, postnasal drip, low blood pressure, rapid heart rate, nausea, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, migraines, muscle and joint pain, insomnia, and other mysterious symptoms.

The low-FODMAPs diet can reduce histamine levels in the body. While this is a point in favor of the diet, if you have histamine intolerance, you're probably still taking in too much histamine from food without knowing it. Aged hard cheeses, vinegar, tomato, eggplant, spinach, bone broth, and canned tuna are high in histamine, despite being low in FODMAPs. And eggs, strawberries, oranges, banana, pineapple, some nuts, tomatoes, eggplant, spinach, and shellfish can stimulate your body to make more histamine. Leftover foods, even a day or two later, can accumulate enough histamine to trigger symptoms. On top of that, having food sensitivities means that your body is releasing histamine, along with other immune compounds, as a reaction to foods, regardless of their histamine or FODMAPs levels.

Read this article:
Low-FODMAPs Diet Not Working? An RD Shares 7 Possible Reasons Why + What To Do - mindbodygreen.com

Published: February, 2020

Q. My family tends to be long-lived. I hear longevity is due to our DNA, and I also hear it's due to lifestyle. Which is it, and how do they make us live longer?

A. Both DNA and lifestyle can affect longevity, and they both do so in the same way: by altering our body chemistry. DNA controls the production of each of the natural chemicals in our body. It controls both the shape (and, hence, the effectiveness) of each chemical, and also controls how much of that chemical is made. So, it's not surprising that DNA could affect longevity. In the past 20 years, astonishing progress has been made in understanding the body chemistry that controls the aging process. And that knowledge has allowed scientists to extend the life of various animals through simple genetic manipulations.

Subscribe to Harvard Health Online for immediate access to health news and information from Harvard Medical School.

See original here:
What has the most impact on longevity? - Harvard Health

Published: February, 2020

It's February, and many people are still clinging to their New Year's resolutions, which for many includes some sort of weight-loss goal. However, while extra pounds often come off, evidence shows they rarely stay off. Among overweight or obese people who are able to lose 10% of their body weight, just one in six is able to maintain the weight loss for at least a year.

Experts say it's not surprising that weight loss rarely sticks, considering what they now know about how the body works. "Most people believe that obesity is caused by overeating, while we now recognize that the main driver of obesity is one or more disruptions in the body's normal regulation of the amount of fat we maintain," says Dr. Lee Kaplan, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Obesity, Metabolism, and Nutrition Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Subscribe to Harvard Health Online for immediate access to health news and information from Harvard Medical School.

See the article here:
Tips to keep lost weight off in the New Year - Harvard Health

It may seem like everybody you know gets weird about their eating every Januarymaybe its Whole30, maybe its a sugar detox, maybe its a wholehearted commitment to keto. What to do if youre not on that bandwagon and its all a bit too much? Anti-Diet author and registered dietitian Christy Harrison has some tips for us.

Diets and weight loss rarely get called by those names anymore. Instead, the idea that youll get thinner if you change how you eat is often touted as a happy side effect of healthy eating or other lifestyle changes.

Thats why eating patterns that are marketed around wellness or feeling good can end up creeping into our brains the same way diets dotheyre diets in disguise, or they include stigma against larger bodies, perhaps unspoken, but heavily implied.

So if youre trying to avoid diet culture, be aware that youll probably need to avoid this too. For example, unfollow or mute any Instagram account that only uses photos of skinny people when they post about health and wellness.

Okay, so your best friend is committed to quitting sugar, and youd just rather not think about dieting or restricting food. How do you maintain your relationship without arguing or spending all your conversations hearing about her new, uh, wellness plan?

Harrison suggests simply setting boundaries. Ask your friend if you can avoid talking about what were eating and how were exercising right now and instead keep conversations to everything else that matters to the two of youafter all, your friendship is built around more than just food.

I think if theyre a good friend, theyll honor what youre asking, Harrison says, even if they dont quite understand. And maybe this discussion will spur them to reflect on their own relationship with dieting.

If you tend to get swept up in what other people are doingtotally understandable, since we are social creaturesit may help to decide what you are doing instead of restricting or obsessing about food.

