I’m a doctor who ate bacon, butter and eggs for a month straight – what happened to my body defies what ‘health experts’ say

For decades, Americans have been told that bacon and butter are bad for your health, as is too much egg.

The reason? They are high in fat and cholesterol, which have been demonized for their apparent links to heart disease and weight gain.

But a Georgia doctor who took the breakfast trio for 30 days straight claims they actually made him healthier.

Dr. Sten Ekberg saw his weight and body fat decrease, as well as his levels of insulin, glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol and indicators of liver damage.

Ekberg is a functional nutritionist, which is a medical professional who creates personalized nutrition plans for his patients. He also performs diet-related experiments on himself.

In March 2023, he ate nothing but junk food for 10 days straight to see how it affected his health.

At the end of that experiment, he decided to try the ketogenic diet to see if he could reverse the damage.

He followed what he called a “clean” ketogenic diet, which included lots of bacon, butter and eggs, but also leafy greens and other meats like steak, fish and chicken for 30 days.

After 10 days of eating nothing but junk food, Ekberg’s blood tests were alarming.

Not only had he gained 10 pounds in just over a week, but his levels of insulin, glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol and indicators of liver damage increased between 19 percent and 125 percent.

For several of these health markers, including insulin and VLDL, which indicates the risk of plaque buildup in the arteries, this was the first time they exceeded normal levels, he said.

He wondered if the ketogenic diet (a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that helps the body use fat instead of sugar for energy) could reverse this damage.

During the 30 days, your typical meals may include salads topped with protein, seeds, a little bacon, olive oil, and vinegar dressing.

I also ate a lot of omelettes with sausage, bacon, avocado, onion and tomato, and steak with a side of steamed broccoli or cauliflower and topped with béarnaise sauce, which is made with eggs and butter.

He also did intermittent fasting, which is an eating plan that alternates periods of eating and fasting.

Over the course of the 30 days, he ate one or two meals a day, usually fasting for 16 to 24 hours at a time.

The idea behind this type of diet is that it helps the body reach ketosis, a metabolic state that occurs when the body burns fat for energy.

On the third day of following the ketogenic diet, Ekberg’s blood tests indicated that he had reached ketosis and maintained this metabolic state for the remainder of the 30-day period.

At the end of the 30 days, she weighed herself and had blood tests again to see how her body had changed.

First, he discovered that his weight had returned to what he considers the normal, healthy range for his body.

After 10 days of eating junk food, I weighed 203 pounds.

But after 30 days of the ketogenic diet, he weighed only 189 pounds and lost 14 pounds over the course of a month.

And where his blood tests had previously shown dangerously high levels of all the health indicators he measured, they now showed that everything had returned to healthy levels.

Their levels of insulin, glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol and indicators of liver damage had decreased significantly, suggesting that 30 days of a clean ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting had repaired the damage caused by 10 days of eating junk food.

Even though bacon, butter, and eggs are considered high-fat, high-cholesterol foods, Ekberg’s cholesterol level dropped slightly (from 222 to 220) and his triglycerides dropped from 101 to 60, putting him back in the range. healthy for both. health indicators.

Additionally, their insulin level dropped from 5.7 to 3.4 and their insulin resistance, indicated by HOMA IR levels, decreased from 1.3 to 0.8.

He was especially surprised to see his LDH level drop so dramatically after having risen to dangerously high levels during his 10-day junk food experiment—about twice what it should be.

After 30 days on the ketogenic diet, his LDH returned to the healthy range at just 170.

The World Health Organization and the US National Cancer Institute advise that people not eat meat such as bacon frequently because of its links to cancer.

But Ekberg said in his YouTube video: “What I hope you learn from this is how adaptable your body is.”

“You can do serious damage in 10 days, but your body is very resilient – it will recover if you do the right thing.”

But that doesn’t mean the ketogenic diet is risk-free or that it works for everyone.

The ketogenic diet could cause low blood pressure, kidney stones, constipation, nutrient deficiencies, and an increased risk of heart disease due to high cholesterol and saturated fat intake, according to UChicagoMedicine.

And studies have shown that if your insulin levels are lower, or if your body is insulin resistant and already has difficulty balancing glucose intake, you probably won’t lose weight on the ketogenic diet.

But if your concerns about cholesterol and saturated fat keep you from trying this diet, Ekberg says you should consider the facts. Keto is a high-fat diet, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should eat more fat, he says.

The key is to follow intermittent fasting, reduce carbohydrates to less than five percent and balance fat intake with moderate protein consumption and plenty of leafy greens and vegetables, he said.

This will keep your insulin levels low and allow your body to metabolize the fat and cholesterol you consume.