The keto diet was created to treat patients with diabetes, but some doctors decided to try it for weight loss. RBC Style understands who is suitable for and why a ketogenic diet can be dangerous, how to choose products and make a menu.
What is the keto diet?
The keto diet, or ketogenic diet, is a low-carb, high-fat diet. The keto diet can help lower blood sugar, increase insulin sensitivity, improve well-being, and help you lose weight by changing your metabolism.
A change in diet induces a state of ketosis, a metabolic regime in which the body receives fuel from animal foods. The main source of energy are ketone bodies: acetone, acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyric acid. These are substances that are formed in the liver from fatty tissues of the body and consumed fats. Ketone bodies feed the internal organs, muscle tissue and brain instead of glucose.
The process of ketosis can be started with the help of fasting, but the keto diet allows you to enter this state and stick to it constantly without any health risks.
Signs of ketosis:
acetone or fruity breath;
increased levels of ketone bodies in the blood, urine and breath;
decreased appetite and feelings of hunger;
a breakdown, which after a few days can be replaced by normal health and increased brain activity;
disorders of the digestive tract, thirst and frequent urination;
weight loss;
irritability;
insomnia.
(Ketosis is a natural metabolic state of the body in which fats and adipose tissues of the body become the main source of energy instead of glucose.)
Types of keto diet:
standard: 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% carbohydrates of the total calorie intake;
cyclic: five days on keto alternates with two days on high-carb foods;
target: suitable for those who play sports;
high protein: differs from the standard version in the ratio of elements (60% fat, 35% protein and 5% carbohydrates).
Most of the research and expert articles are on standard and high protein regimens. Cyclic and target options are less studied and recommended for athletes and bodybuilders.
The keto diet is a diet that is high in fat and low in carbs. The body gets energy from animal foods instead of glucose. Such a diet can help lower blood sugar and insulin levels and lose weight.
Foods to avoid on a ketogenic diet
The keto diet cannot be called carbohydrate-free: their daily amount is 5% of the diet or 20-50 grams of the product.
But to start and maintain a state of ketosis, you need to remove from the menu or reduce the amount of high-carbohydrate foods:
cereals and foods with starch: rice, pasta, cereals, potatoes;
sugary foods and drinks: soda, fruit juices, pastries, and so on;
any fruit other than berries;
beans and beans;
diet foods and foods low in fat;
sauces and flavorings that contain sugar and unhealthy fats;
alcohol.
Foods to include in your diet
The main products that are included in the keto diet :
meat: steaks, sausages, bacon, chicken and turkey;
fish: salmon, tuna, mackerel;
seafood;
eggs;
butter and sour cream;
cheeses: cheddar, goat, cream, mozzarella or blue cheese;
nuts and seeds;
olive, coconut and avocado oil;
fresh avocado and guacamole;
low-carb vegetables: most green vegetables, tomatoes, onions, peppers;
seasonings: salt, pepper, spices and herbs.
Low carb foods that are suitable for the keto diet:
0% carbs: beef, lamb, chicken, eggs, pork (including bacon), jerky, salmon, sardines, trout, butter, olive, coconut and avocado oils, water, coffee, tea.
0-5%: liver, shellfish, shrimp, tuna, lobster, cod, tomatoes, cauliflower, cucumbers, asparagus, mushrooms, cheese, sour cream, yogurt (including Greek yogurt).
5-10%: Broccoli, onions, Brussels sprouts, kale, eggplant, sweet peppers, green beans, avocados, olives, strawberries.
10-15%: grapefruit, apricot, walnuts.
15-25%: almonds, peanuts.
As a snack, experts advise eating seafood, cheese, olives, meat, hard-boiled eggs, nuts, berries, dark chocolate, and small portions of food left over from breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Menu for the week by day
Monday
Breakfast: bacon, eggs, tomatoes.
Lunch: chicken salad with feta cheese and olive oil.
Dinner: salmon and asparagus in oil.
Tuesday
Breakfast: omelette with goat cheese, tomatoes, basil.
