Is the keto diet good for losing weight?

What is a Ketogenic Diet & will it help you lose weight?

How did a diet designed to help reduce epilepsy in children come to be one of the most talked-about diets for weight loss? And does it work?

Background History

Theories of how and what we should eat and the best way of losing weight have been turned on their head in the last few decades.

Back then, we were given to understand that eating fat made you fat, so low-fat versions of fatty foods were the order of the day.

The thinking went that we should get most of our energy from carbohydrates, a fair amount of protein for building muscle etc. and very little fat.

There was a well-known image of a pyramid, supposedly representing the balance of foods we should eat – it had mainly carbs at the base (meaning most of our calories should come from them) and fats at the top (least calorific intake). Part of the problem with that concept is that most people in the western world took that to mean white bread, potatoes, white rice and pasta, rather than whole grains.

Where we get our energy from

Our bodies tend to look for the energy it needs in a specific order, not surpassingly from easiest to hardest to convert.

The easiest types to convert to energy the body can use are sugars. Sugar (glucose) is a carbo-hydrate, but a particular type which is nearer to what the body needs for energy, so if you’ve just consumed a sugary food or drink and go on a jog, that will be used first.

The problems arise when you consume sugar but DON’T immediately go jogging which, let’s face it, most don’t. Then the unused sugars get converted to fat.

The next source is non-sugary carbohydrates, like wholegrain rice, bread etc. These need to be converted to sugars but are a longer-lasting, slower burn than sugars.

When sugars and carbo-hydrates are not available the body looks to your store of fat and starts to use that for its source of energy.

This is what happens when you fast and it was noticed that epileptics, when fasting, had fewer seizures than usual.

The ketogenic diet aims to simulate the effect of fasting by allowing the nutrition and protein you need, while still depriving your body of carbs so it is forced to use fat as its main energy source.

The thinking goes, therefore that if you want to lose fat, then embarking on a diet aimed at burning fat as your primary energy source is a good way to go about it, as log as the fat your putting in is less than the fat you’re burning up for energy.

However, as usual, it’s not quite that simple. Insulin is used to convert glucose into energy and is low when there is a lack of glucose to convert (either from sugars or carbs). That is when fat is broken down in the liver for energy use.

Why is it called ketogenic?

Ketones (sometimes called ketone bodies) are fatty acids which are produced by the breakdown of fats in the liver and are then released into the bloodstream to be used as fuel. This metabolic state is called “ketosis” and not to be confused with “ketoacidosis” associated with diabetes and can be dangerous so should be taken seriously.

However, excessively high levels of ketones can be very dangerous. As ketones are produced when insulin levels are low, this can be an issue for people with diabetes. Fortunately, in cases of healthy, non-diabetic people fasting, or on a keto diet, this is not usually an issue.

The Ketogenic Diet

In order to force the body to burn fat for energy, the intake of carbohydrates are greatly reduced from the traditional 50% down to 5-10%; or 20-50g per day.
About double that is from proteins, which helps to maintain muscle mass, and the rest from healthy fats.

What you should and shouldn’t eat on a Keto diet

Allowed

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The practicalities of a Keto Diet

It’s not easy to jump straight into a ketogenic diet, especially if you were used to eating carbs as a mainstay of your food. Knowing the amounts you should eat can also be tricky and, at first, may involve weighing ingredients and checking with an app.

It will also take a short while for your body to adapt so, if you decide to try it, don’t give up if your weight hasn’t changed in the first week.

Give it some time.

Does it work?

There is a general belief by many that all that matters is that, to lose weight, all you have to do is expend more energy (calories) than you consume. On a simple mathematical basis, that is probably true, but as to whether a diet will work, it is a meaningless equation.

Why? Because we’re fallible human beings. 

If a diet makes you feel hungry all the time, or lethargic, you are more likely to break the diet and eat junk. 

On this point, it has been shown that low fat diets are less likely to lead to a drop in weight than high fat diets, because the latter seem to leave the dieters with more energy and less hunger, so they are more likely to keep to it.

On the other hand, strict limited diets such as keto are not designed for sustained long-term use, so whether any weight loss achieved is then sustained largely depends on what you do afterwards.

Pros and Cons

Pros

“Carry on eating red meat and fatty foods and still lose weight” sounds like a gift for people who like red meat and fatty foods. Certainly, in the short term, if you follow the guidelines properly, it seems as if you can indeed lose weight on a Ketogenic diet, without constantly feeling hungry.

The benefits to those suffering from epilepsy are established and best researched facets of this diet.

Research is being carried out into other possible benefits such as its effects on cancer, Alzheimer’s and other neuro-degenerative diseases, although such research is ongoing and there is no conclusive evidence of such benefits yet.

Cons and Possible Side effects

Most nutritional advice given today still warns of consuming excessive saturated fat, which, they claim, can lead to raised LDL (bad) cholesterol, clogged arteries and heart problems.

It is not a a diet which health professionals would generally recommend for long term use so, if you do lose weight, you must find other ways of sustaining it.

Bad breath (a.k.a. ketosis breath)

“Keto flu” – Not a type of influenza but, until your body adjusts to the new regime, there can some side effects with similarities to flu:

Headaches, tiredness, nausea, constipation, etc.

Keeping up your fluid intake with water can help prevent of reduce the effects of some of these.

Some of the issues critics of the keto diet highlight may not be due to the diet itself but the way in which it is interpreted by some. If the recommended balance is not adhered to, it can result in people who say they are on a keto diet consuming too much protein in the form of red or processed meat.

A keto diet is not advised for women who are pregnant to trying to become pregnant.

Conclusion

Ketogenic diets have been shown to be an effective short term diet for some people trying to lose weight. If you’re a meat eater who struggles to maintain a diet purely through calorie restriction (because you can’t get past the feeling of hunger), then it might well be a good way to shed a few pounds. Certainly, the old thinking of avoiding fats and consuming the low-fat versions has been proven to be faulty, especially where fats are replaced by sugars.

However, the keto diet is probably not a sustainable lifestyle diet. It was intended primarily to help sufferers of epilepsy and, while it may also allow you to lose weight in the short term, it is not considered a healthy long-term option.

Whether you try a keto diet for a short term weight loss or not, if you are looking to lose weight and keep it off, you should consult a nutritionist, or research other diets that are generally healthier and better in the long term for keeping your weight down once you’ve lost the excess pounds.

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