Would You Like to Know Exactly What to Eat to Lose Fat and Get Healthy Without Giving Up Your Favorite Foods or Starving Yourself?
What is Keto Diet
Can I Lose Weight On the Keto Diet ?
How Long Will Take Before I start Seeing Result ?
For some, it’s the promised land of diets. Instead of cringing through carrot sticks, they can fill up guilt-free on chorizo with scrambled eggs. Indeed, some evidence suggests that people feel less hungry while in ketosis, and have fewer cravings.
“That’s why it’s become so popular for the general population,” said Dr. Mackenzie C. Cervenka, medical director of Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Adult Epilepsy Diet Center. “Because once you are in ketosis, it’s easy to follow.” Usually, it takes between one to four days to enter the state, doctors say, but it depends on many factors like activity level: a runner, for example, may sprint there faster than a couch potato.
The keto diet appears to deliver fast results: The first pounds may seem to slip off. That can be seductive but it’s likely water weight. Then, dietitians say, it’s back to energy in minus energy out. You can absolutely gain weight on any diet if you’re consuming 5,000 calories a day, according to Dr. Linsenmeyer, who is also director of Saint Louis University’s Didactic Program in Dietetics.
“It’s not like it is going to magically alter your metabolism to where calories don’t matter anymore,” she said. And when resuming the carbs, that water weight returns.
POSSIBLE PROS
Epilepsy: The ketogenic diet was first used clinically to treat seizures. It has been used to successfully reduce seizures for many years, with research to back up the benefits outweighing any cons.
Weight loss: There are some great metabolic changes initially with this diet. In an article by Antonio Paoli he notes that the health parameters associated with carrying excess weight improve, such as insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol and triglycerides. It is true that fat oxidation does increase due to the body adapting to the higher dietary fat intake. However, fat oxidation and losing body fat are two different processes. When fat oxidation is higher it does not necessarily mean that there will be a reduction in body fat. Overall calorie intake and calorie burn will be the main determinant in fat loss.
Type 2 diabetes: Carb restriction can have a direct impact on glucose concentrations, lowering them over time. It may be a straight forward way one could get their diabetes under control. But one should consult a registered dietitian before utilizing this strategy, as a general healthful diet and carb control can produce the same results.
Cancer: This is a growing area of research for the ketogenic diet. The Warburg effect has established that tumor cells can break down glucose much faster (specifically 200x faster) compared to typical cells. The theory is that by “starving” tumor cells of glucose, you can inhibit their growth and help prevent cancer.
POSSIBLE CONS
Some negative side effects of a long-term ketogenic diet have been suggested in a review of the diet, including increased risk of kidney stones and osteoporosis, and increased blood levels of uric acid (a risk factor for gout). And the biggest areas of concern below.
Nutrient Deficiencies: Because whole food groups are excluded, nutrients typically found in foods like whole grains and fruit that are restricted from the diet can lead to deficiencies, especially if the diet is followed incorrectly or without proper guidance. It is vital to incorporate a wide variety of foods while eating such high amounts of fat. Each food group offers different essential nutrition. Focus on meats, seafood, vegetables, some legumes, and fruits to make sure you are getting fiber, B vitamins, and minerals such as iron, magnesium, and zinc. It would be best to consult with a registered dietitian to alleviate the possibility of any deficiencies.
Keto Flu: During the diet transition you may experience uncomfortable side effects from significantly cutting carbs, sometimes called the “Keto Flu”. Hunger, headaches, nausea, fatigue, irritability, constipation and brain “fog” may last days. Sleep and hydration will help, but it may not be a pleasant transition into the diet.
Adherence: Point blank, following a very high-fat diet may be challenging to maintain for most. Keeping yourself satisfied with a limited variety of food and food groups and not being allowed to have some of the more pleasurable foods like fruit, rice dishes, ice cream, or cream based soups may be challenging to maintain. This is very individual, but adhering to healthy diet is important. To truly gain long-term health benefits, one must have healthy habits in place year round, not 30 days at a time.
Gut Health: Using the restroom may be difficult since removing whole grain and fruit will greatly lower ones fiber intake. Not great for gut health.
Conclusion
A period of low carbohydrate ketogenic diet may help to control hunger and may improve fat oxidative metabolism and therefore reduce body weight. Furthermore new kinds of ketogenic diets using meals that mimic carbohydrate rich foods could improve the compliance to the diet. Attention should be paid to patient’s renal function and to the transition phase from ketogenic diet to a normal diet that should be gradual and well controlled . The duration of ketogenic diet may range from a minimum (to induce the physiological ketosis) of 2–3 weeks to a maximum (following a general precautionary principle) of many months (6–12 months). Correctly understood the ketogenic diet can be a useful tool to treat obesity in the hands of the physician.
