Is Keto Worth it?

Demander2015 wrote: »

Okay, first you need to know how the keto diet originated. In the olden days (1920's and such), there were no drugs to treat epilepsy. So the physicians used to prescribe Keto diet (yes, the exact same one you are talking about) as a treatment. The ketone bodies that are generated actually cause changes in the brain chemistry to slow it down. Because many of the subjects also lost weight while on this diet, the diet became a fad.


Now, while for people with epilepsy, that is a good thing (because their brain impulses are hyperactive and keto brings them in a normal range) but for normal people, it will slow down the normal functioning of the brain. Consider what would happen if people who don't have diabetes started taking insulin. (Though keto doesn't cause as immediate and as life-threatening changes as insulin overload).That is also a big part of why people feel lethargic. And the effects of keto diet on the brain chemistry of normal people has not been well studied. It is also not known if there are any permanent effects.

There is another state in which ketosis is produced - diabetes. Because of the lack of insulin, people with diabetes are unable to process carbs. This is why the body switches to fat metabolism and produces ketones. But the high amount of ketones produces severe stomach cramps, vomiting, delirium and even coma. Now, in a keto diet that would not be possible because you are eating some carbs and you will have natural cravings and desire to eat and not eat certain foods. The same 100% no carb only fat environment is hard to replicate. However, you can have milder versions of side effects like stomach pains, confusion, lethargy, nausea, diarrhoea etc. But this will give you an idea that a body running only on fat isn't such a good thing.

I am not trying to scare you but I believe you should have all the info.

Moreover, Keto claims that its main benefit is to make your body burn fat instead of carbs. It also cites some study that found that ketones are more efficiently used by the body than carbs for producing energy. However, our bodies are ingenious machines. If our bodies have been made to run on carbs, it is for a reason. Mere efficiency is not the criteria. The side effects (as mentioned above) also need to be taken into account.
Sometimes people say that we are born into ketosis so, I don't know, it is automatically better? When we are born we have fetal form of blood and muscle tissue. But the same kind in adults causes diseases and slows down movement.

Moreover, there are some systems in our body that run on carbs - like the anaerobic system which cannot work on ketones.

Another thing, theoretically you could eat only gummy bears, maintain calories and lose weight. However, you wouldn't do that right? Then why go overboard with fat and protein-laden foods. Many of the keto foods are extremely unhealthy because of the way they are made and because they are very high in fat (especially unhealthy fats).

Also, if you don't count calories on the keto diet, you can easily go overboard as keto foods are very very very high in calories. But if you count calories, that would mean that you would be starving all day long, especially since dense calorie-packed foods will have very small portions for that calorie allowance. This mostly why keto followers struggle.

Moreover, you have to see what is your priority. Do you just want to lose weight or do you want to be healthy? These are different things. Because being healthy means having a good cardio-resp strength, a good heart, no fatty liver, no cholesterol in your arteries, strong bones and muscles, strong ligaments (need protein and calcium) , a good mental health (exercise and healthy foods help a lot with that), proper vitamins for healthy blood, functioning of the body, proper vitamins for skin regeneration so that the flaps of skin are absorbed once you lose weight and much much more. Keto will not give you that. In fact, keto works in the opposite direction of many of these things.

Also, it becomes very very hard for some people to exercise while on keto. Some can manage, many can't. And exercise But it is up to you to decide.

Moreover, diets never work. Whenever you stop them, the weight comes back. If you want to lose weight and keep it off you should never follow a diet. Instead, you should make permanent changes to your eating habits and menu that will stay with you for the rest of your life. These habits have to be sustainable in the long term and compatible with your routine. If you think that keto is something you can follow until the day you die, go for it. But many people are not able to do that.

Keto will also deprive you of many essential vitamins and minerals found in different kinds of foods. While you can take supplements for some vitamins, there are so many micronutrients and antioxidants that man has not yet been able to extract and formulate into capsules. Which is why it is always better to take them from a natural source, instead of from supplements. But then again, it depends on your priorities.

While many people swear by keto because they could maintain it and they got results, there are also many people who swear by the fact that a moderate, mindful, permanent food habit modification by including all kinds of food in moderation produces the same results. The basic formula is calorie in < calorie out. For a difference of every 3500 cals, you lose a pound. You could do that on a gummy bear diet, a purple diet, a keto diet or a well-rounded diet. The key is to follow the diet that you can stick with for the rest of your life. Eg. I have a sweet tooth. If I deprive myself sweets for very long, I end up bingeing. The forbidden fruit is so much sweeter. Therefore, even though I would like protein to be in a little higher percentage, I still add something sweet every day to my menu while maintaining the calories because I cannot deprive myself of sweets till the day I die.

And as for the fat burning benefit of keto goes, let me break it down. Any kind of food habit where you are eating less than you are burning is taking energy from fat, period. While it is true that the body can burn muscle, it tends to burn fat. Moreover, you can add weight training and HIIT and good protein to maintain muscle tissue.
There are also many ways you can drive up the fat burn - eg HIIT training without energy drinks and in a calorie deficit, fasting cardio etc. These are much easier to follow than a keto diet and have less damaging effects o your body.

Ultimately, I would say that consistency is key. If you cannot stick with a food and exercise routine forever, don't start it. Every time you start it and fail, it reinforces a negative attitude towards fitness and weight management. You feel like a failure and that feeling, in turn, causes you to fail and the loop continues. So do it once, do right and do it forever. Pick the thing that you can follow forever and stick with it. Don't care if everyone around you is snuffing honey or lemons or whatever to lose weight. If keto works, go with that, if you think you can stick with paleo, go with that, if you think well rounded moderate diet is it, go with that. And start making the changes slowly. You wouldn't run 10 miles, do 100 pushups, 500 squats and lift weight for hours on the first day you decide to exercise. You would start slow - maybe 30 mins of light to moderate cardio, 10 pushups and 10 squats and maybe 10 mins of weightlifting and then adjust it as you go. So should be your food modification.

I hope this long ramble helped.

Fuzzipeg wrote: »

May be I was too generic the other day using "fats" as the term for brain fuel, "fatty acids" in those fats create keytones. what the heck! After all the brain is 60% fats. It had been a very long, very hard day.