Diet
The Ketogenic Diet: A Detailed Beginner's Guide to Keto, The Keto Diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that provides many health benefits.
In fact, more than 20
studies show that this type of diet can help you lose weight and improve your
health. Also, the ketogenic diet may have benefits against diabetes, cancer,
epilepsy, and Alzheimer's disease.
Here's a step-by-step
guide for beginners on the keto diet or the keto diet.
What is the
ketogenic diet or keto diet?
The ketogenic diet is a
low-carb, high-fat diet that shares many similarities to the Atkins diet and
other low-carb diets.
It involves drastically
reducing the intake of carbohydrates and replacing them with fats. This
reduction in carbohydrates puts your body into a metabolic (metabolic) state
called ketosis, or ketosis.
And when this happens,
your body becomes incredibly effective at burning fat for energy. It also
starts converting fats into ketones in the liver, which can provide energy for
the brain.
In fact, the keto diet
can cause significant drops in blood sugar and insulin levels. This combined
with an increase in ketones provides some health benefits.
The different
types of the keto diet
There are several types
of the ketogenic or keto diet, including:
·
The Standard Keto Diet (SKD): This is a low-carb, moderate-protein, and
high-fat diet. It usually contains 75% fat and 20% protein versus only 5%
carbohydrates.
·
The cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD): This diet includes periods of
carbohydrate-rich meals (carbohydrate replenishment), such as subjecting to 5
days of the keto diet followed by two days during which carbohydrates are
allowed to be consumed naturally.
·
Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD): This diet allows you to add carbohydrates
as long as you do physical exercise and exercise.
·
High Protein Keto Diet: Contains more protein. It's often 60% fat and
35% protein versus 5% carbohydrates.
·
It is worth noting that the information in this article applies mostly
to the standard ketogenic diet (SKD), although many of the same principles also
apply to other types of ketogenic diets.
Keto Diet Can
Help You Lose Weight:
The keto diet is an
effective way to lose weight and reduce disease factors. In fact, research
shows that the ketogenic diet is far superior to the often-recommended low-fat
diets.
What's more, when you
undergo the keto diet, you will never feel hungry.
One study found that
people who follow a ketogenic diet lose 2.2 times more weight than people who
follow a low-fat, calorie-restricted diet. In addition, their blood cholesterol
and triglyceride levels improved.
Another study in 34
elderly people found that those who followed the ketogenic diet for 8 weeks
lost nearly five times as much fat as those who chose the traditional low-fat
diet.
In fact, there are
several reasons why the keto diet is superior to a low-fat diet, as it provides
many benefits. Increasing ketones, lowering blood sugar levels, and increasing
insulin sensitivity all play a major role in this health superiority.
The ketogenic
diet and diabetes:
Diabetes is characterized
by changes in metabolism, high blood sugar, and impaired insulin function.
In fact, the keto diet
can help you shed excess fats, which are closely related to type 2 diabetes,
prediabetes, and metabolic syndrome. One study found that the keto diet
improved insulin sensitivity by a whopping 75%.
And a small study in women
with type 2 diabetes found that following a ketogenic diet for 90 days
significantly reduced levels of hemoglobin A1C, a measure of long-term blood
sugar management.
Moreover, another study
in 349 people with type 2 diabetes found that those who followed the ketogenic
diet lost an average (11.9 kg) within two years. This is of great benefit when
looking at the link between human weight and type 2 diabetes. What's more, they
also saw improvement in blood sugar management, and the use of some diabetes medications
decreased among participants throughout the study period.
Other healthy
keto diet benefits:
In fact, the ketogenic
diet actually originated as a tool for treating neurodegenerative diseases such
as epilepsy. Studies have now shown that this diet can also have benefits for a
wide range of different health conditions:
·
Heart disease: The keto diet can improve body fat levels, HDL
cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. All are major risk
factors for heart disease.
·
Cancer: The ketogenic diet is currently being explored as an additional
treatment for several types of cancer, as it helps slow the growth of tumors.
·
Alzheimer's disease: The ketogenic diet may reduce symptoms of
Alzheimer's disease and slow its progression.
·
Epilepsy: Research has shown that a ketogenic diet can significantly
reduce epilepsy.
