What's the keto diet good for?

Since you are already googling, you could probably read a few other links, but Keto is not new. The human body is designed to produce Ketones for fuel, it's just that medically it has been found to be an effective diet for certain brain disorders, like epilepsy. It's also been found to be a very satiating diet for many making it easier to create a calorie deficit.

If you want a personal experience, I'll give you mine.

I started out Morbidly Obese and diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome. I also have/had severe GERD and Erosive Esophogitis, and a Dairy and Gluten Intolerance. I started out following a Low Carb Diet which was easy when I eliminated dairy and gluten. I noticed that I physically felt better. Keto was just a natural progression for me, because in addition to feeling better on a low carb diet, I realized that fat was satiating for me and helped me to create a calorie deficit, plus, my GERD symptoms were better. Once going full Keto, my GERD symptoms completely resolved. My blood glucose numbers normalized, my blood pressure normalized, and my Cholesterol numbers got better (they were never that bad though). Keto for me is a lifestyle. I never realized how sick I felt all the time, until I didn't. This isn't just about weight loss for me, though the 60+ pounds I've lost is awesome, it's about improving my overall health, so I tend to eat a lot more whole foods than I ever did when I was eating a SAD. People can woo me all you want, but this is a lifestyle for me and something that I plan to follow for the rest of my life. Maybe not always Keto, but definitely a low carb whole foods diet.

It is a type of low carb diet.

It is no better or worse at weight loss than any other method. This is because CICO out is the only thing that matters with regards to fat loss. However, it might be the best method for a specific individual, depending on what and how they like to eat and what makes them feel satisfied.

It works for people who feel satisfied by high fat, medium protein and low carb. Some find that because of the generally high vegetable content, they don't need to actually track calories, as they'll find they're eating at a deficit anyway. It also promotes cooking homemade food, as prepackaged meals are often higher in carbs than the "diet" would allow.

It is popular because it is currently a "fad" diet. A "fad" diet is one where people will make wild claims, with no scientific basis, about how and why it works, and will cure all of your ills. Because lots of people are currently doing it, lot of people hear about it and try it out themselves.
Edit: Don't get me wrong, there is a reason why it works. My point is that some people will make up complete BS as to why it works, when it is very simple. It works because it can create a calorie deficit.

Initially it has a high water weigh loss, so initial scale reading can be very favourable. I can completely see why it's popular right now as it gives an instant gratification. Unfortunately, unless you sick quite rigidly to the plan, you will find yourself stalling and struggling with it.

Remember that the weightloss industry only makes money by moving people onto the next new thing. Once people have tried one diet and decided it's not for them, they want to move onto the next thing. The diet industry watches this, and will give their customers something new to try. Give it another 5 years and (nearly) no one will be talking about keto anymore (In the same way that paleo/clean eating/atkins/F-plan is barely a thing anymore).

You've gotten some great explanations above. Particularly the 2 above my post. In a meta analysis of 35 studies that controlled for calories and protein, keto showed no metabolic advantage or disadvantage. Despite some of the ridiculous claims of its proponents.

The advantages of curbing hunger for some, increasing satiety for some and eating in a prefered way for some are all legitimate. It can also be a useful tool for lower blood glucose but lower carbs and/or increasing exercise and losing weight will to the same thing. It can be a useful strategy for insulin resistance.

In an otherwise healthy person, it all comes down too calorie restriction and prefered way of eating for performance and satiety. Keto works for some, not for others. It's restrictive nature can be a real obstacle for many people based on the feedback I see posted here as well as my own personal experience.

NovusDies wrote: »

For maybe 10 percent of the people who are on it, it is beneficial to mitigate certain medical conditions. For the rest it is a good way to seem popular at the office water cooler with tales of dramatic first month weight loss. In either case if people on it eat less than they burn they will lose weight.

