#86 Dr. David Harper – BioDiet – Losing Love Handles

Meet Dr. David

DR. DAVID G. HARPER is an associate professor of kinesiology at the University of the Fraser Valley and a visiting scientist at the BC Cancer Research Center, Terry Fox Laboratory. He holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in comparative physiology at the University of Cambridge. He is on the scientific advisory board of the Canadian Clinicians for Therapeutic Nutrition and is a member of the Institute for Personalized Therapeutic Nutrition.

Show Notes:

ABOUT DR. DAVID

• I am a university professor – a professor in kinesiology
• I do my research at British Columbia Cancer Research Center which is one of the leading cancer research centers here in Vancouver
• I am also involved with some clinical trials
• And I am an author of our latest book, BioDiet: The Scientifically Proven, Ketogenic Way to Lose Weight and Improve Health
• Keto for me is not a fad diet. It is a traditional human diet if you will look at our ancestral history
• We managed to live for more than 99% of our existence as humans without any carbohydrates in our diet
• So, we must have been well-adapted to a ketogenic diet in the first place
• When people adapt to the ketogenic diet, after the transition period, they will just start feeling great, because it’s what right for humans

HOW DID YOU FIND KETO

• I was doing a radio show here in Vancouver and it was called, “Think for Yourself” which is about critical reasonings and healthy skepticism
• We had a guest, Dr. Mathias, from the University of British Columbia School of Public Health, and we were going to be debating on what’s a better way to lose weight – gym or kitchen, exercise or diet
• And I was taking on the exercise side. Dr. Mathias asked what is the cause of obesity and at that time, I was kind of talking the conventional wisdom, which is a very complex multifactorial disease state that has cycle social factors and he very much patiently listened to me, but he stopped me and told me that obesity is an adaptation to excessive carbohydrate consumption
• And at this point, I had been teaching physiology, anatomy and pathology for more than 30 years
• So, when Dr. Mathias said that, it stunned me because I was realizing that all of those years of my understanding of anatomy and physiology came to a nexus point
• And, I thought about the diet we had been recommending for the last 40 years and the increase in rates of overweight and obesity, and then the associated chronic diseases
• When I researched the basis of the standard American diet, I realized there is no robust scientific evidence that supports it
• If you will look, there is no substantial basis for that diet and there is no added risk to cardiovascular disease from the saturated fats
• Then I thought that people needed to hear this. So, I started doing my own research on mostly post-menopausal women looking at weight loss and exercise
• You will lose weight in the kitchen, but you will get fit in the gym and I encourage people to do both
• Trying to exercise your way out of being overweight does not work out effectively, and it is much better to adjust your diet
• We did a number of studies over the years and I started working at the cancer agency looking at other aspects of chronic diseases
• We have an understanding that a low-carbohydrate diet or the ketogenic diet is very beneficial in preventing cancer and perhaps even treating it
• It is a 3-year study and we are about a year and a half into it
• The initial results within the 6-weeks are very remarkable
• What I did next was, I decided that a book needed to be written
• So, I did take some time and wrote a book I did not like and the reason I did not like it was because, it was just my thoughts on the page and not accessible to the general public and I really felt that the word had to get out to the general public
• So, I realized that I needed to become an advocate for the ketogenic diet as a healthy lifestyle and as a potential therapeutic treatment for most chronic diseases
• As I did more research, I learned more
• After about 5 or 6 years, I finally decided to write a book
• I basically gave up everything and spent the last year with my wife writing the book
• We finally got the book finished and you can get it now everywhere
• Now, I have turned into an advocate for the ketogenic diet and I am working with people
• I did all the research then on the ketogenic diet so that I can find very good stuff and what I realize is that, the personal perspective was missing
• So, I decided that the first thing that I should do before I start recommending to somebody else is set something up for myself
• And so, I designed a diet for myself and we adapted that for the trials we did
• My wife and I adapted a ketogenic diet about 7 and a half years ago now
• We are in perfect health and haven’t gained a pound back
• It just keeps improving every year
• I was 50-ish and I was at conference at a resort, and I spotted this guy and thought he’s got love handles
• And then, I realized it was me – I was seeing myself in the mirror
• I did not like what I saw and I was unhappy
• I was working out at the gym and I was very fit, but I did not know why I still had love handles and then I realized that I was on a high-carb, low-fat diet
