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Understanding the Keto Diet: A complete guide to the Ketogenic Diet

Dr. Rashmi ByakodiJun 26, 2024

Diet has a huge role to play in balancing our diets. Consuming low carb foods is seen as an effective way to shed those extra pounds. So, individuals are always on the lookout for diets that incorporate these items and other foods that promote diet loss.

The keto diet is particularly popular among people who are on a mission to accomplish their weight loss goals. Several celebrities are also known to follow the keto diet to maintain their charming presence on screen. It is essentially a low carbohydrate diet.

The diet encourages individuals to satiate their appetite with high protein low carb foods. Therefore, fats become the source of energy in the body instead of carbs. Apart from aiding weight loss, this diet can also provide some other benefits.

But the diet might also have some negative impacts if not followed properly. We will discuss everything about the benefits and disadvantages of the keto diet in detail. In the end, we will also provide you with tips to follow the keto diet properly. So, let’s get started without any delays.

Understanding

Contents

What is a Keto Diet?

A Keto Diet focuses on consuming a considerably low amount of carbs and replacing it with a high amount of fat. This substantial reduction in carbohydrates leads to a metabolic condition called ketosis. In this process, your body starts burning fats, and the fats convert into ketones in the liver. These ketones provide energy to the brain. The most successful strategy to induce ketosis is to adopt a Ketogenic Diet. It includes restricting the carbohydrate intake to 20 to 50 grams in a 2000 kcal diet per day and consuming fat-based foods such as fish, meat, nuts, and healthy oils. Moreover, the protein intake should also be kept in moderate amounts.

Types of Ketogenic Diet

When you plan to start a Keto plan, you must be aware of the different types of different Ketogenic Diets mentioned below.

Standard Keto-Diet (SKD): This includes a very low carb, high fat, and moderate protein diet. It normally consists of 10% carb, 20% protein, and 70% fat.

High Protein Keto-Diet: This is similar to SKD but contains more protein. It has 5% carbs, 35% protein, and 60% fats.

Cyclical Keto-Diet (CKD): This diet includes five days of keto and two days of high carb.

Targeted Keto-Diet (TKD): This diet permits you to add additional carbohydrates with rigorous workouts.

While normal people adopt the standard and high protein Ketogenic Diets, cyclical and targeted Ketogenic Diets are more advanced and are followed by athletes and bodybuilders.

Understanding Ketosis

Ketosis is a bodily process where fat becomes the primary energy source instead of carbohydrates. It happens when you severely limit your carb intake, thereby limiting the availability of glucose, which normally fuels our body.

The most efficient way to induce ketosis is through a ketogenic diet, which typically involves consuming only 20-50 grams of carbs per day. This diet emphasizes consuming high amounts of fats such as meat, fish, eggs, nuts, and oils.

Excessive protein intake can hinder the transition to ketosis as it can be converted to glucose. To enhance the process, consider incorporating intermittent fasting into your routine. This involves restricting food consumption within a specific time frame, typically 8 hours, while fasting for the remaining 16 hours, which can accelerate your entry into ketosis.

To assess your ketosis status, you can undergo blood, urine, or breath tests that measure the level of ketones produced by your body. Additionally, physical symptoms often accompany ketosis, such as increased thirst, dry mouth, frequent urination, and reduced hunger.

While elevated ketones are often linked to diabetic ketoacidosis, a serious medical condition, it's important to distinguish between this and nutritional ketosis. Nutritional ketosis, induced by a ketogenic diet, is a different state with distinct characteristics.

Diabetic Ketoacidosisis

For people with diabetes, a sudden increase in ketone levels is a serious medical emergency that requires immediate attention. When the body lacks insulin or becomes resistant to it, it cannot use glucose for energy. Insulin usually helps move glucose into cells for energy.

As a result, the body turns to fat storage for energy, leading to the buildup of ketones. These ketones make the blood more acidic, causing a potentially fatal condition called diabetic ketoacidosis. This condition requires immediate medical treatment.

Benefits of Ketogenic Diet

The benefits of following a Keto Diet are explained below.