Lunch: Almond milk, peanut butter and cocoa smoothie with a sugar substitute.
Dinner: meatballs, cheddar cheese and vegetables.
Wednesday
Breakfast: A keto milkshake, such as one with peanut butter or strawberries.
Lunch: shrimp salad with avocado and olive oil.
Dinner: Pork ribs with broccoli, lettuce and parmesan.
Thursday
Breakfast: scrambled eggs with avocado, salsa, sweet peppers, onions and spices.
Lunch: nuts, celery sticks with salsa and fresh guacamole.
Dinner: Pesto chicken with cream cheese and fresh vegetables.
Friday
Breakfast: yogurt with peanut butter, cocoa and sweetener.
Lunch: beef in coconut oil with vegetables.
Dinner: Burger without buns with bacon, cheese and egg.
Saturday
Breakfast: mushroom omelet with ham and cheese.
Lunch: ham, cheese, nuts.
Dinner: white fish, egg and spinach in coconut oil.
Sunday
Breakfast: scrambled eggs with bacon and mushrooms.
Lunch: burger with salsa, cheese and guacamole.
Dinner: steak, salad, egg.
Whole foods are good for a keto diet: meat, fish, butter, eggs, cheese, mushrooms, low-carb vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
The effectiveness of losing weight on a keto diet
No diet alone provides long-term weight loss and can be harmful to health. After a temporary weight loss, people return to their previous state, and sometimes recover more than before the change in diet. A safe and effective way to achieve your desired weight and maintain your health and fitness is with the help of specialists to find the right lifestyle and nutrition pattern that you can follow all the time.
Experts confirm that the keto diet is 2.2 times more effective for weight loss than a low-fat diet. Weight loss occurs due to:
increasing the amount of protein in the diet;
loss of appetite;
changes in eating habits;
getting energy from fat instead of glucose;
rapid fat burning;
improved metabolism due to increased insulin sensitivity.
The keto regimen does not require constant calorie counting, creates a feeling of satiety, accelerates the process of burning fat and prevents their formation.
Harm of the keto diet
In 2018, Polish professor Maciej Banach presented a report on the dangers of low-carbohydrate diets at the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology. Studies have shown that in a control group of 24,000 participants, the risk of dying from heart disease, stroke, and cancer was 50%, 51%, and 35% higher among those who followed a diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates.
In January 2020, the international organization Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine recommended that low-carbohydrate diets, including the keto diet, be removed from the Dietary Recommendations for Americans 2020-2025. Doctors have indicated that such a diet increases the risk of heart disease.
In addition, being in ketosis has side effects to be aware of.
keto flu
General deterioration that occurs with a change in diet and lasts for several days. Symptoms:
physical fatigue,
headache and dizziness,
decreased attention and performance
hunger,
sleep disorder,
irritability,
digestive disorders,
increased thirst,
frequent urination,
muscle cramps,
heart palpitations.
In the first weeks, it is necessary to strictly follow the diet in order to accustom the body to the new regimen. With keto flu symptoms, it is important to eat your fill and drink at least 2 liters of fluid daily, preferably containing electrolytes. Experts recommend adding MCT oils (fatty acids derived from coconut and palm oil), minerals (salt, soda, magnesium), caffeine, creatine, whey protein, and fiber foods to your diet. In addition, you need to reduce physical activity.
Risk group: anyone who switches to a keto diet.
Ketoacidosis
Ketosis is a natural physiological regime in which the body produces the amount of ketone bodies that the body needs. Ketoacidosis is a pathological condition when the level of glucose and ketone bodies is excessive, which can lead to coma and death. The cause of ketoacidosis can be diabetes, prolonged fasting, or a reaction to an increase in the amount of fat in the diet.
Risk group: people with type I and type II diabetes, children aged 1-13 years, nursing mothers.
Stones in the kidneys
According to studies, a ketogenic diet can provoke the formation of kidney stones in 6.7% of patients.
Risk group: children with epilepsy.
