The Ketogenic Diet

THE KETO DIET

In a world where weight-loss diets are popular, low-carbohydrate and high-protein eating plans tend to get peoples’ attention. An example is the keto diet. But beyond helping you lose weight, the keto diet is associated with many other health benefits.

WHAT IS KETO DIET

The Keto diet consists of a high amount of fat with minimal carbohydrates. The diet is also known as ketogenic or a high-fat-low-carb diet. Keto diet centers on fat, as fat supplies up to 90% of your daily caloric requirement.

Your body typically gets energy from 2 kinds of fuel: glucose and ketones. You get glucose from carbohydrate sources like bread, pasta, rice, etc., while you get ketones from fat sources like butter, red meat, palm oil, etc.

The keto diet requires you to eat less of most carbohydrates while increasing your fat and protein intake. You do not have to cut back on proteins because your body needs them to build and repair its tissues.

TYPES OF KETO DIET

1. Standard Ketogenic Diet (SKD) includes very low carbohydrate, moderate protein, and high fat. It usually contains 70% fat, 20% protein, and 10% carbohydrate.
2. Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD) involves periods of keto and high carbohydrate refeeds. For instance, you can have 5 keto days and 2 high carbohydrate days.
3. Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD) allows you to incorporate carbohydrates around workouts.
4. High Protein Ketogenic Diet is similar to SKD, but it includes more protein. It usually contains 65% fat, 35% protein, and 5% carbohydrate.

Note that only SKD and the high protein ketogenic diet have been extensively studied. CKD and TKD are more advanced and are typically used by bodybuilders and athletes.

Even though SKD is the main focus here, the principles apply to other types too.

HOW DOES KETO DIET WORK

Because you consume little carbohydrates, your body runs out of glucose very quickly – in about 3 to 4 days. This forces your body into ketosis – a process where your body turns fat into energy.

Ketosis happens when your body has insufficient carbohydrates to burn for energy. This forces your body to burn fat to form ketones – a different type of energy source.

Fat burning comes across as an excellent way to lose weight. However, getting your liver to produce ketones is not as easy as it sounds. Below are some things you should know about getting your liver into ketosis:

• You have to consume less than 20-50 grams of carbohydrates per day.
• It usually takes a few days for you to achieve ketosis.
• Eating excessive protein can interfere with ketosis.

WHAT TO EAT AND AVOID ON KETO DIET

Plan most of your meals around the following foods:

• Nuts and Seeds.
• Cheese and Eggs.
• Butter and Cream.
• Meat and Fatty Fishes.
• Healthy Oils and Avocados.
• Low Carb Vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, etc.

Limit your intake of foods that are high in carbohydrates. Reduce or eliminate the following:

•  
• Sugary foods
• Beans or legumes.
• Grains or starches.
• Root vegetables and tubers.
• Unhealthy fats and low-fat or diet products.
• But you can eat small portions of berries.

BENEFITS OF KETO DIET

Weight Loss

The keto diet has been proven to be effective in weight loss. A review showed that keto helped people lose 5 pounds more than those on low-fat diets after 6 months.

The fat-burning at the center of the keto diet makes it a quick and efficient way to lose weight. This may be because:

• Your body burns more calories when converting fat into energy than it does when converting carbohydrates into energy.
• The high fat and high protein intake keep you fuller for longer. It may reduce hunger-stimulating hormones, thereby reducing your appetite. So, you end up eating smaller quantities and less frequently.

 

 

Cancer Prevention and Treatment

Your body uses glucose as an energy source or stores it for future use with the help of the hormone insulin. But when you are on keto, your body has little glucose to use or store. This causes your body to make and use less insulin.

According to a recent (2018) study, insulin may have links to some cancer. So, lower insulin levels may help you prevent some types of cancer and even slow the growth of some cancer cells.

Another study found that the keto diet may be an excellent complementary treatment combined with chemotherapy and radiotherapy in particular cancer types. The diet causes more oxidative stress in the cancer cells than in normal cells, which leads to the death of cancerous cells.

But more research is needed to better understand the potential benefits of the keto diet in cancer treatment and prevention.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

This hormonal disorder can lead to excess male hormones, abnormal ovulation, and polycystic ovaries (where small fluid-filled sacs form around the eggs). This condition has been associated with high levels of insulin. A high-carbohydrate diet in people with PCOS can also lead to adverse effects, such as skin problems and weight gain. But keto may help control this condition because it requires you to eat small amounts of carbohydrates and reduces your insulin levels.

