I'll stick with my original answer to yesterday's thread, namely that I read a wide variety of websites and other publications then ponder the information to develop and focus my own thoughts. I'm not close enough to any of these people to make absolute judgments and I am pretty sure they're all mixtures of correct and accidentally incorrect statements in their work and their beliefs. I do get suspicious of anyone who dismisses counter evidence rather than re-working/thinking his/her previous pronouncements.

Blanket statements and poor biochemistry aside, I cannot stand his poor grammar and lack of punctuation on this site. Most of the time his answers look like they were written by a 3rd grader.

I'm expecting to be down voted by his all too faithful followers but as you pointed out, I'm not the only person he bothers.

There is a misplaced tone of aggressiveness in a lot of what he said, and the comments about Kurt Harris' practice were definitely out of line and frankly, jerky. In my experience these are not the hallmarks of a very profound mind.

I also have a difficult time with unfounded, blanket, black and white statements.

I appreciate what he has to say because he makes me think outside the box and he makes me challenge the status quo, as well as my own thought process. I do not take anything anyone says on this forum as gospel or as applying to everyone in every situation, all the time; so he doesn't bother me in the least. I don't mind his faults, as I happen to have many of my own.

this guy says things that are factually wrong and talks down about legitimate science way too much. his advice might work for you and make you healthier - after all, as far as I know he sticks to the paleo framework to some level of strictness, right? but I would take everything he says with a grain of salt. Working in the field doesnt mean he's always got the science down if he's not going to be conscientious about checking sources and facts before he posts and gives advice. MDs are not superhuman. Also, as someone who invokes his authority as an MD almost constantly, I question the ethics of his posts where he does give medical advice without knowing the patient or often having a basis for making recommendations. He should probably be careful about that.

I can't really answer, because of the whole moderator thing and my past arguments with Quilt.

But I will say that Quilt is very very knowledgeable, and I appreciate his willingness to post free information in an effort to improve people's health.

One just has to be fully informed when evaluating the advice of anyone on the internet, and this is no exception.

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”
— Buddha

you know, ive been around here long enough that i have seen the quilt really dig himself into a few holes. ive never appreciated the tone that he uses with people when they question him. "just look it up," is not an acceptable answer when someone asks you to clarify a statement you make. it just speaks to his character in a way that i dont appreciate. i didnt know about most of this stuff here in the question, though i remember the couple of run ins that im mentioned in. seeing it all together is not totally shocking, i have to say. ive sort of long ago dismissed what he has to say since he is such a poor communicator. im also highly suspicious of anyone who gives medical advice over the interwebs. its just not ethical, and shows a lack of judgement.

i cant speak to his science, since that is not where my strengths lay but again ive seen him caught in enough tight spots that im confident that i can get much better information elsewhere.

besides, i find the relationship advice he offers to be borderline abusive. since that is where my strengths lay, i think ill follow my intuition and get my science elsewhere.

that said, im not a fan of gurus anyway. like rose, i follow my body and listen to my intuition. i never depend on information from just one source so when someone like the quilt makes a claim that i cannot verify elsewhere, its automatically dismissed. after three strikes, i stop listening. this is why i love wolf, harris, and sisson so much though. they are always seeking and striving and growing and citing. its hard work convincing people youre right, as it should be.

I like the Quilt. He turned me on to K2. When you guys live longer, you'll find out that one good idea, per person, per lifetime is about as good as you can expect from any other human being. Think George W Bush as the counter example. :)

Mari,

I do not read this as antagonistic at all. The fact that you have presented both positives and negatives was very thoughtful of you. This is a VERY tough question and even tougher to answer fairly. Since it seems really appropriate, I am going to reference my response to the question from Matthew yesterday -

We could go on and on about how someone earns our trust and becomes a "guru" that we rely upon (e.g. formal training, letters before/after their name, personal life transformation story, etc). Peter at Hyperlipid says "no gurus". However my take is that there are gurus, but it is not a tenured position. It needs to be continually earned (or at least not lost).