Pretty much this lol....In all seriousness, it's not a diet for everyone. I always recommend a high protein/high fiber balanced diet, you basically eat the foods you prefer provided that you're in a caloric deficit before starting with any diet, if you still get nasty cravings and that doesn't help, then I recommend trying any diet that can help you feel satiated and help you stick with a caloric deficit. If keto does that for you, then do that, if IF does that for you, then do Intermittent Fasting. Diets are just tools, the one constant is that you need to be in a caloric deficit...and I am talking about people who are healthy. If you have any health issues, of course, your doctor should be dictating what you can and can't eat.

Keto has a few benefits that people may experience:

• Reduced hunger and cravings so weight loss feels easier. Those with IR may lose marginally faster - maybe 6 lbs more in a year than they would on a higher carb diet; for healthy people, there is no metabolic advantage and the Lise just as fast on higher carb.
• More stable blood glucose and possibly a stop, partial or full reversal of conditions associated with insulin resistance like T2D, prediabetes, PCOS, NAFLD.
• Used to treat Alzheimer's, stroke and brain injury. Some use it to prevent migraines.
• People often notice an improvement in cognition
• Can be used to help some with developmental problems like autism.
• some use it to treat IBS
• For most, it improves cholesterol and reduces inflammation reducing risk of CVD.
• treats epilepsy
• Better skin and hair
• It eliminated my reactive hypoglycemia and postural hypotension
• Lower inflammation can be used to help treat some autoimmune problems

Like any diet or drug, these benefit so will not be true for everyone. Many of the benefits can be achieved using other diets, drugs or weight loss.

I started keto to deal with autoimmune issues and to lower my BG as it crept up to prediabetic levels. I knew I needed a diet to reduce inflammation. I'd been trying to lose a bit of weight to get into the middle of a normal BMI range by eating more fruits, veggies and lean meats while cutting calories, as prescribed by my doctor to address my IR. Instead I ended up gaining almost 20 pounds and becoming overweight. I decided LCHF would be smart as it lowers inflammation. Once I cut out refined carbs I felt so much better that I kept going to keto. Better energy, thinking, easier weight loss, better BP and skin were all happy side effects. I've stayed mostly keto for over three years now.

FL_Hiker wrote: »

WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »

Since you are already googling, you could probably read a few other links, but Keto is not new. The human body is designed to produce Ketones for fuel, it's just that medically it has been found to be an effective diet for certain brain disorders, like epilepsy. It's also been found to be a very satiating diet for many making it easier to create a calorie deficit.

If you want a personal experience, I'll give you mine.

I started out Morbidly Obese and diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome. I also have/had severe GERD and Erosive Esophogitis, and a Dairy and Gluten Intolerance. I started out following a Low Carb Diet which was easy when I eliminated dairy and gluten. I noticed that I physically felt better. Keto was just a natural progression for me, because in addition to feeling better on a low carb diet, I realized that fat was satiating for me and helped me to create a calorie deficit, plus, my GERD symptoms were better. Once going full Keto, my GERD symptoms completely resolved. My blood glucose numbers normalized, my blood pressure normalized, and my Cholesterol numbers got better (they were never that bad though). Keto for me is a lifestyle. I never realized how sick I felt all the time, until I didn't. This isn't just about weight loss for me, though the 60+ pounds I've lost is awesome, it's about improving my overall health, so I tend to eat a lot more whole foods than I ever did when I was eating a SAD. People can woo me all you want, but this is a lifestyle for me and something that I plan to follow for the rest of my life. Maybe not always Keto, but definitely a low carb whole foods diet.

Thanks for the explanation! So I've also heard of the Atkins diet, is it pretty much the same thing then? And I'm curious too how your cholesterol went down, wouldn't it go up if you're eating mostly meats for your protein? Or do you eat mostly vegetarian? I'm also curious do those carbs you eliminate include veggies?

There are some vegetarian keto'ers but not a lot. Refined carbs are usually cut back on first. Most also limit starchy root veggies and fruit. Some keto'ers eat a fair bit of veggies with every meal and some eat almost none.

As a general rule, and excluding those few with familial hypercholesterolemia, increasing fats and lowering carbs (especially refined and highly processed) will usually increase HDL, lower triglycerides (which creates a good HDL triglycerides ratio), and improve the particle size of LDL to the larger and less dense variety which is not associated with CVD. Total cholesterol often goes up because HDL is higher, but it is an outdated test that is of little use. LDL seems to rise in close to half of all keto'ers and fall or stay for the rest. As I mentioned, the particle size is improved so it's not something to worry about.

