Keto Dieting for Weight Loss: Is it Legit?
Published May 12, 2022
The keto diet involves eating certain foods in certain combinations that push your body to run on ketones. Your body enters into a state of ketosis and starts burning fat for fuel (1).
Replacing carbohydrates with fat sources increases satiety and reduces food cravings, leading to rapid weight loss. The lower your carbs, the faster you get into ketosis and burn fat. The keto diet is quite effective in burning stubborn belly fat as well through quick and healthy weight loss.
Foods to Eat on the Keto Diet
In a keto diet, 70% of your calorie intake should be from fat; protein should be 3-6 ounces per meal, and carbs between 20-50 grams per day (2).
In your keto diet meal plan, try and include the following foods:
- Fatty fish and seafood
- Meat and poultry
- Eggs
- Nuts such as almonds, macadamia nuts, pecans, and walnuts
- Seeds such as flax seeds and chia seeds
- Butter and clarified butter (ghee)
- Low-carb, unprocessed cheese such as cream cheese, feta, goat cheese, and cheddar
- Plain Greek yogurt
- Full-cream milk
- Unsweetened plant-based milk such as soy milk, nut milk, coconut milk, etc.
- Fibrous and non-starchy vegetables such as leafy greens, asparagus, peppers, lettuce, summer squash, broccoli, mushrooms, cucumber, eggplant, cauliflower, etc.
- High-fat veggies such as avocados and olives
- Low-carb fruits such as berries, particularly blackberries and blueberries
- Oil such as extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil
- Unsweetened sodas and sparkling water
- Unsweetened green tea, black tea, and black coffee
Foods to Avoid on the Keto Diet
Foods that are high in carbohydrates should strictly be avoided in keto, including:
- Grains such as wheat, rice, barley, and oats
- Beans and legumes
- Processed meat
- Sugary alcoholic drinks
- Most fruits
- Starchy vegetables
- Sugar, honey, and corn syrup
The following low-carb foods are best avoided in a ketogenic diet as they are considered harmful when consumed regularly:
- Soy, protein isolate
- Casein
- Maltitol
- Aspartame
- Processed cheese
- Fast foods
- Low-fat dairy
Benefits of the Keto Diet
The keto diet is one of the best diet plans for long-term good health and offers the following benefits:
Weight Loss
A ketogenic diet directly targets the fat-burning mechanisms in the body and helps you lose fat, making it a perfect comprehensive weight management plan. While your body is in ketosis, it burns fat as fuel. Since fat consumption does not trigger insulin secretion, insulin levels start to decrease in ketosis. Then, the stored fat in our body is ready to be used.
As the body’s surplus fat stores keep burning, you keep losing weight. You can lose up to 10-12 pounds in two weeks or less (3). After 12 weeks of the ketogenic diet, some people have lost up to 25 pounds. However, this varies depending on your genetic makeup, activity levels, eating habits, metabolic rate, etc.
Superior Fuel
The body prefers ketones over glucose as they improve fat oxidative metabolism and may reverse many underlying health conditions such as insulin resistance, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, prediabetes, and diabetes (4).
Reduced Food Cravings and Hunger
The keto diet provides you with essential nutrients and keeps you full. This high-fat diet improves satiety and may prevent you from falling prey to binging and unhealthy snacking (5).
Improved Absorption
Carbohydrates and sugars are believed to cause a massive amount of inflammation and bacterial overgrowth in your gut, which results in poor gut health (6)—often in the form of excessive gas and bloating. It also leads to malabsorption issues. The keto diet cuts out these unhealthy foods and replaces them with those that are gut-friendly.
Improved Insulin Function
Diets that are high in carbohydrates can cause insulin resistance over time (7). Being in ketosis, your body gets time to heal and restore your natural insulin sensitivity. This means that being in ketosis can help those with diabetes lose weight, reverse diabetes, and improve insulin resistance.
Challenges of the Keto Diet
The keto diet can have certain adverse effects if not followed properly, such as the following:
- Changes in gut bacteria, resulting in digestive issues
- A higher risk of kidney stones
- Conditions such as keto flu, keto rash, etc
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Hypoglycemia in people with low blood sugar
Thankfully, most of these challenges can be easily overcome if you stay consistent with your diet plan.
Remember, the keto diet doesn’t work for everyone. It may not be safe for those with kidney, liver, or pancreatic issues, and type 1 diabetics and pregnant and lactating women are not advised to try it. Since the primary macronutrient in ketogenic diets are fats, those who have undergone gallbladder removal are also not advised to attempt the keto diet.
Medical Disclaimer
Dario Health offers health, fitness, and nutritional information and is designed for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon. The information provided might not be accurate, full, complete, or effective. Accordingly, it is not intended to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment or as a substitute for professional medical advice. You are strongly advised to consult your physician or qualified health professional regarding your condition and appropriate medical treatment. Individual symptoms, situations, and circumstances may vary.
Resources
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499830/
- https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/diet-reviews/ketogenic-diet/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499830/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8153354/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4313585/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22826636/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261561416312481
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