1. Aids in weight loss

A Ketogenic Diet is a successful way of losing weight quickly. In a normal diet, your body derives energy by burning carbohydrates. But in a Keto Diet, when you limit carbohydrates, your body starts to burn fats to derive energy. This leads to losing body fats very quickly. Additionally, the Keto Diet being high in fats, eliminates food cravings and feelings of hunger.

2. Helps improve insulin sensitivity

A person suffering from diabetes has insufficient insulin, which makes it tough for the body to utilise carbohydrates. As a result, the blood sugar level rises. Studies have found that the Ketogenic Diet improves insulin sensitivity by 75% and helps in lowering the blood sugar level significantly.

People having type 2 diabetes must restrict the consumption of carbohydrates because it converts to sugar and may raise their blood sugar level. The Keto Diet helps minimise the consumption of carbohydrates and to curb the abrupt rise in blood glucose.

According to the National Library of Medicine, women with type 2 diabetes following Ketogenic Diet for 90 days experienced a drastic reduction in the HbA1C level.

3. Helps prevent heart disease

The Ketogenic Diet helps reduce inflammation and lowers oxidative stress, and thus, risk factors of cardiac disease can be prevented. The Keto Diet helps to reduce body fat, blood pressure, blood sugar and elevates HDL cholesterol levels.

4. Helps prevent cancer

A Keto Diet is helpful in slowing tumour growth by reducing the energy supply to the cancerous cells and thus may prevent cancer.

5. Alzheimer’s disease

Keto Diet may help prevent the symptoms of Alzheimer’s by slowing its development; because ketone has a neuroprotective influence on the ageing brain cells. Ketone may boost mitochondrial function and may reduce the apoptotic and inflammatory mediators and thus help in preventing neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.

6. Epilepsy

The Ketogenic Diet has been believed to reduce epilepsy attacks since the 1920s. It has been found that Ketogenic Diet has a significantly positive effect on patients having refractory epilepsy in adults and children. The low sugar and high-fat content of the Keto Diet uniquely alter the brain’s excitability and thereby reduces the tendency of seizures.

7. Improves Athletic Performance

Research suggests that the ketogenic diet may enhance athletic performance, particularly in endurance sports. Endurance athletes following ketogenic diets were able to primarily utilize stored fat for fuel, reducing the need to replenish with carbohydrates during training and events. Additionally, these diets accelerated recovery times.

Disadvantages of Ketogenic Diet

Along with the potential health benefits, the Keto Diet has some disadvantages which you should know. They may include the following. Thus, please consult a doctor before making any significant modifications to your diet.

1. It may cause Keto Flu

Limiting the carb intake to 50 grams per day may jostle your body. Since in a Keto Diet, your body reduces its carb stores and shifts to fats and ketones for energy, you may face flu-like symptoms at the start of the diet. These include fatigue, dizziness, headaches, nausea, and constipation.

As your body adapts to ketosis, your body may experience electrolyte imbalance and dehydration. Since ketosis causes dehydration, it means there is a loss of electrolytes too. Once you are on a Keto Diet, it is important to drink enough water along with maintaining the levels of electrolytes.

2. Stress on kidneys

Consuming high-fat animal foods like meat, eggs, and cheese in a high amount may lead to kidney stones. It is because a higher intake of animal fat may cause your urine and blood to become more acidic, which leads to increased calcium excretion in your urine.

As per the National Library of Medicine, the Keto Diet decreases the citrate amount that is released in urine. Since citrate has the ability to bind calcium and helps to prevent kidney stones, reduced levels of citrate may promote the risk of developing it.

3. May lead to digestive issues

Even though they might be high in carbohydrates, some starchy vegetables, whole grains, and high-carb fruits are rich sources of fibre also. Fibre nourishes beneficial bacteria in the gut. A healthy gut helps improve immunity and mental health and reduces inflammation. Limiting carbohydrates from the diet may cause difficulty in meeting daily fibre needs. As a result, the Keto Diet may trigger digestive issues and constipation.

