The first time I read The Rosedale Diet
The result was a series of posts about Leptin, Meal Timing and Intermittent Fasting, in which I sort of dissed Rosedale and his diet in favor of Byron Richard’s Leptin Diet
Taking Another Look
After hearing a podcast interview of Dr. Ron Rosedale on Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ la Vida Low Carb Show, I thought I should give The Rosedale Diet another chance, so I read it again.
It turns out that I like Rosedale’s book and his diet more than I originally thought I did. Though I still have some reservations with some components of his approach, I would like to correct the things I dissed him for in my previous posts.
My two main issues with Rosedale
(1) I thought his diet was too low in fat, especially saturated fat. And I specifically remember thinking that he dissed coconut oil.
(2) I couldn’t find his website or web resources. In fact, I couldn’t find him online at all, and it made me feel sort of duped.
It turns out that he was doing some great work in India, and that the people he left in charge of his website dropped the ball or something like that!
Anyway. He is back now. His website is up and running. And I’m ready to delve further into the world of leptin, publish my retractions and tell you what I like about Dr. Rosedale.
A Disconnect between Basic Science and Clinical Application
Ron Rosedale realized early in his career that there was a major disconnect between basic science and clinical science. Patient treatment was not always built on a foundation of solid science.
So, he went to the hard sciences: physics, chemistry, biology, and even cosmology, he says, helped him find his answers. The diet he designed and recommended thirty years ago is still the one he uses today.
The only slight change he has made in 30 years is to more fully embrace medium-chain triglycerides. Remember what I said about coconut oil? Many health benefits of eating coconut fat have been discovered over the past few decades. And Rosedale seems to be a fan.
Why feed diabetics sugar?
From the very start of his medical career, Rosedale refused to follow clinical recommendations he found to be in conflict with solid science and common sense, especially in the treatment of diabetes.
The standard diet for diabetics – high-carbohydrate, low-saturated-fat diet – was “out of the question” to him… even for his very first diabetic patient. Why feed a diabetic foods that will immediately turn into sugar, when you’re trying to lower their sugar?
He designed the Rosedale diet, based primarily on the obvious fact that non-fiber dietary carbohydrates, once eaten, immediately turn into sugar.
Another of Rosedale’s main dietary concerns is eating excess protein.
Once protein needs are met, the body has no way to store the rest of that energy as protein, and turns it into sugar in a process called gluconeogenesis.
That sugar raises overall blood sugar and triggers insulin and leptin surges, as certainly as the consumption of carbohydrates, though it occurs more slowly.
And we all know what happens to excess sugar… whatever your body cannot burn or store, gets stored as body fat. So, no excess protein!
The Rosedale Diet is a high-fat, adequate protein, low carb diet.
If you are eating no intentional carbs, and a limited amount of protein, fat is the only thing left to eat. Rosedale recommends the fats he considers to be the most healthful.
And it is here where there has been some confusion, I think: about which fats are the healthy ones.
Overall, I think he picks the same ones as I do. It is pretty common in the low-carb community these days to talk about “healthy saturated fat,” as opposed to polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and partially hydrogenated oils (aka trans fats).
Rosedale recommends eating some of the natural saturated fat that comes along in animal proteins, as well as monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, macadamia oil and avocado oil. He steers clear of high PUFA oils and trans fats (as do many of us…).
His book says to cook in olive oil… which I find puzzling. In his interview, though, he said coconut oil is good one to cook with, which is more along my preferences. I also like butter and ghee!
Confusion over Dietary Fat
Rosedale talks a lot about skipping the fattier cuts of meat, trimming the visible fat and skin and using lower fat dairy. So, it is easy to wonder why he recommends holding back so much on saturated fat.
Apparently, it is only during the initial 3 weeks of the diet he holds back on saturated fats, because saturated fats are slightly harder to digest. During the initial adjustment period, while the patient is trying to convert his body from burning sugar to burning fat, it is beneficial to avoid overloading on saturated fat. It helps the body complete the conversion easier and faster.
He also makes a point that keeping lower saturated intake fat throughout the entire weight loss phase may increase the speed at which body fat is burned off.
Here’s why: Dietary saturated fat is similar to the saturated body fat (the fat you are trying to lose). Saturated fats are “harder,” and are slighly harder to burn that unsaturated fats. As your body burns off this saturated fat, it will burn off newly introduced fat energy that you’ve eaten before it burns off the stored body fat that you are trying to lose. So, if you eat saturated fat in a given meal, your body has to (work harder to) burn that off first, and will not be able to burn off as much of the stored fat.
It almost sounds as if your body can only burn off so many units of saturated fat per day, and in order to make sure that the saturated fat you’re burning off is stored body fat, you much hold back some on eating new saturated fat…
I don’t know. I’m not a scientist. But, I’m not entirely convinced. It still looks to me like he is restricting fat more than I do.
He went on to say that it doesn’t really matter very much. Eating saturated fat, that is. If you want to eat it, eat it. It’s ok.
And so, I have come to believe that my first understanding of his attitude toward dietary fat was mostly wrong: Rosedale does not advocate a low-fat diet. He does not restrict saturated fat just because it is saturated.
He does restrict total intake of food to just what satisfies hunger and no more. So, a lot of his talk about restricting fat, is just talk about restricting food. Since you’re not eating carbs, and your protein is “measured,” any restrictions on food intake will end up being restrictions on fat – not because it is a low-fat diet, but because you’re already eaten enough.
He actually has no set percentages of carbs to protein to fat that he advocates. His diet is more about eating healthful whole foods to satiation, not too much at a time, and not eating any food or portion that will spike insulin or leptin levels.
Eating fat does not make you fat.
Being unable to burn fat makes you fat.
The Rosedale Diet is carefully designed to train your body to burn fat (instead of sugar), restore proper hormonal signalling (primarily leptin and insulin), and repair cellular damage (as fast as it occurs). That’s his picture of optimal health.
Don’t go away…
There is a lot more coming up on leptin…
Be sure to check out the video in which Dr. Ron Rosedale and Dr. Jospeh Mercola discuss the key role leptin plays in your health. Most of it is Rosedale, with a few comments at the end from Mercola. The audio is not the best, but he makes some good points.
Lovin’ It Low Carb
Ramona Denton
Available at Amazon
