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KETO Diet
What is it: The Keto Diet is a high fat diet that aims to switch the body’s primary fuel source from carbohydrates to fats. This is accomplished by increasing the amount of fat consumed and greatly reducing the amount of carbohydrate consumed. The Ketogenic Diet is a therapeutic diet, meaning it is intended to treat epilepsy, similar to how a diabetic diet or heart healthy diet are used in combination with medicine and exercise to treat diabetes and heart disease.
The Keto Diet slightly differs from other popular low carb diets. The Atkins diet is definitely low carb, but emphasizes protein and restricts fat. The Paleo diet restricts some high-carb foods, but isn’t necessarily low carb overall. The Keto diet may restrict carbs to 20-50grams per day and encourage at least 70% of calories per day coming from fat, but what people are actually eating can vary widely.
Benefit: The therapeutic Ketogenic Diet has significant benefits for those looking to control seizure activity. A study in 1992 showed following this diet strictly was found to completely control seizures in 30% of the children who previously had uncontrolled seizures when only using medicine.
The Keto Diet as it is most commonly used now for weight loss can help with significant weight loss (this does not mean long term weight loss). This diet is high in fat, which is very filling and takes longer to digest. Although fat is filling, it has over twice the number of calories as protein or carbs per gram, so portion control still matters. Weight loss is not a guarantee with this diet.
Negative effects: To properly follow a ketogenic diet, the foods are supposed to be weighed out to a tenth of a gram during meal preparation, and even the amount of sugar from liquid or chewable medications can make the diet ineffective. This makes the therapeutic ketogenic diet incredibly difficult to follow. Using the Keto Diet for weight loss can also be very strict. Both diets can be deficient in vitamins and calcium.
A frequent side effect when starting the Keto Diet is the “Keto flu.” This may feel like lightheadedness, fatigue, headaches, nausea, and constipation. Other possible effects include low blood sugar, high cholesterol, kidney stones, pancreatitis, and osteoporosis.
This dietitian’s recommendation: With such an emphasis on fat intake and it being heart health month, this dietitian wants to encourage anyone considering or currently on the Keto Diet to choose polyunsaturated fat more often. Avocado, nuts, seeds, or olive oil will provide more micronutrients as well as heart-healthy fats.
There are no long term studies on the effect of the Keto Diet on health outcomes, but longer-term studies are currently in the works. There has been some research regarding physical performance in endurance athletes who follow a Keto Diet, but there haven’t been definitive conclusions. With the jury still being out on this diet, it is not something this dietitian generally recommends. It is strict, difficult to follow, and can be done poorly very easily which may result in illness or injury.
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