Why going low carb is the way for fighting metabolic diseases? Know the group scripting success through low-carb diet

This surge in popularity is not just a dietary trend, but a health-conscious choice influenced by an increasing awareness of the benefits of low-carb eating, such as improved weight management, better control, and remission in the majority of T2 diabetes cases and reduction of medicines in all T2 diabetes cases through low-carb dietary approach. dLife.in itself has over 3000+ combined success stories of T2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome remission, along with successfully putting chronic cases of autoimmune diseases into remission.

As the nation grapples with high rates of diabetes, hypertension, fatty liver, PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome), obesity, and other metabolic diseases, low-carb diets are becoming a compelling option, reshaping Indians’ notion about food and nutrition.

“Metabolic diseases have been on an uptick in the country due to excessive carbohydrate consumption. India is the diabetes epicentre of the world and also the cancer capital of the world now, besides being obese and overall, a metabolically sick nation. This should scare us immensely. The low-carb diet, which emphasises reducing  the carbohydrate intake in favor of proteins and fats, has gained traction among the Indian population for what it can achieve in terms of restoring metabolic health, which practically means getting people either off medicines completely or
improving their metabolic health significantly which reduces dependency on medications to the minimum possible level.

This is brilliant as far as the efficacy and scope of TCR (Therapeutic Carbohydrate Restriction) is concerned. The low-carb dietary approach is a well-documented science that was used by health practitioners of yore. Low carb is immensely effective for managing metabolic diseases that now plague India,” stressed Ira Sahay, Metabolic Health Coach and the Media Head of dLife.in.

What is a low-carb diet?

“The concept of low carb, the Indian way, came from dLife.in. Before that people didn’t have an idea of the carb knob on an Indian vegetarian diet. All were rehashing the western Keto model (beef-bacon-eggs) and failing. In a country of 40% vegetarians with most of them not even eating eggs (and even meat eaters were namesake) I made people understand that the Indian low carb need not be Keto. Based on the liver’s glycogen-holding capacity, I came up with the concept of “100gms carbs/day on an Indian vegetarian diet for T2 diabetes remission,” which worked very well with Indian vegetarians and revolutionised the implementation and efficacy of the Indian low-carb diet spectrum,” Anup Singh, founder of dLife.in, told South first.

Anup Singh

A key player in the dietary revolution, Singh has Indianised and pioneered the low-carb diet with his simple and effective “100gm Carbs/day” to make it easy for Indians to follow LC anywhere in the world. The low-carb diet effectively keeps the body in a lower insulin state to be able to burn fat for energy instead of relying on carbohydrates, thus improving metabolic efficiency manifolds.

Anup Singh was presented with the ICONS OF INDIA award by The Outlook Group for creating the dLife.in the platform, which pioneered low-carb nutrition in India and has the biggest low-carb resources available on any single platform in the world.

Ira Sahay noted that the low-carb, high-fat concept, widely recognised as the “keto diet” in the Western world, has had to be adapted to suit Indian dietary habits due to the lower prevalence of meat consumption and diverse food traditions across the country.

Singh successfully tailored this approach by integrating a diet that includes 100 grams of carbohydrates with 20% protein and remaining fat.

This adapted method is disseminated through dLife.in trained coaches, who work one-on-one with clients, is gaining fast popularity in India. Anup’s “100gm carbs/day on an Indian vegetarian diet for diabetes remission,” pioneered and gave thrust to the Indian low-carb movement, more than a decade ago.

When clients approach metabolic dLife trained and certified health coaches, the dietary shift suggested encourages the body to utilise fat as its primary energy source as glucose is restricted to 100gms/day max.

Numerous individuals have adopted this Indianised version of the low-carb diet and have seen impressive results, particularly in the context of widespread metabolic health issues.

Challenges in the Indian Dietary Framework

Implementing a low-carb diet in India poses unique challenges due to the staple consumption of high-carb foods like rice, wheat, and lentils.

Ira Sahay

Indian meals are traditionally carb-centric with a substantial portion dedicated to rotis, rice, or dal (lentils). Adjusting this pattern requires thoughtful substitution and innovative meal planning to maintain nutritional balance without compromising on taste or cultural significance.

However, Singh and his team think otherwise. Speaking to South First in an earlier interview, Shashi Iyengar, who is one the senior-most members of dLife.in, and is dLife.in trained, along with The SMHP-certified health practitioner said, “A low-carb diet plan in India doesn’t mean giving up traditional flavours.”

There are multiple options through which an LCHF (low-carb, high-fat) diet can be planned. Several options are available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he said.

Sahay explained that for Indians it was a challenge to introduce a Western “keto diet” concept as meat consumption in India is less compared to the West, making it difficult to adopt the same “low-carb is keto” template.

Hence the biggest challenge was to ensure recipe options for not just vegetarians but even those who are lactovegetarians (vegetarians who consume dairy products), ova-vegetarians (vegetarians consuming eggs), and lacto-ova-vegetarians (vegetarians who consume eggs and dairy products).