Now might be a good time to explore intuitive eating, or as Harrison puts it, true intuitive eating, not the sort of fake diet culture version that expects you to intuitively eat your way to thinness.

Instead, its fine to just eat, and not expect your food choices to work some particular magic on your body. You get the time and the space to focus on your career, on your relationships, on social justice, causes you care about, changing the worldtheres so much more life available to you outside of [just thinking about your] diet, says Harrison.

No diet lasts forever. Whole30 is a single grueling month, if people make it that far. Many new years resolutions fizzle out by mid-January, and even if somebody loves a new way of eating and loses weight, odds are they will fall out of love with it within a few months, maybe a year.

You dont need to rub the chances of failure in your friends faceremember, youre trying to respect each others boundaries and not argue about foodbut thinking about where youll each be in five years can help you to keep perspective.

Read more from the original source:
How to Keep Perspective When Everyone Around You Is Dieting - Lifehacker

Its that time of year again. Yes, it is New Years resolution time. Was making a will one of your unfulfilled resolutions from past years? Is it on your to-do list for 2020? The good news is that with a modest investment of time and effort, you will be able to check this off your list in just a couple of weeks and you wont even have to go to the gym to get it done!

Estate planning is personal to every family. Only you understand your familys priorities well enough to make the proper decisions. Legal and financial professionals are essential to understanding the best strategies, but the final decisions about what is right for your family can only be made by you.

No surprise, but estate planning ranks right near the top when it comes to the most frequently broken New Years resolutions. You might say it is somewhere between flossing every night and losing twenty pounds. Compared with many such resolutions, however, estate planning is an entirely unique challenge with consequences for failing to follow through.

So give this years resolution some legs!

Here are six basic topics to help organize your approach:

First, a health care directive or a health care power of attorney and living will allow you to appoint a person you trust be your health care agent and let them know in writing what your wishes are so that if you become disabled, he or she can speak with the doctors and make decisions to make sure that the treatment you receive is consistent with your wishes.

Second, a power of attorney allows you to appoint a person you trust to handle your financial matters in the event you become unable to do so.

Third, a will or trust allows you to specify what happens to your property when you die. Deciding which tools (wills or trusts) are right for your situation depends on your familys assets and goals.

Fourth, checking the titling of assets is important. The way that your assets are titled affects the way they can and will be transferred to others. Knowing whether they are owned individually, jointly or in common is critical in making planning decisions.

Fifth, retirement and long term care planning means making a realistic assessment of the resources available for your support and care as you age. How soon you plan to retire and the state of your health will factor into your planning. Pensions, retirement accounts, social security, veterans benefits, and Medicaid as well as long term care insurance can all play a part and should be considered in your planning.

Sixth, having a conversation with your parents to make sure that they have addressed these first five topics may be difficult, but is important for your familys financial and emotional well being. It is important to ensure that their wishes for care and medical treatment are known to family members so that siblings dont end up arguing about what mom would want in the hallway of the hospital. Also important is discovering what additional planning might need to be done to provide for aging parents long term care. If additional resources are going to be necessary, the sooner the rest of family knows and can plan to help out, the better.

For many of us, the task of putting together an estate plan is one of those to-dos that never seems to get done. Not planning has a funny way of becoming planning by default. This can lead to some painful results. There is no time like the present to plan for tomorrow. Start this year with a win by taking the necessary steps to help secure your familys future.

James M. Miskell received his law degree from the University of Georgia in 1993. His Asset Protection, Estate Planning and Elder Law practice has offices located in Lawrenceville and Johns Creek. He offers educational workshops and free consultations to assist clients as well as fellow professionals in creating individualized solutions. Visit his website: http://www.LetsTalkEstatePlanning.com.

More:
A 2020 New Year's Resolution That Doesn't Involve Working Out or Dieting - Gwinnett Citizen

If you watched Parks & Recreation, you saw Rob Lowe portray the health food junkie, fitness-obsessed and highly energetic Chris Traeger. And though definitely exaggerated a bit, the character, which Lowe has frequently referred to as one of his favorites throughout the years, does share some similarities to the actor in real life. Aside front not appearing to age, Lowe is known for being fit and extremely active. Traegers secret is that he ran 10 miles a day. Lowes? The Atkins Diet.