Perhaps it will be more efficient "via negativa" to answer this question

• Has he/she ever blatantly lied or falsified information?
• Does the person make bold claims absent supporting information? I am not talking about cites for every last claim, but at least controversial ones.
• Does he/she have a history of being litigious on blogs and forums with dissenting views?
• Is he/she unwilling to consider alternate points of view?
• Does he/she imply omniscience rather than acknowledging limitations of his/her knowledge?
• Does the person engage in ad hominem attacks?
• Does the person have an incoherent writing style? Genius that no one else can comprehend is not very useful.
• Is the person emotionally unstable? This might seem odd but it is difficult to trust someone, even versed in science, that arguably needs to be institutionalized, or at least get some intensive therapy
• Is the person respected by his peers? This is not synonymous with complete agreement on all points

I could go on. This is not the be all / end all list, just an off the cuff response to the question. Also, this is obviously not a black-white assessment - there are many shades of grey. But if a person fails enough of the questions, then one must consider the possibility that this person is doing more harm than good for our community.

Also, I do NOT think the argument "well, a lot of people have gotten healthier following his/her advice" holds water. People have gotten healthier following Ornish and Oz also. Correlation is not causation

I don't think it is a secret that I have not always seen eye to eye with Quilt. But I do agree with the positives you have cited and I have nothing against him as an individual. To the extent that you have merely copied these quotes from previous posts/blogs, I have to assume that the veracity of these items are not questionable. However, I think the "facts" you have a presented definitely are cause for concern, particularly the excerpts of distortions and comments Quilt has made. The information you have presented is particularly troublesome because I know there are many new and impressionable members of PH community that need to be mindful of the advice they are receiving.

Let's face it, Quilt has become a significant member of the Paleo community, and with that comes responsibility on his part, dare I say some level of accountability - not simply as a blogger but as an MD and someone that could influence many in a positive way.

The bottom line to me is that there are a many paths forward. So will he,

1. Not dismiss this post and take the time to address what you've raised in a thoughtful manner analogous to the effort you have taken? And perhaps use it as opportunity for self improvement and growth?
2. Tell people to f*ck off because he has a following now and doesn't give two sh|ts what others think because he has achieved his objectives in the blogosphere
3. Love every minute of it!
4. None of the above

I eagerly await his response. Thanks for posting this question. I hope some day I grow up to be as mature as you (not likely).

JarJaravind, out...

If you want free advice, you get exactly what you pay for.

That being said, I do have a question about the Leptin RX (which seems to not jive with my very limited understanding of biochemistry) specifically: If your aim is to increase the perception of leptin by the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, why would you recommend carbohydrate restriction when it results in a drastic reduction in circulating leptin?

http://www.springerlink.com/index/UVUHPQH4UMUVE6VJ.pdf

Even if this protocol greatly enhanced leptin sensitivity, the individual would be working with a substantial leptin handicap. Since Dr. Kruse is himself VLC as far as I know, there isn't even an implicit recommendation to increase carbs once this protocol does its magic unless Dr. Kruse is implying that he himself is still leptin resistant and is still working on correcting it. If that's the case, then we might question this protocol's efficacy. Looking it over, I don't see why it would be ineffective for weight loss (and certainly the many mini-informercial testimonials we see here are at least partially legitimate), but lots of things result in weight loss without addressing leptin sensitivity.

For what it's worth, I personally suspect that leptin resistance (and thus perhaps obesity itself) is the result of excitotoxic substances like the supraphysiological doses of free glutamic acid from MSG or equivalents and aspartic acid from aspartame etc. that many people today ingest that damage the leptin receptors of the hypothalamus (which isn't protected by the blood-brain barrier). As such, if I were to construct a protocol aimed at restoring leptin sensitivity, it would be built around the absolute avoidance of these compounds in the hope that these receptors could be repaired.

http://journals.lww.com/neuroreport/Abstract/1999/04260/The_arcuate_nucleus_is_pivotal_in_mediating_the.5.aspx

http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v16/n8/abs/oby2008274a.html

Edit: Quilt is on AttacKruse-Control and calling me out for making up that he's VLC. I knew I had read it somewhere: http://paleohacks.com/questions/47258/what-are-some-of-your-magic-tricks-in-your-paleo-lifestyle-that-youd-like-to-s/47278#47278

I also eat a fairly low carb diet. Most days below fifty grams……most below 25 grams of carbs.

I'd sure as hell call that VLC.

