The Keto diet is not a new word for us. It’s one of the most mouthpiece topics nowadays. There are many articles, pieces of research, and videos related to keto surfacing over the internet.
This actually is a fat diet and is a huge change for the body and its metabolism; it helps to lose a considerable amount of fat. Famous celebrities like Halle Berry, Kim Kardashian, Vanessa Hudgens, and many other have adopted the ketogenic lifestyle, so if, like all these superstars losing weight is your goal, then keto is for you. It is proven that a ketogenic diet helps you to shed pounds fast very little time is required to lose weight as compared to other diets or weight loss methods.
Well, this information about the keto diet is not enough understanding, keto is not simple, and it is much more than weight loss. If you want to know more about the ketogenic diet in detail, this article is for you because, in this article, we’ll be discussing what keto is? What are the benefits of a ketogenic diet? And what happens to your body when you start this diet? This article is full of facts and recent researches, so make sure you read it till the end.
Keto Diet VS Low Carb Diet:
Since the last few years, there has been a rising popularity of low carbohydrates diets. These diets include low-carb diets, ketogenic diets, and even zero-carb diets. All these approaches have been popular because they claim to be very effective and cause rapid weight loss, and that is only possible with strict kinds of carbohydrate restriction. No doubt these diets are very popular, but still very few people understand them, and it’s very risky to follow a keto diet without understanding.
This is so basic. A keto diet is any form of diet that causes a person’s body to enter a ketosis state. This condition occurs when the body becomes highly dependent on oxidative metabolism in this diet, carbohydrates are strictly limited, and the number of fats consumed by a person increases. This is a diet plan that focuses on the intake of an advocate amount of healthy fats and proteins.
The main goal is to get more calories from fats than from carbohydrates. In a typical keto diet, we include 70 fat, 25 proteins, and 5 carbohydrates, and this is a drastic change from the American dietary guidelines. This diet focuses on deleting the sugars from our body, and so ultimately, it will start the breakdown of fats for fulfilling the body’s energy requirement. As a result, there occurs the production of molecules called ketones, so simply we can say that in this case, body fat is broken down, which leads to rapid weight loss. Although the keto diet can be your good partner in the weight loss journey, it can be very difficult to tackle in the long term. Let’s see what the changes that occur in our body after we start a keto diet are.
- Keto Flu Symptoms:
This is the most dreaded term related to the ketogenic diet, and when you start keto, you’ll surely experience carbohydrate withdrawal. This method can lead to some major symptoms, including keto flu, insomnia, fatigue, headache, irritability, and mood swings. In the starting days of the keto diet, many people experience brain fog; keto flu brain fog means the inability of your brain to focus or carry out activities properly. The reason for this brain fog is the result of a body reaction. When it changes its energy source from carbohydrates to fats, depletion of carbohydrates results in a lower insulin level, which causes a diuretic effect, so dehydration combined with some sort of electrolyte abnormalities is often referred to as keto flu. This problem can easily be fixed. All you have to do is start eating more salt and potassium and drink lots of water.
- Keto Causes Insulin Resistance (Improvement In Insulin):
Sensitivity in a ketogenic diet is when a person stops using sugar and carbohydrates, then the body faces the energy roller coaster, and simple carbohydrates create that. We are restricted from consuming sugary or starchy foods, so that’s why the blood sugar levels are very slow to rise. Some nutritionists say that it’s beneficial for people having type 2 diabetes as it will help to increase insulin sensitivity, but the statement still leaves the research to prove it correct.
- Keto kidney Stones:
In the weight loss journey, the most difficult thing for a person is to support his kidney function, and this thing is a great challenge when it comes to the keto diet. This diet is very limited, and we have to take more proteins and more fat consumption. This kind of food makes your kidneys work harder than normal, so changes in the levels of hydration are possible when you cut off carbohydrates from your diet; it means you’re letting go of a huge amount of water which is very important to your body and its proper functioning on a ketogenic diet you may experience many problems such as constipation, irritability, fatigue, nausea (keto flu runny nose), difficulty sleeping, headache and cramps, in addition to this intake of a high protein diet exposes a person to the risk of kidney stones and gout. It is observed that people who are on a ketogenic diet have stones in their kidneys also and the situation gets more complicated if the person is not consuming an adequate amount of water to fulfil his body’s requirements, so to maintain the amount of water in your body make sure to have a big glass of water in the morning this will keep you energetic and drinking simple water might not be easy, so you should try to consume fruits and vegetables which are water-rich and hydrating. In this case, some options that you can avail of include cucumber, peaches, carrots, and strawberries.
