[podcast]http://traffic.libsyn.com/llvlcshow/llvlc461-dr-greg-ellis.mp3[/podcast]
Dr. Greg Ellis, PhD, Certified Nutritional Specialist and longtime fitness enthusiast, is our guest here on today’s episode of The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore!
Today Dr. Ellis shares with Jimmy about being obese and on statins by age 12, spending his 20’s steeped in self-experimentation, getting sidelined by fads and advice from “muscle mags,” when he learned to skip the carbs, opening one of the very first Nautilus gyms in the United States and so much more, you won’t believe! Do not miss this great interview!
ALSO: Please share the love with the folks who help make this episode possible, our awesome sponsors GetYourHealthTested.com and QuestBars!
LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 461
– Support our sponsor: GetYourHealthTested.com
– Support our sponsor: Low-Carb QuestBars
– Dr. Greg Ellis bio
– ByeByeCarbs.com
– The Glycation Factor: How The Recommended Healthy Diet Maims And Kills By Glucocide
– Dr. Ellis on Glycation
– Dr. Greg Ellis blog
– Books and resources from Dr. Ellis
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Was looking forward to this podcast and it did not disappoint! Thank you.
Jimmy,
Your interview with Dr. Greg Ellis was quite engrossing. Thank you for doing it. I never would have heard about him had it not been for your show. After hearing him on your podcast, I went on to watch more than 15 videos of him on YouTube. His knowledge is outstanding.
What I particularly like about this interview is how Dr. Ellis differs on many points with other big names in the low carb movement, like Gary Taubes – particularly with respect to the importance of calories and exercise. While Gary dismisses caloric consumption as a pivotal factor in weight loss and control, and also states that exercise lacks any true efficacy in inducing substantial weight loss, Dr. Ellis clearly emphasizes that ultimately calories do count, and that exercise is essential in weight loss and maintenance.
Though I know it is hardly scientific and really just anecdotal, but from my own experiences with losing weight, I tend to agree more with Dr. Ellis than with Taubes with regards to subjects like caloric restriction and the benefits of exercise. Sure, for a person who is morbidly obese, you don’t have to be too concerned about meticulously keeping track of calories, because when you confine yourself to eating low carb, it is difficult to exceed the number of calories necessary to cause a surplus of energy intake, because the satiety factor of consuming fat and protein kicks in way before you can get excessive caloric intake to maintain a state of morbid obesity. However, as one transitions from morbid obesity, towards getting closer to ones ideal weight, calories do matter more and more because one can consume an excess of amount of calories in relation to what one needs, because the calories one needs is significantly reduced because one weighs less. So in some sense both Taubes and Ellis have valid points. It just depends on how much weight one has to lose. In either case, low carb is the best way to achieve weight loss.
What is important about this interview is that it demonstrates an example of how people can disagree amicably. Unlike the blogger Carbsane, one can disagree with Taubes without being disagreeable. Ellis just questions the scientific validity of Taubes views, and does not insinuate anything about Taubes’ character. It is good to have people question each other within a movement like the low carb movement. Such challenging of each other’s core assumptions is necessary in order to keep people honest, and to preserve the intellectual respectability and scientific validity of the movement. However, such back and forth disagreements must not descend into mudslinging for that can discredit a movement . Thanks again Jimmy for providing such a platform for different perspectives to be heard.
-Lawrence
Loved, loved, loved this interview. The most cogent reality check on Taubes I’ve heard, even though WWGF was a life-changing book for me. Satiety really seems to be key.
I also think the behavior of fat and protein in the presence of carbohydrate is an interesting topic that doesn’t get explored enough (Richard Wood touched on this previously in the podcast as well, but didn’t go in-depth). Dr. Ellis is obviously comfortable mixing in a certain level of carb intake, but at what point does the ratio at a given meal make things counterproductive? I’ve tried to impart a lot of what I’ve learned these past few months to my wife (who has been a trooper after two years of shared vegetarianism) and has started doing things like taking heavy cream with her coffee, but when she’s really in the mood for a sugary drink from Starbucks, for instance, we’re both guessing that it might be better to stick with the non-fat milk and lessen the overall caloric load, since it’s going to be an insulin-promoting experience.
Me, I’ve lost almost all interest in sweets and bread. Doesn’t really feel like food at this point. I do like a little big of malitol-sweetened dark chocolate from time to time, but even that I try and segregate from my main meals.
Seth,
In the interview as well as Dr. Ellis’ books he puts the amount of carbs at 25% of total calories per day as the maximum. Closer to 10-15% is better. So if you eat 2500 calories per day then that’s 94 grams of carbs at 15% of calories. So if your Starbucks fits that then go for it! I’m not trying to come across as an expert but I am very well versed in Dr. Ellis’ philosophy.
I learned so much from this interview, thank you for having him on. I’d like him to clarify his position on the glycemic index. I believe he meant it was useless with regard to controlling blood sugar but that was not implicit. I think the glycemic index is useful as a comparison tool and can’t see writing it off as completely useless.
To be sure, I said it was useless, there is no value to it at all. First, exposure to glucose is deadly via the process of glycation. From a hormonal perspective the lowest GI food will elicit an insulin response which will shut down fat release and fat burning, just the opposite of what we want to happen.
It makes little difference in the level of insulin we experience. Insulin has a maximum rate of activity. More secretion of larger amounts will not shut down fat release any further. Gary Taubes believes that if insulin keeps rising then it will increase the fat mass evermore. This is not the way the biochemistry works.
You are correct, I dismiss it entirely, it has no value at all.
The notion that spikes in insulin and glucose have any phyioslogical meaning is also not true.
SLS,
DR. Ellis says that the Glycemic Index is useless. He stated this in the interview as well as in his books. It’s an interesting scientific observation but doesn’t mean a thing.
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the followup. I can understand his reasoning in saying the glycemic index is useless in attempting to control the rise of insulin beyond 18uIU/ml, since just a tiny rise in blood glucose will do so. However, I wondered if this was his only reason for dismissing the glycemic index and if so, would he perhaps agree that it is still useful as a comparison tool for different foods.
Maybe this is my new cognitive limitation to work out 🙂
Interesting and enjoyable interview. I got my daily chuckle from the fire story. I too had not heard of this fellow before. Well I’m off to look at his website. I will probably buy his book.
Well, Jimmie, having read all the books, podcast interviews & your own diet experiments over the years…did his book/interview change anything for you in what you are doing or thinking?
Maybe to be more mindful of calories.
I loved this interview and had never heard of glycation. I wish Dr. Ellis would have gone through what he eats during a typical week.
Thank you Greg and Jimmy. Exercise is healthy but I wonder if extreme exercise is harmful. I saw a documentary about a group of people who trained for 7 months to run in a marathon. None lost any weight. Perhaps this means that exercise won’t help if one is eating the wrong diet. This interview was very interesting. Thank you again. Jill
This was an interesting interview. Although Dr. Ellis was so arrogant at times that it was laughable, I was still intrigued and actually bought his book. My own experience agrees with Ellis when he says that calories do matter. But I think that Taubes point that carbs matter more than calories is equally valid.
He certainly sounds authoritative on the subject because he’s done it for so long. That might turn some people off, but you can’t argue with results.
Hm, maybe it IS a combination of carb restriction and calorie moderation that can help people the most. Greg sure is a very sassy doctor, lol. I guess he’s gotten old enough now to not waste his time with people he can’t argue intelligently with =P… How old is he, by the way? He says he was about junior high age in the 50s? … He doesn’t look a day over 50!