Description: Thinking about changing your diet but not sure about what choices to make? Today we will discuss the keto diet so you can see if this is something that may work for you.
The consciousness about the correlation between food and health rises. More and more people are making a lot of adjustments to their diets to make sure they are doing what is in their power to eat healthily.
One of these diets is getting tremendous popularity lately – keto diet. A lot of people who follow this nutrition plan, including celebrities such as Halle Berry, swear that it transformed their lives.
Others naturally then as what is a keto diet, and does it work or is it just another hype that has no grounds in science. These are the questions we are going to try and answer by discussing keto diet advantages as well as disadvantages of a keto diet. If you, after that, get inspired to try the keto diet, then you might be interested in looking into Keto Supplement Reviewed.
Keto Diet
One of the main rules of a keto diet is that a person who decides to follow it needs to intake high amounts of fat, low carbohydrates, and moderate amounts of protein.
In simple terms, the message is that you limit the intake of carbohydrates to a minimum. The body has no other option but to start using the fat to get energy, which ultimately leads to weight loss and improvement of your overall health.
Advantages
Weight Loss
As we mentioned above, there seems to be a clear link between the keto diet and weight loss because people who followed it began to quickly and visibly lose pounds. The experts from UT Medical Center say that it isn’t clear what exactly is causing weight loss except that it seems that this kind of diet suppresses hunger. They believe that this comes as a result of less carb intake that causes a body to regulate insulin levels better. Also, they say, it is possible that people feel full for a longer time when they eat fat and protein.
Better Cognitive Function
A clear advantage of a keto diet is the improvement of cognitive function. The studies that have been done on mice and the findings show that this nutrition plan protects neurovascular and metabolic functions, and this helps maintain and improve cognitive capacity.
Improved Heart Health
Of course, when you lose weight, the strain on your cardiovascular system goes down. Therefore it is not difficult to understand the connection between the keto diet and heart health. This kind of diet plan, according to the studies, also lowers the level of so-called bad cholesterol LDL and raises the ‘good’ HDL, so which, as a consequence, improves the condition of your heart.
Mental Health
As we know that the diet was created to help people who are suffering from epilepsy. It proved to give results. It is clear that eating habits and brain functions are somehow related. But does keto diet help with mental health problems? Studies show that it does. When it comes to a keto diet and mental health, a high-fat nutrition plan has a positive effect on people suffering from depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and dementia. A lot of significant studies suggest that this is possible because this type of nutrition plan gives people a sensation of feeling good, strengthens brainpower, and has antioxidant effects. Out of various mental health issues, two affect modern people at a large scale – anxiety and depression disorders. If you want to know more about keto diet and depression, you get informed here.
Slows Down Cancer Growth
The idea that cancer grows faster and stronger if you eat sweets is wrong. But, cancer cells, same like other living cells, do depend on sugar for energy. That’s why the studies that try to find a correlation between food and cancer suggest that if you limit carbohydrate intake. There is no sugar cancer won’t have the source of energy. It means that its growth will consequently be inhibited.
Disadvantages
Long Term Effectiveness
Many people who try a keto diet and see it gives results on multiple levels decide to keep on with keto diet for life. However, there simply isn’t enough research that would support this idea as a good lifestyle choice. The problem lies in the fact that a lot of essential nutrients have been cut out with this diet, and we don’t know in which ways this can affect the body in the long run. Also, the impact of eating fats for years or decades on the cardiovascular system is still not known.
Keto Flu
It is something that can happen when you are transitioning from regular to a keto diet plan. A person who is changing the way they eat might develop several symptoms that resemble flu: headache, muscle aches and soreness, fatigue, and so on. It is very common in people who consumed a lot of carbohydrates before starting to follow this nutrition plan. In this case, because they suddenly stop, the body gets shocked, and they develop symptoms of keto flu.
Restrictive
One of the main issues is that this nutrition plan is highly restrictive. At first, when you hear that your diet should be based on facts, it doesn’t seem so challenging. Then after some time, you realize that there are several things that you cannot eat – ice cream, for example, unless it is a special keto ice cream. It, however, you can only make at home.
It Is Not for Everyone
Many people will experience a drop in cholesterol. Some might find that the levels are elevated because of eating too much meat. Those who are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol problems shouldn’t follow this diet plan.
Impact on Social Life
Many bars and restaurants will be able to offer some keto-friendly alcoholic beverages like dry vine or vodka, tequila, or gin. However, if you are planning a dinner with friends, you are very likely to run into a problem when you are following a keto diet. Many foods do contain more carbs that you are allowed to eat.
Conclusion: The keto diet concept is interesting and has the potential to help with different medical issues. Since it gained explosive popularity only recently, there is still a lot that we don’t know, especially of long term effectiveness, as you could see. Those who feel that this nutrition plan works for them are arguing that it is a life-changing diet that everyone should follow. Other’s are skeptical because of unknown consequences. If you are drawn to the idea of trying it out, you can get informed about the keto diet for beginners and see how it is going for you. We would be more than happy to receive feedback. Also, we would like to hear about your experiences in case you are already following this plan. How are you feeling? Are you satisfied with the results?
Author’s Bio: Kelly is a writer and a fitness expert, living in Los Angeles. She has been writing about various diet and fitness related topics for different websites for more than three years. Kelly is practicing aikido two times per week and loves to spend her free time traveling with her partner and going to the beach.