Keto diet for diabetes
Scientists have confirmed the benefits of the keto regimen for people with type II diabetes. In one case, 95% of patients cut or stopped medication, compared with 62% of participants who followed a high-carbohydrate diet. In another, 75% of study participants had increased insulin sensitivity.
In addition, studies are underway on the possible use of ketosis to combat the formation of cancer cells, treat acne, childhood epilepsy, heart and brain disease, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's syndromes. But the collected scientific material is still not enough for a reasonable conclusion.
The keto diet is effectively used in the treatment of type II diabetes. In other cases, the benefits of low-carbohydrate nutrition in medicine require additional research.
Review of the doctor about the keto diet
Is the keto diet good or bad?
"It's all about the dose." To date, this nutrition strategy has not been recognized by any of the world nutritional communities, and, accordingly, cannot be recommended by official medicine.
With this type of nutrition, more than 80% of the energy content of the diet is provided by fats, while carbohydrate intake is limited to 20 g per day or up to 50 g, which is more gentle and somewhat better tolerated. In fact, most often the keto diet is low-carb (and the transition to ketosis is associated with this) and often high-protein. With this type of diet, saturated fats, including trans fats, as well as protein predominate in the body.
It often happens that most followers of the keto diet at the initial stage do not have a clear understanding of what foods are acceptable on a ketogenic diet, but it is more or less clear what should be avoided. Therefore, meat products are used, which has its consequences.
This can provoke a deficiency of dietary fiber, which is found just in carbohydrate foods, a deficiency of water-soluble vitamins, such as C, minerals is possible. Such food can hardly be considered safe. And it is extremely difficult to stick to it all your life, and only this option allows you to ensure a stable weight, if we talk about losing weight.
What are the consequences and dangers of the keto diet?
Weight loss at the initial stage can really be impressive, even before the body has switched to ketosis and the actual fat burning due to water has not begun. 1 g of carbohydrates retains four times more fluid in the body than protein, and the first thing you can notice is a decrease in body volume. If there is really a lot of excess weight, then the result is initially encouraging.
But it is worth remembering that everything will return if the diet becomes the same. And not everything is so rosy. Here are some negative consequences:
general weakness, fatigue during adaptation;
hypoglycemia;
bad breath and sweat odor (due to the abundance of meat food);
stool disorders (constipation or a tendency to diarrhea);
nausea;
violations of the pancreas and gallbladder, especially if there is cholelithiasis of any stage;
gastric dyspepsia;
kidney stones (for long-term adherence) and impaired function;
possible deterioration of the lipid profile towards atherogenic;
return of weight when switching to a regular mixed diet.
I also associate this strategy of eating behavior with an increased risk of osteoporosis, a deterioration in brain activity.
There are a number of authoritative foreign studies with which cardiologists are more familiar, indicating that when carbohydrates are replaced in the diet with fats and protein in order to reduce weight, the risks of cardiovascular diseases increase significantly, by about 3.5-5%. That is, the risk of stroke and heart attack can increase if you just change the type of food.
Accordingly, if a person does not have the above disorders, then, if desired, you can try a keto diet and evaluate the effect.
A similar strategy, but only without introducing into ketosis, but with a significant restriction in the proportion of carbohydrates (precisely due to the reduction of simple carbohydrates), is advisable to use to start in patients with impaired carbohydrate metabolism, when, for example, the rate of glucose or insulin is increased. Encouraged by the first results in reducing the volume of the body, it is always easier to continue.
Maybe just not eat sweets and simple carbohydrates? Does it also help lower sugar and lose weight without ketosis?
Given the data on long-term and most effective nutritional strategies, as well as my own experience, I can say that if you refuse sweets, you can really lose weight: sweet food is not only high in calories, but also stimulates appetite.
But for the majority, the effect is unlikely to last and the lost kilograms will return. A person always wants what is forbidden to him, and in a fit of momentary weakness he allows himself this and overeats.
But such a diet, by no means low in carbohydrates, but with a limit on simple sugars, can also lead to weight loss and, accordingly, to the normalization of blood glucose levels.
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