 Though there is not a lot of studies on the effect of the ketogenic diet on PCOS, a 24-week study showed that it improved several markers of PCOS, like:

• Weight loss.
• Insulin levels.
• Hormone balance.
• Ratios of luteinizing and follicle-stimulating hormones.

Brain Function Protection

Some studies suggest that the ketones your body generates while on the keto diet have neuroprotective benefits. Therefore, going on the keto diet may help prevent or manage neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

However, more research is needed to better understand this effect.

Epilepsy

The Epilepsy Foundation suggests that ketosis can help reduce epileptic seizures, especially in people where other treatment methods have failed. It has shown the best efficacy in children with focal seizures.

The keto diet helps control epilepsy symptoms through different mechanisms. This has been in use since the 1920s and is supported by a 2019 review.

Heart Health Improvement

Eating more of healthy fats such as avocados and less of unhealthy ones can help improve your heart health by optimizing your total cholesterol level. A 2017 review showed that the keto diet can significantly reduce your total cholesterol and LDL (bad) levels and increase HDL (good) cholesterol levels.

Note that the effect of keto on your health heart depends on the quality of your diet. Hence, you should eat healthy meals even when you are on a keto diet plan.

Diabetes

This low-carb diet can help keep your blood sugar lower and more predictable than other types of diet. But a high amount of ketones in your blood can make you sick with the complications of diabetes. So, you should consult your doctor before making drastic changes to your diet.

Acne

Acne has been linked to diet and blood sugar in some people. Eating a lot of processed and refined carbohydrates may cause your blood sugar level to rise and fall considerably. It can also disturb the balance of your gut bacteria. These 2 effects have an unfavorable impact on your skin health.

In a 2012 study, the ketogenic diet reduced acne symptoms in some people.

RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE KETO DIET

Though the keto diet has been shown to have many health benefits, it is not without risks. Staying on this diet for a long time can increase your risk of some health problems such as:

Heart Disease

Saturated fats have been linked to heart disease. So, a keto diet with high amounts of saturated fat may increase your risk of heart disease because it can increase your bad cholesterol level.

Nutrient Deficiency

Not consuming a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can leave you at risk for vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Some key micronutrients you might be missing out on include vitamins B and C, selenium, magnesium, and phosphorus.

 

 

Liver Problems

Your liver is responsible for fat metabolism. The keto diet gives your liver extra fat to process, which puts it under additional strain. This can worsen any existing liver disease.

Kidney Problems

Proteins are metabolized by your kidneys. But the keto diet may overload them because you now consume more than the daily recommended amount of proteins. This stresses your kidneys more than usual.

ADVERSE EFFECTS OF KETO DIET

When you start on the keto diet, you may experience some side effects as your body adjusts to working with a new energy source with the first few weeks. These side effects are commonly known as the Keto-Flu, and they include:

• Constipation. You typically eat little fibrous foods like grains and legumes while on keto. But fibers help keep your digestive system healthy. This little consumption can leave you constipated.
• Fuzzy thinking and mood swings. Your brain needs glucose from healthy carbohydrates to function optimally. But the low carbohydrate consumption may leave you confused and highly irritable.
• Fatigue and headaches
• Nausea and vomiting
• Low exercise tolerance

PEOPLE THAT SHOULD AVOID KETO

Despite all its beneficial effects, the keto diet is not suitable for everybody. People with the following conditions should avoid keto:

• Eating disorders.
• Pregnant or breastfeeding.
• Insulin-dependent diabetes.
• Kidney disease or pancreatitis.
• Taking sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors. This medication increases the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis.

SUMMARY

You should discuss with your doctor and a registered dietitian before starting a ketogenic diet, especially if you intend to or are currently managing a health problem.

Remember that there are no studies on the long-term benefits of the keto diet. So, it is unclear if it is better than a less restrictive healthy diet in the long run.

 

 

[ The following is the full transcript from this week's post. This is a health blog with a focus on weight loss. Please consider that all episodes are unscripted, direct to the camera, with focused talking points. ]

 

 

Hello,

Today I want to talk to you about the Keto diet. I get lots of questions related to various diets out there.

