What is a Ketogenic Diet?
The ketogenic diet, often referred to as a keto diet, is a high fat, low carb diet where you reduce your carbohydrate intake (wheat, rice, sugar, beans and fruit) and increase consumption of fatty foods (fish, meat, eggs, butter and cheese).
A keto diet can be very helpful to lose weight and to help treat diabetes (type 2), epilepsy, cancer, Alzheimer’s and many more health-related issues.
Ketosis
If you reduce the amount of carbohydrates and increase how much fatty food you eat, your body goes into a metabolic state called Ketosis. This is when your body, due to the lack of carbs, burns fat instead.
Lowering your carb intake limits the amount of glucose in your body, glucose being the main source of energy for your cells via a process called Glycolysis. In response to the insufficient amount of glucose, the body’s insulin levels decrease, and fatty acids gets released from fat stores. These fatty acids are then transported to the kidney where they’re turned into ketones which are used to supply the body and brain with energy in the absence of glucose.
How to Do a Keto Diet
So, in order to do this diet successfully you have to put your body into a state of ketosis. To do that you have to consume around 20-60 grams of carbs per day, 40-60 grams of protein and the rest of the diet should be fatty foods (average keto diet). Fat needs to be the main source of energy in a keto diet, but the diet still needs to include (non-starchy) vegetables to get a good intake of nutrients.
There are several types of keto Diets that have varying food ratios:
- Standard ketogenic diet (SKD): This is the most popular keto diet. It’s a very low-carb, moderate-protein and high-fat diet. It usually contains 70% fat, 20% protein and only 10% carbohydrates. (Source)
- Targeted ketogenic diet (TKD): This diet allows additional carbohydrates during/around times of the intensive physical exercise. This is great for athletes, runners and other people that like to work out. (Source)
- Cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD): This involves periods of high-carb intakes in between the keto diet ‘cycles’ (5 keto days, then, 2 high-carb days). (Source)
- High-protein ketogenic diet (HPKD): As with the name of this diet, it involves more protein consumption with a ratio of about 60% fat, 35% protein and 5% carbs. (Source)
- MCT ketogenic diet – The benefit of the MCT diet is allowing more carbohydrates than other keto diets. It includes the consumption of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) to provide most of the fat, as they give more ketones per gram than the long-chain triglycerides that’s in regular fats. MCTD allows larger portions and more vegetables and fruit, which provides more nutrients and allows for better growth. 71% total fat, 19% carbohydrate, and 10% protein. This option is commonly used for children who have epilepsy. (Source)
Health Benefits
As mentioned previously there are many health benefits to going on a keto diet:
- Weight loss – Since keto diets cause the body to transfer stored fat to ketones, it of course burns and reduces excess fat which in turn helps reduce weight and fat percentage in the body.
- Epilepsy – Research has shown that for patients who don’t respond well to medication, a keto diet can help significantly reduce epileptic seizures. (1) (2)
- Pre-diabetic/Type 2 diabetes – Helps regulate blood sugar levels and improves insulin sensitivity.
- Improves metabolism
The Risks
There are some short-term side effects to the keto diet, and it may not be a sustainable diet long-term as it can lead to health issues:
Short-term:
- Tiredness
- Dehydration
- Headache
- Constipation
- Bad breath
- Nausea
Long-term:
- Low protein in the blood
- Excess fat in the liver
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Kidney stones
Anyone who has type 2 diabetes and takes sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors medication should not go on a keto diet as it can increase the chance of Ketoacidosis.
Overall, I would recommend only having a keto diet for a limited amount of time if you’re trying to lose weight or improve your metabolism and make sure you’re still getting the nutrients your body needs by eating nutrient rich fruit and veg and/or taking supplements. If you’re looking to go on a keto diet to help treat a health condition like epilepsy or type 2 diabetes, I would recommend you discuss it with your doctor.
Isabel is a writer and editor with a passion for reading, art and philosophy. She often spends her time pondering the meaning of life and performing her rigorous skincare routine.
