Show Me Your #DataOverDogma: Health, Food as Medicine, & Citizen Science on Science Sunday, Ketofest, New London, CT USA

2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 05021
2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 05021 (View on Flickr.com)

Day 3 (Day 2 for me) of this year’s #Ketofest was about the science, and

  • This generation of empowered patients / citizen scientists have a command of the medical literature of the kind I have never seen before, even among physicians
  • The professional scientists and physicians are great teachers, too, because they’re passionate about doing the things they came to health care for in the first place
  • I loved the intimate “post-chat” sessions that were held in the back of the schoolhouse with each speaker
2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 05072
2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 05072 (View on Flickr.com)
  • Have you ever been in a room of people who have taken control of their health and life destiny? I can now say I have, multiple times

I’m still disappointed when I hear the stories of people’s interactions with their physicians that are not affirming or in other ways condescending. Whether or not I was there when these events happen is irrelevant – if a person feels it, it’s real.

2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 05079
2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 05079 (View on Flickr.com)

I like to borrow from Washington, DC’s community leader @RubyCoradoDC, who famously said about the LGBTQ people she supports:

Society told them that they were not amazing, I reassure them that they were lied to.Ruby Corado, Washington, DC

& to expand on it here:

for the people whose doctors told them that they were not amazing, that they were not capable of learning how to reverse their illnesses and achieve health, our job is to reassure them that they were lied to.

And, I can report that a lot of reassurance happened 🙂 .

2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 05059
2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 05059 (View on Flickr.com)

This is not about telling people what to eat

In my experience, this community rejects the idea that people should be told what to eat. Instead, they reject a one-size-fits-everyone approach to nutrition. And, back to data over dogma, we know how well that worked:

2018.05.30 Washington, DC Low Carbohydrate Meetup, Washington, DC USA 01-458
2018.05.30 Washington, DC Low Carbohydrate Meetup, Washington, DC USA 01-458 (View on Flickr.com)

This is not about plant-based or plant-free, it’s about disease-free

There seems to be confusion about the biological source of food recommended. The emphasis is on real, unprocessed food, with a lower insulinogenic potential, shown to be beneficial for people with insulin resistance and glucose metabolism disorders (e.g. diabetes).

2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 0070
2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 0070 (View on Flickr.com)

Where I sometimes see a goal of eating a certain type of food in dialogue, I feel this misses the point of what people desire, to achieve their life goals through optimal health.

2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 05164
2018.07.22 Ketofest, New London, CT, USA 05164 (View on Flickr.com)

Adding my statement of independence and freedom from conflict

Conflict free is the way to be. I attended for the leadership and learning about health and the future, which more than justifies the expense.

2018.05.29 Low Carbohydrate Meetup Washington, DC Presentation  453
2018.05.29 Low Carbohydrate Meetup Washington, DC Presentation 453 (View on Flickr.com)

The photos

All are @CreativeCommons licensed, feel free to use and enjoy, with a flashback from March, 2018 that describes how I got here:

Ted Eytan, MD