One of the common diets is the keto diet. I want to just take some time to touch. On the high points and some of the things to be concerned about with the Keto diet.

There are lots of different weight-loss diets that are popular, and the Keto diet is one of them, there are other health benefits, other than this weight loss that I want to talk about though.

But really it is, its diet, that's low carb diet. There are some different tweaks related to this book. But it is kind of the removal of the carbs as the foundation.

So, the keto diet consists of basically high amounts of fats and like I said, minimal carbs.

What is going to happen is, is as you remove the carbs in your diet, you are going to have to convert to a different energy source or ketones, that's how your body's going to utilize fat to produce energy.

And the interesting thing is in the keto diet, there are some tweaks, but the concept is low carb and high fat.

Often 90% of your caloric intake will be related to fat.

If you think of it, your body really generates energy from basically two sources. It is either glucose or ketones and you get the glucose from the carbohydrates, like bread pasta, rice, but the ketones are actually formed from fat, like butter, red meat, oils, things like that.

What is important to understand is in the keto diet, requires a deep, significantly less amount of carbohydrates and then also increases your, your fat and protein intake.

We will talk a little bit about fat and protein, the concept is the removal of carbohydrates and substitution of fat and that can produce good results. But also, there are negative consequences depending on the type of fat, and we will talk a little bit more about that.

There is different types of keto diets.

There is the standard ketogenic diet that's basically very low carbs, moderate protein, high fat.

Usually at 70% fat, 20% protein, and 10% at carbs, but then there is also something called the cycling ketogenic diet. And that involves periods of ketosis, and then also kind of high carbohydrate re-feeds.

For example, five days of Keto diet, followed by two days of high carbohydrate diet, another type of ketogenic diet, or is what is called targeted ketogenic diet. This allows you to incorporate carbohydrates, kind of around a workout.

And then another type is the high protein ketogenic diet. This is similar to the standard ketogenic diet. Other than you include more protein. And it usually contains 65% fat, 35% protein, and 5% carbohydrate.

Now, you know, the standard ketogenic diet is the one that has really been extensively studied.

And then the cyclic and the targeted ketogenic diet that is really used often more for like bodybuilders and athletes.

So, when I am talking about the ketogenic diet, I am really talking about the standard ketogenic diet.

So, so how does the Keto diet work?

Well, as I said, you really do not eat a lot of carbohydrates. Your body's going to run out of glucose, rather quickly, in about 3 to 4 days. And so, it has to switch to a different energy source.

And that energy sources are the ketone bodies, and so, forces your body into ketosis, and that is really a process where your body, turns fat into energy.

Now, ketosis only happens when your body has insufficient carbohydrates, to burn for energy.

That is going to force your body to burn fat, to form ketones, which is a completely different source of energy.

Now, this fat-burning is something that does produce excellent weight loss, so that is one of the reasons a lot of people do the Keto diet is for weight loss, but also, it is important to understand that, your liver is what produces the ketones and sometimes getting your liver to produce ketones can be a little bit more challenging.

One thing you want to really consider to really get your body into ketosis, is, first of all, you have to remove carbohydrates. People that are on a ketogenic diet, typically less than 50 grams of carbohydrate per day.

That is a significant reduction. If you actually are looking at your macros, you will see that 50 grams of carbohydrates are not a lot.

And then also, you need to understand that it takes a few days to achieve ketosis.

Getting them into ketosis is, can be a prolonged process, and if you just have one slip, we consume a lot of carbohydrates.

It is going to quickly get you out of ketosis.

A lot of work to get into it and it is really easy to get out of it.

Then another challenge in the diet, if your diets, more along the lines of excessive proteins versus fats that can actually interfere with the production of ketosis.

So, what is it you want to eat?

Well, things that you want to eat, or like nuts: seeds, cheese, eggs, butter, cream, mead’s, fatty fish, healthy oils, avocados, and low carb vegetables like tomatoes and peppers.

But other things you have got to avoid or minimize are things that are high in carbohydrates so alcohol, Sugary foods, beans and legumes, grains and starches, root vegetables, unhealthy fats, and low-fat diet products.

These are all things that are going to interfere with your ketosis.

And then fruit, you can eat a small number of berries, but fruit, in general, is not something that is usually concerned about it on a ketogenic diet.

