What Is A Keto Diet?

A ketogenic (keto) diet is a diet low in carbs but high in fat. You get most of the calories from fat and protein, not carbohydrates, which means no sugar, pastries, soda, or white bread.

 

The goal of a keto diet is for the body to enter ketosis — a state in which the body burns fat for energy. 

 

I’ve been on a keto diet for years, giving me various health benefits. I’ll explain everything you should know about ketosis, how it works, and the keto diet benefits.

 

 

Quick Summary

• The keto diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet. 
• The maximum amount of total carbs minus fiber you should eat daily is 50 g.
• The goal of a keto diet is for the body to reach ketosis, where fat is burned for energy.

 

What is Ketosis?

Ketosis is a metabolic state where the body uses fat for energy instead of carbs. Ketosis happens when you lower the number of carbs you eat, which means the body has less sugar than usual, so it has to burn fat for fuel. 

 

A keto diet is the best way to enter ketosis. The maximum amount of carbs you can eat on a keto diet is 50 g. Instead, you should focus on fats, such as meat, eggs, fish, and nuts. 

 

To enter ketosis, you must be careful about how much protein you consume. Protein can be turned into glucose, which can slow down ketosis. 

 

Pro tip: An excellent way to enter ketosis is by intermittent fasting. This means you should limit your food consumption to about 8 hours a day and fast for the other 16 hours.

 

 

What is the Keto Diet?

The keto diet is a high-fat, low-carb diet similar to other low-carb diets, such as the Atkins diet. You drastically reduce the number of carbohydrates you eat and replace them with fat, which puts your body in a state of ketosis. Once your body is in ketosis, it burns fat for energy and turns fat into ketones in the liver. Ketones give energy to the brain. 

 

A keto diet lowers sugar and insulin, so your metabolism has to use fat and ketones instead of carbs. This leads to various health benefits (more on these below).

 

There are several different kinds of ketogenic diets:

• The standard ketogenic diet (SKD) — Usually has 70% fat, 20% protein, and 10% carbs.
• The cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) — Also called a recurrent keto diet because it has periods of high-carb feeders, for example, five keto days followed by two high-carb days.
• The targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) — You can eat carbs around workouts.
• High protein ketogenic diet — The most similar to the SKD but has more protein. Its ratio is 60% fat, 35% protein, and 5% carbs.

 

None are low-fat diets, and the SKD version is the most recommended. Cyclical and targeted keto diets are used mainly by bodybuilders and athletes.

 

 

How Does the Keto Diet Work?

The keto diet works by eating less than 50 g of carbs daily. When you lower carb intake, your body will run out of blood sugar in about 3 to 4 days. Then the body has to break down protein and fat for energy, i. e., go into ketosis. 

 

Overall, the ketogenic diet works by forcing your body to use a different fuel type — fat instead of sugar. 

 

You may experience sugar cravings, aches, headaches, and hunger during the first several days. But, as the diet goes into a second and third week, you’ll start to feel better and notice health benefits, including weight loss.

 

 

Benefits of the Keto Diet Explained

Nowadays, keto is most well-known as a way to eliminate excess weight. However, doctors have recommended this diet for a long time to improve various health conditions.

 

Here are all the ways in which a keto lifestyle can be beneficial:

• Weight loss — This is an effective way to lose weight and is just as effective as a low-fat diet. You don’t need to count calorie intake or track food intake.
• Lowers blood pressure — Keto diet can lower blood pressure and triglycerides. 
• Controls seizures in children — Keto diet can reduce hard-to-control seizures in children, especially epilepsy attacks. 
• Helps with diabetes and prediabetes — Keto diet helps lose excess fat, which can cause diabetes. It also provides blood sugar control. 
• Cancer — There’s data that suggests the diet can slow tumor growth, so it can be used to fight cancer.
• Alzheimer’s disease — Reduces the symptoms of  Alzheimer’s disease and its progression.
• Parkinson’s disease — There’s limited info, but one study found that keto can improve  Parkinson’s disease.
• Prevents polycystic ovary syndrome — Keto meals reduce insulin levels, which leads to polycystic ovary syndrome.
• Acne — Net carbs and dairy can lead to skin inflammation. A keto diet fights acne because it lowers the number of carbs and recommends eating olive oil, fruit juice, low-carb veggies, and other healthy food. 

 

If you are looking for effective and top-grade items, look no further than BioLyfe. Buy keto supplements online with confidence. You can buy keto pills online or buy keto acv gummies online and get started on your journey with your keto diet. 

 

 

References

Palsdottir, H. (2017). What Is Ketosis, and Is It Healthy? Healthline. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-ketosis 

 

Melkonian, E. A., Anoosh Zafar Gondal, & Schury, M. P. (2019, August 22). Physiology, Gluconeogenesis. Nih.gov; StatPearls Publishing. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK541119/ 

 

Anton, S. D., Moehl, K., Donahoo, W. T., Marosi, K., Lee, S. A., Mainous, A. G., Leeuwenburgh, C., & Mattson, M. P. (2018). Flipping the Metabolic Switch: Understanding and Applying the Health Benefits of Fasting. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 26(2), 254–268. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.22065 

 

Masood, W., & Uppaluri, K. R. (2019, March 21). Ketogenic Diet. Nih.gov; StatPearls Publishing. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499830/ 

 

Bueno, N. B., de Melo, I. S., de Oliveira, S. L., & da Rocha Ataide, T. (2013). Very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet v. low-fat diet for long-term weight loss: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. The British journal of nutrition, 110(7), 1178–1187. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114513000548 

 

Ułamek-Kozioł, M., Czuczwar, S. J., Januszewski, S., & Pluta, R. (2019). Ketogenic Diet and Epilepsy. Nutrients, 11(10), 2510. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11102510 

 

Westman, E. C., Tondt, J., Maguire, E., & Yancy, W. S., Jr (2018). Implementing a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet to manage type 2 diabetes mellitus. Expert review of endocrinology & metabolism, 13(5), 263–272. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17446651.2018.1523713 

 

Weber, D. D., Aminazdeh-Gohari, S., & Kofler, B. (2018). Ketogenic diet in cancer therapy. Aging, 10(2), 164–165. Available at: https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.101382 

 

Rusek, M., Pluta, R., Ułamek-Kozioł, M., & Czuczwar, S. J. (2019). Ketogenic Diet in Alzheimer’s Disease. International journal of molecular sciences, 20(16), 3892. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms20163892 

 

Phillips, M., Murtagh, D., Gilbertson, L. J., Asztely, F., & Lynch, C. (2018). Low-fat versus ketogenic diet in Parkinson’s disease: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Movement disorders: official journal of the Movement Disorder Society, 33(8), 1306–1314. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.27390 

 

Stocker, R. K., Reber Aubry, E., Bally, L., Nuoffer, J. M., & Stanga, Z. (2019). Ketogene Diät: evidenzbasierte therapeutische Anwendung bei endokrinologischen Erkrankungen [Ketogenic Diet and its Evidence-Based Therapeutic Implementation in Endocrine Diseases]. Praxis, 108(8), 541–553.Available at:  https://doi.org/10.1024/1661-8157/a003246 

 

Paoli, A., Grimaldi, K., Toniolo, L., Canato, M., Bianco, A., & Fratter, A. (2012). Nutrition and acne: therapeutic potential of ketogenic diets. Skin pharmacology and physiology, 25(3), 111–117. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1159/000336404