But Singh, originally an engineer and a silver medalist from IIT Roorkee, turned to low carb after he was diagnosed with diabetes since he knew that going on insulin would become unavoidable at a certain stage if the mainstream advice was to be followed. He refused to take the beaten path.

After thorough research, he changed his diet to LCHF and brought down his HbA1C level to a non-diabetic level of 5.6 max, without any medicines in just three months after being diagnosed with diabetes in February 2011 dLife.in trained coaches after their course in dLife diploma certification ensure a root-cause analysis of every metabolic health issue and come up with a comfortable, personalised LCHF diet for the clients.

Interestingly, the presence of metabolic health coaches who have been trained and certified by dLife, the only platform in India that offers dual certification-Indian and international, is the highest on social media platforms.

“We are India’s top metabolic health coaches certified by the world’s best course on “Low Carb Nutrition and Metabolic Health”. The dLife.in has been accredited the global biggest of 60 hrs of CPD SO UK credit that no one else in the world has. Our coaches are the best in India and we are all out there amongst people, interacting, sharing knowledge, and working with them on the ground. We are making a global impact now, clearly,” said Sahay.

dLife trainees include nearly 19 doctors, several software professionals, research scholars and IIT-ians, defense personnel, and people from varied streams. The authenticity of their diets has been appreciated by many.

Personalising the diet

Sahay was herself suffering from an autoimmune kidney disease called membranous nephropathy. This condition caused her to leak 7635 mg/day of proteinuria, leading to significant hair loss, reduced skin firmness, and even muscle
mass depletion.

Kidney transplants were the only option down the line for her, after steroids. However, she researched and contrary to medical advice to limit protein intake — as it is believed that proteins are bad for kidneys — adopted a strict low-carb/carnivore diet.

Shashikant Iyengar

In less than six months she was not only able to reduce her symptoms of the fatal disease dramatically but was also reassessed after one year and membranous nephropathy was found to have gone into remission! She then enrolled herself into dLife.in diploma course and underwent extensive training at dLife, completed her course and today helps many clients with T2 diabetes, hypertension, IBS, and particularly those with chronic autoimmune disorders.

While numerous success stories on X attest to the benefits of a low-carb diet — from weight loss to reduced HBA1C levels and medicine dependency to the majority finding complete remission of T2 diabetes — one notable case involves Sahay’s client, the well-known “Image Guru” of India, Dilip Cherian.

Cherian is a renowned figure in India and the man behind many successful corporate brands and political campaigns.
He managed to reduce his HbA1c from 6.1 to a non-diabetic value of 5.6 by following a low-carb/carnivore protocol.

Cherian initially pursued a low-carb diet primarily to lose weight. Although he had been aware of low-carb diets for some time, he hesitated to try one due to the difficulty in finding appropriate substitutes.

Only after consulting Ira Sahay, he realised that it was a misconception that replacing carbs with vegetables would suffice.

“It took a while, but once I realised the potential of a low-carb/carnivore diet to reverse diabetes it was worth the effort and it worked,” he explained.

When asked about the sustainability of this diet, Cherian acknowledged that “It is sustainable most of the time, although it does eliminate or reduce many so-called pleasurable foods like pasta and rice. Rice has been a fundamental part of my
upbringing, so cutting it out or reducing it significantly has been somewhat tedious but worth the results I was finally able to achieve. Completely avoiding both fruits and vegetables might seem unhealthy, too, but I’ve come to realise it is probably healthier.”

In yet another success story, Shashikant Iyengar, who is popular on X, put his diabetes into remission. His clientele now is spread across not just in Mumbai, his hometown but across the country and abroad.

Metabolic health conference

Meanwhile, dLife.in is hosting the second edition of the metabolic health conference to be held on the 26, 27, and 28 April 2024, which is co-organised by Metabolic Health India and Reclaim Health India.

The first low-carb conference was a resounding success with 12-hour non-stop virtual sessions for three days, benefitting more than 5,000 individuals. With no charge for participation, the event saw the participation of experts and viewers from 15 countries.

The second Metabolic Health Conference scheduled to be held in less than two days from now has “Metabolic Therapies’ as its theme. The conference will focus on mental health, neurological disorders, cancers, chronic kidney diseases, diabetes, lipids, and autoimmune disorders among others, which will open up new avenues for treatment.

Anup said the impressive guest list has speakers including renowned medical doctors from all over the world. “India which is now dealing with metabolic health epidemics needs to reclaim its health back, which is possible only through dietary intervention. As the demand for dLife.in diploma course is peaking we are making a four-pronged approach to dent India’s worrisome metabolic health crisis. One, through dLife.in as a platform with the world’s biggest low-carb resources that anyone can pay for and use. Two, through dLife.in a diploma course that teaches how to
use low-carb to put metabolic diseases under remission. Three, through dLife.in trained and certified health coaches. And four, by organising critical events like this conference for the people of India and the world over, which is virtual and free to watch”, concluded Anup.

The conference is scheduled from 12.45 pm to 11.30 pm on the 26 and 27 April. On 28 April, it will be 8.45 am to 4.45 pm. The event will be live-streamed on YouTube.

Those interested could register on this link.