A keto diet is a meal plan where one focuses on foods providing very few carbohydrates, sufficient amounts of proteins, and many healthy fats at 5%, 20%, and 75% portions, respectively. The objective is to obtain calories from healthy fats instead of carbohydrates—the keto diet functions by exhausting your body’s sugar reserves. When the body depletes its sugar reserves, it starts to break down available fat for energy. This results in the body producing molecules, known as ketones, which the body uses for energy.
1. Aids in Weight Loss
The keto diet aids in weight loss by reducing appetite and boosting metabolism. The foods you take when you are on a ketogenic diet fill your stomach and reduce hunger-stimulating hormones. Due to this, a keto diet can reduce your appetite, thus promoting weight loss.
Reducing your carb intake is a simple and effective way to lose weight. Studies show that people undertaking low-carb diets lose weight faster than their counterparts on low-fat diets. This is despite the latter being active in restricting calories. The reason is that low-carb diets remove excess water from the body, which lowers insulin levels in the body leading to drastic weight loss during the first week or two. The type of healthy fats you use in a keto diet is essential. One of the healthy fats to use is olive oil keto variety as it has numerous health benefits, one of them being having sufficient amounts of monounsaturated fats.
Studies that compare low-carb diets against low-fat diets, people who limit their carbs intake lose 2-3 times more weight than those limiting their fats intake without feeling hungry. Obese adults on a low-carb diet see results in the first six months compared to those on a traditional weight loss program.
2. Might Improve Heart Health and Type 2 Diabetes
When going on a keto diet, ensure that you only eat healthy food. Research has shown that eating healthy fats such as avocados, instead of unhealthy fats from sources such as pork rinds, significantly improves heart health by reducing cholesterol. High cholesterol levels in the body increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The ability of a keto diet to lower cholesterol results in a reduced risk of acquiring heart complications. However, you should eat healthful and nutritionally balanced food to impact your heart health positively.
Type 2 diabetes is a health condition impacting the control of blood sugar. You can manage type 2 diabetes by following a healthy diet and sustaining a healthy body weight. A keto diet consists of high fats, moderate proteins, and very few carbohydrates, which may help some people manage their blood sugar. The ketogenic diet may help some people living with diabetes since it allows the body to sustain glucose levels simply but healthy. Low amounts of carbohydrates in the keto diet help eliminate large increments in blood sugars, thus decreasing your insulin need. Ketogenic diets have been seen to be effective in controlling HbA1c levels. This is the amount of glucose moving with hemoglobin in your blood over three months.
3. Might Reduce the Risk of Acquiring Certain Cancers
There has been extensive research on the effects of a keto diet in preventing and treating certain cancers. One study revealed that a ketogenic diet might be suitable and safe as a supportive treatment alongside radiation therapy and chemotherapy for certain cancers. The reason is that the diet causes increased oxidative stress in the cancer cells than in normal cells, which causes them to die. Since the keto diet reduces blood sugar, it can also reduce the risk of insulin complications. Insulin is a hormone controlling blood sugar, which has links to some cancers.
Final Thoughts
Some of the foods you can eat while on a keto diet include vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage, eggplant, olives, and spinach. You can also have cheese in various forms, such as feta, cheddar, blue cheese, cream cheese, chevre, and cottage cheese. Apart from olive oil, including coconut oil and avocado in your diet. Do not forget to add nuts to the diet, such as almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds. Blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are also a good addition to the keto diet.
