Anna Borek 🐌 Profile picture
Apr 20, 2021 35 tweets 9 min read Read on X
(1/n) Some ideas on the planning of a healthy low-carb plant-based diet.

A THREAD 👇⬇️

#Vegan #plantbased #lowcarb #ecoatkins
(2/n) ⚠️TWITTER IS NOT A SOURCE OF MEDICAL ADVICE⚠️

• If you have a serious medical condition &/or take medication, it is necessary to consult your doctor before making changes to your diet.

• Ketogenic diets have been associated with serious side-effects.
(3/n) During the first 7 days on a low-carb diet I suffered: head/muscle aches, hunger, fatigue.

AFAIK alleged ‘cures’ for so-called 'keto flu' haven’t been empirically tested.

I did keep hydrated (but this is *generally speaking* a good idea anyway).
(4/n) Arguably, a diet 'qualifies' as low-carb, when net carbs† are kept <130g per day.

I keep net carbs just below 50g.

However, this thread will be relevant to those merely looking to lower their (net) carb intake to any degree.

† Net carbs = total carbs - fibre.
(5/n) Low(er) carb diets are superior for diabetes management, as they ↓ glucose variability: those on low-carb diets tend to require less medication.

However, the safety of animal-based low-carb diets is questionable – especially in terms of cardiovascular health.
(6/n) A well-planned plant-based low-carb diet would very much appear to be a safer option.

Plant-based proteins and fats are reliably associated with better health outcomes.
(7/n) To improve the healthfulness of any low-carb diet one ought to include lots of *unrefined/unprocessed plants*.

While I do include some processed foods, whole plant foods always dominate my meals.
(8/n) All plants contain carbs, fat and protein.

The fibre in plants is a kind of carbohydrate which one subtracts from total carbs to arrive at “net carbs”.

Obviously, plants low in net carbs are the most low-carb friendly.
(9/n) Plant foods to avoid/restrict when on a low-carb diet:

• Sugars/syrups
• Grains (including pseudo cereals) and grain-products
• Non-soy legumes
• Starchy vegetables
• Many fruits
• Dried fruit
(10/n) There are 4 main categories of low-carb plant foods:

① Low-carb plant-based sources of protein
② Non-starchy vegetables.
③ Low-carb fruits
④ Nuts, seeds, avocados, oils.
(11/n) Depending on how strict you want to be, you may find it helpful to know the amount of net carbs in individual foods.

The amount of net carbs can vary considerably between foods belonging to the same group: I will give some examples below.
(12/n) Net carbs in a selection of low-carb plant-based sources of protein (per 250kcal):

Tofu: 2.3g
Soy milk: 3.4g
Vivo protein powder: 4.6g
Tempeh: 5.2
Quorn fillets: 5.7g
Seitan: 8.9g
(13/n) Net carbs in a selection of raw non-starchy vegetables (per cup):

Bok choy: 0.8g
Kale: 1.5g
Cauliflower: 3.2g
Radishes: 3.3g
Spring onion: 4.7g
Bell peppers: 5.9g
Onion: 15g
(14/n) Net carbs in a selection of ‘low-carb' fruits (per cup):

Raspberries: 6.7g
Strawberries: 8.6g
Grapefruit: 10g
Currants (red or white: 10.6g
Blackberries: 12.4g
Apple: 14.3g
Honeydew melon: 15.8g
Sour cherries: 16.4g
Blueberries: 16.9g
Sweet cherries: 21.4g
(15/n) Net carbs in a selection of plant-based sources of fat (per 250 kcal):

Extra-virgin olive/rapeseed oil: 0g.
Pecans: 1.5g
Macadamia: 1.8g
Avocado: 2.8g
Almonds: 3.9g
Pistachio: 7.4g
Cashews: 12.2g
(16/n) I find it helpful to use a nutrition tracking app (such as cronometer.com) to plan my meals.

I decide what kind of meal I want to eat and if necessary, I’ll substitute some foods for comparable lower carb options (e.g., swapping macadamia for cashews).
(17/n) Equally, I strive to include higher carb whole plant foods such as non-soy legumes (in smaller amounts).

These are foods linked with good health outcomes and thus are worth including when possible.
(18/n) I regularly eat a lot of tofu because:

• It’s low in carbs and calories.

• High in protein.

• I can easily make it myself in large batches.
(19/n) I regularly eat kale because:

• It’s a good source of: calcium, beta-carotene, omega 3 and vitamin K.
(20/n) I regularly eat nutritional yeast because:

• It enhances the flavour of savoury dishes.

• It’s a good source of B1, B2, B3, B6, folate and zinc.
(21/n) I regularly eat mushrooms because:

• They're a good source of B vitamins (especially B5).

• They’re tasty additions to all savoury dishes IMO.
(22/n) I almost never use oils, but when I do I choose extra-virgin oils that are low in saturated fat.

