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Metabolic health intervention more effective and cheaper than GLP-1 (frontiersin.org)
3 points by arijo on Feb 14, 2025 | hide | past | favorite | 9 comments


You know what the GLPs do that a ketogenic diet doesn't? Make me less hungry.

If you can eat a healthy diet and not feel horrifically hungry, yes, by all means, do that first.


Unlike caloric restriction diets, keto restricts carbs which is the macro that causes glucose spikes.

Glucose spikes is what makes you hungry.


I've done keto, and generally follow a high-protein low-carb diet even on GLPs. I wish things were that easy. Taking carbs out of the equation even over extended periods does not help.


Keto is not high protein.

It’s high fat, moderate protein, low carb diet.

I follow a 2.5 to 1 fat to protein/carbs diet for example.

It has worked for hundreds of thousands of people when done right.


I know what Keto is. Your point was that carbs cause hunger due to glucose spikes. I've followed low-carb diets, both Keto and high-protein low-carb (the linked article is technically about TCR and not "proper" Keto) for years and years.

My issue isn't about glucose spikes (I'm not diabetic, and I'm still hungry without carbs regardless of fat/protein percentages). It's not about "doing it right" (I assure you I've done it right). The GLP-1 drugs reduce hunger in a way that I have never, ever experienced when merely controlling macros.

If you have a diet that works for you, fantastic. But there is an idea that one merely needs to modify their diet to achieve satiety. What I'm saying here is, for some of us, no. The diet isn't the issue. I know the macros, and I know how to measure and control them. I've been around for a few rotations and have successfully lost weight in the past and kept the weight off. There's something larger here regarding hunger, not a strictly dietary intervention.


> What I'm saying here is, for some of us, no.

How long did you maintain the keto diet and at what ratio and what you ate exactly?

I've read very rarely cases that hunger wasn't fixed by high fat keto (some type of eating disorder).


The body generates glucose in an high protein diet via gluconeogenesis.

You'll still have glucose spikes with high protein.

That's why you don't feel satiated.

Eat fat.


Your body generates glucose via gluconeogenesis on both high protein, and high fat diets. It generates it as a result of low glucose, as some tissues can only metabolize glucose. Glycerol from acylglycerides, as well as odd-numbered fatty acids can both precursor gluconeogenesis.

Blood sugar is also not the only thing that makes you feel hungry. The hunger mechanism is extraordinarily complicated, and still poorly understood. (For instance, low blood sugar triggers ghrelin release, which causes hunger directly). This sort of reductionist attitude that I frequently see applied to biology on HN is ineffective at best, harmful at worst. They are hundreds of more inputs and outputs to these processes, and what works for you is very unlikely to be for the reasons you think, and even more unlikely to work for others.

If these were simple problems, they'd be easily solved long ago.


For folks who prefer to watch the movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-q1makxsN4




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