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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Stop eating sugar and carbohydrates, including starches like potatoes, pasta, rice, and bread, because they raise blood glucose and trigger an insulin response that Dr. Eric Westman says promotes fat storage, inflammation, and insulin-related health risks. He explains that the body can make its own glucose and other sugars from proteins and fats, so steady blood sugar does not depend on eating carbs. He frames this within a keto approach that he says improves fat burning and lowers insulin over time.
Key Points
- Blood sugar is tightly regulated: only about 5 to 7 grams of sugar circulate in the blood at any time, while an apple contains roughly 20 grams of carbs, about four times that amount.
- Carbs are treated as one group: sugar, starches like potatoes, pasta, rice, and bread, and even milk sugar all break down into glucose and raise blood sugar.
- Insulin is the key concern: Westman says the insulin released to lower blood glucose is pro-fat-storing, pro-inflammatory, and sends a signal to the liver to make and store fat, even from an apple, according to Dr. Westman.
- The body makes its own sugar: glucose, fructose, and ribose can be produced from proteins and fats, so the body can keep blood glucose steady without eating carbs.
- Timing of fat-burning shift: for most people the switch to fat burning happens within a day or two, though people with diabetes or greater insulin resistance may take longer.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Stop eating sugar and carbs, counting all carbs together (sugars and starches) rather than only sugar, and check labels because "sugar-free" products can still be high in starch. Eat protein and fat as the body converts them into its own glucose; Westman does not advise going without eating. Keep insulin-raising foods to a minimum in the diet.
- For people taking insulin or diabetes medication, Westman says doses may need to be reduced immediately, sometimes by about 50 percent on the first day, and medications should be adjusted with clinical guidance.
- Westman says insulin reduction can happen almost immediately in healthy people, and that lower insulin is linked to less inflammation, with animal studies (worms and rats) showing longer lifespan at lower insulin, though this is not yet proven in humans.
- He cites a documentary called "Cereal Killers 2" (spelled out in the transcript as C-E-R-E-A-L, not S-E-R-I-A-L), in which elite athletes took about six months to become fully fat-adapted before a rowing trip from San Francisco to Hawaii.
- Westman notes ongoing long-term studies of people on keto diets are only now being done, and early results look promising.
Bottom Line
Cutting out carbs and sugar, according to Dr. Westman, reduces the insulin response, shifts the body toward burning fat within days, and may lower inflammation and long-term health risks, though he acknowledges the longer-term human evidence is still developing.
