The Keto Diet is well known for being a very low carb, high-fat, moderate-protein diet, where the body produces ketones in the liver to be used as energy. It’s referred to by many different names – ketogenic diet, low carb high fat (LCHF), etc. When you eat something high in carbs, your body will produce glucose as a result of increased insulin levels.
Lipolysis, or the breakdown of stored triglycerides in our adipose tissue, is inhibited by insulin. Muscles will also take up glucose in the presence of insulin and use it directly as fuel, or store it as glycogen. When you restrict carbohydrates, insulin levels are then suppressed, and it stimulates the release of the hormone glucagon. The ratio of glucagon to insulin is an important contributor to ketogenesis – a higher glucagon-to-insulin ratio is required for the production of ketones.
If you find that eating carbohydrates causes large fluctuations in your energy, a ketogenic approach might help control this.
Might kеto Diet help improve your health?
Optimal ketone levels suppress appetite and offer many health, weight loss, physical and mental performance benefits.
For example, Keto Diet is effective at lowering blood triglycerides, which are fat molecules that increase risk of heart disease.
Also, human’s brain and nervous system usually run on glucose. Fueling it mostly with ketones is a whole new world to these cells, and may provide benefit. The main condition this has been studied for is epilepsy, but more research on other conditions is underway.
Is Keto Diet safe? What if I have a medical condition?
It is individual. Some people can sustain a keto diet for years. Others don’t do well on it.
For example, if I eat too much fat and too few carbs, I lose too much weight.
Speak with your doctor about your health condition and goals to decide if a keto eating plan is right for you.
What exactly is the keto diet?
A keto diet emphasises meals that are rich in fat, moderate in protein, and low in carbohydrates. The goal is to eat more fat calories than carbohydrate calories.
The diet works by depleting the sugar reserves in the body. As a result, it will start breaking down fat to produce energy. The body reacts by producing ketones, which it uses as an energy source. The body’s capacity to burn fats may result in weight loss.
Benefits of the keto diet:
1-Helps you lose weight
The ketogenic diet can help you lose weight, by increasing your metabolism and decreasing your hunger.
Ketogenic diets provide substantial meals that may help you lose weight by lowering hunger-stimulating hormones.
This is a reliable source. A keto diet may aid weight loss by suppressing your hunger.
Over the course of a year, those who followed a ketogenic diet lost 2 pounds (lbs) more than those who followed a low-fat diet.
2-reduce risk of certain cancers
According to one research, the ketogenic diet may be a safe and effective supplementary treatment for patients who are undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy for specific malignancies. This is because it would cause cancer cells to experience more oxidative stress than normal cells, causing them to perish.
Although some evidence suggests that the ketogenic diet may help with cancer therapy, there are few trials in this area. To completely comprehend the potential advantages of the ketogenic diet in cancer prevention and therapy, additional research is needed.
3-protect brain function
The ketones created during the keto diet have neuroprotective qualities, which mean they help build and protect the brain and nerve cells, according to many studies.
As a result, a ketogenic diet may help prevent or treat illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease.
However, further research on the neurological effects of a keto diet is needed.
How Did It work?
When you eat less than 50 grams of carbs a day, your body eventually runs out of fuel (blood sugar) it can use quickly. This typically takes 3 to 4 days. Then you’ll start to break down protein and fat for energy, which can make you lose weight. This is called ketosis. It’s important to note that the ketogenic diet is a short term diet that’s focused on weight loss rather than the pursuit of health benefits.
Who Uses It?
People use a ketogenic diet most often to lose weight, but it can help manage certain medical conditions, like epilepsy, too. It also may help people with heart disease, certain brain diseases, and even acne, but there needs to be more research in those areas. Talk with your doctor first to find out if it’s safe for you to try a ketogenic diet, especially if you have type 1 diabetes.
Keto Diet Benefits
Recently, the keto diet has become extremely popular for its health benefits such as weight loss and preventing disease. The keto diet can be hugely beneficial, but how does it work to provide these benefits?
What is the Keto Diet?
