Keto Diet

What is Keto Diet?

Keto diet, also known as the Ketogenic diet, is a low-carbohydrates and high-fat diet. It was introduced in 1920 and known as one of the treatment for children who suffering from epilepsy.

Through decades of the development of keto diet, it has been gaining popularity recently among the globe as a weight loss diet.

How It Works?

Keto diet is a high-fat diet, which contains a composition of 70-75% fat, 20% protein and 5-10% carbohydrates. It limits the intake of carbohydrates into 50 grams or less, and eliminates all grains, pastas, breads, beans, sugar, starchy vegetables and nearly all fruits.

Low-carbs high-fat diet is forcing the body into a state called Ketosis. It occurs when the body start using fat as source of fuel due to a lack of blood sugar circulating the body. During this state, fats stored in the body will be mobilized and used as fuel for energy, which ketones are generated.

Normally, it takes about 2-4 days for people to reach the state of ketosis after adopting the diet.

How It Benefits to Our Body?

Keto diet is originally designed as a treatment of epilepsy in children. There are more evidences of keto diet having health benefits, especially for neurological conditions including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, autism, brain-cancer and traumatic brain injury. It is also adopted by people with diabetes to manage their health condition.

Apart from treating diseases, Keto diet also contains several benefits, including:

Weight loss, the most significant outcome
Controlling the blood sugar
Balancing hormones
Improving mental clarity and cognition
Reducing inflammation
Reducing aging of the brain

Does It Have Side Effects?

Adopting keto diet is a significant change for people as carbohydrates are the main nutrients that people consume daily, including the grains and added sugars. Thus, sudden change of eating habit may cause side effects. The most common side effect during the transitioning into ketosis is "Keto Flu".

Keto Flu

Keto flu is a short-term side effect with group of symptoms after starting a keto diet. Those symptoms include:

Insomnia
Fatigue
Nausea and vomiting
Headache
Constipation
Irritability
Dizziness

As mentioned, keto flu is a short-term side effect, which should improve within a few days to a few weeks. Stay hydrated and obtain enough electrolytes may help ease the symptoms.

Recommendation

Keto diet requires high-fat in the diet. It is important for people to choose the type of fats they consumed. Consuming too much saturated fats may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Thus, the consumption of unsaturated fat, including olive oil, avocados and oily fish, should be the major fat intake in the diet.

Besides, people on the keto diet should ensure they obtain enough vitamins and minerals from their diet. As keto dit limits the intake of carbohydrates, including fruits and vegetables that also rich in vitamins and minerals, vitamin and mineral deficiencies may likely to occur. Thus, maintain sufficient intake of optimal vitamins and minerals is essential.

Conclusion

Keto diet is an effective tool to loss weight. It is also hard to sustain due to the limited options and limited access to high-fat foods in the community. You should make planning , organizing, measuring and calculating before implementing the plan.

Think Twice Before Action!

References:

1. James, K. & Smith, J. (2019). The Keto Diet. Paraplegia New, 73(10), 16. https://web-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.eduhk.hk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=2054a6c2-c53d-4e22-acff-2dfde55ca0e0%40redis

2. Ruscigno, M. (2018). The Keto Diet: More Fad than Long Term. Environmental Nutrition, 41(3), 3. https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.eduhk.hk/ps/i.do?p=GRNR&u=hkioel&id=GALE|A529279151&v=2.1&it=r

3. Septian, M. I. & Kushartanti, W. (2019). The Effect Of Mayo And Keto Diet and Physical Activities Toward Weight, Abdominal Circumference and Fat Thickness Reduction. Journal of Education, Health and Sport, 9(1), 11–20. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2531921

4. Fletch, J. (2020). Keto diet side effects: What to expect. Medical News Today.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/keto-diet-side-effects

5. Campos, M. (2018). What is Keto Flu? Harvard Health Publishing.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-is-keto-flu-2018101815052