So, the magic keto diet. There are so many rumors and speculations about her, how much hope he has in her, how many hours he spent in the toilet because of her. Keto apologists preach about rapid melting of fat glaciers, incredible performance, crystal clarity of mind, etc. and so on. in a similar spirit. We don't know where this data comes from, as scientists are just beginning to study this diet under the microscope.
Let's talk about all the pros and cons of high fat diets.
The gist for beginners: what it is in simple terms
Let's get one important thing straight right away: a high-fat diet (ketogenic diet) is still not a low-carb diet, it's primarily a super-high-fat diet.
The keto diet is a low-carb diet for weight loss with a moderate amount of protein in the diet and active fat consumption.
If you are counting calories, the percentage of calorie distribution would be:
- 80% of calories come from fat,
- 15% kcal protein,
- the remaining 5% are carbohydrates.
That is, at least 75% of the calories in your diet should come from fat; whose sources can be eggs, bacon, sausages, avocados, vegetable oils, coconut oil, butter.
We would also like to mention that this is not a diet based on animal fats, the so-calledpure meat diet, no way! Vegetables are consumed, but with moderate or complete avoidance of starchy vegetables such as potatoes.
What is important to know for beginners? What is a "low fat diet" in simple terms?
So, the essence of the ketogenic diet is simple in words. With such a nutritional system, the body enters a state called "ketosis" and begins to synthesize ketones for subsequent energy production (hence the name "ketogenic" diet), and such a transition is possible only if carbohydrate intake is strictly limited.
Our body is able to fully meet its needs from fat reserves. But a lack of carbohydrates is terrible for our brain and nervous system, which need glucose: the brain can't use fatty acids for energy.
When we ignore carbohydrates, the body, in order not to stretch its legs, starts to pervert and creates ersatz carbohydrates - ketone bodies.
Ketone bodies are organic biomolecules, soluble in aqueous media, which are synthesized in the liver from fatty acids when food intake (especially carbohydrates) is reduced. Once transported to extrahepatic tissues, these biomolecules can be used as an energy source.
Ketone bodies are constantly synthesized in small amounts in the human body, but normally the concentration of ketones is so low that they are not detected in a urine test.
However, when the level of ketone bodies in the blood increases (a condition known as ketonemia), they begin to be excreted in the urine (known as ketonuria); ketonemia and ketonuria together indicate the transition of the body into a state of ketosis.
The ultimate goal of a ketogenic diet is to put the body in a state of nutritional ketosis (not to be confused with pathological ketosis), which ultimately directs the metabolism to use fatty acids and ketone bodies as its main source of energy.
In the initial stages, the main thing is not to overdo it with the amount of protein.
If you eat too much protein (more than 20%), the body starts the process of gluconeogenesis, and eventually all the excess protein turns into glucose, which prevents you from entering a state of ketosis.
That is why it is important to choose fatty foods with little protein. No need to lean on chicken, buy fatty cuts of beef instead. Instead of diet turkey bacon, buy regular bacon. Only 20% of your calories should come from protein.
Also remember, you have to drink lots and lots. Because the main sign of ketosis is the smell of acetone on your body and breath. Cool, right?
The fact is that excess fatty derivatives are excreted from the body, giving this specific smell. Earlier we said that fat energy factories are the most "polluting".
It is not always possible to completely remove the smell. But most odors can be removed with plenty of clean water.
Those. When you drink a lot of water (from 3 liters a day), excess ketones are excreted in urine and sweat. This removes most of the odor after showering. In addition, it improves well-being (eliminates lethargy).
Fun fact: the keto diet was originally invented for epileptics.
Why we don't recommend it: the dangers of consuming fat
For one simple reason: this is not a balanced diet. And such diets, which openly demonize any food, are absolutely not included in our concept: "Beauty does not require sacrifice, beauty requires health. "What kind of freedom from papal pressures can we talk about when you exclude a huge amount of food from your diet? . .
We do not deny that the body can more or less adequately exist in conditions of minimal or complete absence of carbohydrates, with an adequate intake of protein and the physiologically necessary amount of fat, but it would be ideal to ensure the presence of all three nutrients in the diet, i. e. Use a balanced diet for weight loss!
Is it possible to lose weight
Often, people, in search of slimness, begin to believe in various fairy tales such as "exclude this group of foods and the weight will disappear by itself. " This is where such monsters as the paleo diet are born.
Let's look at this interesting question with you: "Is it possible to lose weight by eliminating proteins, carbohydrates or fats from the diet? ""The brilliant Line McDonald will help us in this (below are excerpts from his work).