You may have heard of the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet. The keto diet keeps carbohydrate levels low, but instead of ramping up the amount of protein in your diet, the keto diet increases the amount of fat. A typical keto diet aims for meals with 75% fat, 20% protein, and 5% carbohydrate. Eating a high-fat diet can still mean eating healthy. Keto diet menu items often include seafood, meat, dairy products, eggs, vegetables, and nuts. With the increased popularity of the keto diet, keto recipes are widely available.
How Does the Keto Diet Work?
It might seem counterintuitive that adding more fat to your diet can lead to weight loss. Normally, your diet is high in carbohydrates, which are broken down into glucose, or blood sugar, for use as energy. As glucose enters your bloodstream, your body releases insulin to store excess glucose as fat. The more carbohydrates, the more glucose. The more glucose, the more insulin, and the more insulin, the more fat.
The keto diet takes advantage of the fact that when your meals are high-fat and low-carbohydrate, there is no insulin spike, and you don’t add to your fat reserves. Instead, fat from diet and stored fat are broken down to ketones (“keto” is short for “ketogenic” producing ketones). Like glucose, ketones can be used for energy, keeping your body running without increasing blood sugar or putting on excess fat. The benefits of the keto diet can be huge.
Weight Loss
Overall, the keto diet is an excellent way to burn fat and lose weight. Eating fewer carbohydrates suppresses appetite, and studies have shown that keto diet participants eat fewer calories overall because of this. Burning fat for energy can lead to rapid weight loss.
Reduced Blood Sugar and Insulin
Since carbohydrate intake is limited, blood sugar and insulin levels are lowered. This is particularly important for people with type 2 diabetes, which causes a buildup of glucose in the bloodstream. The keto diet can be used to reduce or eliminate the need for diabetic insulin injections.
Reduced Triglycerides
Fat subunit molecules called triglycerides normally circulate in your bloodstream. High levels of triglycerides are a significant risk factor in the development of heart disease. In the keto diet, because fat is being burned for energy, the number of triglyceride molecules in the bloodstream decreases, reducing the risk of heart disease.
Improved Cholesterol
“Bad” (LDL) cholesterol is another risk factor for heart disease. Too much bad cholesterol in your bloodstream builds up in your arteries, narrowing them and causing atherosclerosis, a type of heart disease. The keto diet reduces bad cholesterol levels while increasing the level of “good” (HDL) cholesterol in your body.
Summary
The keto diet provides many health benefits. This diet can not only help you quickly lose weight, but can also improve your overall health and help prevent disease.
What is the Keto Diet and how does it function?
Simply defined, it’s a low-carb, high-fat, low-to-moderate-protein diet with stringent (strict) carbohydrate restrictions.
During this diet, your body will enter and remain in Ketosis. (a condition of metabolism in which the body consumes a highly efficient alternate fuel) Ketones are a type of organic compound.
A keto diet not only aids weight loss, but also appears to aid in the treatment of health ailments such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease, according to a recent study.
To get your keto journey off to a good start,
Here are our top three crucial bits of advice:-
1) Consume the appropriate foods.
☆ On a regular basis, your goal is to eat keto-friendly foods instead of carbohydrates and heavier dishes.
This will assist you in consuming fewer calories than previously, and to assist in jumpstarting and maintain ketosis.
You should concentrate on meat with high-fat content, Nuts, and seeds, as well as dairy and healthful oils, leafy green, and above-ground vegetables.
2) Consume the appropriate amount of those items.
☆ You’ll also have to keep track of your expenses.
Fats, carbs, and protein, often known as macronutrients or macros, must be kept in strict balance to keep your body in ketosis.
In general, it is suggested that you eat less than 35 grams of carbs each day. 70% of your calories come from fat. 25 calories come from protein.
3) Get ready for the keto flu to kick in.
☆ When you first start reducing your carbohydrate intake, There will be certain alterations in your physique as your body needs time to adapt to your new way of life.
The keto flu will show some flu-like symptoms. Weariness and mental fogginess is one probable shift.
These symptoms usually only last a few days. While this may take some time, it is wise to be already prepared for it.
You’ll need to drink some more water than usual and consume extra amounts of sodium, potassium, and magnesium. During this keto flu, you should also increase your fat intake.