In the Group Coaching meeting held on January 5th, 2021 our featured guest was Dr. Ken Berry, MD, a family physician in Tennessee. Dr. Berry received his medical degree from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, and is the author of the bestseller Lies My Doctor Told Me. He also has a very popular YouTube channel with informative videos covering all aspects of keto, low carb, and carnivore.
Discussion:
- Dr. Ken Berry kept his weight under control as a child and young adult by being active and playing sports. Eventually, when no longer as active, after college and medical school, he found himself a nearly 300lb. doctor. He started lowering carbs with Paleo, moved toward a more Atkins approach, and tried keto before landing on carnivore, his current diet.
- He has cured a number of medical issues that had plagued him for years (including chronic heartburn) and lost nearly 80 pounds.
- His protein to fat ratio is nearly 1:1. He has experimented with various ratios and finds this is what works best for him. He urged listeners to experiment for themselves to find out what works best for their body.
- There were a couple of things that led Dr. Berry to write Lies My Doctor Told Me. As intern, another doctor told him that humans don’t produce vitamin D in the breast milk and if babies are exclusively breastfed they’ll get rickets. Dr. Berry’s favorite question his entire life has been “Why?” so that statement by the doctor obviously led him to question it. Years later while a young doctor, Dr. Berry had a patient with diverticulitis and they were told not to eat any nuts, seeds, blueberries, and strawberries by a popular gastric doctor in Tennessee. This led Dr. Berry to research these two statements and he found they were totally false. It sent him down the rabbit-hole of figuring out what other presumed truths are complete falsehoods.
- There is a huge movement in the U.S and other countries to move toward a plant-based diet. Billion-dollar companies can mark up these mono-crops and make huge profits from grain-based processed food; there is much less profit in meat-based diets.
- In one of Dr. Berry’s most controversial tweets, “You should never take nutrition advice from a fat doctor” he was actually referring to himself when he was obese and doling out the high-carbohydrate dietary advice recommended by the U.S. Dietary Guidelines.
- Dr. Berry answered member questions:
- Why do some people experience digestive issues when starting a carnivore diet? Some people go carnivore too fast after coming off a high carb diet. This can cause major gut issues and diarrhea for a few days to a few of weeks until the gut balances itself out. Coming off of a low carb or ketogenic diet the transition may not be nearly as bad.
- Why do some doctors suggest women eat less meat? Dr. Berry disagrees that women should eat less meat –“in the Paleolithic era the entire family would eat the same kill, the women included, a woman’s physiology is the same except for a few hormones so there is no reason for them to eat a different diet. In the end, we are all the same species and we evolved eating the same diet.
- How do I handle extreme stress (divorce, financial, health, life) and stay off sugar/carbs? When facing extreme stress to the point where sugar withdrawal is overwhelming, Dr. Berry recommended checking out Dr. Robert Cywes as a resource for dealing with stress and carbohydrate cravings and addiction. Stress is one of the top reasons for causing overeating and craving junk foods and other negative coping mechanisms.
Dr. Ken Berry:
