Many of you might be searching about what is a ketogenic diet plan or keto diet plan? Is a ketogenic diet (keto diet) safe? Does the doctor recommend a ketogenic diet?

What You Can Read Here...

Ketogenic diet is popularly known as the keto diet.

Obese people are mostly searching for a ketogenic diet plan.

Most chronic (long-standing) diseases, such as diabetes type 2, hypertension (high blood pressure), and heart diseases or heart problems, are primarily linked to obesity, which is typically the result of unhealthy diets and poor dietary habits.

One diet plan that has proved to be very efficient for extreme weight loss is a very low-carbohydrate and high-fat ketogenic food.

So, you might be wondering what is a ketogenic diet or keto diet?

What is ketogenic (keto) diet?

A ketogenic (keto) diet consists mainly of high fats, medium proteins and very low carbohydrates (a low carb diet), about 55% to 60% fat, 30% to 35% protein and 5 % to 10% carbohydrate.

In short, a keto diet is including a high protein low carbs food and a high fat low carbs food.

How does a Keto diet plan work?

A ketogenic diet is a diet that is responsible for releasing ketones into the blood.

Most cells prefer to use carbohydrate blood sugar as their primary energy source.

If you stop taking carbohydrates more than 50 g per day, the body doesn’t get required carbohydrates for calorie production.

So, the body lowers the level of insulin in the body by not producing insulin.

This stage is known as a catabolic state.

In the absence of circulating blood sugar in the body, the stored fat breaks down into the molecules known as ketone bodies.

This process is called ketosis or nutritional ketosis.

These ketone bodies can supply energy to the brain, heart, muscles and kidney.

After ketosis, most cells are used to produce energy via ketone bodies before we continue to consume carbohydrates again.

Everything is good for a keto diet plan?

One of the key drawbacks of this ketogenic diet is that many people prefer to consume too much protein and low-quality fat from packaged foods, with too little amount of a low carbs fruits and a low carbs vegetables.

You can see our Weight loss tips on “How to lose weight fast?”, where we have listed 19 low carbs vegetables, that you can add to your ketogenic (keto) diet plan so that you can lose your weight fast.

So, by adding those low carbs foods in your keto diet plan, you will not only lose weight fast but you can make the best ketogenic diet plan to lose weight as those vegetables are very low in carbohydrates.

A Ketogenic diet plan is something new or it’s the oldest one?

Russel Wilder was the first to use a ketogenic diet to treat epilepsy in 1921 and came up with the term “ketogenic diet.”

For nearly a decade, ketogenic diets have liked a place in the medical stream as a therapeutic diet for treating paediatric epilepsy cases.

But then it was introduced as a ketogenic (keto) diet plan for weight loss which you can say as a new concept and now it is more popular in obese or overweight person due to its fast weight loss effect.

What are the types of ketogenic diet?

There are four types of ketogenic diet.

Standard ketogenic diet
Cyclical ketogenic diet
Targeted ketogenic diet
High-protein ketogenic diet

Ketogenic (keto) diet is healthy?

Mostly ketogenic (keto) diet plan is used by an obese person to lose weight fast.

Various kinds of literature have shown, fast weight loss in obese or overweight people when they are strictly following the ketogenic diet plan.

Even people suffering from type 2 diabetes and have started taking a ketogenic diet have shown a reduction of blood sugar level in the body, which is a good thing for people suffering from type 2 diabetes.

But keep in mind that, when a person with type 2 diabetes starts taking ketogenic diet, there is a significant drop in blood glucose level when he or she is on insulin therapy or taking anti-diabetic drugs (blood glucose-lowering medications).

So, in such case, you need to check your blood glucose level at the various interval.

Please consult your physician or diabetologist before starting a ketogenic diet if you are suffering from diabetes type 2.

What is the best ketogenic diet plan for weight loss?

Best ketogenic diet plan for weight loss should include a low level of carbohydrates (not more than 50 g per day).

Along with a low carbs diet, it should limit the daily intake of protein to 1g per lb body weight.

If you’re a heavy workout person then you can take protein up to 1.5g per lb body weight.

What are the side effects of a ketogenic diet?

Till now you read everything good about the ketogenic diet but now let’s talk about some adverse effects of ketogenic (keto) diet.

Side effects of the ketogenic diet are for shorter duration and longer duration.

Short duration side effects of the ketogenic diet are:

Nausea (feeling of having vomiting)
Vomiting
Headache
Feeling fatigued and tired
Dizziness (feeling weak or having a feeling of fainting)
Insomnia (difficulty in sleeping)
Difficulty in exercise
Constipation

These symptoms are commonly known as “keto flu”.

Long duration side effects of the ketogenic diet are:

Hepatic steatosis (Fatty liver – accumulation of fat in the liver)
Hypoproteinemia (Abnormally low level of protein in the blood)
Kidney stones
Low levels of essential vitamins and minerals

Contraindications of a ketogenic diet

If you’re suffering from any of the following health diseases or health problems, you must not have a ketogenic diet.

Ketogenic (keto) diet is contraindicated in:

Pancreatitis (inflammation of the liver)
History of liver failure,
Health problem related to fat metabolism

Does the keto diet work for a longer time?

The ketogenic diet works mostly as long as 2 years according to various kinds of literature.

Why such, because after such long-time keto diet becomes boring to people as they stop liking those routine intakes of a low carbs fruits and low carbs vegetables.

The ketogenic diet can be implemented for at least 2 to 3 weeks up to 6 to 12 months.

Adding note: When you are on a ketogenic (keto) diet plan for a long time, you might get positive for breath alcohol test due to production of acetone.

What are the benefits of the keto diet in obese?

In an obese person, following proper ketogenic diet plan may improve his or her overall body health. It may improve high blood pressure, heart problems, increase the level of HDL (good cholesterol), helps in lowering the blood glucose level in type 2 diabetes.

Along with that, a keto diet also increases the level of LDL (bad cholesterol) in the body. So, you need to be cautious in following the keto diet plan.

Conclusion

Obesity is the commonest problem worldwide.

So, using ketogenic (keto) diet plan for weight loss is a good option to choose, but keep in mind about is sustainability as you can’t have this keto diet for longer than 1 or 2 years due to its long duration side effects.

But yes do lose weight fast you can choose this ketogenic diet plan.