For the past 20 years, Lowe has followed a low-carb lifestyle. Its a meal plan that he says has given him boundless energy, a trimmer physique, and has helped him to stay in the best shape of his life, the latter of which is important for his latest role. On 9-1-1: Lone Star (which premieres January 19), the actor will play Owen Strand, a New York City firefighter who relocates to Austin, Texas. Its a gig that has him hanging off buildings and engaging in the adrenaline-inducing stunts that he lives for.

Parade.com caught up with the star of the upcoming Fox drama to hear about what we can expect from his latest role, how he incorporates the Atkins principles into his everyday life, and why spending some time alone and getting outdoors is key to keeping him happy. Lowe also admits that he is human, after all, and does occasionally stray from his diet, often due to a food he affectionately refers to as his kryptonite.

Related: Rob Lowe Brims With Boundless EnthusiasmFor Big Waves, His 27-Year Marriage and New TV Projects

What attracted you to the role of playing a firefighter on 9-1-1: Lone Star?

Well, Im a huge Ryan Murphy fan and everything he does in television is just excellent. And he and I had been trying to find something to do together for almost 19 years, since Nip/Tuck. And finally we came up with this. They wrote it for me, designed it around me, and that doesnt get to happen all the time. And its a great character. The world is fantastic. Its adrenaline, its action, its some unexpected comedy. Thats a really rare mix. And the show is awesome.

Did you get to do any crazy training or stunts for this?

One of the things that appeals to me about a fire captain is the physicality required for the role. And whether its something as normal as just wearing the gear and the equipment and having 70 pounds on your back and climbing up ladders to being tethered in 10 stories about the ground, every day has got a new challenges, physical and mental. And I like that cause when I come home at night I really feel like Ive accomplished something. I did some training with the fire department with the heavy equipment and that was fantastic. I spent a lot of time in the firehouse and having meals with the various crews. But also unfortunately my neighborhood of Santa Barbara has suffered catastrophic wildfires and floods in the last few years. And Ive had personal real life experiences with a lot of first responders and become friends with them. So I really already knew a lot about what makes these guys and gals tick.

Related: Rob Lowe on Christmas Movies and Memories

Whats the most intense thing that youve done while filming this?

Oh gosh, theres been so much. The very first day, the very first shot we ever did on the show, we were 78 stories about Times Square in Manhattan my character originally comes from New York Cityand standing on the ledge of a building, like right on the ledge. Of course I had a harness on so I wouldnt fall off. But definitely the level of vertigo is pretty extraordinary.

Oh wow. They just chucked you right in. Day one time to hang off a building!

Yeah. Literally. Right to the good stuff.

Youve been following this Atkins low-carb lifestyle for more than 20 years. How do you feel on it?

The reason I do it is how it makes me feel. And what I noticed initially was I had so much more energy. And to do a show like 9-1-1: Lone Star without energy would be a nonstarter. I also found that ironically I felt less hungry. And it was a great addition to my training regimen. I didnt really use this lifestyle as a weight loss thing, but the added benefit is its fantastic for that. Im stopped every day by people who talk about how they were able to lose weight on it. So its got the added benefit. Its got the benefit of giving you energy if youre already in good shape and helping you lose weight if maybe youre not.

Have you at all deviated from the plan and if you do, do you notice a difference?

Its not a diet, its a lifestyle. So there are going to be days and meals and maybe weeks where Im not as disciplined as I would like to be because Im on it for the long haul. So, if I go to Italy and Im on vacation, guess what? Im having a lot of pasta. And you definitely noticed the difference. You do. If Im not eating in the Atkins area, I can feel the sluggishness that after a big meal, that sort of ooh a nap might be nice kind of feeling. And you just dont have that when youre following the program.

And you dont seem like a guy that typically needs to take naps.

No! I luckily dont (laughs). Im 20 years ahead of me for that yet.

