What’s the deal with the Keto diet?

Hi Adventurers!

This month, I tried a health adventure – I tried the keto diet for 10 days. This was one of those diet protocols that intimidated me a lot. There’s so much buzz about it that I thought I should try it but it always seemed scary. This month, I’ll give you my pros and cons from the experience!

First, keto basics. The keto diet is short for ketogenic diet. The ketogenic diet was developed in the 1920’s to help treat epilepsy. It is a very low carbohydrate, low protein and high fat diet. The key here is that you want the fats in your diet to be high quality fats – more olive or coconut oil than canola oil. The goal is to change the main fuel source that your body uses from glucose or carbohydrates to fats. When the body uses fat for energy, it produces molecules called ketones – when this happens one is said to be in ketosis. Higher levels of ketones have been linked to increased cognitive function, increased energy, reversing insulin resistance, and lowering blood pressure. A (very) basic overview of what you can and can’t eat:

Eat: healthy fats! Olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds, coconut oil, fatty fish, grass fed beef, full-fat dairy, berries.

Avoid: bread, grains, beans, legumes, sugar of all kinds, most fruit, beer, potatoes, rice, starchy veggies (corn, carrots, peas).

This diet has been used by people to lose weight and improve their energy and mood. Research has shown that, unless followed very carefully, it should not be a long-term diet. This is because you are unable to eat many nutrient dense fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes on keto. So, good to use sometimes, but not for years on end. It has been shown to help with epilepsy, and they’re starting research into this diet’s effect on Alzheimer’s with positive results.

So, what did I find on my keto journey (well more like a short trip than a journey)?

Pros: I did have more energy! I noticed that I was thinking clearer too, so those claims were definitely spot on! The first couple days were a bit tough to get into what I could and could not eat, but after that it was pretty easy. When I started trying keto, I was on a bit of a sugar kick, eating lots of sugary treats, so once I got past that initial removal of sugar, it wasn’t too hard. Maybe because I’m not a huge carbohydrate person anyway – I don’t really like rice or potatoes and don’t eat too much bread any way, so that was a fairly easy transition. Other pros to this diet were that you can still have chocolate (if its 80% or more cacao), cheese, and an occasional glass of wine. Yay! I found lots of easy ways to eat on this diet. Yummy full fat yogurt with a few blackberries for breakfast, avocado and tuna boats for lunch, pan-fried salmon in olive oil with a lemon and spice rub with a little side salad, and an almond butter/100% cocoa powder/coconut oil bowl for dessert at dinner time. I did lose a few pounds as well, which never hurts! This protocol was even reasonably easy to stay close to while eating out (depending on where you were eating). I also probably ended up doing more “keto-light” most days – eating slightly more carbs than I was supposed to.

Cons: I didn’t like having to count my carbs. That is just something that kept making me want to rebel against the whole thing. I also could tell there was a bit of lack of fiber if you know what I mean. I really don’t enjoy touching raw meat and don’t often cook it, so that did limit my eating variety as well.

To sum up, I think keto is great option for weight loss, or to detox for a while. You can still eat lots yummy things. However, from the research I’ve done, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to do eat this way on a continuous basis – studies seem to recommend periods of keto alternated with times eating healthfully off of the diet. I’ve also gotten similar results from just cutting out sugar and processed foods from my diet, but keeping the fruit and complex healthy carbs, so maybe, at least for me, it’s the refined sugar that causes brain fog and weight gain, not necessarily the carbs.

Want to try keto too, but think you need some support on that journey? Reach out! Let’s talk about how a health coach can support your health goals.