I can relate. Amazing how simple food choices get noticed around the table at a family dinner. I can pass on a veggie or a starch serving and there won't be a peep, but refusing dessert is hallowed ground for some and always seems to attract remarks.

So much the truth. And we’ve had many on the forum who found this to be their greatest stumbling block. Out in public eating something DIFFERENT?!?!? Drawing attention to themselves by leaving the bread from their sandwich on their plate?!?!?!? Not eating AT ALL?!?!?!?!?!?

They could not do it. Like it really is someone else’s business.

The good news is that we each have the opportunity to make the best choices we can for ourselves. If we prioritize our health over the opinion of others then we can stay firm in our choices and not be swayed by what others think. Personally this has been pretty easy for me. It's a perfectly sustainable way to eat if you are serious about optimizing health.

Jean

This new longish IDM success story posted an hour ago mentions both the eating in public/comments from friends and continuing to make the best choices for ourselves...even in the face of her own doctor's anger! Not sure that I could have hung in there without Dr. Westman, a Duke GP and my oncologist at least being OK about LC...his wife was eating paleo at the time.



How Dolly turned her obesity and metabolic syndrome around

https://www.dietdoctor.com/how-doll...abolic-syndrome

Maybe it's because my father was a doctor, but I never had the sense that doctor's knew everything and belonged on a pedestal plus I grew up having a lot of medical knowledge just from being around him so going my own way when it came to my health was easy for me once I figured out that the medical profession had no useful advice to share with me.

What an amazing and inspiring success story! Thanks for sharing.

My bold because when menopause hit me like a freight train, the first 500 articles I found online were all about the plant-based diet/fat is death/meat is dangerous kind of advice, and I already knew that would not work.

May I live long enough to see veganism debunked with extreme prejudice. Don't know if I will make it to 200, but I'll give it a try.

Very touching story, thanks.

My son dropped over 50 pounds on a LCHF diet back in his late teens over 20 years ago, and has been a fan and follower of clean eating ever since. He had many varied interests but human nutrition was one of his greatest interests. His carb intake was higher than many approve of here, but primary “clean” carbs such as sweet potatoes, etc. His own research led him to feel that typical LCHF was too low in the good carbs. He worked out at the gym regularly and felt a higher carb intake helped him there. However a few months ago he borrowed both of my Fung books and read them. He was quite impressed by Fung and had begun incorporating some IF into his eating regimen.

Then, a little over two weeks ago he just fell over dead at the age of 39. No warning. No known health issues. No family history of heart disease. In fact my dad’s joke used to be that while we were prone to cancer at least no one in our family had ever had a heart attack - even counting all the cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, Great-grandparents, etc. (well except for that one cousin who had a heart attack at 42 but he was living in NYC doing heavy drink and cocaine on a regular basis! But he’s still alive today in his 70s).

Yet my son’s death certificate, which I just saw today for the first time, lists his cause of death as “incipient hypertensive heart disease”. I still have questions, and have not yet seen the full autopsy, but it makes me question everything I’ve believed in. A young man who was passionate about nutrition who practiced IF, ate the good fats, fresh green veggies, clean meats, natural carbs - worked out at the gym, zero history of heart disease in the family. I still love Fung and IF but the last few weeks have made me really question everything I’ve thought I’d learned over the years.

Oh Debbie, I'm so sorry for your loss

I hope you get more answers from the full autopsy report. Keep in mind that not all heart or blood pressure problems are related to diet. Dr. Atkins himself developed cardiomyopathy from a viral illness.

{{hug}}

Doreen

Deb, again sorry for your loss, is it possible to talk to the coroner, and ask about the effects of the viral infection? I realize this is difficult, and maybe more than you can do right now. Your reaction, to question everything IF and LC, is normal..... :hugs:

Debbie, i'm so sorry for your loss, i can't even imagine.

I ended up with cancer recently, even though i eat better than anyone i know, healthy lifestyle, big garden, raise our own eggs/meat, active, etc etc, etc. Sometimes dumb horrible things just happen even when you're doing everything 'right'. i totally hear you about questioning everything. a lot of the lowcarb/keto literature makes it seem like it's a given that if you follow the lifestyle, you will live a long healthy life, exempt from the diseases of aging...

Walnut, that is upsetting news.

I remember the guy known as Bear, who attributed his all-meat diet, for decades, as staving off his eventual cancer diagnosis. He was a chemist working with highly carcinogenic substances, and said everyone else he knew got sick much sooner.

There are no guarantees. I do know I feel better than others my age; and the only one NOT on any prescription drugs.

I hope you have a good outcome throughout.

Walnut I’m so sorry for your diagnosis. I do hope all goes well for you.

Hi, Walnut. I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis. DON'T stress over your diet. I said this to someone else on this forum, and I'm saying now to you - Your diet didn't cause your cancer and it won't cure it, either.

I'm not trying to take away your hope in eating better. Just trying to make sure you don't blame yourself whenever you stray from your chosen dietary path. I had uterine cancer in 2011. I had surgery and I'm still here, seven years later. Sometimes I eat great, and sometimes I eat S**T. Why? Because I'm human.

The best you can do for yourself is to relax, laugh, and maybe meditate as often as possible. Best wishes to you.