Dave Feldman has been doing interesting experiments with cholesterol. He's discovered that increasing fat (and calories) results in a predictable drop in LDL about 3 days later. If you increase carbs or eat at a deficit, cholesterol rises instead. It's quite interesting.
http://cholesterolcode.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZu52duIqno&vl=en

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LuKwsz9Woc

FL_Hiker wrote: »

Not trying to be a smart butt here or anything , I'm actually curious. So I googled "keto diet" to try to find out what it was, I'd never heard of it before. And it said on Wikipedia (granted I realize wiki is not the best source of information) it was a diet designed for "epileptic children". So why are all these people doing keto? Do they have seizures or a health problem? What are the benefits? Why in the world did it catch on?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet
Thanks!

So, the Ketogenic Diet does several things. Primarily, it changes what you body uses for energy (that is a very simplistic 'suggestion' so please give me some latitude there). Basically, your body - before Keto - was using Carbs | Glucose | glycogen for energy. When you do Keto, your body changes. It moves to Fats | Ketones for energy. Your body enters a state known as Ketosis. You need to go through several phases and you *could* experience the "Keto Flu" but if you do your homework and take ownership (getting a little snarky with this, I will indeed admit to that) then you can bypass that mess. The Keto Flu is how your body responds to the loss of Electrolytes (Sodium, Potassium and Magnesium, mostly). It can be a nightmare and causes a lot of people who failed to do their homework to quit the Keto Diet.

There is also evidence that Keto can help people with different autoimmune diseases and can help with some forms of cancer. It is also potentially good for T2D (I have higher A1C, which is why I am doing Keto) and, of course, it is supposed to help people with Epilepsy.


There are, most would agree I would suggest, four different "versions" of Keto. Look that up (since you are exploring this....I would not want you to miss something because I mentioned all four of them and you did not google this and missed something there....).

Essentially, the "Standard Keto" is something like 75% of your calories come from Fats, 20% of your calories come from Protein and 5% of your calories come from Carbs. It can vary a bit for each person, but that is the general starting point.


There is a lot of BS out there about Keto (like there is for just about everything). People, for some reason, tend to get VERY EMOTIONAL when discussing this topic. I would suggest - and I am not worried about offending anyone with the next statement - that there are a lot of very ignorant people out there who follow Keto "because three colleagues at work are doing this" or "because my Aunt Mary had great success with Keto". That is all they know about Keto when they start (that someone else did it and lost a ton of weight). Not good enough (I would suggest).

I looked into this for about two months before I decided to try it. I am glad that I spent the time initially.


Anyway, when it comes to weight loss (or, weight gain or maintenance) it is a very simple formula: Calories In vs. Calories Out. Essentially, it is that balance that determines what happens. Keto - or any other way of eating - just helps you to find that balance (whatever it might be for you at any given time) and to keep it. Nothing magical - in this context - about Keto.

Now, for those of us doing Keto who are doing Keto because of an autoimmune issue or T2D or Epilepsy....I would suggest that there is indeed something magical about Keto. But, only in that context.

Does this help?

nvmomketo wrote: »

Keto has a few benefits that people may experience:

• Reduced hunger and cravings so weight loss feels easier. Those with IR may lose marginally faster - maybe 6 lbs more in a year than they would on a higher carb diet; for healthy people, there is no metabolic advantage and the Lise just as fast on higher carb.
• More stable blood glucose and possibly a stop, partial or full reversal of conditions associated with insulin resistance like T2D, prediabetes, PCOS, NAFLD.
• Used to treat Alzheimer's, stroke and brain injury. Some use it to prevent migraines.
• People often notice an improvement in cognition
• Can be used to help some with developmental problems like autism.
• some use it to treat IBS
• For most, it improves cholesterol and reduces inflammation reducing risk of CVD.
• treats epilepsy
• Better skin and hair
• It eliminated my reactive hypoglycemia and postural hypotension
• Lower inflammation can be used to help treat some autoimmune problems

Like any diet or drug, these benefit so will not be true for everyone. Many of the benefits can be achieved using other diets, drugs or weight loss.

