Who is Jillian Michaels to condemn keto?

Recently I became aware that some celebrity I'd barely heard of, Jillian Michaels, had seen fit to ignorantly condemn the keto way-of-life. She did it in a blog post misleadingly entitled "The Truth about Keto." Worse, since her blog allows no comments, there is no way that we can defend ourselves against this ignorance.

Now, if Jillian Michaels is out there condemning keto, we might assume that she is DR Jillian Michaels and that she's done a good deal of original of scientific research on keto and diets in general.

But she's not a doctor or scientist. According to Wikipedia, she's just a famously lesbian personal trainer and product pitchwoman. She was also associated with the TV show The Biggest Loser. If you have read The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jimmy Moore & Dr. Jason Fung, you know that the contestants on the low-calorie and exercise based Biggest Loser program have gained their weight back, in part because they have slowed down their metabolisms.

I'd like to contrast Jillian Michaels' approach to keto to that of Jimmy Moore, also a non-doctor. Jimmy Moore's book Keto Clarity is just chock-full of quotes from doctors in support of keto, and of mention of legitimate scientific studies (The Biggest Loser was not a legitimate scientific study.) Jillian Michaels just seems to presume the facts  support her side, without bother to check. After all, she's a celebrity. And a LESBIAN celebrity. You are not supposed to be allowed to question her. (My own same-sex orientation doesn't count toward making ME beyond being criticized, since I'm also chaste & Catholic. Sigh.)

In JM's blog post, she starts out saying she's going to infuriate the keto community. Like she's doing something brave or something. Yet she's not brave enough to allow ketonians to have their say by opening up the comments on her blog.

I would not waste my time reading this celebrity personal trainer's opinions. Though I did have to read through the swill to compose this blog post. I would rather re-read Jimmy Moore's book Keto Clarity, or, better yet, listen to one of Jimmy Moore's podcasts. (You can find links to the Jimmy Moore podcasts in this blog's sidebar.)

The keto diet is not a 'fad' diet. The first diet book published in the English language advocated low-carb. There were other low-carb supporting books on the market before Atkins. And Atkins/low-carb morphed into today's keto as a result of scientific facts becoming known to the community. If anything is a fad, it's the idea that calorie & fat restriction plus 'going to the gym' will result in a permanent change in weight or health.

Keto is here to stay. The science backs it. And unlike a celebrity-personal-trainer approved diet, the keto way will change for the better as more good scientific studies are done. Keto has already improved my diabetes so that I have lower blood sugars without any meds than I did without keto and on two meds. I'm sticking with it for the long haul!

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What do you think about the Jillian Michaels condemnation of keto? Do you think she knows enough about the keto diet and medical issues in general to have an informed opinion? Answer with a comment, please.

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Books mentioned in this blog post. This are links to the real-book editions, the Kindle ebook versions are $9.99 for each book.