4. Nutrient deficiency

The Keto Diet fails to provide the required amount of nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals because it restricts foodstuffs like starchy vegetables, whole grains, fruits, legumes, and dairy products. Additionally, Keto Diet does not provide sufficient vitamin D, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. Hence, people following the Keto Diet may encounter nutrient deficiency.

5. May cause Hypoglycemia

Since Ketogenic Diets are low in carbs, the blood sugar levels go down naturally. When it gets too low, the body instructs the liver to release glucose to meet the daily needs. If you have been on a Keto Diet for a long time, your liver may not be able to release glucose, leading to Hypoglycemia.

6. May affect bone health

When the body enters ketosis, it decreases bone strength and loses bone mineral density, leading to impaired bone health.

7. Can cause heart issues

Eating a diet high in animal fats and proteins may harm heart health, according to studies. This diet is not suitable for individuals at risk of or already diagnosed with heart disease. If you have risk factors for heart disease (such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or a family history), it's important to proceed with caution when considering this diet. The high fat content, particularly saturated fat, can increase cholesterol levels, raising your risk of future heart problems.

Foods to avoid in Keto Diet

Below is the list of foods that may be eliminated from the diet list if you are on a Keto Diet.

Sugary foods such as ice creams, candy, cake, smoothies, fruit juice, etc.
Starchy foods such as wheat-based products, cereals, rice, pasta, etc.
All fruits except some strawberries
Chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, etc.
Root vegetables such as sweet potatoes, carrots, potatoes, radish, beetroots, etc.
Mayonnaise, salad dressings, ketchup, barbecue sauce, etc.
Alcohol and sugary drinks

Foods to be included in Keto Diet

Here are the foods you should include in a Keto Diet.

Red meat, chicken, turkey, ham, etc.
Fatty fish and eggs
Unprocessed cheese like mozzarella, cheddar
Seeds and nuts such as walnuts, flaxseeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, cashew, sunflower seeds, etc.
Extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil
Avocados
Green vegetables, onions, tomatoes, peppers, etc.

Tips to follow the keto diet

Some tips that can help you follow and stick to the keto diet are as follows:

To start your keto diet journey, read food labels carefully, paying attention to fat, carbs, and fibre content.
Plan your meals ahead of time to save time and stay on track.
Several resources like websites, blogs, apps, and cookbooks provide keto recipes and meal ideas.
If you prefer convenience, some meal delivery services offer keto options.
When short on time, explore healthy frozen keto meals.
When attending social gatherings, consider bringing your own food to control cravings and stay on target with your diet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the answers to some common queries associated with the Keto Diet.

Can I eat carbs while on a Keto Diet?

The ketogenic diet typically limits carbohydrate consumption to 50 grams per day. Consuming more carbs than that will kick you out of ketosis.

How much protein can I eat?

The standard ketogenic diet is made up of roughly 70-80% fat daily calories, 5-10% carbohydrate, and 10-20% protein. The average person should aim for about 1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight.

Who should not do keto?

People with kidney disease, heart disease risk factors, pregnant or nursing women, and those who've had their gallbladders removed should avoid the ketogenic diet.

Is keto a healthy diet?

While the ketogenic diet can help control seizures in some people with epilepsy, the high-fat content, as well as limited intake of nutrient-rich fruits, veggies, and grains, may become a problem if followed for too long.

Is the keto diet safe?

If you have certain health conditions, the keto diet may not be right for you. It's important to talk to your doctor before starting keto, especially if you have a risk of heart disease, are pregnant or breastfeeding, have kidney problems or have a history of eating disorders.

What are the potential side effects of following a keto diet?

When transitioning to a ketogenic diet, many experience the "keto flu" phase, characterized by symptoms like constipation, headaches, and nausea. These symptoms arise as your body adapts to burning fat for energy. While these symptoms typically resolve within a few weeks, consulting a registered dietitian can provide guidance on reducing their severity.

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Disclaimer: The content on this page is generic and shared only for informational and explanatory purposes. It is based on several secondary sources on the internet. As this content piece is not vetted by a medical professional, please consult a doctor before making any health-related decisions.