Walk us through what your typical meals and snacks look like on this program.

For breakfast, Ill have eggs. I love my eggs. And I love my bacon. So eggs, bacon, and a salad is my favorite breakfast. And then for lunch I might do fish tacos and easy on the on the actual taco shell. I might do it with lettuce or something. And then dinner, might be chicken. I like chicken Parmesan, I like a little steak, again a big salad. I keep rotating all that stuff. Im kind of a creature of habit so maybe some kind of a fish dinner, but thats sort of it. And its yummy and really good for me. It doesnt feel like a diet and its something thats sustainable in the long-term.

What is your typical workout regimen like right now?

Well, the best kind of workout is one where I dont feel like Im working out. So skiing, surfing, hiking, tennis. And I could do that all day and it never feels like a workout. When I actually have to work out, I do some sort of circuit training or Im getting cardio and weights all on the same thing. So I will do chest, back, and legs with jump ropes in between each exercise or something like that. So youre getting a little bit of everything.

So it sounds like you kind of hate being cooped up inside the gym and youd rather be outdoors doing something adventurous

For sure. Because working out for me has never been about how it makes me look. Thats just an added benefit. Its about what it does to my head and my mood. If Im not active, if I go about four days without anything active, I frankly have a little bit of low-level depression. And being out in the sun and being active just makes me feel really good.

My new favorite thing is foiling. And its a basically a wing that is below the waterline in your surfboard or stand-up paddle board. And when you get going at a certain speed, the wing flies underwater and it raises your board up. So the only thing thats in the water is this little wing. Its amazing. And it allows you to surf when theres very little waves, when the conditions are crappy, and you fly with no resistance. Its the same concept where now all of the super racing yachts have a foil below them and the hull comes up out of a water at speeds. But its also kind of dangerous cause at the end of the day, its basically just a giant knife under the water. So if you fall, you do not want to come into contact with that knife at 40 miles an hour!

Do you do anything else to cater to your mental health?

I do. Its funny, when they say sometimes your flaws can also be your strongest points. Like I could be a little bit selfish. I know thats shocking coming from an actor. But that also enables me to be really good about my boundaries, about taking time for me and, then I do. Im around a lot of people doing what I do. We have a huge crew and Im always out and about and thats great but I need to be alone too. I need to be able to be quiet and think and dream and plan and scheme and listen to whats going on in my head. Thats where all of my books came from. And I can only do that when Im quiet. So I try to take time at the end of every day, sit by the fire and think and be quiet, leave myself with my thoughts. Its my form of meditation. And Im also really disciplined about having time to work out. I dont let anything get in to get in the way of that. Everybody, no matter how busy they are, should be able to figure out a way to have a half an hour to 45 minutes to devote to themselves. Truthfully. Obviously its easier for people who have the access and the time and the jobs that allow it, but half an hour is not a lot to ask if its for your own mental and physical well-being.

How do you work this time in when youre on the road or when youre on set for an extra long day?

Well 9-1-1: Lone Star is the first show where havent been able to do this, but on every other show I have: West Wing, The Grinder, Parks and Rec, Brothers & Sisters, Code Black, I never took a lunch break. What I would do is I would eat something 45 minutes before we would break for lunch and at lunch I would work out. And it was a great plan, really easy. And you kind of have to a hustle but lunch breaks are a great way to sneak in a workout. And even if its as simple as just walking around for people. If they dont want to go to the gym, cant go to the gym, cant throw on the outfit, dont wanna sweat, have nowhere to take a shower, just walk.

Related: 5 Ways You Can Improve Your Health Wherever You Live

Any other wellness tricks that you swear by?

Its very helpful that Ive been in recovery from drugs and alcohol, sober for almost 30 years. And that changed my life, continues to change my life. Its now baked into my DNA. So its just is a part of who I am. But for people who do drink and do get a little crazy on the weekends or something, thats always something to keep an eye on. And its one more thing you have to manage if youre doing it.

It sounds like youre great at sticking to this diet, the sobriety, making sure that you have that mental health time. Whats the secret to your self-discipline?