I started keto to deal with autoimmune issues and to lower my BG as it crept up to prediabetic levels. I knew I needed a diet to reduce inflammation. I'd been trying to lose a bit of weight to get into the middle of a normal BMI range by eating more fruits, veggies and lean meats while cutting calories, as prescribed by my doctor to address my IR. Instead I ended up gaining almost 20 pounds and becoming overweight. I decided LCHF would be smart as it lowers inflammation. Once I cut out refined carbs I felt so much better that I kept going to keto. Better energy, thinking, easier weight loss, better BP and skin were all happy side effects. I've stayed mostly keto for over three years now.

FL_Hiker wrote: »

WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »

Since you are already googling, you could probably read a few other links, but Keto is not new. The human body is designed to produce Ketones for fuel, it's just that medically it has been found to be an effective diet for certain brain disorders, like epilepsy. It's also been found to be a very satiating diet for many making it easier to create a calorie deficit.

If you want a personal experience, I'll give you mine.

I started out Morbidly Obese and diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome. I also have/had severe GERD and Erosive Esophogitis, and a Dairy and Gluten Intolerance. I started out following a Low Carb Diet which was easy when I eliminated dairy and gluten. I noticed that I physically felt better. Keto was just a natural progression for me, because in addition to feeling better on a low carb diet, I realized that fat was satiating for me and helped me to create a calorie deficit, plus, my GERD symptoms were better. Once going full Keto, my GERD symptoms completely resolved. My blood glucose numbers normalized, my blood pressure normalized, and my Cholesterol numbers got better (they were never that bad though). Keto for me is a lifestyle. I never realized how sick I felt all the time, until I didn't. This isn't just about weight loss for me, though the 60+ pounds I've lost is awesome, it's about improving my overall health, so I tend to eat a lot more whole foods than I ever did when I was eating a SAD. People can woo me all you want, but this is a lifestyle for me and something that I plan to follow for the rest of my life. Maybe not always Keto, but definitely a low carb whole foods diet.

Thanks for the explanation! So I've also heard of the Atkins diet, is it pretty much the same thing then? And I'm curious too how your cholesterol went down, wouldn't it go up if you're eating mostly meats for your protein? Or do you eat mostly vegetarian? I'm also curious do those carbs you eliminate include veggies?

There are some vegetarian keto'ers but not a lot. Refined carbs are usually cut back on first. Most also limit starchy root veggies and fruit. Some keto'ers eat a fair bit of veggies with every meal and some eat almost none.

As a general rule, and excluding those few with familial hypercholesterolemia, increasing fats and lowering carbs (especially refined and highly processed) will usually increase HDL, lower triglycerides (which creates a good HDL triglycerides ratio), and improve the particle size of LDL to the larger and less dense variety which is not associated with CVD. Total cholesterol often goes up because HDL is higher, but it is an outdated test that is of little use. LDL seems to rise in close to half of all keto'ers and fall or stay for the rest. As I mentioned, the particle size is improved so it's not something to worry about.

Dave Feldman has been doing interesting experiments with cholesterol. He's discovered that increasing fat (and calories) results in a predictable drop in LDL about 3 days later. If you increase carbs or eat at a deficit, cholesterol rises instead. It's quite interesting.
http://cholesterolcode.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZu52duIqno&vl=en

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LuKwsz9Woc

Let's be honest, most of those benefits are driven by weight loss and the same results of any diet that induces weight loss. Also, it should be noted that keto is one therapy to reduce progession of Alzheimer's but its not a stand alone treatment... Meaning its a possible component of several treats (i.e., meds, cogntivie therapy, etc..)


Its good if you are fine with practically eliminating carbs and find fat filling. I cycle keto and high carb to improve fat mobilization and do high carb to reduce the impacts of glycogen depletion, and reduce/eliminate the impacts on leptin/ghrelin as it relates to dieting.