Is It Time To Lay The Keto Craze To Rest?
The keto craze is everywhere! You see products advertised on grocery store shelves, restaurant menus dedicated to the diet, and headlines galore about keto. It’s even gotten the reputation for managing diseases.
The keto diet is a strict diet that is high in fat, very low in carbs, and moderate protein. The goal is for 5% of your daily energy needs to come from carbs, while the USDA recommendation for carb intake is 45-65% of daily energy needs. Typical keto recipes will replace creamer in your coffee with butter or oil, and the diet places a heavy emphasis on the meat, cheese, and avocados.
Keto is similar to the Atkins diet that was popular in the 90’s, with a stronger emphasis on fat. The eating pattern of keto eliminates many fruits and vegetables that are high in fiber and carbohydrates, as well as other essential micronutrients. From a simplistic perspective, it would make sense that if your body is using fat instead of carbs for energy, this can help with weight loss. However our bodies aren’t that simple and the initial weight loss that people experience with keto typically is from a calorie deficit.
Research shows that with diets like keto, 90-95% of people regain as much as 2/3 of the weight they lost within one year, and almost all of the weight within 5 years.
The ketogenic diet originated in the 1920’s as a therapeutic diet for children with epilepsy. Research has found a nearly 50% reduction in seizures in about half of patients who follow this diet. Patients consume a very low amount of carbohydrates which forces the body to utilize fat for energy instead. Medical professionals, including dietitians, will advise a patient following this diet. When a patient starts this diet, all of their food will be weighed in the hospital to ensure the proper ratio of fats to carbs. Since each individual’s metabolism works differently, blood and urine tests will have to be closely monitored to ensure the patient stays in ketosis. Because of the effect on a neurological disease like epilepsy, research is exploring if keto could also be used for other diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, or multiple sclerosis.
Our bodies are made to run off carbohydrates for energy.
Fat is only meant to serve energy needs for our body in long-term situations. Think of it this way, carbohydrates are the regular tire on your cars and fats are the spare tire. Spare tires are only meant for emergency situations and to get you from where your tire blew out to the car shop. Spare tires are not going to take you safely on a cross-country roadtrip. Also, if used too long, spare tires can cause other damages to your car. Similarly, if consuming higher than necessary levels of fat for too long, your body may start to notice many negative implications.
As your body adjusts to using fat instead of carbs for energy, you can experience what’s called the “keto flu” for the first couple of weeks. People report feeling achy, nauseous and unable to think straight. If you can make it through this phase of the diet and continue to eat keto, you increase your risk for kidney stones, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), loss of bone density, electrolyte imbalance, constipation, certain cancers, and heart disease.
When even the biggest keto advocates say it shouldn’t be followed long-term, you know there’s a problem with the diet.
The rise of keto has been fast and furious. The allure of the quick weight loss from this diet is tempting. But diets don’t work, and even worse, they can have negative health implications. So despite what your friend on Facebook or your neighbor says, keto isn’t a miracle diet. And I think it’s time to lay the craze to rest.
