Keto, is it worth it?

Ketogenic diets, do they live up to the promise?

The latest food trend is the ketogenic diet. An extremely high-fat diet, which eliminates carbohydrates as a food group and relies mostly on fat as fuel. Following a keto diet means eating 80% fat, less than 5% carbohydrates and 15% protein. If your diet is less than 5% carbohydrates, then you can’t even eat an apple. That alone should make you think twice about this type of diet.

Keto diets are high in meat, butter, heavy cream, cheese, oil and other high-fat foods. I can feel my arteries closing.

The benefits of this diet?

You will lose weight. If that is your primary goal, then yes, eating sticks of butter can help you accomplish this goal. Let’s face it, you will eat less, because really how much butter can you eat in a day?

The ketogenic diet is a medical practice. It is used to treat childhood epilepsy and ketones seem to reduce neurotransmitter activity in the brain to reduce the number of seizures that children were experiencing. I think that most healthy adults are trying to maximize their neurotransmitter activity.

Producing ketones, the by-product of eating a high-fat diet, is the breakdown of fat to make up for the lack of carbohydrates in our diet. Our body and our brain prefer to run on carbohydrates and when we don’t consume enough we go to Plan B. Without a regular diet of carbohydrates we break down fats for fuel. It is like using an emergency generator when the power is on.

 Isn’t breaking down fat stores good for weight loss?

Sure, but is that your long-term goal? The breakdown of ketones happens when the fat in our diet overwhelms our liver and the liver starts producing ketones to keep us alive until we can find some preferred fuel – yes we are made to run on carbohydrates. Our brain needs carbohydrates for fuel, it can’t store fuel.

As the former President of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Dr. David Katz said at International Conference on Vegetarian Nutrition this past week,  

“The ketogenic diet, sure, will cause you to lose weight in the short term. So would cholera, or a cocaine binge, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.”

The Best Diets of 2018 ranks the Keto last, along with the Dukan (more high fat, high protein) because of the short and long-term consequences. 

What are the long-term consequences?

One of the best articles about the myths around the ketogenic diet is Ketosis and the Ketogenic Diet  by Cyrus Khambatta, PhD, researcher and type 1 diabetic. Another fantastic review of keto diets and health is with Dr. Joel Kahn on the Rich Roll podcast and you can listen to it here. 

These are detailed explanations of the science of a ketogenic diet and if you are interested in the specifics I recommend them. However, some of the  health consequences of following a ketogenic diet include:

Fatigue
Lightheadedness
Constipation
Bad Breath
Dizziness
Drowsiness
Frequent Urination
Heart Palpitations
Muscle Cramps
Muscle Loss 
Bone Loss
Fatigue

Do ketogenic diets work?

For short-term weight loss, yes, keto can work. However, if practising healthy sustainable eating, improving your long-term health and feeling good is part of your weight loss goal, then eating less, calories, protein, fat and processed foods is a better way to maintain your health and your weight.

Our Protein Obsession is Killing Us

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla