Throughout its history, civilized humanity has strived to improve the quality of life, the basis of which is nutrition. Numerous diets and fasting systems are proof of that. They are given beautiful names, among them there are understandable ones with a familiar set of products, but there are many unusual ones with an exotic focus.
Recently, the keto diet, the ketogenic diet (ketone diet) or the low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet, has been gaining more and more popularity. Its meaning is a sharp reduction in carbohydrate foods and an increase in the proportion of predominantly fatty foods and moderate protein intake. As a result of the keto diet, fatty acids are broken down into ketone bodies, which in conditions of glucose deficiency feed all organs, including the brain.
Until recently, athletes resorted to the ketogenic diet in an effort to build muscle mass and reduce their body fat to zero. However, a carbohydrate-free diet has been characteristic of mankind since the beginning of its history. Physiologically, we are all hunters and hunters.
The human brain has evolved due to consuming huge amounts of fat throughout evolutionary history. Ancient people ate exclusively animal food, the ingredients of which were only proteins and fats. According to scientists, for a relatively short period of its existence, the body of a modern person did not have time to adapt to a diet that contained carbohydrates, and besides, which consists only of carbohydrates, which make up the diet of raw food.
It is quite reasonable to conclude that with the advent of the carbohydrate diet, an inevitable process is opposite to the development of human intelligence. In order to understand the keto diet in more detail, it is necessary to learn some basic concepts related to this topic, they will help to find the answer to the question: what is the keto diet.
What is keto diet, concept, definition
Recently, there has been a huge amount of information about the ketogenic diet. The authors interpret the essence of the keto system in their own way, they strive for different goals, but the essence of the keto system does not change. Let's start simple.
Keto is eating certain foods in certain combinations to get the body running on ketones. Ketones are produced by the body when fat is burned. They are alternative fuels. This fuel is the most suitable for the human body, because the amount of "waste" is significantly reduced, such fuel is the most efficient.
If we draw an analogy with car fuel, then carbohydrate food is the cheapest fuel that contains a huge amount of impurities, while carbohydrate-free or low-carb food is euro fuel, the best fuel for our body, because it does not contain by-products. "tasty" impurities, keto fuel is the most efficient for a living organism.
One of the main advantages of the keto diet is the absence of hunger and cravings for certain foods. You can easily stay on this diet for a long time. It is not only efficient, but also comfortable and pleasant.
Over 90% of diets fail. They cannot be tracked all the time. Carb cravings and hunger are doing their job. An overwhelming number of temptations lead to disruption and disastrous results. The lost kilograms return, and often they bring friends with them - new kilograms.
Such an unpleasant feeling as hunger is absent on keto. Yes, you can enter a state of ketosis while fasting, but why, if there is a great way to achieve it without restricting food. Keto diet does not cause such damage to the body as fasting.
Taking ketogenic food, the body continues to receive all the necessary substances and does not feel hungry. At the same time, the process of splitting fat starts - the body enters a state of ketosis, that is, it starts producing ketones due to the reduced consumption of carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are not completely excluded from the diet (the exception is the period of entry into ketosis, it is recommended to completely exclude carbohydrates). They must be present in the diet, but their percentage of protein and fat must be controlled. The fewer carbohydrates, the deeper the ketosis.
The ketogenic diet is a fat burning diet. A huge number of people dream of losing weight and reducing volume. For those who are serious about the state of their bodies, keto is that magic pill that's easy and comfortable to swallow.
Many people think that eating a lot of fat is bad. But if you significantly reduce the amount of carbohydrates, then there is absolutely no threat in consuming fat. Because, when it enters ketosis, the body simply switches from sugar to fat. It takes 2 to 3 days to arrive. And in order to achieve this, it is necessary to drastically reduce the amount of carbohydrates.
For a more efficient entry into ketosis, carbohydrates are completely excluded. Such restructuring in the diet forces the body to look for other sources of energy. And such a source is fat reserves, carefully accumulated over many years.
With low-calorie diets, weight loss occurs due to the loss of water reserves. This can last a week, two weeks. Euphoria is coming - it worked! Weight loss in progress! But at the end of the diet, the water weight returns. The meaning of such diets is reduced to zero, if not worse, the weight returns and brings extra kilos with soda. The fat burning process is not started. Water loss and fat loss are completely different things.
If you use physical exercises for weight loss, then they give only 15% of the results, that is, very insignificant compared to the correct keto diet. Also, constant hunger and cravings for any food do not allow you to last at least for some time on a low-calorie diet.
98% of such diets end in failure, explaining the lack of will. When you eat foods with carbohydrates, your blood sugar levels drop due to a surge of insulin, which suppresses blood sugar. With low blood sugar there is a constant feeling of hunger, irritability.
When you follow a keto or ketogenic diet, real fat will be burned. Water weight will also be reduced, but the main goal of burning body fat will be achieved. And the fewer carbohydrates you eat, the more efficient the fat burning process will be. The feeling of hunger and craving for food will disappear. Due to these circumstances, you can stay on this diet for quite a long time.
Any restructuring of the body entails unpleasant symptoms. In order to avoid transient symptoms, it is necessary to use vitamins and electrolytes.
Along with a number of negative side effects of the keto diet, there are also positive ones:
- Improving memory;
- increase in energy;
- Intelligence increases;
- The mood is improving.
Because ketones are the best brain food. As a result, inflammation and pain or tension, if any, disappear. Keto leads to an improvement in the condition of the skin, the rash disappears, if there was one.
A comparison of low-calorie, low-fat diets with the keto diet shows significant benefits of keto over other diets.
Why you should use the keto diet
Everyone who has resorted to a ketogenic diet has a specific goal. And the goals can be different. These can be needs of an aesthetic nature, as well as the desire to improve health or at least improve the condition caused by a certain disease.
Often, switching to a keto diet is associated with a desire to reduce weight and volume. This is the most obvious result of the keto diet. Success is guaranteed under strict system requirements. The goal is achieved easily and with pleasure. The inevitability of positive weight loss results is evidenced by a huge number of enthusiastic reviews.
Once they understand how a low-carb diet works, people often try to follow keto later in life. A proper understanding of ketosis gives confidence in their actions.
However, in addition to the aesthetic result, the main goal for many is to solve health problems. After all, the point of being in ketosis is to lower and normalize insulin levels.
About 80% of the world's population has problems with insulin - insulin resistance, that is, violation of insulin absorption by receptors. As a result of such a failure, the body is forced to produce more and more insulin to compensate for its lack. It causes many health problems.
An increase in carbohydrate intake leads to an increase in insulin production, insulin resistance occurs. The average person with insulin resistance (prediabetes) produces 7 times more insulin than the body needs. Excess insulin leads to diabetes, metabolic disorders, obesity, high cholesterol levels.
The brain can burn glucose, but fat feeds the brain better. The human brain is more comfortable burning fat. This state is ketosis. To achieve this state, you must adhere to a categorical diet - low in carbohydrates and high in fat. Moderate ketosis is a state to strive for.
Ketone bodies in the body come from fat. You can't get them from sugar and carbohydrates. Ketone bodies are used to feed the brain, and fatty acids are used to feed the muscles.
Alzheimer's patients are known to have elevated levels of insulin in their blood.
Problems with the heart and blood vessels are also a consequence of insulin resistance. As a result, this is vasoconstriction due to the appearance of cholesterol plaques, the appearance of blood clots, calcium deposition, which can lead to a heart attack or even a stroke.
As a consequence of insulin resistance - the appearance of depression, anxiety, deterioration of emotional mood. The most serious consequences are fatty liver and cancer, because cancer cells feed on sugar.
From the material above, you can determine a whole list of reasons in favor of the ketogenic diet. The majority of the population will find motivating factors for themselves that tell why it is necessary to switch to keto.
Who is on a keto diet
Despite the relatively young direction in the world of diets, the keto diet has a huge number of supporters with solid experience in using this nutritional system. The ketogenic diet has been shown to be positive not only among those who want to lose weight, but also among diabetics, when the lipid profile is ideal and the insulin level drops to normal. The experience of American doctors is known all over the world.
And another interesting theory. When taking medicines, there is an effect on a certain organ in the human body. When the nutritional system changes to keto, the brain, pancreas, liver and other organs come under a beneficial influence. And that fact already has very solid and reliable foundations.
Regularly performing the necessary tests and their control ensure that the system of therapeutic nutrition, with an increase in the proportion of fat in the diet, moderate consumption of protein foods and, in practice, the exclusion of carbohydrate foods, for patients with the above-mentioned diseases, is chosen correctly.
