Keto Diet: Origin

Much like the grim origin of any superhero of your preference, the beginning of Keto Diet starts from distressed, sick children. Yes, keto diet was ‘invented’ if you will, in the 1920s to help treat children with epilepsy seizures. Wikipedia says that this diet was really ‘in’ throughout the 20s and to the end parts of the 30s until some folks discovered much better anticonvulsants to deal with the freaking epilepsy thing. So, what made it come back as a powerful suggestion for our lifestyle choices? Two things, First, a form of low-carb, high in protein diet called the Atkins diet started to bloom and gain commercial success in the 1970s. and that also allowed for various low-carb diets to gain popularity, like Dukan diet and Paleo diet etc. However, unlike the other forms of low-carb diets, Keto does not hold back at holding back carbohydrates and thus it started to gain much bigger audience in weight loss community. Second, around the early parts of the 1990s, the son of a big shot Hollywood producer was treated with keto diet to maybe get some relief from his epilepsy problems and it did work out great for him, cool! So, a foundation and a movie (with Meryl Streep in it!) was made about the Keto Diet, and that allowed this diet to make it big in Hollywood and in our social media health feeds.

What is Keto Diet exactly?

Keto diet asks you to eat only fat rich foods, maybe a little bit of protein and absolutely small amount of carbohydrates every day, like no more than 50gm of carbs per day. If you follow that food plan then you are on keto diet. This diet has shown to give some positive results to people suffering from type 2 diabetes, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s and obesity. There are many types of keto diet like Standard Ketogenic Diet (SKD) which is the original keto diet and this whole article is based upon the history, mechanism and effects of SKD only. Then there is Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD) which is when you intake keto diet strictly for 5 days and then eat normal diet for 2 days and then restart the process again. Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD) is about adding carbs just before your workouts and High Protein Ketogenic Diet (HPKD) is as the name says is about adding more percentage of protein in your keto diet. All the variations of keto diet have some fluctuations in the percentages of Fat, Protein and Carbohydrate ratio, nothing more. If you are eating around 70% fat, 20% protein and only 10% of carbs in your everyday diet, that is the original keto diet.

How does Keto Diet work?

It is simple, when you eat a lot of carbs in your regular diet, the body uses all those carbs to create glucose which are then converted into energy for your body to function. When the body is deprived of carbs either through fasting or keto diet, then the body first starts to pull out the stored glucose from your liver and then temporarily breaks downs muscles to release any leftover glucose. If you keep fasting or performing keto diet for 3 to 4 days then all remaining glucose in the body is fully gone and then insulin decreases and the body begins to use fat as its fuel. The liver then creates ketone bodies which are used in the absence of glucose. An elevated level of these ketones in the body is called a state of ketosis which everyone seeks through keto diet. This is the stage where you supposedly start to burn fat automatically. Since it suppresses hunger. You’ll know you are in ketosis when you will start to have bad breath, fatigue, decreased hunger and flu like symptoms which is also called keto-flu. Isn’t that a great feeling already? Yeah, don’t worry, it’ll pass sooner than later, it’s natural to feel all that when in ketosis. Once you start to lose weight and get to the point where desired weight is achieved, gradually start to intake slightly higher amounts of carbs each day. To maintain that newfound healthy weight you can use intermittent fasting or variations of CKD.

Foods ok with keto diet –

Seafoods, avocadoes, nuts, meat, seeds, healthy oils, dark chocolate, berries, cottage cheese, low-carb veggies, eggs, coffee or tea without sugar, poultry, plain greek yogurt.

Foods not ok with keto diet –

High sugar fruits, starchy vegetables, juices, chips, crackers, honey, sugar in any form, baked goods including gluten free baked goods, grains.

Benefits of Keto Diet –

A few benefits of this diet could be –

• Is super effective in calming and controlling epileptic seizures in children • Can help in reducing weight by basically suppressing your hunger and cravings and burning fat for fuel• May help people with type 2 diabetes control their glycaemic level. • May improve situations for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease • May also help in treating some cancers. • It may also be used as a mood stabilizer in people with type 2 bipolar disorder • May help in improving your cardiovascular health • May help women with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome)

Risks of Keto Diet –

Rule of thumb is to consult your doctor first before making any kind of changes especially drastic changes in your diet, because different people react to stuffs in medicine and diets differently. So, with that out of the way…

• The biggest problem with keto diet is sticking long enough with it so it could show some actual noteworthy results for most people • Goddamn constipation • Nutrient deficiencies • Absurdly low sugar levels • There is a thing called Keto-Flu, which is a flu like state for people who attain ketosis, fatigue and headaches follow and since you will lose a lot of water weight, dehydration is going to be a huge problem as well. • Another problem that could occur with Keto diet is the state called ketoacidosis, it is when the amounts of ketones exceed the normal limit and your blood becomes acidic. This usually happens in people with type 1 diabetes and it could really make you weak, confused and in pain. • You can experience diarrhoea • you can also get kidney stones with long term usage of this diet. • Your bone density will start to decrease • Many gastrointestinal issues will take over you. • And since this diet is all about taking in fat, you could end up having ‘bad’ fat which could increase your ‘bad’ cholesterol creating cardiovascular problems. • People with type 1 diabetes/those who have a history of eating disorders/those with their gallbladder removed/have any thyroid issue/those with multiple sclerosis should STAY THE HELL AWAY from keto diet!

Bottom Line –

Even we got excited like some monkeys in a turf war with other monkeys about this whole keto thing at first, thinking finally, there is something that could make our fat asses slim down and fit into our old clothes. But the thing is that every benefit of this diet except for the controlling epilepsy in children part, is not that rock solid in the many studies done on it. All the studies about this diet helping out with diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Bipolar Disorder, obesity is at best inconclusive so far, neither a yes, nor a no. Also, even though you will see some instant results in your weight issue as the water weight disappears within the first few days of doing this diet, in the long-term keto diet results for obesity, there is no such evidence that it is better than low-fat diets or just any other regular diet. The difference between keto and other diets is not that much that it could be labelled as the cure-all for all your weight loss problems.

Conclusion –

Turns out, any diet is fine as long as you workout and be active, although before starting anything funny with your diet chart we strongly advise you to consult your doctor or dietician. Keto diet is ok for those who can’t seem to lose weight with other means of dieting but if you think that stretching this diet long enough will start to burn even more fat compared to other diets then no, it doesn’t work that way. However, if you want to try your luck with it, then go for it for a few months and don’t worry about being bored with it. There are like tons of websites all dedicated to bring you month long menus of tasty and exciting keto friendly meals so that you do not get bored and falter half way through. And as always, good luck.