Let's Talk Keto
What Even is it?
You have probably heard of keto, maybe you even know someone in your life who is on the diet currently. But what is it? It is when you reduce your carb intake so much and replace it with fat, that your body starts feeding your brain fat instead of carbs and also using fat as it’s fuel instead of carbs like normal.
Where does this come from? Is there any benefit? Actually yes, it has been used throughout history but really proven in the 20th century to help children who suffer from severe epilepsy. It can reduce symptoms and even reduce the occurrences of them. Now you might be telling yourself “I am not a child with severe epilepsy, is there any benefit for me?” Let’s review together.
You can lose weight on a keto diet and, in fact most people who switch to it do lose weight. However it is an elimination diet, meaning you cut out all processed junk, and in any diet of that sort, people lose weight. The problem for keto is when you look at what else is going on in your body’s system when you are on it. You can be skinny and unhealthy, remember that nicotine is an appetite suppressant so a smoker may be thin but that does not make them healthy. If eating like that were the best diet for humans, it would be a cruel joke on the part of mother nature: Ancient humans did not have access to free fats like oils and butters, us evolving to preform best eating those would seem unlikely. As a side note this is not me being a vegan ranting about an animal based diet, you can be keto and vegan and everything I am saying here applies to that too.
Are There Downsides?
There are unfortunately many downsides to the keto diet. Studies show that your body fat loss actually slows down when on a ketogenic diet. In fact, the rate of fat loss is cut in half. Instead, your body starts to cannibalize your own protein.
There was a study that placed cross-fit trainers onto a keto diet. After two months on that diet they had lost 8% of their muscle mass in their legs. When you train and work out, your muscles are supposed to get bigger or at least stay the same. Them shrinking is definitely a really worrying sign.
Another study found a reduction in bone density in people practicing a keto diet, which led to them having a higher risk of getting fractures.
Meta-analysis reviews (a study looking at the results of multiple studies to make larger conclusions) found that people who eat a diet even approaching a keto diet and not even going all the way, live less long than their counterparts. There is a significantly higher risk of all cause mortality. Other studies have shown how low-carb diets, in which keto is one, impair your arteries and make heart disease, the number one killer in developed countries, worse.
Hopefully, seeing all these downsides convinces you to either never try or to stop the keto diet if you are already on it. Negative gains at the gym and a shorter and more disease riddled life, isn’t worth it. There are easier, and better ways to lose weight.