Oils are carb-free and thus can be helpful to ensure that one consumes enough energy on a low-carb plan.
(23/n) Meal examples: Salad + protein + nut/seed-based dressing ImageImageImage
(24/n) Meal examples: Stews ImageImageImage
(25/n) Meal examples: Curry + cauliflower rice Image
(26/n) Meal examples: Courgette noodles ImageImage
(27/n) Meal examples: ‘Roasts’ ImageImage
(28/n) Meal examples: ‘Tacos’ / ‘fajitas’ ImageImageImage
(29/n) Meal examples: 'Scambled' tofu ImageImage
(30/n) Meal examples: ‘Granola’ Image
(31/n) Snack example: Chocolate + nuts/seeds (snack) ImageImage
(32/n) Dessert example: ‘Mousse’ Image
(33/n) Meal examples: Tempeh 'falafel', tahini sauce and flax 'tortillas' Image
(34/n) Meal examples: Peppercorn sauce with a source of plant protein and vegetables.

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More from @ScepticalAnna

Feb 16
Summary of the research of ultra-processed foods:

1⃣ +++ Observational studies link ⬆️total UPF to bad health outcomes.

2⃣ But sub-analysis by UPF type indicates that only a few UPFs are driving these associations (mainly fizzy pop🥤 & ultra-processed animal products🥓).
3⃣ The aforementioned observational studies usually control for diet quality & energy intake... this is NOT about whether junk food is bad for health (we pretty much know it is).

The key question is whether ultra-processing is intrinsically harmful.
4⃣ Kevin Hall et al's metabolic ward trial confirms that minimally processed foods are less obesogenic than HFSS (junk food).

But does not tell us much (nothing in my view) about whether UPF is intrinsically harmful.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 9
The “heritability” of bodyweight is thought to be between 40-50%. For those with severe obesity, this figure rises to 80%.

What does this mean❓

In this 🧵, I’ll try to shed some light🔦 on this Q.👇
"Does it mean that the obesity crisis was primarily caused by genetics?"

💬 No.

The recent surge in obesity was/is primarily caused by environmental changes (imo) ....

... & this is entirely compatible with high heritability values for bodyweight.
Many quite understandably think that heritability statistics tell us how much a given trait is “genetically determined”.

💬 But this is not so.
Read 16 tweets
Feb 8
In this study from 1994, 7 pairs of identical twins 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️were monitored for 24/7 for 4 months in a metabolic ward (wow 🤯).

They were placed on a maintenance diet & an energy deficit (1000kcal/d) was induced via exercise training (🚴‍♀️🚴) for about 90 days.

So what happened❓ Image
They lost weight (naturally).

Mean weight loss was 5kg. Which is 78% of the estimate energy deficit.

Nearly all the weight loss was from fat 🤩 Image


Looks like that experienced a similar amount of "compensation" as found in this study.
Read 10 tweets
Nov 15, 2023
A meal containing animal flesh was found to be more anabolic compared to a protein-equated whole-food plant-based dish in older adults:

⬆️ EAA
⬆️ Peak EAA
⬆️ Leucine
⬆️ Peak leucine

⬆️ Muscle protein synthesis
⬆️ Whole body protein synthesis

Some thoughts 👇🧵 Image
This result is what many of us would have predicted... as whole plant foods contain more anti-nutritional factors as well as fibre (which may impair absorption/speed of amino acids).

But it's good to see this confirmed in a controlled study.
This study was on older adults & due to anabolic resistance this population may require more total protein & may be less able to extract protein from whole plant foods.

It would be good to see this study repeated on younger adults from my POV.
Read 9 tweets
Nov 13, 2023
In this thread I will gather studies on vegan/vegetarian meats & hard clinical outcomes 🧵 👇

💬 Please feel free to link me to studies I may have missed
In this prospective cohort (AHS-2) "meat analogues of at least one serving daily reduced the risk of hip fracture by up to 49 %".

Interesting to note that legumes intake and meat intake independently reduced the risk of hip fracture by 40–64 %.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…


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AHS-1.

"Vegetarian protein products" were strongly inversely associated with fatal pancreas cancer.

Note: beans, lentils, and peas as well as dried fruit was also associated with highly significant protective relationships to pancreas cancer risk.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3365678/


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Read 7 tweets
Oct 21, 2023
👁️📜 "Red meat consumption & risk factors for type 2 diabetes: a systematic review & meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials"

💬Yes, it was funded by "Beef Checkoff".

But in this 🧵, I want to focus on analysing the details of the SR&MA itself (+ included studies).

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You can find the study here.

I am going to be reading all of the studies... so it's going to take a while.

Feel free to help by replying with learned opinions & observations 🖖ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…


The intervention group was given mycoprotein (Quorn products).

Problems:

1) Only 1 week long.
2) The "meat" group were given chicken, tuna & salmon... as well as "red meat" (ham, beef).

Including such studies is somewhat misleading imo. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32660657/

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Read 21 tweets

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