Are you looking to lose weight? Have you heard about the benefits of the keto diet? Have you seen friends or family lose several pounds in just a few weeks from eating “keto”?
The keto (ketogenic) diet does work and it may be just what you need to overcome your stubborn weight loss and jumpstart your path to a healthier lifestyle. However, keto diets are very specific and the bad can easily outweigh the good.
What is the keto diet and how does it work?
Our bodies extract energy from 3 main macronutrients – carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. However, the main source of energy in a standard American Diet is from carbohydrates like pasta, sugar, rice, and potatoes.
A ketogenic diet involves limiting carbohydrates and utilizing foods that are high in fat as the main source of energy.
We’re not 100% sure how the keto diet causes weight loss. What we do know is that switching to a diet high in fats and proteins probably means that you will feel more full with each meal. The more you feel full the less you eat. The less you eat, the more your body needs to break down fat in order to fuel your body. The more fat you break down, the more weight you will lose.
Eating less and losing weight while feeling full can be a huge win for those who have struggled to lose weight with conventional diet and exercise. While the keto diet does come with some great benefits however, it also has its drawbacks.
Keto – The Good.
Weight loss:
The Office for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion recommends that our diet consist of approximately 50% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 20% fat. Our bodies will naturally convert any excess carbohydrate into fat or glycogen for energy storage.
The standard keto diet requires that your diet consist of 10% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 60% fat. This shift in macronutrients is the driving force behind why we lose weight.
By converting from a less filling carbohydrate based diet to a more filling fat based diet, we are now directing our bodies to utilize the fat in our food for fuel. Because we are feeling full and eating less, we are also depleting our reserves of fat and glycogen for energy.
While there are other factors involved in the process of weight loss such as hormone regulation and loss in water weight, we find that people who adhere to a keto diet tend to lose more weight and keep the weight off for a longer period of time. In fact studies show that diets low in carbohydrates, like the keto diet, lead to a greater weight loss than low fat diets.
Healthier Eating:
One of the benefits of switching to a Keto diet is eating healthier – somewhat. While a keto diet can improve the quality of foods that we ingest, some people can actually do more harm to themselves by eating the wrong fats. More on that a little later.
People who are overweight tend to prefer foods that are highly processed such as simple sugars and refined/processed carbohydrates. This usually leads to weight gain from excessive eating. Switching to a keto diet eliminates many of these foods. As an alternative, the keto diet stresses more filing and often healthier foods such as seafood, poultry, certain nuts, grains, avocados, and cheese. These foods also tend to be higher in certain vitamins, minerals, omega 3 fatty acids, and antioxidants.
Carbohydrates, and especially refined/processed carbohydrates, typically do not not have high amounts of these nutrients.
Keto – The Bad.
Low Energy:
Our bodies prefer carbohydrates and there is a good reason for that. Carbohydrates can be converted into sugars to give us an immediate release of energy. They can also be easily converted into glycogen and stored in the liver and muscles for later use. This glycogen can also be easily broken back down into sugar when needed for energy. This is why marathon runners will typically load up on carbohydrates the night before a race.
Two things happen when we eliminate carbohydrates and switch to a fat based diet. First, we remove our bodies ability to utilize sugar and second we remove our ability to produce glycogen. Activities that require sustained energy now become more difficult. You may also feel a period of low energy for a few days or weeks as your body transitions to using fat for energy instead of glycogen. This sensation is often termed the “keto flu”.
If you have any underlying medical conditions such as low thyroid, low blood pressure, or low cortisol levels, this may compound the problem of low energy for you.
Always consult with your doctor if you have any medical conditions before transitioning to a keto diet.
Nutrient deficiencies:
Eliminating any macronutrient food groups will also result in a decrease in certain micronutrients (vitamin’s and minerals). Specifically, keto diets may provide suboptimal levels of calcium, vitamin D, phosphorus, zinc, and magnesium. These are essential nutrients that our bodies depend on for bone health and a variety of metabolic functions.
This can be a problem for those who have trouble with nutrient absorption. These include such conditions as metabolic disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, as well as pancreas or liver abnormalities.
It’s important to consult with your doctor and/or nutritionist and to consider multivitamins supplementation before starting a keto diet.
Dirty Keto:
The term dirty keto involves eating high fat nutrient poor foods instead of high fat and nutrient rich options. For example, a good keto option might include grilled chicken or farm raised, grass-fed beef. A dirty keto meal would include fried chicken or processed bacon.
Nutrient poor foods generally tend to be high in saturated fats, and tans-fats. While saturated and trans fats improve the taste of food, they also increase your bad cholesterol (LDL). This can result in heart disease and stroke and may actually cause weight gain when eaten in excess.
When switching to a keto diet It’s important to prioritize foods with high quality fats. This will help prevent long term health complications and support a healthy weight loss.
Bone Health:
We spoke earlier about how the keto diet can lead to a decrease in calcium, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus and vitamin D. All of these are important for bone formation and fortification. While several studies have shown that the keto diet does not affect bone health, some new data may suggest otherwise.
Any significant decrease in calcium, magnesium, zinc and vitamin D will effect the integrity of bone structure. Not supplementing adequately with these vitamins or minerals may put you at risk of compromising your bone integrity. This risk may be even greater for those who already have underlying issues with bone structure such as the morbidly obese, diabetics, and the elderly.
Because few long term studies have been done, we don’t yet know just how the keto diet will affect long term bone health. As stated earlier, just to be safe, it’s important to supplement with at least a multivitamin while on a keto diet.
Adherence:
One of the biggest issues with the keto diet, or any diet for that fact, is how difficult it is to maintain given the food restrictions. The average American gets at least 50% of their calories from carbohydrates. Drastically cutting that number down to almost single digits while on the keto diet can be quite challenging.
In addition, many foods which may not seem to be carb free might be loaded with carbs for flavoring, texture, or food preservation. For instance, the grilled chicken we spoke about earlier is an excellent keto option. However, if you layer it with certain spices or condiments you may be adding carbohydrates that are turning your keto meal into a non-keto meal.
Eating even small amounts of hidden carbs can easily throw you out of ketosis and stifle the weight loss you desire.
While it’s not impossible, sticking to a keto diet and maintaining a state of constant ketosis can be a challenge without proper research and discipline.
Conclusion
The keto diet may be a good option for many people. For instance, if you are relatively healthy and need to loose some weight in a short period of time, then limiting your caloric intake using the keto diet might help. Also, if you are relatively healthy and want to motivate yourself to start loosing weight, then the keto diet might also be a good option.
Outside of these 2 categories you may want to consider other weight loss options.
The keto diet significantly alters your metabolism. By going into a state of ketosis you’re shifting key components of your body’s metabolic activity. While your body may certainly be able to do this without any adverse consequences, there’s no long term studies that have been done to prove this.
Most healthy people may not need carbohydrates to function. There is however a reason why we have evolved with the ability to digest and store carbs. Carbohydrates are an important energy source. Eliminating them to lose weight while possible is not necessary and may not be practical. The time you put into living a life filled with healthy keto meals might be better spent just eating a healthier well rounded diet.
Eating a well rounded diet that includes all macronutrients while limiting your overall caloric intake is still the healthiest way for most people to lose weight.
Dr. Sergio Guiteau is a physician who has certifications in Aesthetic Medicine and is board certified in Family Practice and Sports Medicine. He specializes in Anti-Aging Medicine and blogs on Advancedrejuv.com/blog