Are you interested in losing weight? Are you tired of diets that are low or no fat and craving your high fat meat? You might be considering going on the keto diet, the new kid on the block. Endorsed by many celebrities including Halle Berry, LeBron James and Kim Kardashian, the keto diet has been the subject of much debate among dieticians and doctors. Do you wonder if the keto diet is safe and right for you?
What is the ketogenic diet anyway?
You should know that the body uses sugar in the form of glycogen to function. A keto diet that is highly restricted in sugar forces your body to use fat as fuel instead of sugar, as there is not enough sugar to be found. When the body does not get enough sugar for fuel, the liver is forced to convert available fat into ketones which are used by the body as fuel – hence the term ketogenic.
This diet is a high-fat diet with moderate amounts of protein. Depending on your carb intake, the body reaches a state of ketosis in less than a week and stays there. Because the body uses fat instead of sugar for fuel, weight loss is dramatic without any restriction of calories.
The keto diet is such that you should aim to get 60-75% of your daily calories from fat, 15-30% from protein and only 5-10% from carbohydrates. This usually means that you can only eat 20-50 grams of carbs a day.
What can you eat on this diet?
The diet is a high-fat diet somewhat similar to Atkins. However, there is a greater emphasis on fat, usually ‘good’ fat. on keto diet you can take
-
Olive Oil
-
coconut oil
-
Walnut oil
-
butter
-
Ghee
-
grass fed beef
-
Cock
-
fish
-
other meat
-
Full Fat Paneer
-
eggs
-
cream
-
leafy greens
-
non starchy vegetables
-
Mad
-
Seed
You can also get a whole range of snacks for keto followers. As you can see from this list, fruits are restricted. You can have low-sugar fruits (mostly berries) in moderation, but you’ll have to sacrifice your favorite fruits because they’re all sweet and/or starchy.
This diet includes grains of any kind, starchy vegetables like potatoes (and all tubers), no sugar or sweets, no breads and cakes, no beans and lentils, no pasta, no pizza and burgers, and very little alcohol. This also means no coffee with milk or tea with milk – in fact, no milk and ice cream and milk-based desserts.
Many of these have workarounds like you can get carbohydrate free pasta and pizza, you can have cauliflower rice and now there are even restaurants that cater to keto enthusiasts.
What are the benefits of the keto diet?
If you’re wondering whether this diet is safe, its proponents and people who have achieved weight loss goals will certainly agree that it is. Among the benefits of the keto diet you can expect are:
-
weight loss
-
low or no sugar spikes
-
appetite control
-
seizure control effect
-
Blood pressure returns to normal in hypertensive patients
-
reduction in migraine attacks
-
Type 2 diabetics may be able to reduce their medications on this diet
-
Some benefits for people suffering from cancer
Apart from the first four, there is not enough evidence to support its effectiveness or otherwise for other diseases as much more research is needed in the long term.
Are there any side effects of this diet?
When you initially start the keto diet, you may come down with the keto flu. These symptoms may not occur in everyone and usually start a few days after dieting, when your body is in a state of ketosis. Some of the side effects are as follows:
-
nausea
-
cramps and abdominal pain
-
Headache
-
vomit
-
diarrhea and/or constipation
-
muscle cramps
-
dizziness and poor concentration
-
insomnia
-
carbohydrate and sugar cravings
These may take up to a week to subside as your body gets used to the new diet. You may also suffer from other problems when you start the keto diet – you may find that you pass more urine, so it’s important to keep yourself well hydrated. You may also suffer from keto breath when your body reaches optimal ketosis and you may use mouthwash or brush your teeth more often.
Side effects are usually temporary and should disappear once your body adjusts to the new diet.
How safe is the keto diet?
Like any other diet that restricts foods in specific categories, the keto diet is not without risks. As you should not eat many fruits and vegetables, beans and lentils and other foods, you may suffer from deficiencies in many essential nutrients. Because the diet is high in saturated fat and, if you indulge in ‘bad’ fat, you can have high cholesterol levels, increasing your risk of heart disease.
The keto diet can cause many nutritional deficiencies in the long term because you can’t eat grains, as many fruits and vegetables, and you lose out on fiber as well as important vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and antioxidants. You may suffer from gastrointestinal distress, low bone density (no dairy and other sources of calcium) and kidney and liver problems (the diet puts extra stress on both organs).
Is the Keto Diet Safe for You?
If you’re willing to give up your usual diet staples and really want to lose weight, you may be tempted to try the keto diet. The biggest issue with this diet is poor patient compliance to carbohydrate restriction, so you’ll need to make sure you can live with your food choices. If you find this too difficult to follow, you can switch to a version of the modified keto diet that provides more carbs.
However, the keto diet is certainly effective in helping you lose weight. according to a recent study Many of the obese patients who were followed were successful in losing weight. Whatever problems he faced were temporary. If you do not have any significant health problems other than obesity and have been unsuccessful in losing weight following any conventional diet, the keto diet may be a viable option. You must be absolutely determined to lose weight and be ready to go on a restricted diet as specified. Even if you have any medical problem, you can take your doctor’s advice and nutritionist’s guidance and go on this diet.
another study One that was done over a long period of time showed that going on a keto diet benefits weight loss and lower cholesterol levels with a decrease in bad cholesterol and an increase in good cholesterol.
Is the Keto Diet Safe for You? Most doctors and nutritionists agree that the keto diet is good for short-term weight loss. For longer periods, more studies are needed. Keep in mind that obesity is not a suitable option as it comes with its own risk of health problems.
Source by Smiti Munwani