I can't keep track of all of the changes that someone makes to their diet. You know I haven't read everything he's written because I'm not in a padded cell. So, he's decided to synch his carb up to the position of Earth in it's revolution around the Sun. Lovely. I've never heard of a single other soul on this planet doing that, so as you might expect I didn't account for that possibility. This is why I said "as far as I know" (now bolded) above.

He's obviously in it because he believes it can make a difference. It takes a certain type of character to do what he does. High output and problem solving can go along with increased error rate. Now it's not for me to tell his error rate, but I'd certainly consider a low error rate important in this area. I think he's much more correct where it counts than most doctors you will meet. Nobody is right 100% of the time and everybody can fall prey to the logical pitfalls of being human.

My only critique is the lack of graphics on his blog, though it's not like any paleo author makes much use of that. The things he writes about would really benefit from relationship maps and such.

He is confident. Unfortunately, he is also often wrong. That's a bad combination. I don't trust anything he says.

I take issue with the way that people are responding to the Quilt. I'd like to defend him a bit.

Kruse is the type of thinker who consumes large amounts of information and then synthesizes it into a similarly large system. When he writes he is trying to bring out all of the connections that are buzzing in his head. Kruse's emphasis - as a writer - is usually on seeing everything come together, and not necessarily on providing what most of us would consider a polished, professional statement. Further, he is a very busy person who wants to help others, so the practical compromise he accepts is that his comments will be made in haste, with poor grammar, minor errors, and various moments when his tone could be misconstrued as rude or dismissive.

It is true that Dr K is an opinionated person with an aggressive, idiosyncratic sense of humor that sometimes gets him in trouble with some types of readers. But I think that he considers it an acceptable tradeoff to offend this subset of readers if it allows him to help others achieve their health goals.

So far I've talked mostly about Kruse's style, now I'd like to shift some to his content (the two are interrelated).

To begin, I'll just say that I really value Kruse's contributions to the paleo discussion. He seems to pour through more of the scientific literature than anyone else. His attempt to synthesize this literature is also the most ambitious I've seen. Most of the information he conveys is also backed up by clinical experience, so it's not just crackpot theorizing. Rather, it's informed speculation plus experimentation; and that is pretty much what science is. Kruse's background or journey - from dentistry to neurosurgery to optimal nutrition - also gives him a unique vantage point that, to my knowledge, has no parallel in this community.

Admittedly, Kruse's communication skills are not as strong or polished as they could be. His readers have to dig around his articles, make some connections on their own, read through the comments, etc. He makes readers do more work than any other science-literate blogger of which I'm aware. What I've found, however, is that in time most of it actually does come together. When Kruse makes a claim on his blog, or here on Paleohacks, that seems unwarranted and without basis, eventually the explanation and evidence on which it is based comes to light.

As for the guru issue, I'm not one to follow gurus. I follow ideas, and try to take in the ideas that sound the most original, creative, and comprehensive. On this front, it is hard to argue against what Kruse has to offer.

Say what you want about his style or personality, but you can't say that the Quilt's heart isn't in the right place. He obviously spends a great deal of his time contributing to this site and his blog. Dr K answers almost everybody's questions and comments, and he is always game for a debate. Granted, he is not as interested in providing citations as some of us would like him to be, but it is also true that, intellectually, those are the least interesting sorts of requests. When ideas and concepts are at stake, Dr K has been very dynamic, informative, and original.

I don't mind the mistakes here and there. Most people who - like me - work in academia and research know how important making mistakes is to achieving substantial progress. The big picture matters far more than whether or not a few details were mistaken along the way. This is true broadly, and it is especially true in the context of Paleohacks comments. Most of us are not in a rush to convey information that fits into a larger system that is being unveiled in pieces as it comes together before our eyes. Whether Dr K is on the right track or not, this is what he is doing, and I think that it makes sense for all of us who understand this to make special allowances because of it.

