Given that there are something like 1.35 million people currently on active duty with the U.S. military AND that, when you're serving in the military, if you get too overweight your Commanding Officer not only can but will require you to go on a diet and that the CO has the legal right to specify exactly what you can and cannot eat while dieting, having the U.S. military determine that keto is the way to go could have a very far reaching impact on ultimately making keto fully respectable.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30877806

ROFL..... and I thought the US military would be the last to this party.....

Wow, 20+ years ago when I was a founding member of the alt.support.diet.lowcarb usenet group we had one member who was active duty US Air Force, and had been told he had to lose weight. But he had to keep his name a secret and keep a very low profile, as he said the whole low fat "eat less, move more" plan was the ONLY one acceptable to the Air Force and he would have been in big trouble if anyone knew he was actually doing low carb. Interesting to see things changing

Talk about an organization that literally controls what the troops eat during certain periods that can last for an extended time, and truly have an impact on many, many people. This is huge.

New military study: “Remarkable” results among soldiers on a ketogenic diet 3-19-2019

A new study has found that US soldiers on a ketogenic diet for 12 weeks lost much more weight, significantly improved their body composition and insulin sensitivity, but suffered no loss in physical performance compared to matched controls.

The study, by researchers at the University of Ohio supervised by Jeff Volek, PhD, is the first to explore the feasibility and impact of a 12-week ketogenic diet on overweight US military personnel.

Military Medicine: Extended ketogenic diet and physical training intervention in military personnel

The study compared 15 overweight participants who chose to be on the ketogenic diet to 14 matched participants who chose to eat a standard mixed diet while undergoing a 12-week physical training regimen. Both diets were calorie unrestricted (ad libitum), meaning the participants did not have to count calories and could eat until satiated.

Those on the ketogenic diet lost an average of 17 pounds (7.5 kg), 5 percent of their overall body fat, 44 percent of their visceral fat, and had their insulin sensitivity improve by 48 per cent. There was no change in the participants on the mixed diet. Training results in physical strength, agility, and endurance in both groups were similar.

The researchers noted:

The most striking result was consistent loss of body mass, fat mass, visceral fat, and enhanced insulin sensitivity in virtually all the ketogenic diet subjects despite no limitations on caloric intake. Physical performance was maintained…. These results are highly relevant considering the obesity problem affecting all branches of the military.

The study notes that the modern soldier needs to maintain optimal health and readiness, but that an estimated two-thirds of US military personnel are currently overweight or obese, which mirrors the obesity epidemic in the general US population. The US military follows the US dietary guidelines when feeding personnel; thus, low-fat, high-carbohydrate foods are standard fare for troops.

The soldiers on the ketogenic diet kept their carbohydrate consumption under 50 grams a day, measured their ketones daily, and all achieved optimal nutritional ketosis for the duration of the study. The mixed diet subjects ate normally. The 12-week trial enabled adequate time for keto-adaptation, the authors noted.

Although neither group counted calories, the ketogenic diet group naturally reduced their caloric intake while eating to satiety.

The most noteworthy response was a spontaneous reduction in energy intake, resulting in a uniformly greater weight loss for all ketogenic diet participants.

The researchers, as well as other commentators, noted the study’s limitations, particularly the fact it was not randomized. The 15 participants on the ketogenic diet had self-selected — chosen — to be on the diet and therefore there may be a selection bias.

The researchers said the non-randomization, however, increased individual compliance to the diet and may improve the translation of the results to real world military circumstances where the ketogenic diet “requires considerable personal commitment” and that enlisted individuals “have the option of which diet to follow.”

Researcher Dr David Ludwig, who was not involved in the study, called the results “impressive” in a tweet:

I haven’t seen this magnitude and consistency of effect on ad libitum low fat diet, even with self-selection. But we’ll need the RCTs.

It must be stressed that along with the non-randomization, it was a small sample size; more high-quality studies are necessary. As well, only two women were enrolled in the ketogenic diet arm, and while they responded in a similar pattern to the men, more investigation is needed to explore any sex differences and individual variation in the response to the diet.

However, the researchers concluded the ketogenic diet is feasible to do among military personnel and “represents a credible strategy to enhance overall health and readiness of military service members who could benefit from weight loss and improved body composition.”

Dom D'Agostino has been working with the U.S. Military for years, primarily with special forces, to explore and implement the ketogenic diet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjwrorrRTg0

It makes a lot of sense given the need for healthy, effective members of the military.

A friend of mine was in the navy. When he put on too much weight they gave him a choice: Lose weight or be discharged. He chose to lose weight, so he was enrolled in the mandatory navy weight loss program. It was everything you would expect... low fat, calorie restriction, and lots of physical activity. After a few weeks of that misery with little progress to show for it he decided to go rogue. He had lost weight on Atkins before and he secretly started a low carb diet. It worked, of course, and the navy was quite pleased with him. They touted him as a shining example of how well their weight loss program works. He didn't say a word. He was happy to still be in the navy, but felt kind of bad about being the poster-boy for the navy's program that really didn't work.

Regarding this study... That can only be good news. You'd hope that the military would adopt something with proven results. It appears from the results of this study that keto should at least be an option for their mandatory program. You can't argue with success.

The link to the article in post #5 from DietDoctor:

https://www.dietdoctor.com/new-mili...-ketogenic-diet

In active duty it is also handy to be able to go 6 hrs without being hungry and to have a sharp mind instead of brain fog.

Hopefully this will become the recommended program. With so many troops, it is sure to show how well and easy LC diet works.

Several years ago, after a family event, I called a step brother who had retired from the Navy, and carried a lot of extra weight. On his 6'4" frame, that was a LOT of extra weight. I called him to let him know about Atkins. He just couldn't wrap his headed around that idea, and just stuck with the standard lines o f he just needed to control his portion size. He clearly didn't want to hear more, so I did not push. Perhaps if this LC does become widely used among the US military, that is my opportunity to send him Dr. Westman's simplified version of DANDR.

LOL, I tell this to my kids! For school, another kind of active duty. They are never ravenously hungry.

Nina Teicholz has pointed out that one of the reasons it's so important to revise the food pyramid and government eating recommendations is that while lots of us can eat whatever we want, millions of people are subject to menus based on these recommendations. This includes all the military that eat in chow halls (basic training, base quarters, deployment) MREs, etc. Getting the military on the band wagon would be HUGE--especially given their simultaneous focus on maintaining physical training.

Considering how much physical activity is demanded of much of their personnel, how do they explain people getting overweight anyway? They eat whole pizzas in their free time?

Including hospitals, Assisted Living Facilities, Nursing Homes, schools, summer camps, and the list just goes on and on.

I wonder if there is a McDonalds within close range of most military basis??
That would answer A LOT OF QUESTIONS!