• The turnaround into adapting the ketogenic diet was just remarkable
• It was pretty exciting because not only I was losing weight, but I also had tons of energy
• And all the foods that I thought that I would miss, I was not missing, because I was eating these great fats
• I never really had a sweet tooth, but I was a bit of a cookie monster. And the ability to lose the craving for something sweet all the time helped me too
• Getting sugar of my diet was so helpful in terms of my health
• In these clinical trials, I am helping people and there were calls from their physicians that asked me what I did to their patients
• I told them that I changed their diet to ketogenic and they said it’s remarkable because they are not taking any medications anymore
• This is a lifestyle change that has the potential to fundamentally change people’s life for the better
• When we first jumped into keto, we thought it was the best way to do it and it was challenging
• After a couple of days, I got hit with the keto flu pretty hard
• Keto flu is unpleasant, but I woke up one day later and I felt great and my brain was so clear
• Once you adapt, it becomes about changing your habits because you’re going to be eating different foods and people tend to think about food most of the time
• In keto, you just need to take a little bit of time thinking about food and learning how to cook keto style
• I think that the science that underpins the ketogenic diet is very robust and powerful
• All of these great stories that you hear or read from people are fundamentally changing their lives for the better
• Back in the Atkins days, you don’t really understand how it works and I think if people do understand how it works, they are more likely to stick with it
• Even if you eat sweet things that aren’t sweetened with sucrose, you are still stimulating some of the receptors on the brain that result in negative consequences, similar to that of a high sugar diet
• I think people want the change to be as easy as possible
• People have to realized that reliance on sweet foods as a major proportion of your calories is not a good thing
• The great thing about the keto diet is, you can escape from the need for something sweet
• What I do if I want something sweet is, I buy an apple and I share that with my wife for a week
• I really do think that it is important for people to wean themselves off of that need for sweets and if they do, they are going to be healthier
• When you substitute the high-fats for the sweets, you will realize you will not need it
• If you are going to use sweetener, find something that is natural like erythritol or xylitol and some people use monk fruit
• We are all wired to love sweets because sweet means energy, but we are also wired to love fatty things
• Sweets mess up your hormones and hunger, but if you eat fat, your body is well designed to metabolize it,  and recognizes it as a healthy food, which will let you have less craving for sweets
• If there is one thing that I would encourage for everyone to do is to get sugar out of your life
• One of the leading causes of chronic disease right now is the obsession of sweets
• To some degree, some sweeteners increases the insulin
• If you are going to use Stevia, make sure to use an organic Stevia
• As long as you are using small amounts, your body can deal with it
• The problem is, can you do that in small amounts
• In BioDiet I have this very simple model for chronic disease
• There are 3 things that are the fundamental root cause of chronic disease
• It’s insulin resistance, obesity and inflammation and I call these three the axis of illness
• If you keep eating carbohydrates, you are going to make this worse
• People need to experiment with themselves
• Once they get through the initial bio-adaptation phase, they have to experiment with what food works for them or doesn’t work for them
• We have 5 steps on how not to get the keto flu
• The first 2 steps are just introducing you to ketogenic lifestyle and ketogenic foods
• The first step is bio assessment where you will get all your measurements before you engage to ketogenic diet so that you’ll figure out later
• The second phase is bio preparation where you will give up alcohol or sugar, but stay with the high-carb food for a while
• And in the actual adaptation phase, you will cut out carbohydrates altogether and make sure to get your salts right
• If you are on the keto diet, you need to increase the amount of salt you eat
• Keto is dangerous if you are not doing it right
• And not doing it right is just getting your information on the internet
• Doing it right is getting your physician involved
• To get potassium, just look for foods that are high in potassium, and nuts have a good source of that. I am a big fan of nuts
• There are some other vegetables that are a good source too
• When I drink wine, I only drink dry wines
• The alcohol in the wine helps you to moderate your sugar and improve insulin sensitivity as well
• Having a glass or 2 a day is a healthy thing to do
• Me and my wife drink wine every night
• Scotch does not affect you being in ketosis either, but beer does

HOW CAN PEOPLE FIND YOU

• Website: biodiet.org
• Order the book: Biodiet
• Contact Dr. David at: david@biodiet.org
• TedTalk: David G Harper

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