Low Carb Conference hosted at UHCL features research, speakers and celebrity chef

The first Low Carb Houston Conference was held Oct. 25 at the University of Houston-Clear Lake with 22 speakers coming together to discuss their research and results while using the low carb diet. The Low Carb Houston Conference, hosted by William Amonette, associate professor of exercise and health, and Dr. Nadir Ali, conference speaker and cardiologist at Clear Lake Regional, brought together experts to present on the low carb diet and the health benefits accompanying the diet.

The three-day conference was held in the Bayou Theater at the UHCL. Topics covered included how the low carb diet and lifestyle works and what kind of benefits people can expect to see from it. Speakers shared information with health professionals, patients and community members about the history and benefits experienced personally and with their patients.

Gary Taubes, bestselling author and conference speaker, presented on how the dietary guidelines in the United States do not work for everyone because of different metabolic rates and ranges of hormones that control what happens to the things people eat. Taubes said that the stigma behind overeating causing weight gain is not true for all people.

“We have a belief system that taking in more calories than releasing calories causes overweight and obesity in people,” Taubes said.

Taubes explained that hormones and the regulatory system are a part of what happens each time a person consumes food. The low carb diet is an alternative for people who do not thrive on the low-fat diet recommended by the World Health Organization.

Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, conference speaker and Swedish physician who started the world’s largest low carb diet blogging site, Diet Doctor, explained how the low carb diet and exercise help people with obesity, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome and cardiovascular disease.

The low carb diet trains the body how to use stored fat instead of carbohydrates; this effect is called ketogenesis. High fat and low carb based, the Keto diet has medical benefits for patients with diabetes or cardiovascular disease in addition to weight loss.

Eefeldt said changing the glucose levels in patients and having their bodies use ketogenesis to burn fat cells allowed his type two diabetes patients to lose weight and get off most, if not all, of their diabetes medication.

“Low carb [diet] is not for everyone, but it can be a really powerful tool in the right situation,” Eenfeldt said.

All of the speakers shared similar sentiments while presenting their findings during the conference. In addition to the speakers, the conference featured a four-course Keto dinner. The meal was made by celebrity chef Monica Pope of Sparrow Bar + Cookshop using popular Keto diet recipes. During the dinner, Ali discussed the health benefits of each part of the meal.

Ali and Amonette, working with Dr. John Bryne, chief medical officer at HCA at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, Jeffry Gerber, family physician known as “Denver’s Diet Doctor,” and Ivor Cummins, biochemical engineer, planned the Low Carb Houston Conference. The conference was designed to allow the Houston community and health professionals to gain deeper insights into what the low carb diet can do for the community suffering from obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases instead of relying solely on medications.

“Ali called me up one day in April after biking,” Amonette said. “He told he wanted to do a conference. I told him a conference next year in April would be great. He said he wanted to do it in September. We got him to back down a little bit.”

The conference kicked off the opening of the new Exercise and Nutritional Health Institute in the UHCL’s Campus Recreation Center. Ali and Amonette plan to host the Low Carb Houston Conference annually, to continue to provide programs for seniors to combat obesity and chronic diseases using exercise and nutrition, and to give UHCL’s health science students learning and research opportunities in the institute.