Is Keto any good?

nvmomketo wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

nvmomketo wrote: »

psuLemon wrote: »

Keto can be good if:

1. You have diabetes or IR
2. You are satiated by fat
3. You are not a volume eater
4. You do not enjoy carb foods such as fruits, oats, legumes

Really, the best diet is the one that you can sustain and comply with.

But of all maro based diets, high protein > all. Protein helps maintain muscle and metabolic functions, burns more calories through digestion and has the higher satiety factor.

Keto is inferior if:

1. You like volume foods
2. You are satiated by carbs
3. You partake in anearobic exercise or ultra endurance events.

ETA: if you do keto, you will need close to 5000mg of sodium.

Keto is well suited to ultra endurance events - it is certainly not inferior. For example, I believe the 100 mile record holder in the U.S. uses a ketogenic diet. I think his name is Bitter? Keto tends to cut down on GI problems too which is often a factor for those with a DNF in long events.

For very short explosive exercise, like a 100 m race, fats may not be as good of a fuel as glucose. I agree with you there.

Bold is false and has been explained to you multiple times.

You need more oxygen when you are using a higher proportion of fat for fuel - a.k.a. working harder, the exact opposite of what you want to happen.
You also lose some ability to utilise carbs, even with event specific carb loading and fuelling.

Elite athletes, and even recreational athletes, follow the most successful protocols - which is why the vast majority of endurance athletes are carb monsters.

It's not been proven to me, although people have discussed it. I have not yet read anything that shows that people who eat a ketogenic diet perform at an inferior level at an ultra endurance event. It seems a ketogenic, fat adapted athlete would be better suited to taking advantage of fat stores to use as energy than someone who typically relies on glucose for their main daily fuel.

Even if more inhaled oxygen is used, a fat adapted athlete will avoid hitting the wall because their brain does not become starved for glucose if the body is using ingested glucose in muscles during an event. They have plenty of fat to use as fuel otherwise. They can keep going longer - even elite athletes need to worry about that. Also fat oxidation levels among those athletes is high. They can often continue burning fats at higher VO2 max intensities than they could before becoming fat adapted.

A fat adapted athlete may have some transient insulin resistance in the first day of reintroducing a high carb diet, but if athletes choose to use some glucose on race day, they can easily reintroduce a higher level of carbs a day earlier to compensate. I sort of doubt they are eating high carb meals right before the race so they don't have to deal with GI issues. And there really is no rule saying a fat adapted athlete cannot use glucose gels or whatever to their advantage on race day. A fat adapted athlete is metabolically flexible - they are not as locked into using one type of fuel as other athletes may be.

Please note, I did not say a ketogenic diet is superior. I wrote, "Keto is well suited to ultra endurance events - it is certainly not inferior." In all of my reading, the only disadvantage to keto due to a need for more oxygen was a 10k racewalk where 3-week ketogenic dieters slowed 23 seconds. It wasn't an ultra endurance event and it is arguable by the leading LCHF researchers that 3 weeks is not enough to be completely fat adapted.

I don't see a long term ketogenic diet as being proven inferior here.