Whilst newly popular, the ketogenic diet isn’t something new. The foundation of the keto diet is to significantly reduce carbohydrates and to increase and replace these with fats in one’s diet. In fact, the keto diet has been around for many years and was popularized by Dr Atkins in the 1970s. Other fad diets have incorporated a similar approach for weight loss. But is it really good for you and does it work?
Our body prefers to use glucose as its primary energy source. Our body is also a highly intelligent eco-system and therefore abiding by this natural mechanism seems like the right thing to do for our health and wellness.
Many people who undertake the keto diet do so to lose weight. Weight loss is achieved by creating a calorie-deficit which means consuming less energy than you use. However, one of the main criticisms of the keto diet and the keto approach is that many people tend to eat too much protein and poor-quality fats from processed foods and from saturated fat sources such as red meat, oils, butter, margarines and cheese. In a quest to simply lose weight the question why would one put their health at risk? Their is a wide variety of ways to create a calorie deficit, one can put themselves at risk of plenty of other health adversities such as a variety of heart conditions and gut related issues.
Additionally, during the diet many people feel tired, encounter bad breath, experience migraines, nausea, vomiting and sleep problems. At Body Plot, we help clients lose weight and fat through a balanced approach and they feel none of the above, so it is unfortunate that so many people experience this, in efforts to lose fat, despite there being so many other balanced approaches available. The keto diet has also been shown to negatively impact our gut microbes and our relationship with food and our bodies.
Many people claim that their weight loss is accelerated when they are following a ketogenic diet plan. However, for every one gram of carbohydrate stored in the body there is approximately 2-3 grams of water retained. Naturally therefore, when carbohydrates are omitted, the water retained is eliminated too. This gives the false result of weight loss leading many to believe that it is fat loss. However, we know that fat loss and weight loss are not the same and therefore, this is just weight-loss.
There is solid evidence to show that ketogenic diet reduces seizures in children who suffer with epilepsy, sometimes as effectively as medication. Some evidence also has been shown to improve blood sugar control for patients with Type 2 diabetes however, arguably it is more about carb-quality rather than carb-quantity.
So, is the ketogenic diet good for you? If you have epilepsy, then the ketogenic could be an interesting alternative to treat your condition. However, otherwise it is hard to follow and it can be heavy on red meat and other fatty and processed, salt foods that are notoriously unhealthy. We also do not know much about its long-term effects, most likely because it is so hard to stick to that people can’t eat this way for a long time and research shows us that yo-yo diets that lead to rapid weight loss are associated with increased mortality. Instead we recommend you to lose fat and weight sustainably, through a method that educates you, makes you feel good and that you can continue for the rest of your life. Eat a balanced and nutritionally-dense pallet, move more, drink lots of water. sleep and focus on stress-management to lead a life that is vibrant, healthy and enjoyable.