As Kruse likes to point out, he is a big boy, so criticize him all you want. He can take it. But let's not give him the wrong idea. Kruse may be doing something special. So far, I think it is pretty impressive, and I want to encourage him to keep pushing forward, minor details and pleasantries be damned.

i dont believe in leptin resistance, thus i quit reading the quilt after he made the DANGEROUS assertion that someone with hypothalamic amenorrhea is LR...@$$ backwards my friend. when it comes to eating disorders he would do himself a favor NOT to give advice or talk about them period., i wrote this rant over at MDA yesterday:

that reset BS has nothing to do with leptin... protein, and that much, is gonna cause any and everyone to eat less period. no snacking is just another dieting antic to get you to eat less. coconut oil is BS as well, it works for a couple days, after that its NOS, not gonna work.25 carbs...again its a dieting antic.

what does ANYTHING about the 'reset' have to do with leptin...NOTHING. leptin is an evolutionary female based hormone, meaning it is only really important in the context of a female, and in her reproductive years. any reading on the hormone itself shhhhould lead everyone to that conclusion. males can have low leptin, if youre a dieting male it is expected, duh. lose fat=lose leptin....YOUR NOT becoming resistant to it, you just lose it as you lose fat! your not resistant to leptin when your fat either, you have a ton. i dont understand how people dont understand this...

i can also quote this same leptin genius saying 'insulin equals death'....now again, this is impossible. spiking your insulin means your body is shuttling off nutrients/aminos- PERIOD. if you eat sh*t that is supposed to spike insulin but doesnt have the nutrients to back it up(SAD food) then again, duh, your gonna have continuously high insulin b/c your body is waiting for nutrients that aint coming.

if there is ANY truth to dr kruse's stuff, it's that he has it a$$ backwards. what needs to be 'studied' is the brain's insensitivity to dopamine(i swear if someone says this is b/c of leptin resistance.....lol). leptin alters dopamine, i know. but it is the dopamine deficiency that was first. this causes the weight to climb uncontrollably, the hormones to whack out, the insulin to go haywire, the leptin to f-up, the lazy feeling, adrenal fatigue whatever it is...this same dopamine problem leads also to fat burning problems. same reason certain people given depression meds gain weight...it blocks their dopamine receptors. same reason exsmokers gain weight and heroin addicts sudden get fat. anything that does this leads to the body signaling starvation. low leptin leads to dopamine problems...again, NOTHING about this is related to being resistant to leptin in anyway...

insulin is a body fat signal leptin is a body fat signal

to me, low dopamine should be present, along with low leptin on a ketogenic diet. if the body is functioning correctly, this diet in a roundabout way signals 'starvation' i.e, hibernation. if this didnt happen, how would early man have survived hibernation, the responses NEEDED to happen. so, one on a prolonged VLC diet is going to have downgraded dopamine receptors(but a plus, they should be more sensitive), part of the reason a change in diet leads to weight gain and people inevitably feel they will keep gaining. Dr kruse's MASSIVE LIST of testing and supplements will keep your brain high enough to possibly combat some stuff, but i for one am not shoving 283476510354 lbs of pills in my body, ever. period.

NEITHER leptin or insulin will function correctly with a dopamine problem. this is where stephen DOES have some ground in his 'food reward' stuff, i just think he is presenting it wrong. i dont think obesity is a brain disease like he does. its still not all about the brain, studies show insulin resistant muscles ALSO have insulin resistant brains- this, i am guessing is a factor/result of mitochondrial malfunctioning(which i am still reading about). however, if your brain reads low leptin(deficent) then so will your CNS, your liver, your muscles...you have leptin receptors all over your body(and for females the one's on the ovaries are where we get sh*tted on- amenorrhea etc..)

also, leptin is key to muscle breakdown and growth. if youre someone trying to gain muscle and eating lbs of protein with no result, your low on leptin. it factors into protein synthesis/breakdown and IGF.

dr kruse reminds me of Tabues but instead of insulin it is leptin.

So many points raised, I have noticed one other thing worth bringing up that I see in Quilt as well as other progressive/forward thinking clinicians...

They formulate theories that may well be correct but aren't able to prove them inconclusively. Clinical experience shows them what works and doesn't work, and the community will then scrutinize their reasoning regardless of whether the results show success. Lustig also comes to mind, as well as some people I have firsthand experience with who aren't known on a national level.

This is the difference between researcher and clinician, and when clinicians write things they are highly scrutinized.

and a joke to help summarize this whole issue

"What's the difference between a surgeon and God?"

"God doesn't think he's a surgeon"

I am a new member of this community and English is not my native language so take my opinion for what its worth. I have not followed any of the mentioned "drama" and do not take any sides.
I am sure Dr.K gets a lot of stuff wrong and his attitude and ego seem to be bigger than most, however, he still is a very valuable, prolific and UNIQUE part of this community. He seems to be a cross between several communities - Paleo, Doctors, Quantified Self. There are other Paleo MDs, so what makes him really unique and valuable is the Quantified aspect of his persona. The Quilt is a true Paleo Quant Doctor. He really looks for context. He seems to have access to a lot of lab tests data ,both personal and patients, which allows him to quantify conditions, improvements as well as observe patterns through many lab results. He does not simply read papers, studies, and journals.
At the end of the day, he is the best and most prolific Paleo medical resource for lab testing. He trials and refines his ideas on his patients and himself through numerous lab tests. Thus, while some of his theories and presentations might have flaws, he still provides a very valuable information and hands on experience for free. I would appreciate him for his strengths and unique perspective, while acknowledging his weaknesses.

EDIT:

I seem to not have expressed myself properly and to have appeared as some Quilt die hard fan boy. I couldn't care less about most of Quilt's not well thought out, badly presented, poorly sourced ideas and hypotheses. I do not follow his protocols. However, I have GREAT respect for this guy because of his quantified approach and clinical experimentation. He has access to vast medical resources and most importantly is ACTIVELY using them to improve his own and the public knowledge and understanding of concepts. I can only hope that one day I might encounter a similar doctor in my personal medical journeys and interactions with medical professionals. If this thread results in less or no output from him, this would be a great loss not only for the Paleo community.

I'll just add a little bit to Eric's answer by saying that I don't think the re-broadcast of ideas without cites is intentional. I have read things that DrK has written here and there, and they sound alot like what I had written. Did he copy me? Did we draw from the same well? I wrote something about Gary Taubes on the Dr. Oz show, and a few months later Taubes wrote something similar. Did he copy me? Probably not, we're both just clever. My impression of DrK is that he is much more concerned with the overall flow and interconnection with ideas, and less so dotting the i's and crossing the T's, is it 56% reduction, 57% reduction? And there are some very uncreative minions who demand that he behave another way, in a more "respectable" way. They throw out "do you have a cite for that" like street thugs roughing up pedestrians who have the temerity to cross their little street corner without payment. Universities and research centers are full of people who can't seem to move one foot in front of the other without checking pubmed. They just can't stand it when someone comes along, leaping, dancing around, doing it all wrong. We would never move forward on anything without people like this. Now as for me, I didn't wait around for pubmed to tell me it was OK to eat the way DrK recommends. YMMV, and that's ok. If his ideas are total crap, he'll either change them, or eventually be run out of town. Let's hope he doesn't get run out on a technicality. That would be bad for everyone.

Like others, I appreciate The Quilt for his willingness to post. His cryptic answers are more than annoying, and your citations to intentional misrepresentations definitely bring his credibility into question. As for his ideas, I would suggest n=1 like most other information we read about the Paleo diet. If you think a Quilt suggestion sounds legitimate enough, give it a try and see if it works for you.

As an aside, I think this is the best PH post I have read. Thank you for taking the time.

I've been doing Paleo on and off for 5 months and want to input just how amazed I am at the dynamics on this website. I know this isn't an answer but see lots of arguments here and just want to be appreciative of this valuable resource. :)

A point for any of his followers to keep in mind is that a clinician is not necessarily a trained scientist.

Despite his medical knowledge, his results seem to me to be N=1 at this point, just like the rest of us. He's made amazing personal progress with his health and fitness and that's to be respected. Like many of us, he has a great story about regaining his well-being through paleo.

However, I find it hard to believe that he has had sufficient time to collect the clinical data necessary to support his theories; like many of us, he hasn't been paleo for a long time. A careful clinician will not jump to sweeping conclusions based on a few patients, or just his own results. Blanket statements, erroneous cites, and inchoate postings are not solidifying his position.

Given sufficient and rigorous investigation, some of his ideas could prove to be valid while others go to the dustbin. His leptin prescription does seem to be helping some people based on the testimonials here, and he has a strong passion for all things paleo. He's full of ideas and contributes a lot here, but a clear delineation between fact and speculation when making connections between ideas in the medical and academic literature would be helpful and on the level.

