Diet Series: Ketogenic Diet

One of the most popular diets for many, the ketogenic diet, has people trying to lose weight and get the claimed health benefits.  First up in the diet series I’ll put out, the ketogenic diet will get a review of how it effects health and athletics.  Again, I write these up for education and entertainment purposes.  If considering a diet, always consult your doctor.

Overview

The Ketogenic diet is the common name for the particular diet that severely limits carbohydrate intake while increasing primarily fat and protein.  The idea is to limit glucose (sugar) in the system and exhaust stored glucose (glycogen in the liver) and cause the body to burn fat stores instead (ketone bodies- thus ketosis).  As stated previously, fat has a ton of calories packed into it, so people try to hack this diet and it is theorized that it could help in athletic performance.   In effect, this is generally a very calorie restrictive diet and the macros are set around 5% carbohydrate, 75% fat, and 20% protein. Ultimately, the restriction part of the diet is to be short-lived and carbohydrates are slowly added back in to the diet until the point that weight loss stops and life goes on.

Benefit

Weight loss does occur initially.  The higher fat and protein seems to cause diuresis (peeing more) which will then result in water weight loss.  Also with the higher fat and protein make-up of the diet, it causes the dieter to be more satisfied and not always hungry, which limits overeating. 

It appears to help control seizures, especially in the pediatric population.  It can help with people who are ‘pre-diabetic” (where the recommendation is to lower carbs anyway) but basically it works as a way for portion control and calorie reduction (which is the basis of most diets).  There are other theorized benefits but nothing with much literature behind it.

Drawback

Most benefits can be short lived and many people fail this diet, as it can be so restrictive.  When someone is told they can’t have something, it usually makes them want that particular thing more.  Another thing is that on this diet, many vegetables and fruits are restricted, to be added in later, but this can lead to nutrient and vitamin deficiency if done very restrictively. 

To get the protein and fat, many will add in sausage and bacon in higher quantities, which I’ll admit does sound appealing in the beginning.  However, processed meat (including sausage and bacon) has been added to the World Health Organization list of known carcinogens, the same list that has alcohol, that when used in excess can potentially cause cancer.

Athletics

There is some research that having a diet with lower-carbohydrate and higher protein can help prevent endurance athletes from ‘hitting the wall’.  However, after that there are mixed results on benefit for athletic performance.  There is actually evidence that when training for high-intensity exercise that typically will require higher carbohydrate and glucose utilization, there is detriment in performance.    At lower intensity (power walking, jogging) there wasn’t much difference between diets and performance but still glucose predominant diets, in general, performed better.  In one study, endurance athletes actually had impaired iron transport in their system while on the ketogenic diet, and had transient anemia (this hinders oxygen delivery to muscles and organs).

Conclusion

Ultimately, if the diet is being used to lose weight, it can work!  However, there is risk for this being a ‘yo-yo’ diet due to the extreme restriction and being very tough to follow.  Plus the emphasis on protein and higher fat makes it not a good long-term option.  But if trying to drop a few pounds to get to a desired weight and plan on adjusting lifestyle then this can work, for maybe a month or two.  Exercise always needs to be a part of a weight loss program.  For many Americans, diet can be where they fail losing weight.  Also, diets are not cookie-cutter and need to be adjusted based on the individual. That is why doing research and talking to your physician, and possibly a dietician, is the best way to find the diet that would be best tailored to the individual. 

Stay safe out there and keep moving!