Keto diet - what is it and when is it suitable?

If twenty or thirty years ago someone put all the products in two baskets, sorting them according to the principle of maximum and least usefulness, today you would have to thoroughly revise them. The strangest story happened at that time with fat - the recent main enemy of humanity has not only been fully rehabilitated, but has almost been declared its savior. Is that so, nutritionist Chris More understands.

Recently, a patient admitted to me that she and her husband eat almost a pound of bacon a week - three slices for breakfast and then two more with a salad for lunch. I’ve been working as a nutritionist for over twenty years and nothing would seem to surprise me, but back then I still couldn’t resist and asked: why? The patient said that her husband was watching a TV show about the keto diet and they decided to try it. Six months on bacon - and now the husband has lost nine pounds and, according to his wife, is almost bursting with energy that overwhelms him.

I hear more and more often from people about the wonders that the keto diet does for them. They claim that it burns fat in the body, energizes and defeats diseases, and that from now on it is not only possible, but also necessary to eat as much bacon as you want. But for all their enthusiasm, at least a serious test is needed - is a keto diet that does not limit the intake of animal fat really that good?

A ketogenic diet is a low-carbohydrate diet that is high in fat and moderate in protein. It was originally used to treat epilepsy in children by increasing the levels of ketone bodies in the blood.

What is ketosis?

Let’s start with the name diet: where did this "keto" come from? When the body is desperately deficient in carbohydrates - for example, due to diabetes or prolonged starvation - it must break down its own fats more actively than usual to get energy. Ketosis develops: metabolism is disrupted and more ketone bodies accumulate in the tissues than needed. Ketone bodies are products of fat metabolism. They are produced by the liver when insulin levels fall in the blood.

"The liver makes ketone bodies all the time, but their levels depend on the carbohydrates and proteins you eat - the body needs both, " explains Jeff Volek, a professor at the University of Ohio.

The breakdown of fat in the body of a healthy person and the formation of ketone bodies is a normal process, called ketogenesis. Unlike ketosis, ketogenesis does not lead to dramatic weight loss. Ketosis is a pathology that, in addition to diabetes and prolonged fasting, can also be caused by the keto diet, because it almost excludes carbohydrate foods from the diet. A person who has developed ketosis loses weight dramatically, as well as due to some other pathologies.

A ketogenic diet forces the body to use fat as its main source of energy. Usually, carbohydrates play this role, which, when taken with food, are processed into glucose, which is extremely important for nutrition and brain function. However, if the diet is low in carbohydrates, the liver converts the fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies. Ketone bodies enter the brain and are used as a source of energy instead of glucose. An increase in the levels of ketone bodies in the blood (ketosis) leads to a decrease in the frequency of epileptic seizures.

In the keto diet, the main part of the daily diet - from 60 to 80% - consists of fats, proteins - about 15%, and only the remaining 10% are carbohydrates (this is about half a small roll). At first glance, it looks like the Atkins diet, but the keto diet involves a more serious carbohydrate restriction, according to Spencer Nadolsky, author of The Fat Loss Prescription. Numerous theorists generally believe that the less carbohydrates we eat, the more fat the body burns, and for this reason metabolism improves, immunity increases - and in general, various miracles begin to happen to our bodies.

However, in ordinary life, we get about half of our calories, and not even a tenth from carbohydrates. So, basically the question arises: can your body be in ketosis long enough to achieve the promised nirvana without serious health consequences? Will you literally start going crazy with fat?

Is the keto diet right for you?

It may sound strange, but for you it is the best diet you are used to following. For Volek, who has been on the cat for twenty years, she is good, but is she right for you? Unfortunately, there is no research on what happens in the body of a person who has been on a keto diet for a long time. During the A to Z Weight Loss Study, scientists studied the Atkins diet, Zone, LEARN and some other diets, but in the study, respondents consumed 25 to 35% of carbohydrates - not even close to 10% as advised to limit yourself to the keto diet.

The only thing that is known for sure: on a keto diet you will really lose weight. In Italy, in 2015, they studied the performance of people sitting on it, and on average they lost about 10-12 pounds over three months. A year earlier in Spain it turned out that in a year you can lose about 20 kilograms in this way. True, over the next year, subjects often returned to the weight they had before the experiment, as soon as they kicked out a solid diet.

What will you eat if you decide to try it? First and foremost, that bacon. Of the other products, it won’t suit you much. Starchy vegetables - potatoes, pumpkins, corn - are strictly forbidden, as are most fruits. Milk, beans, rice and pasta will also have to be forgotten.

The keto diet is difficult to follow and can be dangerous for some. "Extreme diets, especially the keto diet, are strictly contraindicated in people with neurodegenerative diseases such as epilepsy, " says Dr. Alan Aragon.

A ketogenic diet is considered optimal in society for weight loss. However, according to scientific evidence, the effect of weight loss soon after switching to a ketogenic diet is caused by a decrease in the amount of water in the body, and the amount of body fat is solely affected by energy balance. For weight loss, the energy supplied by food should be less than that consumed in physical activity. One of the benefits of a ketogenic diet, like other low-carbohydrate diets, is that the ketosis that occurs with low-carbohydrate diets contributes to weight loss in obesity. The difference in individual calories can be up to a thousand kilocalories per day compared to a low-fat diet. The effect of a ketogenic diet is largely dependent on the protein content of the diet.

Can I take medications that cause ketone bodies to rise? By no means. Do not listen to those "advisors" who will convince you that even without any diet you can cause ketosis with the help of special drugs.

So, is the keto diet right for you or not? If you are an extreme athlete who is willing to experiment with your body, if you like to take risks, and fast results are important to you, give it a try! If you just want to lose a few pounds, and you’ve already encountered the "yo-yo effect" in the past (when after a strict diet a person breaks down and gains more weight than they managed to lose), then maybe you shouldn’t take the risk. However, if you approach the keto diet wisely, you can learn three lessons from it that will definitely come in handy.

1. Reduce your intake of "empty" carbohydrates. Analyze which foods you get the most from your daily carb intake: if it comes from fruits rich in fiber and antioxidants, that’s fine, but if your carb sources are candy, soda, and any food made from white flour, you know What to do: Feel free to send them togarbage.
2. Don’t avoid fat. The passion for low-fat foods that began in the 90s can certainly be left in the past. Nothing good in that. Often, in order to compensate for the lack of fat, producers increase the amount of sugar in such products. Eat oily fish like salmon, mackerel or sardines at least twice a week. And whatever you cook, do not skimp on vegetable, especially good - olive oil.
3. Eat lots of greens. All leafy vegetables and greens go well with fatty and protein foods - keto diet lovers eat a lot of them. You do the same. Eat kale, spinach, bok choy, arugula and other types of salads without restrictions.

What happened to my bacon patients? Their diet experiments continued until the moment their child was born. Of course, they immediately forgot about diet (no time to think, as the young mother explained). So remember: sooner or later you will get tired of filling bacon in yourself regularly and you will return to your usual, familiar food.

Recipes

Salmon and asparagus salad

Ingredients:

• 150 g salmon fillet;
• 80 g of green asparagus;
• 1/2 head of iceberg lettuce;
• 2 eggs;
• 4 anchovy fillets;
• 5 cherry tomatoes;
• 5 large capers (or 6-8 small) - take capers in salt, not in brine, they must be washed before use;
• 1/2 medium red onion;
• 6-8 Art. l. olive oil;
• 1 teaspoon mustard;
• juice of half a lemon.

How to cook:

1. If you’ve ever cooked nikoiz, you can make this salad too. It practically repeats the main dish of Nice, instead of tuna only salmon is taken, and instead of beans beans (however, you can also beans).
2. Salmon is best cooked not in a hot pan or in a hot oven, but on steam or in a slow oven: 20-30 minutes at a temperature of 80-85 degrees, no more (otherwise the protein will curl and the fish will turn out heavy). But you can also fry in a pan (just don’t overdo it! ) - the fish should be tender and keep a little transparency inside.
3. Cook the asparagus. It has to be fresh, so don’t overcook it! Cooking time depends on its size, so we do not recommend leaving the stove - asparagus cooks quickly.
4. Place the disassembled iceberg on a plate (salad should be washed, dried and shredded into medium-sized pieces), asparagus, salmon disassembled into large pieces, halves of cherry tomatoes, anchovies, capers, onion chopped into rings and hard-boiled egg (ideally, egg yolk)should not remain liquid but soft). Top the field with olive oil sauce with dijon mustard and lemon juice. You don't need to salt the dish - anchovies and capers are already salty enough.

The ketogenic diet is used by athletes who stay in sports that need endurance, such as ultramarathons, triathlons, cycling, etc. The body of athletes who adhere to this diet uses fat more efficiently as a source of energy and thus helps maintain glycogen stores during prolonged exertion.

Bacon salad and lettuce

Ingredients:

• 2 palm-sized lettuce heads
• 100 g bacon;
• 8 sprigs of mint;
• 1 egg yolk;
• 6 tablespoons. olive oil and a little more for frying;
• 1 teaspoon grainy mustard;
• 1 tbsp. sherry vinegar.

How to cook:

1. For this salad, you will have to make a slightly more complex sauce: put mint leaves and mustard in a tall glass, add egg yolk, pour sherry vinegar. Whisk with a mixer, adding the fatty oil in a thin stream.
2. Cut the salad in half lengthwise and quickly fry over high heat. It should be lightly caramelized, ie get a golden brown color, and stay fresh and crunchy on the inside. Fry the bacon over high heat without oil or in the oven until crispy. Put lettuce, bacon and sauce on a plate. Garnish with mint leaves.