Let's imagine that you eat a certain amount of calories, but you get them from different sources: in the first case, you will get them mainly from carbohydrates; in the second - from protein, and in the third - from fat.
About carbohydrates
Let's imagine that we get most of our calories from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are rarely converted to fat (a process called de novo lipogenesis) under normal dietary conditions.
There are exceptional situations, for example, chronic carbohydrate overeating. That means 700-900 grams of net carbs per day for several days.
In this situation, carbohydrates overwhelm glycogen stores, exceeding the number of calories needed for the day, and you end up turning carbohydrates into body fat.
But when you eat more carbs, you burn more carbs and less fat. And so, even if carbs don't convert directly into fat, too many carbs make you fat.
In general, by inhibiting the breakdown of fat, excess carbohydrates cause you to store any fat you eat in the form of subcutaneous reserves, preventing you from burning the existing ones.
Yes, carbs don't directly make you fat through fat storage, but excess carbs still affect your fat stores, preventing you from burning the fat you eat during the day.
This is why exceeding your daily caloric intake by 500 calories from fat or 500 calories from carbohydrates seems fat, they just do it for different reasons and in different ways.
An additional 500 calories of fat is simply stored under the skin, and 500 calories of carbohydrates means that all the fat eaten during the day will go into reserves, because carbohydrates will be oxidized, not fats.
Bottom line: When you eat more carbs, you burn more carbs and less fat; when you eat less carbs you will burn less carbs and more fat. Unexpected, right?
On a squirrel
Protein Buddy is never converted to fat or stored that way. But if you eat a lot of protein, the body will use it for energy (instead of carbohydrates and fat), which means other nutrients will go into storage.
As a result, eating too much protein will make you fat, just not directly, but due to the fact that all the fat you eat goes under the skin.
Of course, proteins have the greatest thermal effect, so more incoming calories will be used for digesting food. Excess protein is less likely to make you fat, but if the calorie balance is exceeded, you will still gain weight.
But not by directly converting protein into fat, but by reducing the number of other nutrients that are burned.
Bottom line: if you eat more protein, you burn more protein (and therefore less fat and carbohydrates); eat less protein and you'll burn less protein (and therefore more carbs and fat). Presenting your face, you now clearly look something like this:
On fat
Dietary fat is mostly stored; if you eat more of them, it does not significantly affect the oxidation of subcutaneous fat.
When you eat fats, their fate is to be deposited in fat reserves, because. . . their consumption has very little effect on fat oxidation. It also has no significant effect on protein or carbohydrate oxidation.
Bottom line: All three options make you fatter, but the mechanisms are different.
The only difference is that fat is stored directly, while protein and carbohydrates force you to store the fat you eat.
Of course, there will be those who will misunderstand that a low-carb and/or low-protein diet has no advantage over others in terms of burning subcutaneous fat.
But with these diets, even though you're burning more fat, you're also eating more fatty foods. Thus, the overall fat balance remains the same, despite changes in other components. No matter how you look at it, it all comes down to energy balance and calorie deficit.
You must have a logical question, why not stop eating fat?
This is because carbohydrates are converted to fat de novo by lipogenesis. This is the case when the amount of fat consumed in the diet falls below 10% of the total calories consumed. In this case, your body starts the process of de novo lipogenesis, so you will still gain weight.
The body is smarter than us. In a situation of adequate fat intake (that is, above 10% of total calories), the fate of the fat we eat is to be stored in fat reserves, while proteins and carbohydrates are used for other processes.
And when the amount of fat consumed is too low, the body begins to convert carbohydrates (and most likely protein, although much less often) to store as fat.
Lie or truth
Of course, under certain conditions, the keto diet will work and you will lose weight. But it's not about her, not about fats and not about a special menu. The fact is that you will simply eat less!
They slander the diet for so long, but people don't believe it: and rightly so, because the diet works!
Here, for example, is a meta-analysis of about 50 studies that compared 11 popular diets that can be grouped together: low-carb (Atkins, South Beach, Zone), low-fat (Ornish, Rosemary Conley), balanced (Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers).
It turns out that (surprise) any weight loss diet is better than no diet at all.
After six months, the low-carb dieters lost more weight. But the total difference in weight loss (differences in indicators) among all diets is insignificant: a few hundred grams.
For example, on low-carbohydrate diets for 6 months the average weight loss was 8. 73 kg and 7. 25 kg at 12 months, and on low-fat diets 7. 99 kg at 6 months and 7. 27 kg at 12 months. 12 months.
