As of this date, there are over 130 research studies underway on the effects of the ketogenic diet. Despite all sorts of so-called experts claiming that a keto diet could be dangerous, the reality is showing all of these claims to be false. None of the supposed dangers are showing up in lab tests or hospital admissions. In fact, the exact opposite is happening. Chronic health issues are improving in folks following a proper keto diet. Diabetes type 2 goes away. Diabetes type 1 is vastly improved with insulin needs dropping by up to 90%. Arthritis is getting better. Inflammation of all sorts is getting better. Cognition and memory problems improve. Mental health conditions get better and are often relieved completely. Heart conditions and kidney conditions are all getting better. It is these real-world occurrences that are driving the tremendous interest in the keto diet in the health research fields.
Now understand that big business hates keto. A keto diet cuts into their profits big time. The basic ingredients of most prepared foods and snacks are cheap carbohydrates and sugar. Take your typical breakfast cereal. The ingredients will cost the manufacturer $0.30 to $0.50 per box and yet they will sell that box for 3 to 5 dollars in the store. That is a 1000% markup to you, the consumer. The same is true for most carb-based foods from chips to soda to cereal to bread to beans to pizza and pasta. These are all foods that someone on a keto diet won’t be eating, so no profit for the big food companies. Now an even bigger big business is taking note: the pharmaceutical industry. What happens to their profits when people’s aches, pains, and chronic illnesses start going away? They stop taking the pharmaceutical meds that were supposed to help them but weren’t really working anyway. Now some really big profits are going to be lost. Somehow, I am not crying for their loss.
Notice I slipped in the phrase ‘proper keto diet’ in the first paragraph. What does that mean? In simple terms, it means a very low carbohydrate diet that also avoids inflammatory foods. The second part of this definition was missed in the first and most widely followed keto eating plan; the Adkins Diet. While Dr. Adkins popularized the low-carb diet back in the 1970s, it was very rudimentary and did not have the benefit of the tons of research on inflammation that has taken place since then. Back then the dangers of vegetable oils were not understood and many people on the Adkins diet would eat way too much inflammatory linoleic acid from veggie oils in mayonnaise and fried foods. The inflammatory punch of dairy foods on many people was not appreciated back then. And the importance of taking electrolytes and minerals was not appreciated during a keto diet. Consequently, many people did have inflammatory flareups on the Adkins diet. So, a modern keto diet avoids all vegetable oils is very cautious with dairy foods, and is very good about taking necessary electrolytes and minerals.
A typical keto diet is commonly strong on consuming low-carb vegetables like leafy greens and tomatoes and whatnot. But modern keto dieters are now becoming wise to the inflammatory effects of many seemingly healthy plant foods due to the anti-nutrients and plant defense toxins present in most plant foods. Sensitivity to these inflammation causers is very individual, so each person has to experiment to find what works for them and what does not. The chief purpose of a keto diet is to reduce inflammation. So any food you react to is out. For many people this becomes a tangled mess to try to figure out, so they revert to the old gold standard for food allergy/sensitivity testing: start out with a 90-day mono-diet to clear everything out. Traditionally this means a diet of beef or mutton for 90 days with nothing added but real salt. The reason beef or mutton is chosen is because these animals have four stomachs that completely destroy the plant toxins before the food gets into their body. This is not true for chickens or pigs. Also beef or mutton contains all the nutrients a person needs to be healthy, even fiber if eaten nose to tail. Modern bloggers are calling this a carnivore diet, which it is, but originally it was the basic food allergy elimination & testing protocol back in the 1930s and 40s. Currently, it is our best treatment for any autoimmune disorder. But in autoimmune cases, the test diet often becomes the new lifestyle.
Obesity, those extra pounds of unnecessary fat storage on the body, is usually the prime reason most people start any sort of diet. Although there are literally hundreds of weight-loss diets that have been created, almost all of them are built on the perception that if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. According to the Laws of Thermodynamics, it should work this way. But as the last 100 years of folks dieting by this principle has shown, it doesn’t work this way. Human beings don’t act like a beaker of chemicals in a lab. There are several reasons for this. First, to eat fewer calories than you burn means you are starving yourself. If you are hungry all the time, this is not sustainable. It only lasts as long as your willpower holds out. Second, eating less than you need triggers a huge stress response in the body releasing a flood of cortisol; the stress hormone. Cortisol suppresses the conversion of your thyroid hormone into its active form causing your body to act as if you have low thyroid – the main cause of getting fat in the first place. This will cause you to not only regain all the fat you lost as soon as you stop dieting but also gain an extra 10 pounds or so. Your body thinks there is food insecurity and wants to store as much fat as possible to protect you from this insecurity. Third, the stress response makes you crave sweets and carbs as these foods are most easily converted into fat storage. Fourth, your body adapts to the lowered calorie consumption by lowering your metabolic rate so that you do not need or burn as many calories as normal. Often this metabolic rate stays lowered even after the diet is over, which leaves you with less day-to-day energy to live life. So the low-calorie diet does not work in the long run. That is why there are so many variations on this theme trying to get it to work.
Keto dieting takes a very different approach. First, keto takes the suffering away by taking the stress of eating less away. This prevents the four problems found with low-calorie dieting. With keto, you are to eat until you are full and completely satisfied. About half your food should be fats and the other half proteins which actually means almost two-thirds of your calories are from fat as there are more calories in fat than protein. Since you are training your body to burn fat as fuel, the craving for carbs and sweets disappears. If your body tolerates salad veggies, great. But only use olive oil or avocado oil with vinegar and herbs for dressing – no mayonnaise or creamy dressings. Since high fat and protein keep you satisfied for quite a while, most people end up only eating two meals a day, usually within an 8 hour window to gain the benefits of fasting 16 hours a day. As your body burns fat from food, it also recruits stored fat from your body to burn for energy. This causes weight loss. Additionally, the act of digesting protein and fat uses up a lot more energy than carbs, so it is like you are burning extra calories just to get the food into your system. Without the slow down in your metabolism from starvation, your energy levels stay up which also helps you lose weight. The side benefit is all the improvements in your overall health.
How a keto diet looks will vary from person to person depending upon just what plant foods or dairy they can tolerate. For sure all starchy or sugary foods are off the list. Some people do well with seafood while others don’t. Some people can handle poultry or pork while others can’t. Cheese works for some people and not others. Fortunately, most people can handle real grass-fed butter. Eggs work for most people, but again not all. Collagen and bone broth are a favorite in the keto community.
A new trend in the keto community once you achieve your ideal weight and your health is doing great is to introduce fruit and/or honey once a day to induce metabolic flexibility. Eventually, you want your metabolism to be able to function well on any food source. The key to this appears to strengthen your gut and digestion to the point that you are able to break down any plant toxins or keep them from being absorbed into your system. From all the evidence, keto works!
Take care
David