What are some of the benefits? Well, the obvious one that most people know about, is weight loss.

The ketogenic diet has been shown to help people lose weight.

In fact, there is one study that showed that the people that were on a ketogenic diet lost five pounds more than that in another group that was on a low-fat diet after six months, so there are things that the ketogenic diet does to help you lose weight.

Another mechanism that helps you is, for your body, to convert the energy from the fat into ketones. You would actually require more work. So, your metabolism actually is increased. When you switch to a ketogenic diet.

When you are in that ketosis, your body's having to work harder to generate that kind of equivalent energy, if you will.

Other things that you are consuming high fats and proteins, that really have an effect on your appetite. These macros really are a kind of appetite suppressant, so you feel for you feel full longer.

You often will end up eating less when you are on a ketogenic diet. And that is because of the high fat and high protein intake.

So that is how it relates to weight loss, but there are some other benefits, and one of those other benefits is, is that how it relates to cancer, both prevention, and treatment.

One of the things that we are learning is the impact insulin has on you. As glucose enters your body, you are basically really dependent on insulin.

But as your body switches to ketosis or keto, then your insulin levels will go down.

There was a recent study in 20 18. Basically, insulin may be shown to be linked to some cancer, so lower insulin levels may actually help prevent some types of cancer and even slow down other cancer growth.

One of the mechanisms is really that oxidative stress.

There is actually another study that found that it may actually be complementary and treating cancer, with chemotherapy. Then what happens is the cancer cells are more susceptible that oxidative stress.

Then what happens is those cells die quicker and easier when they are in that ketosis environment. But obviously, this is an area that more research needs to be done.

Another area that a ketogenic diet may help is a polycystic ovarian syndrome.

This is kind of a hormone disorder that causes a kind of excess male hormones. You will have abnormal ovulation or polycystic ovaries.

Really, this condition is associated with high levels of insulin.

So, a high carbohydrate diet, and people with PCOS can really lead to adverse effects, such as skin problems, weight gain.

But the ketogenic diet may actually help control these conditions. Because it requires you to eat small amounts of high carbohydrates which will reduce your insulin levels.

So, there is not, a lot of studies on this, but there was a 24-week study that showed that the ketogenic diet helped improve several markers of PCOS like weight loss, insulin levels hormone imbalance, the rate ratio of organizing flakier, stimulating, hormone.

There is some good hope that the ketogenic diet may be beneficial for people who suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Another area that the kill chain diet may be beneficial is brain function protection.

There are some studies that suggest that as you generate your ketones. They may have a neuroprotective benefit, and what that means is, is it will help prevent or manage neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

But again, this is something that is still being investigated. One of the most well-known benefits of the ketogenic diet is in the treatment of epilepsy.

We have known for years that there are certain seizures that respond well to a ketogenic diet. Meaning that it reduces the number of seizures patients have when they are on a ketogenic diet.

And that's actually where ketogenic diet probably really stemmed from originally was in the treatment of seizures.

Let us talk about the ketogenic diet and its impact on your heart.

It can benefit your heart because you're eating more healthy fats. But it is not just saying, Hey, eat more fat, but you really want to focus on eating healthy fats such as avocado and really avoiding those unhealthy fats. And this can help improve your, your total cholesterol levels.

In fact, there was a 2017 study that showed that that on a keto diet, you can significantly reduce your total cholesterol and your LDL is which is the bad cholesterol, and actually increase your HDL, which is the good cholesterol.

Now, again, this is important. This is greatly affected by what you are removing from your diet to removing givers.

You are removing bad things, that is going to help you. And then you have got to make sure you are substituting if you are eating the fats that you are eating healthy fats.

You can be on a ketogenic diet, and your food selection, it can be horrible. And you are going to have bad consequences, versus these geared toward sequential. Your food selection still really, really important.

The ketogenic diets impact on diabetes, or probably more importantly, let us say, on pre-diabetic.

It can be helpful, because you are consuming less sugar, therefore, you are going to have less insulin you are transitioning into ketone formation, and that is going to help kind of stabilize your insulin level better. And to help prevent diabetes,

I will talk a little bit more about people who have diabetes and the ketogenic diet, because that is a group of people that you would want to be very cautious.

Another benefit of the ketogenic diet is related to acne, acne has been linked to diets with elevated blood sugars.

