Can The Keto Diet Help Fight Disease & Weight Loss?

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Obesity and weight problems can lead to many different health concerns such as heart attacks, diabetes, even simply low self-esteem. Finding a workable solution to beat the fat then becomes important. Worthy of consideration is the ketogenic diet. On this type of diet, you consume less than 50 grams of carbohydrates, a reasonable amount of protein, and a great deal of fat per day. Staple food for this type of diet is eggs, cheese, butter, fish, oils, nuts, seeds, low carb vegetables, and heavy cream, with very small amounts of grains, beans, potatoes, sweets, fruit, or milk.

The word ketogenic describes the state into which the body goes as it burns up fats and ketones (by-product of burning fat) as fuel. This process leads to weight loss; hunger cravings are curbed as the level of the hunger hormone ghrelin is reduced. More so, with this type of diet insulin levels are lowered. In short, as ketones are raised, weight loss benefits apply. There are also many other health benefits, one of which is fighting off disease.

The Link Between The Ketogenic Diet And Weight Loss

Even though current research indicates that the ketogenic diet can lead to weight loss, there is other research showing that results may not be applicable outside of the controlled lab environment. Irrespective of that, the ketogenic diet requires no calorie counting. Instead, only the ratio of the various food groups, as mentioned above, is used. With this type of diet, there isn’t any muscle loss, simply a loss of fat, which is read as weight loss. On this diet, you will feel full, while you burn fat and reduce calorie intake. High carbohydrate foods are eliminated, thus reducing the intake of calories. For fuel, the body uses fat and protein. Burning off fat can be sped up by doing exercise. However, as your insulin sensitivity improves, you improve your fuel consumption and your metabolism rate. Because the hunger hormones (ghrelin and leptin) are released, you will feel full, and therefore eat less.

The Link Between The Ketogenic Diet And Fighting Off Disease

In addition to weight loss, the ketogenic diet may help to fight off diseases. Obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes with high blood-sugar levels; as well as heart disease, with high blood pressure, high levels of bad LDL cholesterol and low levels of the good HDL cholesterol. However, these lifestyle diseases are preventable. One way of preventing such conditions is to be at your ideal body weight.

The Ketogenic Diet Is, However, Not Just About Losing Flab

A side effect of the ketogenic diet is that it lowers insulin levels. This is useful for people with prediabetes, or even type 2 diabetes. For instance, after two weeks on the ketogenic diet, the insulin sensitivity can rally by 75%, while blood sugar levels can drop to 6.2 mmol/l from 7.5mmol/l. Some studies show that this diet can reverse type 2 diabetes in just 16 weeks. However, this diet can help to lower blood-sugar levels and prevent heart disease, helping to fight off other, random disease. Other health benefits include reducing chronic inflammation, slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, and controlling epilepsy.

The Bottom Line

The ketogenic diet offers more benefits than simply a smaller waistline. The benefits of fewer lifestyle diseases are also noted. However, switching over to this type of diet could, in rare cases, lead to a condition called keto ‘flu’. With this condition, there may be increased hunger, nausea, sleep disorders, lack of energy, or digestive problems. Therefore, although this diet is not for everyone, the results for some may be remarkable – especially in terms of weight loss and fighting off diseases.

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Cory Mason, Ph.D

Cory Mason received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Michigan where he focused on studying the endocrine system’s response to low carbohydrate diets. Never content just being a lab rat, Coey enjoys consulting for a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. After undergoing a recent health scare, Cory set out to revamp his diet and fitness regimen by adopted a ketogenic lifestyle in order to best take care of his health. Since then, he feels strongly about bridging the gap between scientists and consumers via his writing. He is a prolific writer who has been published in many newspapers, magazines and websites. It is important to him that consumers read and understand about current advances in science and learn how they can apply clinical studies to benefit their own health. Cory can usually be found with his nose in a book or cycling, in any weather, on his trusted mountain bike.

Different Types of Keto Diets

What all of these types of the keto diet have in common is their goal to get your body into the natural metabolic state of ketosis so you can burn fat, instead of carbs, for energy.

Standard ketogenic diet (SKD)

Consuming a high-fat, moderate-protein and low-carb diet. The percentages of your daily diet should be about 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% carbs.

High-protein ketogenic diet

Similar to the SKD, but with added protein. The ratio is about 60% fat, 35% protein and 5% carbs.

Cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD)

Involves 5-6 days of the SKD followed by 1-2 days of refeeding days where the majority of calories come from carbohydrates.

Targeted ketogenic diet (TKD)

Eating carbohydrates around the times that you exercise. Meant for people who are regularly working out at a very high-intensity or for an extended period of time.