Its really interesting. Its very counterintuitive. The sobriety is predicated on admitting that you have no discipline, that you yourself are actually incapable of doing it yourself. Cause youve tried and youve tried and youve tried and it hasnt worked. So, youve got to look to a power greater than yourself to remove that from you. And then you get into a 12-step program and thats the only way it works. The only way. Now the workout stuff and eating stuff, that is about discipline for me. And Im lucky that I at least have it in that area (laughs).

What advice do you have for people that are looking to tiptoe into the Atkins way of eating?

My advice is to not think of it as the kind of thing you have to get perfectly right. Its better to get it a little bit right and make mistakes than not try at all. So just start. Keep it simple. Its the reason I do it. Its really the easiest healthy eating plan that I know of. It requires the least amount of thinking, the least amount of planning. Its just low carbs. Every knows what a carb is and the minute you start counting those and cutting those, youre on your way.

Is it basically three meals a day and a snack?

Theres what I love about it. There absolutely is snacking. And not to be over pitchy but the Atkins bars and shakes are so damn good that youre going to think theyre fake. Youre gonna say, Theres no way these are good. Right now, Im sitting in my car. Im looking in my glove box and there are five chocolate peanut butter bars in there and you when you get that 3:30/4:00 in the afternoon, I gotta eat something or Im gonna murder someone, they fit all of the profile of what youre trying to do and theyre yummy! And then again, eating well should not be like taking your medicine. It shouldnt be hard and it really isnt. You just got to know what youre doing.

I love that you said when you go to Italy, pasta happens. Are there other foods that you absolutely cant resist that take you down? Like ice cream?

Thats exactly it! Its ice cream. Bingo. I have an ongoing battle with ice cream. I dont know what that is about. I once had somebody get me a mental hint on it. They go picture it melted and then if you still want to eat it By the way, Ive tried it. It doesnt work. Ice cream is going to take me down all the time.

Is your family banned from bringing it into the house or do you at least make them hide it in the freezer?

Ive tried to get them to ban it and none of them will do it. They will not. It would be so easy to not have it in the house, but my boys love it. And my wife is like, When the boys are here, they need it. Just dont eat it. Im like, Look, my willpower only goes so far. Help me out here. But Ive had no luck. It is totally my kryptonite. The other thing about it, its my kryptonite when the sun goes down. Ive not been able to figure this out. During the daytime, I can walk by it every single time. The minute the sun goes down, all bets are off!

Check out these low-carb and keto ice cream recipes.

Read more:
Rob Lowe and Atkins: The 9-1-1 Lone Star Actor on the Diet That Gives Him Energy - Parade

Were two weeks into 2020, and if youve managed to maintain your New Years resolutions, I have great news: You can quit now.

As I was browsing the internet, in clear violation of my resolution to stop spending so much time browsing the internet, I came across a story that changed my life and broadened my understanding of the foolish and doomed-to-fail resolutions so many of us make each year.

A post on the University of Michigans medical bloganother thing I resolved to stop spending so much time oncarried the headline, A replacement for exercise? To which I responded, YES, PLEASE!

Michigan Medicine researchersfound that a type of protein called Sestrincan mimic many of exercises effects in flies and mice. Thats good news, because, frankly, it wouldnt hurt America to have a few more flies and mice with clearly defined abs. It just makes us look tougher as a nation.

To get the flies to work out, researchers took advantage of flies normal instinct to climb up and out of a test tube. (To show my solidarity with flies, Id like to note that if I was put in a test tube, it would also be my instinct to climb up and out.)

Some flies were bred to not produce Sestrin, and the researcherswho I will call fly personal trainersfound the Sestrin-free flies didnt become more fit with exercise. However, when the fly personal trainers juiced some flies up with maximum Sestrin levels they found those flies had abilities above and beyond the trained flies, even without exercise.

Even without exercise are my three favorite words. And thisUniversity of Michigan blog postis just the nugget of science news I needed to hear.

Like 114 percent of Americans, one of my New Years resolutions was to exercise more. And since I can now deceive myself into believing that exercise will soon come in convenient Sestrin-rich pill or gummy form, I can cancel the gym membership and declare, Resolution accomplished! (This will work for anyone who did not top their resolutions list with: Stop misinterpreting medical research to justify your laziness.)

