So, the magical keto diet. There are so many rumors and speculations about him, how many hopes are attached to him, how many hours they spent in the toilet because of him. Keto apologists preach about rapid melting of fat glaciers, incredible performance, crystal clarity of mind, etc. etc. in a similar spirit. We don't know where this data comes from, because scientists are just beginning to study this diet under a microscope.
Let's discuss the pros and cons of a high-fat diet.
The bottom line for beginners: what it is in simple words
Let's clarify an important point right away: the high-fat diet (ketogenic diet) is still not low-carb, but primarily a super-high-fat diet.
The keto diet is a low-carb diet for weight loss with moderate protein intake and active fat consumption.
If you are counting calories, the percentage breakdown of calories would be:
- 80% of calories come from fat,
- 15% protein kcal. ,
- the remaining 5% is carbohydrates.
This means that at least 75% of the calories in your diet should come from fat; the source of which can be eggs, bacon, sausage, avocado, vegetable oils, coconut oil, butter.
We would also like to note that this is not a diet based on animal fats, the so-calledpure meat diet, not at all! They eat vegetables, but moderately or completely avoid starchy vegetables such as potatoes.
What should beginners know? What does "fat diet" mean in simple words?
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 later energy production (hence the name "ketogenic" diet), and such a transition is only possible if carbohydrate intake is strictly limited.
Our body can fully satisfy its needs from fat reserves. But the lack of carbohydrates is terrible for our brain and nervous system, which need glucose: the brain can't use fatty acids for energy.
If we ignore carbohydrates, the body, in order not to stretch its legs, starts to pervert and creates ersatz carbohydrates - ketone bodies.
Ketone bodies are water-soluble organic biomolecules that are synthesized in the liver from fatty acids when food intake (especially carbohydrates) is reduced. After delivery to extrahepatic tissues, these biomolecules can be used as an energy source.
Ketone bodies are continuously synthesized in small amounts in the human body, but usually the concentration of ketones is so low that they are not detected by urine tests.
However, when the level of ketone bodies increases in the blood (a condition known as ketonemia), they begin to be excreted in the urine (known as ketonuria); Together, ketonemia and ketonuria 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 shifts the metabolism toward the main energy source of fatty acids and ketone bodies.
In the initial stages, the most important thing is not to exaggerate the amount of protein.
If you eat too much protein (more than 20%), your body starts the process of gluconeogenesis and eventually all the excess protein is converted to glucose, which prevents you from entering ketosis.
Therefore, it is important to choose fatty foods with some protein. You don't have to rely on chicken, you have to buy fatty beef instead. Buy regular bacon instead of diet turkey bacon. Only 20% of your calories should come from protein.
Also remember to drink lots and lots of it. Because the main sign of ketosis is the smell of acetone on your body and breath. Cool, right?
The fact is that the body excretes excess fat derivatives, giving it this specific smell. Previously, it was said that fat energy factories are the most "polluting".
It is not always possible to completely remove the smell. But most of the smell can be removed with plenty of clean water.
Those. If you drink a lot of water (from 3 liters per day), excess ketones are excreted in urine and sweat. This will remove most of the post-shower odors. It also improves well-being (eliminates lethargy).
Fun fact: the keto diet was originally invented for epileptics.
Why we don't recommend it: the dangers of eating fat
For one simple reason: it is not a balanced diet. And such diets, which openly demonize any food, are not included in our concept at all: "Beauty does not require sacrifice, beauty requires health. "
We do not deny that the body can exist more or less properly with a minimal or complete lack of carbohydrates, with adequate protein intake and the physiologically necessary amount of fat, but ideally it can still ensure the presence of all three nutrients in the diet. i. e. Use a balanced diet to lose weight!
Is it possible to lose weight
People often start believing in all kinds of fairy tales in their pursuit of slimness, such as: "Cut out this food group and the weight will disappear by itself. " This is where monsters like the paleo diet are born.
Let's look at this interesting question: "Can you lose weight by eliminating protein, carbohydrates or fat from your diet? ""The brilliant Line McDonald will help us with this (in the following we provide details from his work).