Ketogenic diet is not limited by age among those who want to lose weight or improve their health. This diet is suitable for both athletes and non-athletes, both young and old.
Pregnant women use the keto diet successfully. There are no contraindications for a low-carbohydrate diet during breastfeeding.
The results will not be long in coming. You just need to start eating right, listen to your body and follow the instructions for beginners, which you can find on this resource.
And if the keto diet is used for weight loss, then this process will become pleasant and effective.
Reasons to go keto
The first and, perhaps, for some, the most important is getting rid of food addiction, overeating, craving for certain food groups: sweets, starchy foods. A huge number of people experience an overwhelming desire for sweets. Who hasn't been given sweets as a reward since childhood, in almost all families cakes, cookies, sweets are served for the festive table?
The presence of sugar on the everyday table has become known. It so happened that the most beautiful moments are associated with sweets.
The amount of sweet food in children's diet sometimes does not scare adults. "Little ones like sweets. "And they refer to the child taking the delicious with tenderness. The child does not have many choices. What is given to him is what he takes. Over time, children form a firm belief that sweets and cakes are good. Moreover, the amount of sweets consumed increases, food addiction to sweets appears.
With the appearance of health problems, most people understand that it is necessary to adjust their diet, introduce some food restrictions. But not everyone can cope with the desire for sweets, a habit that has taken root since childhood and has only grown stronger over time.
Moreover, eating sweets in stressful situations is soothing and a solution to the problem for some, but unfortunately not for long. Periodic attempts to abandon products containing sugar once and for all end in failure, failures.
This is where the keto diet comes in handy. There is not a single review that, with strict observance of all the conditions of a carbohydrate-free diet, I would want to sit down with something sweet.
If such impulses suddenly appear, then you should question whether everything was done correctly as part of the clinical diet?
Check the calories (KBZhU), the amount of food eaten, the "purity" of the food consumed, whether a sufficient amount of the necessary vitamins enters the body. If you approach this issue correctly, positive results will not make you wait. With the transition to keto, blood sugar levels normalize.
Another important reason for switching to a carbohydrate-free state is the condition of the skin. During the first weeks, the facial skin is transformed. There is no need to visit beauty salons. Over time, the use of creams of different orientations was reduced to a minimum.
For many who have problems with the gastrointestinal tract:
- Gastritis;
- cholecystitis;
- pancreatitis;
- ZhKB.
There is a great opportunity to reduce them. Cramps, pain, bloating are a thing of the past. The intestines begin to cope with their duties perfectly without the help of pills and other forms of medicine.
Of course, if there are serious diseases, the transition to a ketogenic diet must be carried out under the supervision of a specialist doctor, while monitoring the main indicators of the state of health with the help of tests.
What can you eat on a keto diet
Carbohydrates - 5% of all calories (vegetables are especially indicated, because they do not have so many calories and do not cause an insulin response). Proper carbohydrates that are acceptable on keto do not include flour products, sugar, grains, fruits.
Proteins - 20% of all calories (86 - 175g). This group should include:
- Meat;
- fish;
- Sea food;
- Cheese;
- Eggs.
It should be noted that, if possible, preference should be given to products grown in a natural environment: pasture-raised meat, commercial seafood. It is necessary to take meat broths and offal as food. Among the drinks, the so-called armored coffee is very popular. Although, this drink is more food than drink.
Fats make up 70% of all calories.
At first glance, the fat content of the diet may seem overwhelming. But it should be remembered that the percentages listed refer to calories, not to volume or weight.
Most foods are a combination of fat, protein and carbohydrates. Clean fats include ghee, coconut oil, olive oil, low-carb avocados, and animal fats.
Allowed vegetables on keto are leafy greens, broccoli, lettuce and other green vegetables. They provide the body with vitamins, trace elements and antioxidants. Do not forget that they contain fiber.
World-class nutritionists have developed many recipes with the appropriate keto ratio KBJU. There are soups, side dishes, meat and fish dishes, even desserts and pastries. Using ready-made recommendations for cooking keto food, you can develop an approximate menu for yourself for a certain period of time, for example, for a week, a few days, and stick to it without tormenting yourself with the question: "what to cook? "".
What not to eat on Keto
All grain products (bread, pasta, cereals, pastries and legumes) should be avoided.
Foods that contain starch (potatoes, rice, corn) are excluded on keto, which quickly turn it into sugar.
