Diet Ups & Downs series: The Ketogenic diet (keto diet)

The ketogenic diet commonly known as Keto diet is a new method that turns your body into a fat burning machine. But in the process, you may suffer from some side effects along with its many benefits.

Therefore, in this article we will discuss everything related to the famous keto diet:

Overview

The ketogenic diet is a very low-carb (almost zero carb), high-fat and high protein diet.

The idea behind the keto diet is a metabolic state called ketosis.

Ketosis

Here is a simple explanation of the ketosis state:

Carbohydrates are the main source of energy in our bodies.

If there are no carbohydrates in the body, it starts to turn the fat cells into small molecules called ketone bodies. These ketone bodies are burned to give your body the energy it needs to stay alive and functional.

When you follow a keto diet, you will be eating no or low carb daily. Therefore, your body will be depleted from carbohydrates and starts to utilize its fat to form ketone bodies to turn them into energy instead of carbohydrates.

When this happens, your body becomes incredibly efficient at burning fat and you will lose weight faster.

There are 4 types of the ketogenic diet:

1-Standard ketogenic diet (SKD): This is a very low-carb, moderate-protein and high-fat diet. It typically contains 75% fat, 20% protein and only 5% carbs.

2-Cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD): This diet involves periods of higher-carb refeeds, such as 5 ketogenic days followed by 2 high-carb days.

3-Targeted ketogenic diet (TKD): This diet allows you to add carbs around workouts.

4-High-protein ketogenic diet: This is similar to a standard ketogenic diet, but includes more protein. The ratio is often 60% fat, 35% protein and 5% carbs.

However, only the standard and high-protein ketogenic diets have been studied extensively. Cyclical or targeted ketogenic diets are more advanced methods and primarily used by bodybuilders or athletes.

Keto diet food list

As I mentioned before, the keto diet is based on eating high fat, high protein and low carb, so there will be certain foods that you can eat and others that not allowed at all.

Allowed foods

Any low carb food can be eaten and here are some examples:

1-Meat: Red meat, steak, ham, sausage, bacon, chicken and turkey.

2-Animal fats: Butter, Ghee, Lard and tallow.

3-Fish: Such as salmon, trout, tuna and mackerel.

4-Eggs: you will be eating whole eggs not just egg whites.

5-Cheese: any fatty and unprocessed cheese (cheddar, goat, cream, blue or mozzarella).

6-Nuts and seeds: Almonds, walnuts, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, etc.

7-Healthy vegetable oils: olive oil, coconut oil and avocado oil.

8-Some fruits: avocados, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.

9-Low-carb green leafy veggies: Most green veggies, tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc.

10-Condiments: You can use salt, pepper and various healthy herbs and spices.

11-Dairy products: full fat milk, yogurt and heavy creams.

Not allowed foods

Any food high in carb should be limited and here is a list of them:

1-Sugary foods: Soda, fruit juice, smoothies, cake, ice cream, candy, etc.

2-Grains or starchy foods: Wheat-based products, rice, pasta, cereal, bread, etc.

3-Fruit: All fruit, except avocado and small portions of berries like strawberries and blueberries.

4-Beans or legumes: Peas, kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc.

5-Root vegetables and tubers: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc.

6-Low-fat or diet products: These are highly processed and often high in carbs.

7-Some condiments or sauces: These often contain sugar and unhealthy fat.

8-Alcohol: Due to their carb content, many alcoholic beverages can throw you out of ketosis.

9-Sugar-free diet foods: These are often high in sugar alcohols, which can affect ketone levels in some cases. These foods also tend to be highly processed.

My personal keto diet meal plan

I tried the ketogenic diet myself and it really gave me better results in less time than any other diet I have ever tried, and here’s a full day of eating:

Meal 1: (5) whole eggs, fried with 2 tbsp of olive oil, cheddar cheese and green pepper.

Meal 2: meat, bacon or fish and a cucumber.

Meal 3: whey protein with (1) cup of whole milk.

Meal 4: chicken breast or tuna with some green pepper and mustard.

Meal 5: (1) cup of whole milk and (3) cups of yogurt.

This meal plan may not work for everyone, but it was really effective for me. So if you want to know how to build your own diet plan, you should check out the 15 day diet. In which you will get a full guide about workouts, nutrition and supplements to achieve your results just in 15 days.

Ups

1-Rapid weight loss

A couple of days after you start the keto diet; your body weight drops significantly. Most of this weight maybe just water weight at the beginning, but you will be burning more fats as you carry on with eating low carb foods.