Let's imagine that you eat a certain amount of calories, but get them from different sources: in the first case, you get them mainly from carbohydrates; in the second - from proteins, in the third - from fats.
About carbohydrates
Let's imagine that most of our calories come from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are rarely converted to fat (a process known as de novo lipogenesis) under normal dietary conditions.
There are exceptional situations, such as chronic overeating of carbohydrates. This means 700-900 grams of net carbohydrates per day for several days.
In this situation, the carbohydrates exceed the glycogen stores, exceeding the daily caloric requirements, and eventually the carbohydrates are converted to body fat.
But when you eat more carbs, you burn more carbs and less fat. And that's why even if carbs don't turn directly into fat, too many carbs will make you fat.
In general, by inhibiting the breakdown of fat, excess carbohydrates force you to store all the fat you eat as subcutaneous reserves, preventing you from burning existing fat.
Yes, carbs don't make you fatter directly by being stored as fat, but excess carbs still affect your fat stores and prevent you from burning the fat you eat during the day.
This is why going over your daily caloric intake by 500 calories from fat or 500 calories from carbs makes you fat, they just do it for different reasons and in different ways.
Another 500 calories of fat is simply stored under the skin, and 500 calories of carbohydrates means that all the fat you eat during the day goes into reserve, because carbohydrates are oxidized, not fats.
Bottom line: When you eat more carbs, you burn more carbs and less fat; when you eat less carbs, you burn less carbs and more fat. Unexpected, right?
On a squirrel
The protein buddy is never converted to fat and is not stored as such. But when you eat a lot of protein, your body uses it for energy (rather than carbohydrates and fats), which means other nutrients go into storage.
As a result, excessive protein consumption makes you fat, just not directly, but due to the fact that the fat you eat gets under the skin.
Of course, proteins have the greatest thermic effect, so more of the incoming calories are used to digest the food. Excess protein is less likely to make you gain weight anyway, but if you exceed the caloric balance, you will still gain weight.
But not by converting protein directly into fat, but by reducing the number of other nutrients burned.
Bottom line: if you eat more protein, you burn more protein (and therefore less fat and carbs); eat less protein and you burn less protein (and therefore more carbs and fat). Introducing her face, now she clearly looks like this:
On the fat
Fats supplied with food are mainly stored, if you eat more of them, it does not significantly affect the oxidation of subcutaneous fat.
When you eat fats, their fate is stored in fat reserves because. . . their consumption has very little effect on the oxidation of fats. It also has no significant effect on protein or carbohydrate oxidation.
Overall conclusion: All three options make you fat, but the mechanisms are different.
The only difference is that fat is directly stored, while proteins and carbohydrates force you to store the fat you eat.
Of course, there will be those who misunderstand that low-carb and/or low-protein diets have no advantage over others in terms of burning subcutaneous fat.
But with these diets, even though you burn more fat, you also eat more fatty foods. So the overall fat balance remains the same despite changes in other components. Either way, it all boils down to energy balance and calorie deficit.
You must have a logical question, why don't you stop eating fat?
This is because carbohydrates are converted to fat through de novo lipogenesis. This is when the amount of fat consumed during the diet falls below 10% of the total calories consumed. In this case, your body will start the process of de novo lipogenesis, so you will continue to gain weight.
The body is smarter than us. In case of adequate fat intake (i. e. above 10% of total calories), the fate of consumed fats is stored in fat reserves, while proteins and carbohydrates are used for other processes.
And when the amount of fat consumed is too small, the body begins to convert carbohydrates (and possibly protein, although much less often) into fat.
Lie or truth
Of course, under certain conditions, the keto diet will work and you will lose weight. But this is not about him, not about fats and not about a special menu. The fact is that you will simply eat less!
Diets have been reviled for so long, but people don't believe them: and rightly so, because diets work!
For example, here's 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 diet is better than no diet.
After six months, those on the low-carb diet lost more weight. But the general difference in weight loss (differences in indicators) between all diets is insignificant: a few hundred grams.