Research has shown that compared to a strictly calorie-restricted diet, a low-carb diet may be slightly more effective for short-term weight loss.
This is partly due to the depletion of glycogen stores in the body (in the liver and muscles) and the associated fluid loss (which is about 2 kg for a typical adult). But, as we can see, in the long run, the difference between them is very small.
A study comparing low-carb and low-fat diets over the last 2 years found no significant difference in weight loss between the two.
By the way, keep in mind that the diet was most effective in the first six months. And after a year, the weight generally started to increase. A striking example of metabolic adaptation.
Benefit and effect
The ketogenic diet does not make people hungry and does not take away calories. Roughly speaking, we simply make up for the reduction in carbohydrates with protein and fat.
Of course, this does not mean that by suddenly reducing the intake of carbohydrates, you can overeat fatty and protein foods. Calorie intake must be within normal limits. Another undoubted advantage of the keto diet is appetite control.
Many people who have been on one or another diet know that the strongest appetite occurs precisely during the diet. The keto diet eliminates the feeling of hunger. Fatty and protein foods, which are rich in the keto diet, allow a person not to experience a brutal appetite and to lose weight at the same time.
Too bad
Given that the ketogenic diet emphasizes fatty and protein foods, digestive disorders are possible - heaviness in the stomach, flatulence, constipation.
This is because the diet contains practically no fiber, which is found in bread, potatoes, fruits and vegetables. To avoid digestive problems, you should consume some vegetables and fruits in minimal quantities. For example, cabbage and sour grapes are suitable.
Another disadvantage of the keto diet is the unpredictability of glucose deficiency. You never know how your body will behave if you deprive it of such an important energy resource.
It will take time for the body to convert to ketone bodies. As a rule, in the first week a person feels weakness, dizziness and general weakness. It is important to last at least 21 days to see the results of the diet.
A decrease in the amount of micronutrients (vitamins/minerals, etc. ) is a common phenomenon in every low-carb diet, because most of our micronutrients come from foods with carbohydrates. Therefore, you must use vitamin-mineral complexes.
A decrease in the acidity of the blood occurs in response to an increase in the amount of ketones in it.
If you have problems with carbohydrate metabolism (for example, diabetes), vomiting and "ketoacidosis" are possible. In a healthy body, ketones are used without consequences. Otherwise, the smell of acetone confirms it (a sign of ketone utilization).
We're already seeing people in ketosis flocking to the comments exclaiming "I've been in ketosis for 116 days and I'm more active than ever! " Let me tell you our personal opinion, people in ketosis are worse than vegans in online battles. Not all, but for some reason very many.
Go to any article on this subject, and you will see buckets of filth being poured on the author, simply because he does not write laudatory odes to fat. We always advise them to eat buckwheat and calm down.
It probably comes from the fact that the person projects their personal, inner conflict onto others. This happens especially often in matters of nutrition/sports/religion. For example, a person's mind is forced to constantly argue with many factors, and such a person tries to present arguments against them out loud, in a dispute with an external opponent, in order to feel like a winner.
Another example is that a beginner in a nutritional system suppresses his doubts in such disputes. In short, these people are not arguing with you, but with themselves, you better not disturb them, they will bite you to death, you are made of protein and fat.
Besides, if you personally "it's all a lie, I don't eat coal and I feel great", then it doesn't mean that it happens to others too! An individual's personal experience cannot prove or disprove anything.
Why? Yes, because these "personal opinions" and criticisms of yours are carriages and small carts and everyone is different. Who will you trust, who has a nicer nickname?
Contraindications for use
For any deviations from health, any diet or exercise should be used only after consulting a doctor. People with kidney, digestive system or bowel disease should not use the keto diet.
Lack of glucose initially greatly affects brain activity, so such a diet is undesirable for mental workers.
And by the way, the American Dietetic Association does not recommend the keto diet for ketoacidosis, but recommends other diets that contain more carbohydrates.
Reference: diabetic ketoacidosis (ketoacidosis) is a variant of metabolic acidosis associated with impaired carbohydrate metabolism resulting from insulin deficiency: high concentrations of glucose and ketone bodies in the blood.
On the one hand, the keto diet is simple, on the other hand, it is very difficult. Of course, everything depends on the chosen form. Some people behave so fanatically that the diet ends badly. You cannot ignore the rules of nutrition, you need to listen to your body and give it rest. After all, the most important thing is health, it should not be forgotten. Think for yourself, decide for yourself.