Popular
What Is The Keto Diet And What Are Its Benefits?
Affiliate disclosure: The following post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, the owner of this website may receive a commission
Health disclaimer: The content contained in this post is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice. Health related advice should always be sought from a licensed medical practitioner.
What Is The Keto Diet?
Like the Atkins diet, the keto diet keeps carbohydrate levels low, but instead of increasing your protein intake, the keto diet increases the amount of fat you consume.
Typically, a keto diet aims for meals with 5% carbohydrate, 20% protein and 75% fat. If done right, eating a high fat diet can be perfectly healthy.
Keto diet menu options include meat, seafood, dairy products, eggs, vegetables and nuts.
The keto diet has become very popular in recent years due to its health benefits, especially for weight loss. But how does it achieve this?
Popular
How Does It Work
As counterintuitive as it seems, eating more fat can lead to weight loss. When you consume a diet high in carbohydrates, it is broken down into glucose. In response to this, your body releases insulin to store any excess glucose as fat.
The more glucose in your bloodstream, the more insulin your body produces, and the more insulin, the more fat is produced.
When your meals are high in fat and low in carbs, there is less of insulin produced, so you don’t add to your reserves of fat. Instead of using glucose for energy, your body breaks down fat, both from your diet and any you have stored, and produces ketones.
Instead of glucose, ketones are used for energy. Unlike glucose, ketones don’t spike your insulin levels and add to your reserves of fat.
Weight Loss
The Keto diet is a great way to burn fat and lose weight. Eating less carbs has been shown to suppress appetite [1]. This clearly results in weight loss. And The burning of fat for energy also leads to weight loss.
When combined, both the suppression of appetite and burning of fat, the resulting weight loss can be rapid.
Reduced Blood Sugar And Insulin
Since carbohydrate intake is dramatically reduced on a keto diet, blood sugar levels are also lowered. This is especially relevant to people with type 2 diabetes, a condition which results in the buildup of glucose in the bloodstream.
For this reason, the keto diet may help those with type 2 diabetes.
Improved Heart Health
Higher levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) are associated with a lower risk of heart disease [3]. Low density lipoprotein is associated with a higher risk of heart disease.
By raising levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) and lowering levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL) [4], the keto diet may improve heart health.
Summary
The keto diet can help you lose weight fast while providing many additional health benefits.
To get the best out of the keto diet, it helps to be as prepared as possible. The best way to achieve this is to have a personalized diet plan.
References
1. McClernon FJ, Yancy WS Jr, Eberstein JA, Atkins RC, Westman EC. The effects of a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet and a low-fat diet on mood, hunger, and other self-reported symptoms. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2007 Jan;15(1):182-7. 10.1038/oby.2007.516.
2. Noakes M, Foster PR, Keogh JB, James AP, Mamo JC, Clifton PM. Comparison of isocaloric very low carbohydrate/high saturated fat and high carbohydrate/low saturated fat diets on body composition and cardiovascular risk. Nutrition & Metabolism. 2006;3:7. doi:10.1186/1743-7075-3-7.
3. Toth, P. The “Good Cholesterol”: High-Density Lipoprotein. Circulation. 2005;111(5):e89-e91. 10.1161/01.CIR.0000154555.07002.CA
4. Brinkworth GD, Noakes M, Buckley JD, Keogh JB, Clifton PM. Long-term effects of a very-low-carbohydrate weight loss diet compared with an isocaloric low-fat diet after 12 mo. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jul;90(1):23-32. 10.3945/ajcn.2008.27326.