For example, on low-carbohydrate diets for 6 months, average weight loss was 8. 73 kg and 7. 25 kg over 12 months, and on low-fat diets 7. 99 kg over 6 months and 7. 27 kg over 12 months.
Research has shown that compared to a strictly low-calorie diet, a low-carb diet may be slightly more effective in losing weight in the short term.
This is partly due to the reduction of the body's glycogen stores (in the liver and muscles) and the accompanying fluid loss (which is about 2 kg for an average adult). But as we can see, there is very little difference between them in the long run.
A study comparing low-carb and low-fat diets over the past 2 years found no significant difference in weight loss between the two.
By the way, please note that the diet was most effective in the first six months. And after a year, the weight usually began to increase. A striking example of metabolic adaptation.
Advantage and effect
The ketogenic diet doesn't starve people or take away calories. For the most part, the decrease in carbohydrates is simply compensated with proteins and fats.
Of course, this does not mean that you can overeat fatty and protein foods by sharply reducing carbohydrate intake. Calorie intake should be kept within normal limits. Another undoubted benefit of the keto diet is appetite control.
Many people who have been on a diet know that the strongest appetite appears during the diet. The keto diet eliminates hunger pangs. Fatty and protein foods, in which the keto diet is rich, allow a person not to experience brutal appetite and at the same time lose weight.
I'm sorry
Given that the ketogenic diet focuses on fatty and protein-containing foods, digestive disorders are possible - difficulty in the stomach, bloating, constipation.
This is because the diet contains practically no fiber, found in bread, potatoes, fruits and vegetables. To avoid digestive problems, you should eat 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. It is not known how your body will behave if you deprive it of such an important source of energy.
It takes time for the body to convert to ketone bodies. As a rule, in the first week a person feels unwell, dizzy and general weakness. It is important to stick with the diet for at least 21 days to see results.
A decrease in the amount of micronutrients (vitamins/minerals, etc. ) is a common phenomenon in all low-carbohydrate diets, because most of the micronutrients come to us from carbohydrate-containing foods. Therefore, you need to use vitamin-mineral complexes.
The decrease in the acidity of the blood occurs as a reaction due to the 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. By the way, the smell of acetone also confirms this (a sign of ketone consumption).
We're already seeing people in ketosis rushing into the comments to shout, "I've been in ketosis for 116 days and I'm more active than ever! "Let's give our personal opinion, people in ketosis are worse than vegans in online battles. Not all of them, but for some reason a lot of them.
Go to any article on this topic and you'll see buckets of dirt thrown at the author simply because he doesn't write eulogies about fat. We always advise them to eat buckwheat and calm down.
This is probably due to the fact that a person projects his personal, internal debate onto others. This is especially common in nutrition/sports/religious matters. For example, a person's mind is forced to constantly argue with many factors, and such a person tries to raise the arguments against them out loud in a debate with an external opponent in order to feel victorious.
Another example is when a newcomer to some food system suppresses his own doubts in such discussions. In short, these people are not arguing with you, but with themselves, you better not bother them, they will bite you to death, you are made of protein and fat.
Also, if you personally say "it's all a lie, I don't eat coal and I'm fine", 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 opinions of yours are a carriage and a small wagon and everyone else. Who will you trust, who has a better nickname?
Application contraindications
In case of any deviation from health, any diet or exercise should only be used after consultation with your doctor. People with kidney, digestive or intestinal disease should not use the keto diet.
Glucose deficiency initially greatly affects brain activity, so such a diet is not desirable for intellectual workers.
And by the way, the American Dietetic Association does not recommend the keto diet for ketoacidosis, but other diets with more carbohydrates.
Reference: Diabetic ketoacidosis (ketoacidosis) is a variant of metabolic acidosis, which is associated with impaired carbohydrate metabolism due to insulin deficiency: high concentration of glucose and ketone bodies in the blood.
The keto diet is both simple and 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 the diet, you must listen to your body and rest. In the end, the most important thing is health, you should not forget about it. Think for yourself, decide for yourself.