Craig & Maria Emmerich on Fat Being the Preferred Fuel

Dec 13, 20184 min read

Craig & Maria Emmerich - Peak Human Podcast

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Today we have Craig and Maria Emmerich who have a long history of contributing to the low carb community. They have done a ton of health consulting, speaking, writing of great books and cookbooks, and also built a large community around their blog and facebook. They have a lot of hands-on knowledge and experience working with people and with the ins and outs of implementing a great diet and healthy lifestyle.

We got into some interesting details that haven’t come up on the podcast before like oxidative priority, being censored by a TV news show, butter chuggers, keto babies, the science of high carb diets, the Failed Environment Metabolic State, keto desserts, and a lot more.

I just got back from our film tour when we recorded this, which will definitely be apparent during my frequent mentions of Mark Sisson. He’s a great guy and I want to be like him when I am in my mid 60s, running around with 20 years olds playing ultimate frisbee. His book Primal Blueprint got me started with all of this years ago and is a great read. He’ll be in the film along with a ton of great doctors and researchers. Please continue to support Food Lies on Indiegogo - we haven’t raised enough money to finish the film yet. By pre-ordering a copy or buying the “It’s what else you eat, not the meat” T-shirt you are directly helping this film’s creation and will be listed in the credits. We’re personally matching every dollar that is coming in, but we’re still behind. Thank you so much and here’s Maria and Craig.

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Show Notes

They live in rural Wisconsin and hunt and smoke ribs
Halle Berry is a fan of Maria’s keto cookbooks
They wrote a great book called Keto. https://www.amazon.com/Keto-Complete-Ketogenic-including-Simplified/dp/1628602821
Oxidative priority: your body burns fuels in a specific order which is correlated to how much it can store of each, in reverse order
Alcohol burns first, then exogenous ketones, protein, carbohydrate, and lastly fat
Becoming fat adapted
Many benefits, especially in athletics. Better mitochondrial efficiency
Low carb longevity study and how bogus it is
Quality of the fats and carbs are of utmost importance
Studies show the majority of people lie in self-reported food studies
Maria was asked not to talk about restricting cereal on a TV news show who’s major sponsor was a cereal company
Nutrient density - animal foods far superior but because of the saturated fat and cholesterol they are demonized
The sheath of our bones is made up of saturated fat
When fat adapted you don’t lose muscle or bone mass when fasting
Nutrient density!! It’s all about the animal products. Plants foods don’t hold a candle
Obviously animal foods have way more bioavailable protein and nutrients as well
People do keto wrong and make fat bombs and put butter in their coffee - you’re getting no nutrients and probably too many calories (you can overeat fat on keto)
A piece of meat is naturally keto at about 70% fat
Gluconeogenesis is a demand driven process
If you eat too much protein and your insulin spikes it’s because you are insulin resistant
If you’re insulin resistant, not only do you need to avoid carbs, sugar, and most fruit, but also too much fat with protein
To reverse insulin resistance you need to shrink your fat cells so they aren't overstuffed and inflamed
Can be skinny and still have diabetes
To reverse you just need to get more fuel from your body than your diet
Protein sparing modified fast - adequate protein, almost no carb, fat is a lever
A lot of time a stall in weight loss is due to dairy consumption
The great importance of sleep which even affects insulin resistance
Unifying theory of nutrition
Why is fat the preferred fuel source?
How other diet work. Can a vegan diet work? Their experience with clients
Vegans Maria works with trying to do keto are on antidepressants
Protein from grains or soy can’t stimulate Mtor or muscle building
Need complete proteins and amino acids (all found in animal products)
Mother’s milk is high in cholesterol… so when does it become evil?
Men lowering their cholesterol with statins often need Viagra
Also, babies are constantly in ketosis for the breastfeeding years
The label keto is kind of a fad right now, but the low carb high fat diet is the exact opposite of a fad and what we’ve been doing some version of it for all of human history
Smart vegans understand it’s nutritionally inferior and say they wouldn’t do it while pregnant
Vegan on the show Alone knew he had to eat animal foods to survive
Fiber causes a lot of intestinal stress actually and we actually don’t even need it
Make sure you’re getting enough salt - it isn’t bad
How some people are able to tolerate carbs if they go low fat and whole foods enough
It’s so hard to eat enough plant matter, vegans are basically just calorie restricting to lose weight or stay thin
Ideal diet uses oxidative priority - eliminate a lot of the fuel sources, adequate protein, eat at a deficit without feeling hungry
All diets come down to managing appetite
Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels - you can have both eating this way
Failed Environment Metabolic State
Insulin, fat cells, and carb burners
How do you execute this in modern society when everything is working against you?
Maria made chipotle at home for half the cost and half the time it took for Craig to drive and get the real thing
They make 15 racks of ribs at once and put them on the freezer
There’s a perfect cross-section of foods I love and nutrient density, and it’s for a reason. Steak, salmon, eggs, sardines - delicious for a reason
How to eat dessert and treats and still be healthy
There’s some great sweeteners out there other than stevia like Swerve, and erythritol, and monk fruit
Their awesome book is called Keto. https://www.amazon.com/Keto-Complete-Ketogenic-including-Simplified/dp/1628602821
Their blog http://mariamindbodyhealth.com
Other site http://keto-adapted.com
https://twitter.com/MariaEmmerich and https://instagram.com/MariaEmmerich and https://facebook.com/ketoadapted