And so, if you are eating a lot of process or refined carbohydrates, that may cause your blood sugar levels to rise and fall considerably.

You kind of have these ups and downs in your carbohydrate and that can really be disturbing to a lot of things, but it can really have an impact on your gut bacteria.

That really can have an unfavorable effect on your skin.

The ketogenic diet may actually help stabilize this and help reduce acne symptoms.

Those are the good things about the ketogenic diet.

But obviously, there are always two sides to the coin.

So, I want to talk a little bit about some of the risks associated with the ketogenic diet.

As I said, there are many health benefits.

Oh, but staying on this diet for a long time, can increase some risk of other health problems, such as heart disease.

And that comes from kind of the fat you are eating. If you are eating unhealthy fats, you are actually promoting heart disease.

So, again, as I said already, the ketogenic diet, substituting fat for carbohydrates, but the quality of fat, is really, really important. And if you are picking fats that are the bad fats, you are actually going to promote heart disease versus help.

But the next thing to be concerned about is nutritional deficiencies. Because obviously, you are removing a lot of food groups from your diet, your fruits vegetables, whole grains.

That can leave you at risk for both vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Some of the key micronutrients that might be missed out or vitamin B, vitamin C, magnesium phosphorus.

So nutrient problems can be something you have to address when you are on a ketogenic diet.

Another potential problem is liver problems. Your liver is responsible for this fat metabolism. If you are on a keto diet, your liver is going to really be charged with this extra fat load. Putting it under additional strain. And if you have any underlying liver problems, this can be a real problem for you.

Also, along these lines are kidney problems, kind of a similar mechanism. However, it is related to protein, kind of a large protein load, strains the kidneys, and any underlying kidney problems, this can be detrimental for you.

So, these are some of the potential health risks associated with the ketogenic diet, and I want to talk a little bit about some of the adverse effects of a ketogenic diet.

When you start a ketogenic diet, you are going to experience side effects, if you will, because your body is adjusting to this new energy source, and this can take a few weeks, and often they refer to this as the Keto flu.

So, one of the big, adverse effects of the ketogenic diet is cost the patient.

When you are removing all your fruits and vegetables and things like that, things that have a lot of carbohydrates, you are also probably removing a lot about fiber.

And so that is going to lead to cost to patient.

Another thing, it is brain fog, they talk about, your brain is used to using glucose, to function well. And as you remove those carbohydrates consumption, your brain can become more confused because it is having a harder time getting the energy source.

So, this can lead to fatigue and headaches, nausea, vomiting, and low exercise tolerance.

So, this is all kind of refer to the keto flu. If you can get through it, then your body will adapt. These new symptoms often will kind of improve, but it is something to be aware of it.

Now, there are people that really should avoid a ketogenic diet.

Despite the fact there are beneficial health benefits, there are people that I would say, they should avoid the ketogenic diet. And the first one is anyone that suffers from any eating disorder, you really should not be on a ketogenic diet, if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, you really should not be on a ketogenic diet, if you are an insulin dependent diabetic, you should not be on ketogenic diet because this is going to really mess with your diabetes and really can be dangerous to your health.

Then obviously if you have any kidney or pancreatic problems, you should avoid a ketogenic diet.

Then there are certain medications, So I would advise you to take medication that you talk to your physician about what is the implications of the medication you are on, related to a ketogenic diet.

So, know, I think it is important that, if you are considering a ketogenic diet, you get good information out there, whether it is your doctor Dietician, nutritionist.

But somebody to help you on how to really, start the ketogenic diet and the things you should work on and watch for. Especially if you have any underlying health problems, you really should seek advice and monitoring when you are doing a ketogenic diet.

So, I think it is important to understand that that the ketogenic diet is a good diet for a select group of people.

There is lots of people and all that has lots of benefit, weight loss with the ketogenic diet.

But also, if you are the wrong person, for a ketogenic diet, that can really be detrimental to your health.

I would encourage you to investigate more before you jump on this bandwagon.

And then I would also seek that kind of the Council for Nutrition and Health Coach, or someone like that, that can make sure that you are doing it to maximize the benefit but reduce any type of risk associated with that.

I hope this helps today on your health and wellness journey, and I just want you to remember, keep plugging away, keep trying, and just remember he got this.

Thank you.