*Disclaimer: This is not meant to be an exhaustive analysis of all the facets of this diet. It is an overview focusing on lifestyle changes required. As with any diet change, we strongly recommend you speak to qualified professionals, including your doctor, regarding your health and wellness.
The Keto Diet seems to be all the rage right now. Lately it seems you can’t walk out of your house without seeing or hearing about it. Checkout lines and social media seem to be touting the ease and amazing benefits of keto. Unfortunately, all this chatter comes with a fair amount of misinformation. We will try to clear some of it up.
Keto gets its name from a molecule produced by our body called ketone bodies, or just ketones for short. These ketones are an alternative to glucose that our bodies can use for fuel. In order for our bodies to produce them they need to be in a state of fasting or very low carbohydrate intake. Ketosis is what this state is called.
The benefit of burning ketones as fuel is that it puts your systems in a fat burning mode. By keeping your carb intake low, your insulin levels are non-existent and your body will eat through it’s fat stores for energy. This is where your weight loss comes from.
Depending on which version of the keto diet you are looking at, low carb can be anywhere from 0-25 grams a day. Yes – this means eating more carbs than 1 apple a day will knock you out of ketosis.
There is quite a bit of research being done on ketosis and combating epilepsy, some forms of cancer, diabetes, and some autoimmune diseases. At this point the research is not 100% conclusive and you should always consult your medical professional (see disclaimer above) before making any changes to your diet.
In order to maintain caloric intake with the near removal of carbohydrates from the diet there has to be a large increase of one of the other two macronutrients (protein or fat). This usually comes from a drastically increased fat intake (drastically increasing protein intake allows your body to create glucose from the excess protein, that is why it has to be fat).
The good news is that fat has 9 calories per gram, versus 4 calories per gram of carbohydrates and protein. The bad news is the standard diet of almost all of the planet does not provide that much healthy fat in easy to access sources.
This means keto will require quite a bit of planning and preparation to maintain. This is not necessarily a bad thing but you will need to account for that with meal planning and preparation. Forgetting your lunch at home one day can mean some serious scrambling to get nutrients in the correct ratios to not knock you out of ketosis.
The steep restriction on carb intake also means that some of life’s little pleasures like a slice of birthday cake at your friends party will become difficult if not impossible to partake in. Again, not necessarily a deal breaker, but something that needs to be considered.
Overall I think a keto diet is probably one of the more difficult lifestyles to maintain. It requires serious planning and preparation. If that is your kind of thing, this might be a good path for you. If you don’t like planning or frequently find yourself having to eat out or travel, this could be something to stay away from.