Im not sure about the science behind it but I switched from IF to eating 50+ grams of protein within 30 min of waking and do notice that Im much more alert in the morning and have more energy during the day. That said, he comes across like an egomaniac sometimes but I take it with a grain of salt

Some things to remember about the Quilt (and humans in general) ---

0) I have had my differences with The Quilt -- and have had to suspend him from PaleoHacks. But, generally speaking, his intent is to help people --- he is a net benefit for PaleoHacks.

1) No one is perfect.

2) We're all wrong to some degree.

[See my thoughts on this here: http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=48c5aee421576df1d6f5c8e45&id=7740a2bd8f]

3) The Quilt would benefit from doing better marketing & better writing, and less emotion.

UPDATE: WITH MY EXCHANGE WITH THE QUILT BELOW IN THE COMMENTS, MAYBE I COMMENTED TOO SOON.

I like the positive sentiments that are expressed here. I agree with those who have said that no one is perfect because in all of Quilt's responses that I've been lucky to read or come across (he is almot as prolific as Travis Culp or Eva) he appears intent on not only helping but in clarifying complicated health topics. The negativity expressed I believe is not warranted.

RE Paul Jaminent, in Quilt's defense, I bet he expressed it incorrectly in that he meant Jimmy Moore reqested a writeup (for a response to Paul Jaminent). Just a guess as Jimmy requested this from many. He's a cowboy fur sure and IMHO a good guy. I'd trust my Dad's health to Dr.K and my Dada is a surgeon!

Dr BG you must have just read Quilt's nice responses!! What are your thoughts on his leptin reset?

(Although the question and most of the answers/comments are very respectable and polite, I hope this internet conversation and critique doesn't suffer from the lack of personal contact and non-verbal communication! This would be a much more interesting and fun thread if it was happening with all of us, including Dr. K, around a big fire, eating some meat on a stick, on a cool starlit night in august...)

Only a very subjective comment, and intellectually not very substantual:

Dr. K made paleo difficult! (edit: for me)

All the testing and supplements.

Again, he could be totally right, but paleo used to be easy.

By the way, we still use the easy paleo approach at home...

Cheers,

Pieter

The Quilt is a funny guy. My opinion is that you shouldn't let personality get in the way of a) listening to other perspectives and b) when in doubt looking into things for yourself.

Don' t let your personal religion stop you from exploring other's religions and don't hold others accountable for your own personal choices. Make your own choices and decide for yourself what is reliable and not reliable.

There have been many cases in history were a group of people have come together to persecute an idea and in the end the majority was wrong. Don't forget that. Also don't forget that there have been many cases in history where individuals were wrong.

http://paleohacks.com/questions/48074/most-original-influential-helpful-major-person-group-in-the-paleo-primal-health-c#axzz1cY0jhniK

The super-annoying spelling/grammar issues aside, my problems with Kruse are:

(1) Science w/o Substantiation:

When someone says "My principles are based around optimizing life through science not opinion”, then they better be prepared to put up or shut up! Quilt is responsible (for better or worse depending on the Hacker - grin) for my return to PH because I asked him on his blog to substantiate a claim that Mg deficiency ALWAYS precedes IR. That is a pretty bold statement. A statement like that implies that there is overwhelming evidence in the peer review literature to support it. A consensus if you will. When I asked him, he first sent me to {paraphrase} 'any biochem text ever published'. Huh? If this is really common knowledge at the textbook level, he should at least have a page number to cite, no? I've searched my PDF copy of G&H Textbook of Medical Physiology and found nothing. Next he sent me to a thread here where others listed a bunch of citations. Lots of info out there linking Mg and IR, but none of the cites I had time to look into further supported the claim.

Bottom line: Kruse's broad authoritative statements lack substantiation most of the time. Instead of providing the information, he would rather send his readers off on wild goose chases. Paleo as those may be, that is not courteous behavior. If your claims are backed by science you've read, referencing the relevant citations should be part of the initial presentation of said claims. Absent that, one should at least be prepared to provide the support when asked.

(2) Consistency:

Jack and I got off to a bad start on my blog. Yeah, I'm not the most politically correct tactful blogger out there, but I call them as I see them. Jack rhymes with the noise a duck makes, and having read about nipple massages and such this guy came off immediately as one to me. Still, at the time many were doing his plan and discussing him over at Jimmy's LLVLC forum. I called him the LLVLC "flavor of the month". Jack took exception to that in my comments saying that he was not low carb and folks at AHS were even shocked by his carb consumption. OK. But then I listened to his interview with Jimmy and read some comments on his blog and ... darnit ... he's supporting Taubes and telling his readers that VLC is what works for him. I asked again in his comments.(#) I got a rude reply. I don't care if he's LC, HC, no C, hyper C. I don't care if he cycles weekly or seasonally, but be consistent! (#Note: I tried to discuss this with him as CarbSane but I was apparently banned from comments and my posts disappeared. So I tested another ID/email and those went to moderation. He let through one comment by me posting as LCC and responded. I tried to respond as CarbSane ... that's in perpetual moderation apparently).

(3) Made Up Words

I initially thought that levee was a typo and he was instead talking about levels. But I was wrong. It's unnecessarily confusing.

(4) WTF Equations????

His Leptin Reset post ends with this:

(QUILT SURVIVABILITY) = (Total Energy – Growth and immunity expense) X (RESOURCES) X (efficiency) X (awareness of our environment)

Stated in levee form where: Cell longevity = LS – IGF-1 + immunity X Food Quality X leakiness of Mitochondria X environmental cues

1. I have no freakin' clue what to make of such equations!
2. Is IGF-1 the bad guy?

Point 2 is a biggie b/c PROTEIN stimulates IGF-1. Last I checked his whole plan begins with frontloading a BAHPB. I've asked him about IGF-1 and what stimulates it. He emailed me a paper. If we're talking insulin resistance, IGF-1 is an insulin sensitizer. The work of Gannon & Nuttal in this regard, that I blogged on in The LoBAG Diets for treatment of Type II Diabetes and IGF-I, discusses this.

(5) The "Out"

All anomalies can be explained by whether or not you're leptin sensitive or resistant. If his plan doesn't work, you were obviously already LS. If you have any problem in life, you're definitely LR. Melissa's 100 yr carb eating granny? Must be LS. John Q Pudgy? He's LR. Anyone can make up any old sort of crap when you can simply dismiss what doesn't fit the model with such flippant generalizations.

I can't even read all this crap.

Some people seriously have to work on their understanding of life, universe and everything else. The fact that most points got the Nutritionist who talks about the "grammar issues" puts this entire thread on the pre-kindergarten level.

Who cares anyway, Quilt is not here to kill you or torture you or play Megamind but to share his insights and probably to learn about new things himself. Does he makes mistakes and use unchecked information ? Sure, who doesn't. Does he self promote ? Sure, who doesn't. I can compile this kind of BS for any single blogger out there.

The good thing about the internet is that everything is accessible. You don't trust the dude ? Go check it out, if you know how to search.

World would be a much better place if everybody was talking truth and nothing but the truth, right ? Meh...

The problem is that Dr. Kruse is a doctor, but he posts a lot of comments and stuff that are less than rigorous. I think when you have that credential burden, you have to be careful what you say. I recommended his blog to my roommates in NYC who were having a lot of trouble with paleo and I think they really benefitted from his Leptin RX, particularly the high protein breakfast. I guess my beef with him is he is so focused on a certain type of sick person that he, like many other low-carb doctors, thinks his prescriptions (like keto) are optimal for everyone and his view of human evolution is shaped by this. There is the second type of sick person, of which there are many on PH, which is the tend to be-underweight malnourished often kind of high-strung sort. That's what I am, and that's what a lot of other people I know are. Keto can help some of these people, but it can make others worse.

Edit: Quilt seems to think I have it in for him. Why would I recommend the Leptin RX to certain people (people I CARE about) then?? I think the Leptin RX can help a lot of people. It is mainly his random comments on the internet I have argued about, particularly on the safe starch debate and on evolutionary biology.

And, yet again, the noise here at PH is rather louder than the signal. Reading Jack is, at the very least, good for generating an idea or two, which turns out to be the point. We need ideas we can test (hopefully with relative safety).