Sugars (cane, beet, honey, fructose, any syrups and fruit juices, sugary sodas) are unacceptable on keto. Sugar substitutes are allowed as needed (stevia, xylitol, erythritol).
It is recommended to avoid GMO products (soy, corn, rapeseed oil).
When buying products, be sure to pay attention to the composition. This recommendation applies to meat and fish products, as well as to cheeses. Semi-finished products should also be abandoned.
Fats are very important for the body, but you have to be very selective about them. Some of them are dangerous. Solid vegetable fats that have undergone multi-stage processing are trans fats on an industrial scale. Keto is against this type of food processing.
Alcohol is also unacceptable on keto. Although among the abundance of strong drinks you can choose dry wines. There are circumstances in which you should not advertise that you are on a keto diet. Then opt for drinks without sugar and gas. At the same time, it is still necessary to respect the measure.
If you follow all the above recommendations when choosing products for a ketogenic diet, then buying them will not seem too difficult, and over time these rules will become normal.
Disadvantages of Keto
Along with a whole list of positives, keto also has its downsides. Although negative points will be negative if you pay attention to them and treat them as flaws.
It is worth paying attention to the state the body enters in the initial phase of the keto journey. This condition is called ketoflu. It is characterized by heaviness in the stomach, mild indigestion. Acetone breath, headache, weakness or depression of the body are possible. But in all seriousness, these awkward moments are temporary. And then, they don't always track getting into ketosis and not necessarily a complete list.
But if you take the right attitude psychologically and remember that these aggravating circumstances will pass as soon as you enter ketosis, then most of the minuses will not seem so great to you, especially if you use techniques to work around them.
Physical activity on keto
It is known that in the modern world the first supporters of keto are athletes in whom the absence of fat or its minimal amount, dense muscles and endurance play an important role. And considering that the keto diet sharpens memory, speed of thought, clarity of mind, then this nutritional system becomes interesting not only for athletes and people who like physical culture.
As you know, a beautiful, elastic body is not just about food. An important role in the construction of our beautiful shell is played by sports, those physical activities that man uses for his type of activity, hobby or sports life.
In order to enhance the effect of the keto diet, sports are perfectly acceptable.
The best time to exercise is not in the evening or in the morning, but after a long time interval after eating. That is, when the level of ketones in the body is elevated.
It is known that during periods of lack of food (starvation), the body produces more ketones than when consuming fatty foods. If you still have a pre-workout meal, it is recommended to reduce the amount of protein in the portion. There is no need to change the proportion of carbohydrates before or after training.
Days of fasting
The concept of "fasting days" is acceptable, rather, with forced enhanced nutrition. Everyone knows the physical condition after the holidays, when abundant feasts are inevitable and physical activity is reduced to a minimum.
If you approach this question correctly, then you can use the holiday menu for the benefit of your body, i. e. eat selectively, only what the body needs on keto. But even with a selective diet, overeating is not excluded, and after abundant consumption of fatty and protein foods, body weight is observed. Of course, you need to control your actions and remember that a large amount of food, even if it is carbohydrate-free, will not bring a positive effect.
But, if you did overeat, you should apply relief for the body. Moreover, your body will tell you when to stop eating and when to start again. The very concept of "fasting days" for keto is not entirely applicable. Among the supporters of the keto system there is a concept of "intermittent fasting".
Intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting is not a strict restriction of fuel intake in the body. It is known that high-calorie foods allow the body to go without food for a long time. The intervals between meals become longer. And if you listen to your body and do not follow the generally accepted routine of breakfast-lunch-dinner, consuming food only as needed, then this interval can be significantly increased.
It may extend from morning to the next morning, or from lunch to lunch. That is, a daily meal can become a one-time meal. Here you shouldn't keep track of time, count minutes, try to beat your own record. You just have to listen to your body. And that is reasonable, instead of subjecting him to forced hunger strikes, or bringing him into a state of starvation.
That's what intermittent fasting is.
It should not be carried out from time to time, but constantly. Our body will only tell when it is necessary to refuel and when to cut off the fuel supply. You just need to learn to hear it, understand it and apply the necessary actions in practice.
And so, the main reason for switching to a ketogenic diet is to improve health, get rid of diseases, if any. Prevention of diabetes, and in some cases its treatment. Increased energy levels and appetite control. Normalization of cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Improvement of memory, concentration. Get rid of depression and all the signs of its manifestation. Improving the quality of life in general.