- Keto Gut Health (Gut Problems) :
According to many nutritionists, another major drawback of consuming a ketogenic diet is gut distress. This happens when a person cuts out important food groups and, in return, doesn’t receive a variety of beneficial bacteria which keep the gut healthy and properly functional. When a person is on a ketogenic diet, he reduces his intake of fiber because he restricts himself from high fiber foods such as fruits, grains, and legumes. If you understand the function of fiber, then you need to know that keto diet fiber supplement is essential for our keto gut health and its proper functioning. The main reason is that fiber foods contain insulin, and it’s a probiotic food for many microorganisms. When our gastrointestinal tract leaks good friendly bacteria, we are more exposed to diseases like colitis (IBS), irritable bowel syndrome, and Crohn’s disease.
- Smell In Breath:
In a ketogenic diet, the body tries to adjust the lack of glucose for fuel, so as a result, it utilizes carbohydrates that are stored as glycogen in the liver, and after that, it starts utilizing the fat surrounding your organs; as a result, we get ketones which are used by our body and brain as fuel. Once the body enters ketosis, then a person might notice something known as acetone breath, and acetone breath occurs when the body is in the state of ketosis, and it produces large quantities of acetone. If you want to test that if you are in ketosis or not, then a breath test can help you to decide this by estimating the amount of acetone present in your breath. When we breathe, the acetone is removed from our body, and as a result, it creates a metallic taste and smell in our mouth. This thing is an indication that your body has entered the state of ketosis.
- Keto Rash:
Another drawback or side effect related to the ketogenic diet is the keto rash, keto rash is not very common, but still, it can happen to someone on a keto diet. It can be a sign of vitamin deficiency, especially when you start keto. In this case, a rash appears on the skin as raised or red skin lesions, and they can also be pink or brown. This is very uncomfortable and itchy, but this kind of rash is not dangerous; if anyone experiences this kind of rash, then he should widen the types of food consumed and also add multivitamins to his diet. If the condition is prolonged, then you need to consult your doctor for this. He can quickly diagnose this kind of rash and will help you to recover much faster.
- Keto Diet Frequent Urination:
In the case of a keto diet, a person may experience frequent urination, and urine may be different. Normally people on the keto diet notice change in urine as changes in colour, smell, and consistency of urine. Have you ever thought about the reason for this condition, like the keto diet urine smell? if you’re thinking that consuming less amount of water can be a reason behind this then you’re right these changes in urine and frequent urination can be a result of retaining less water than normal and in this case, ketones are excreted which makes the urine smelly. When the body is not using sugar as fuel, then it uses stored glycogen in the liver, glycogen is stored by the liver along with water, so when the body uses glycogen stores for energy, the water stored with it is also released.
- Keto Diet Feeling Of Fullness :
It is said that when you are on a ketogenic diet, you’ll begin to feel fuller, the reason behind this is that fats are generally more filling than carbohydrates, so anyone on a high-fat diet generally doesn’t overeat. In 2014 a study was conducted which said that people on the ketogenic diet are reported to be less hungry and have a reduced desire for eating any kind of food, However, this statement needs more evidence to prove it fully. This sense of fullness also helps some people to lose weight in a very short time, say is the Harvard school of public health.
- Keto Diet Reduced Athletic Performance:
In a recent study published in the journal of sports medicine in physical fitness, it was stated that after four days on the ketogenic diet the athletes were unable to perform well on high-intensity cycling and running the statement was supported by mentioning that when someone follows a ketogenic diet then the body is in a more acidic state and as a result, it limits the ability of people to perform at peak levels, so just losing a few pounds of weight doesn’t make you fit for every kind of physical activity. To maintain good physical activity and exercise, you need to be physically fit in the case of the keto diet, the benefits of weight loss can be easily cancelled out by a reduction in a person’s athletic performance. This was all about related to the keto diet and its effect on human bodies. Have you ever tried a keto diet? What results from it have on your body? Drop your comments in the comment section below were.