After reading the parts of the blog post that said what I wanted to hear and ignoring the parts that made clear I wont be getting an exercise pill anytime soon, I sat back on the couch and pondered New Years resolutions, careful not to exert myself.

If I can swiftly drop a New Years resolu-

tion because of something I came across on the internet, I thought, napping mid-consideration so as not to get winded, shouldnt I provide others with a similar opportunity?

The answer, of course, was yes. So Im putting these resolution-debunking things on the internet so others can give them a cursory read, not give much thought to their validity and use them to resume whatever bad behavior they were trying to improve.

Does dieting actually help you

In a lengthy body of research that I call My Life, Ive found conclusively that dieting does not promote weight loss, in large part because food is delicious and not eating it seems stupid. In fact, my research has shown that dieting promotes sadness, which Im sure other research shows is unhealthy.

Is binge-watching a television show as good for you as reading?

Absolutely. I gave up reading five years ago and have binge-watched nearly every television series available on Netflix and Amazon Prime and I can tell you I am not have become one single bort dummer. In florkt, I would say that between reeding credits and Googling word thingies that talk about televisions shows, Ive grately expunged my vocabulation.

We are to be right now living in the Golten Age of television and the best think you can does for your mind is tune in. Books are for loosers. Why r u even reeding this? Get too a TV kwik.

Should I really spend less time

According to a 2019 Pew Research Center Report, nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults use Facebook. Do you think 70 percent of U.S. adults are dumb? Because if so, thats pretty elitist of you and might be why you dont have more Facebook friends. You should get on Facebook right now and apologize immediately so people dont think youre a jerk.

Also, Phil, Tara and Dolores have birthdays today. If you miss those youre going to look like even more of a jerk.

How can I be more mindful?

Are you reading this? If so, youre mindful. Congratulations.

Are you not reading this and instead watching TV? Thats good too, because if so, youre being mindful while watching TV and fulfilling your resolution to get smerter by knot reading.

Mindfulness is anything you want it to be. Do you like sitting in silence and contemplating the positives in your life? SUPER! Go for it.

And make sure you tell your friends on Facebook about it. And get yourself a nice bowl of ice cream. You deserve it.

Rex Huppke is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune.

Read more:
'Proof' that dieting is unhealthy and other ways to cancel your New Year's resolutions - Idaho Mountain Express and Guide

The ketogenic diet, as it is officially known, is a medical success story. In the early 1900s, physicians in France and the US were experimenting with fasting and low-calorie diets to help reduce the frequency of seizures in epilepsy patients. As the theory became more refined, they found that they could trick the body into thinking it was fasting by limiting the intake of carbohydrates and sugars and upping the intake of fat. The result was that epileptics experienced a reduction in seizures of up to 90 per cent. In 1923, American diabetes expert Dr Russell Wilder designed an eating regime called ketogenic therapy for treating epilepsy and other health issues.

While still used today in the treatment of epilepsy, cancer, Alzheimers, some autoimmune diseases and a number of other conditions, the keto diet, as its now more commonly known, has become a household name due to our thriving diet culture, which is always hungry for a new way to cheat the scales. For people watching their diet, a weight loss plan that says you must eat more cheese and cream sounds like a dream. But, is it?

Matt Marney is a personal trainer, Pilates instructor and fitness educator and, having taught hundreds of fitness and nutrition courses, he knows a thing or two about the body and how it burns fat. He says: Back in our hunter-gatherer days, we had periods of starvation where our bodies had to adapt to the lack of food by breaking down our protein and fat stores into fuel sources. This is called ketosis. To achieve this, you have to limit your intake of our regular fuel sources, carbohydrates and sugars.

But, low-carb diets have been around for a while and there are lots of them, including the Atkins diet and even the paleo diet Losing weight is about achieving a caloric deficit, whereby there is less energy going in than there is going out. Whichever diet you go on, you can do this. The keto diet is just one way to lose weight.

