The ketogenic diet or keto diet as it is more commonly known, is a low carbohydrate, high fat diet that offers its participants a good deal of health benefits.
In fact many studies have shown that this type of diet can not only help you to lose the weight that you want, but also improve your overall health.
Ketogenic diets may even have a good deal of health benefits against diabetes, cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer diseases.
Basics Of Keto
The ketogenic diet is a very low carbohydrate, high fat diet that shares many of the same aspects with the more famous Atkins Diet. It also shares the same trates as many of the low carbohydrate diets.
It involves drastically reducing the amount of carbohydrates you have with each meal and replacing them with fats. The reduction of carbohydrates puts your body into a metabolic state. This metabolic state is called ketosis.
When this happens, your body will become much more efficient at burning the fat it stores for energy. It also turns fat into ketones in the liver, which will then supply energy to the brain.
Ketogenic diets can have effects such as causing significant reductions in blood sugar and insulin levels. This, along with the increased ketones, has a lot of health benefits.
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What Is Ketosis
Ketosis is a metabolic state that causes your body to burn fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates.
This occurs when you significantly reduce the amount of carbohydrates you consume with each meal. This will limit the amount glucose (sugar) that your body has access to. Glucose is usually the main source of energy for the cells in your body.
Following a ketogenic diet is one of the most effective ways to get your body to enter the metabolic state of ketosis. This process involves limiting your intake of carbohydrates. You can limit the amount of carbohydrates to around 20 to 50 grams per day and instead filling up on fats. The fats can be obtained from meat, fish, eggs, nut and a variety of healthy oils.
Remember it is also essential to moderate your protein consumption with every meal. The reason for this is because protein can be converted into glucose. If you consume large amounts of protein it can have the effect of slowing your transition into ketosis.
Starting to practice intermittent fasting could also help you to achieve ketosis faster. There are any different forms of intermittent that you can try. One of the most common methods is to limit your food intake window to 8 hours and then fast for the remaining 16 hours of the day.
There are tests for your blood, urine and breath, that can help you determine whether your body has entered ketosis. These test measure the amount of ketones that are being produced by your body.
You will display symptoms to show that your body has entered the metabolic state of ketosis. These symptoms include, a higher level of thirst, a dry mouth, a more frequent amount of urination and a loss of hunger or appetite.
Keto Diets Can Help You Lose Weight
A ketogenic or keto diet is not only an effective way to lose weight but also lowers the risk of developing certain diseases.
Research shows us that the ketogenic diet is as effective as a low fat diet when it comes to losing weight.
More so, the food for a keto diet is so filling that you can even lose weight without having to track your food intake or even counting calories.
On a review of 13 studies it has found that following a very low carb, keto diet was more effective for long term weight loss than a low fat diet. The studies found that people that followed a keto diet lost an average of 0.9 (2pounds) more than the group that followed a standard low fat diet. It also showed that a keto diet led to reductiolons in distolic blood pressure and triglyceride levels.
A study in 34 older adults shows that people whom followed a keto diet for a period of 8 weeks lost 5 times more total body fat. This is compared to people that followed an normal low fat diet.
Keto Diets For Diabetes
Diabetes can be characterized to changes in the bodies’ metabolism, a higher blood sugar and an impaired insulin function.
The keto diet can help your body to lose any excess fat. This is shown to be closely linked to type 2 diabetes, prediabetes and a condition known as metabolic syndrome.
One study has shown that the keto diet has helped to improve the bodies’ insulin sensitivity by up to 75 percent.
Another study has shown that in women with type 2 diabetes that were following the keto diet for a period of 90 days had a significant reduction in levels of hemoglobin A1C. This is a measure of the bodies’ long term blood sugar management.
A study of 349 people with type 2 diabetes fund that those who followed the keto diet lost an average of 26 pounds over a two-year period. This is a very important benefit when you take into consideration the link between body weight and type 2 diabetes.
More importantly, the people following the keto diet also experienced improved blood sugar management. They also noticed that the use of certain blood sugar medications amongst the participants. This was measured throughout the course of the study.
Conclusion
In this article I have shown the many advantages of following the ketogenic or keto diet. The main benefit of following this diet is of course weight loss. Studies have shown that their are a good deal of health benefits that go along with the weight loss. These healths benefits can be helpful to a lot of people throughout the course of their lives.
If you are deciding to follow the keto diet for weight loss then remember, you can maximize the weight loss by using an exercise program that is suitable for you.
If you want to use the keto diet for any existing health reasons you already have then consult with your doctor before making any major life changes.
Please feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions.