I’ve always hated research papers. I get exhausted compiling information from different sources then citing them. It’s a wonder I made it through those classes.
But that’s not to say that I don’t like reading. In the past year I have soaked up all the information I could about a ketogenic diet and weight loss in general over the past 8 years.
It’s just that there is so much floating around in my head from so many different sources its impossible to say where something came from.
Its been 8 years in the making and I want to give you the best information without being too formal and scientific.
The basic point of a ketogenic diet is to get your body off running on carbs and sugar. In turn it will start to run of the fat you consume and later its own fat stores.
When you restrict carbs to a certain level, you train your body to look for different sources of energy.
Becoming fat and keto adapted means that your liver starts to produce ketone bodies. Which is what being in ketosis is.
There are two reasons this works for people trying to lose weight.
You are no longer dependent on the food you eat for energy. Which means you can go longer periods of time without eating or even thinking about food.
Carbs raise insulin level in the body and a constant elevated level of insulin over a period of time can lead to insulin resistance which is a primary condition type 2 diabetes.
This is also why intermittent fasting has been linked to keto as well. Since you are satiated for longer periods of time, you no longer have to eat 3 meals a day plus snacks.
You can eat 2-3 times a day and extend your fasting window.
A common misconception of intermittent fasting is believing that it’s something foreign to our bodies. A vast majority of us do it anyway unintentionally.
You fast when you sleep. And a typical eating schedule where you eat before work at 8 and after work at 6 and somewhere in between for lunch at around 12. That’s a 14-hour fasting window.
Anyone you talk to says intermittent fasts start at 16 hours. For most people that’s not even skipping breakfast but just pushing it to 10am.
But this isn’t a post about the benefits of intermittent fasting, I’m sure I will get to that in the future.
But it is important in understanding why a ketogenic diet can be beneficial because they work on the same principles.
They are both tools that help regulate the way your body uses and stores fat.
Keto isn’t magic. You might have heard the stories about people who lost 10-20 pounds in their first few weeks.
Hey, that was me too. I lost 21 pounds in my first 3 weeks and 75 in a little under a year.
But that’s not the point. That might or might not be the case for you. I know you have heard plenty of success stories while looking into the diet further. And I’m also sure you’ve seen a lot of critics too.
Just like the misconception with intermittent fasting, these criticisms are misguided as well.
Most cite that although it might seem to work in the short term, there isn’t enough research to see if this is healthy in the long run.
It also flies in the face of the health associations that have been promoting a low-fat diet and blaming fats for all the obesity and heart disease we have seen escalate over the past several decades.
The reason this doesn’t make sense is that when you ask the average person, if you wanted to lose 10 pounds, what would you do. Most will give you the same key points.
Cut out sugar and refined carbs, the processed stuff including bread pasta and doughs. Get more greens in. Cut your calories. Exercise more. Stay away from things that are too fatty.
We all intuitively know that reducing carbs are a key to losing weight. Reducing them in general and replacing the “bad” ones with “good” ones. Replacing fries with asparagus, or bread for rice cakes.
So, the truth is that going keto is not being too restrictive. It’s actually easier to do than the general advice given to most people when trying to lose weight.
We aren’t telling you to count calories or to cut out the fatty foods. You don’t even have to exercise more. Just cut out the processed foods and refined carbs.
We all know we shouldn’t be having sugar in the first place when trying to lose weight. From soft drinks to donuts, that’s nothing new.
The only place where it’s fair to debate is when it comes to fruit. We are taught over a lifetime that fruit and its juice is healthy. Although fruit is not essential because the vitamins and nutrients found in them can be found in other sources without the sugar, I’ll leave that point for another time because it’s a little more complicated than that.
Now back to cutting out the carbs, if you don’t want to cut your calories as well, something has to go up to compensate. What’s left is either protein or fats.
Protein has benefitted from a good reputation in the fitness industry while fat has been dragged through the mud.
But your body can only handle so much protein before it starts causing adverse effects.
So, what is left is fats. But it isn’t the copious amounts of fat you see on your Instagram feed.
Making small changes to your diets will be more than enough to compensate. Fats have 9 calories per gram while carbs and proteins have 4.
You don’t have to eat a stick of butter to get your fat intake up to 70%. I don’t believe in the fat bombs, I don’t take MCT oil, or put butter in my coffee to make it bulletproof. I don’t even drink coffee.
All it is, is exchanging chicken breast for thighs. Using avocado oil to cook, and drizzling olive oil on your salads. There’s no need to go through a pack of bacon a day or a wheel of cheese a week.
You will find it pretty easy to get the healthy fats in without feeling like there is grease coming out of your pores.
In upcoming posts, I will talk more about the things you should be eating and how to start and what to buy.
There are so many other benefits to a low carb and ketogenic diet other than weight loss. But for now, the reason it works so well for weight loss is everything it does for you.
You’ll break the connection you have to the addictive foods and be able to go longer periods of time in between meals without suffering decreased focus or productivity.
Eating a lot of carbs will sit heavy on you and make you want to take a nap. While eating a lot of fat will not. Meaning you will actually be ready to work after lunch instead of wishing the US would adopt the 2-hour lunches of Europe.
You won’t have to count calories. Not to say you should be stuffing yourself at every meal, but eat until you’re full and you’ll be alright.
Don’t feel guilty about what you eat anymore, enjoy it without thinking about how its going to affect the scale the next morning.
Even throw out the kitchen scale that you used in previous diets to make sure you were eating the precise amount of calories.
I hope I explained the basics of why a ketogenic diet works and can work for you. As time goes on, I’ll get more scientific and research based to give you all the information you need to win those arguments at dinner.