Keto diet VS Low-fat diet

A study found that people on a ketogenic diet lost 2.2 times more weight than those on a calorie-restricted low-fat diet.

Keto diet VS normal carb diet

A study found that the ketogenic group lost 24.4 pounds (11.1 kg), compared to 15.2 pounds (6.9 kg) in the higher-carb group.

Keto diet VS diabetic diet

A study found that people on the ketogenic diet lost 3 times more weight than those on the diet recommended by Diabetes UK.

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Related: How to burn more fat with weight training (even more than cardio)

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2-No counting calories or tracking

For those of you who hate counting and tracking calories in each and every meal, this diet is an excellent choice for you.

All you have to do as you follow a keto diet is eliminate the high carb foods from your diet and eat foods that contain high fat and high protein as much as you want.

I personally focus on eating fatty, high protein foods and limit the pure fat like oils and butter to just one or two meals to give me faster results when I want to lose weight in a short period of time.

3-helps in treating diabetes

Diabetes is a worldwide disease that characterized by changes in metabolism, high blood sugar and impaired insulin function.

One study found that the ketogenic diet improved insulin sensitivity by a whopping 75%.

Another study in people with type 2 diabetes found that 7 of the 21 participants were able to stop using all diabetes medications.

As I mentioned before, the ketogenic diet can help you lose excess fat, which is closely linked to type 2 diabetes, prediabetes and metabolic syndrome.

4-Less epilepsy seizures

The ketogenic diet was originally designed in (1920) to treat neurological diseases. So, it may be beneficial for people with epilepsy.

One study found it reduced the frequency of seizures for many study participants, 7 percent of whom were seizure-free at the four-year mark. And though it wasn’t the goal of this study, nearly 20 percent of the participants lost weight while following the diet.

Downs

Although the keto diet is safe for almost every healthy person, you may experience some of these side effects:

1-Keto flu

The keto flu is a collection of symptoms experienced by some people when they first start the keto diet.

These symptoms, which can feel similar to the flu, are caused by the body adapting to a new diet consisting of very little carbohydrates.

This drastic reduction of carbs can come as a shock to the body and may cause withdrawal-like symptoms, similar to those experienced when weaning off an addictive substance like caffeine.

Keto flu symptoms may include; nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, headache, irritability, weakness, muscle cramps, dizziness, poor concentration, stomach pain, muscle soreness, difficulty, sleeping and Sugar cravings.

These symptoms are commonly reported by those who have just begun the ketogenic diet and can be distressing.

Symptoms typically last about a week, though some people may experience them for a longer period of time.

To minimize these symptoms, you can try a regular low-carb diet for the first few weeks. This may teach your body to burn more fat before you completely eliminate carbs.

A ketogenic diet can also change the water and mineral balance of your body, so adding extra salt to your meals or taking mineral supplements can help.

For minerals, try taking 3,000–4,000 mg of sodium, 1,000 mg of potassium and 300 mg of magnesium per day to minimize side effects.

2-Flat looking muscles

I didn’t suffer from the keto flu but this falt looking muscles was my only problem with the keto diet.

A couple of days after following the keto diet, I felt a decrease in my muscle size. So I searched the web to know if there is something I did wrong.

But I found that eating less carbohydrate empties the muscle glycogen stores. And as the glycogen leaves the muscle, the water retention within the muscle drops too.

This will make your muscles look flat which for me was a huge problem as I thought I was losing muscle.

You can fix this issue by doing a high carb refeed day after following the keto diet for a week or two.

3-It’s hard to stick to it

In many countries, the main meal of the day must contain rice or bread. So it’s hard for those people who are used to eating rice and bread every day to stick to this diet.

The only way to fix this problem is to lower your intake of these foods gradually instead of suddenly eliminating all of them.

As you eat less amount of them, the craving for these foods start to drop a bit by bit until you feel that there is no need for them anymore.

After you reach that level you can start your keto diet as long as you want to achieve your goals.

Who should follow the keto diet?

A ketogenic diet can be great for people who are overweight, diabetic or looking to improve their metabolic health.

It may be less suitable for elite athletes or those wishing to add large amounts of muscle or weight.

The Ketogenic diet is like any other diet, it will only work if you are consistent and stick with it in the long term.

That being said, few things are as well proven in nutrition as the powerful health and weight loss benefits of a ketogenic diet.

References

1-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12679447

2-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17971178

3-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15767618

4-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16318637

5-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2633336/

6-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3527829

7-https://www.epilepsybehavior.com/article/S1525-5050(16)00112-8/fulltext