There are health benefits, however, he says. For the first time in the history of homo sapiens, we live in an obesogenic environment, meaning we have an abundance of food. We are surrounded by high-energy, high-carb, highly processed foods all day, every day. If people eat sugar and carbs throughout the day, their bodies can get used to always having glucose the quickest and easiest fuel source available and forget how to use protein and fats for fuel. Then they have lost metabolic flexibility.

When this happens, says Marney, people can start to feel dizzy and shaky if they havent eaten due to low blood sugar levels. These people are known as sugar-burners. They can benefit from going keto to help their body remember how to use other fuel sources. Additionally, cancer thrives on sugar. If I got cancer tomorrow, I would go straight on the keto diet.

The classic keto approach recommends a 4:1 ratio of fats to protein and carbs, meaning 90 per cent of your calories come from fat, 6 per cent from protein and 4 per cent from carbohydrates. In real food terms, this means you would be eating approximately 10 to 15 grams of carbohydrates each day (a slice of bread or a third of a cup of cooked rice), with one gram of protein per kilogram of body weight (if you weigh 60 kilograms, this might be a 250-gram steak) and the rest of your diet would be fat, according to the American Fitness Professionals Association.

David Wilkins, a recruitment consultant and business owner who lives in Dubai, is also a fitness enthusiast and a spinning instructor in his spare time. He says his default eating mode involves an abnormal amount of sugar and processed carbs and that the keto diet helps him reduce that. I have been on the keto diet before and have just gone back on it. I am currently at about 98kg last time on keto I got down to 92kg and 12 per cent body fat.

I use an app to track my eating to make sure I get the right balance of macronutrients. I have a slice of toast at breakfast and thats my carb intake done for the day. For lunch, I have salads with nuts and olive oil and cheeses But I do get sick of all the fat and I really miss chips. I cheat once a week and have a day where I eat whatever I want. You arent meant to do this as it kicks you out of ketosis. But I find that eating keto six days a week helps me stay away from bread and doughnuts. Also, I instantly have more energy and mental clarity when I eat keto.

The keto diet is undoubtedly popular. Online searches for ketogenic has seen the largest growth among most-searched dietary requirements in the UAE over the past three years, with a 1,028.21 per cent rise, according to digital marketing suite SEMrush. Offline, an increasing number of keto-friendly restaurants and delivery companies are also opening in the country. For example, Emiliya Ninova and her husband, Antoine Soliman, launched Keto by Foxxy in January 2019, offering keto-friendly cakes, cookies and other treats. This month, they launched their second company, The Keto Fix, which fills the junk food gap.

In the last six months of 2019, Keto by Foxxy had more than 30,000 new clients, which shows how popular it is, says Ninova. My husband and I went keto and both lost 17kg. But we both have a sweet tooth, so I started baking keto treats for us the business grew from there.

Similarly, Ketology, a keto food delivery concept in Abu Dhabi, which launched in May last year, has received such positive feedback in the capital that, this month, they also started work on their Dubai kitchen. Natalie Latouf, business development manager at Crave Restaurant Management, the umbrella company, says they were surprised by the success. We create delivery restaurant concepts and saw a gap in the market for something offering a fully keto menu of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks. Its been really interesting for us, as Ketology has been very successful in comparison with some of the other concepts we have launched.

For Marney, the most important thing is doing it right. People get locked into a dogma. They like to be able to say that they are on the keto diet, but they often arent doing it properly. If you have cut out carbs and sugar, but you havent increased your fat enough, you arent keto, you are just low-carb.

I havent done keto myself, as I like carbs too much, but as a personal trainer, I would never tell a client to go on the diet. Personal trainers are not nutritionists or endocrinologists we shouldnt be giving that advice. Some people get flu-like symptoms on the keto diet and other side effects. Its a serious business for your body. Yes, you may lose weight, but thats because you have cut out an entire macronutrient. There are lots of ways to lose weight and we are all different physiologically, so if you want to try the keto diet, do so, but see a qualified dietitian first.

Updated: January 18, 2020 12:02 PM

Read the original post:
Keto diet: the good, the bad and everything you need to know - The National