The Keto diet has become a huge hit recently, but apparently, it might not be the healthiest way to lose excess weight. This is a very low-carb, high-fat diet, and is similar to the Atkins and low-carb diets.
It includes a drastic reduction of the intake of carbs and replacing it with fat. This reduction in carbs puts your body into a metabolic state called ketosis, when it is incredibly efficient at burning fat for energy.
The diet also converts fat into ketones in the liver, which can supply energy for the brain.
The ketogenic diet has several versions:
- The standard ketogenic diet (SKD): It is a very low-carb, moderate-protein and high-fat diet, and it typically contains 75% fat, 20% protein and only 5% carbs.
- The cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD): It involves periods of higher-carb refeeds, like 5 ketogenic days followed by 2 high-carb days.
- The targeted ketogenic diet (TKD): It allows you to add carbs around workouts.
- High-protein ketogenic diet: It is similar to the standard ketogenic diet, but is higher in protein. The ratio is 60% fat, 35% protein, and 5% carbs.
However, the top cardiologist Dr. Kim Williams says that it should not be done long-term, as it fills up the body with proteins, mostly animal proteins, but it is not sustainable and can damage the body.
This diet focuses on two staples: protein and fats, while crabs need to be avoided and consumed only in very low amounts.
It promises to lead to weight loss by helping the body to enter ketosis, which is a stage of accelerated burning of fats. Keto dieters do lose weight very quickly, but Dr. Kim says that it should only be used on a short-term basis.
Dr. Williams, a past president of the American College of Cardiology, says that while the basic concept teaches us that making a dietary change can make a change, he strongly believes that the science of it is wrong.
Dr. Williams explains that the keto diet is suitable for those people who want to lose weight in a short time only, and nothing more.
He shared a study published in the Journal of American Heart Association which isolated the people who have had a heart attack, the cardiology population that we’re seeing, and they were following the ketogenic diet.
This study showed that a low-carb diet leads to an increase in mortality, especially when it comes to heart-related death.
Therefore, if you need to lose weight in a very short time, the keto diet is ideal for you, but your body needs carbs, so you cannot follow it longer. You need to have a healthier, more balanced approach to weight loss, and keto could endanger your health.
Your diet should be high in nutrients and balanced, and you should also start exercising in order to shape your body in a healthy way.
