Behind the bacon. The good, the bad, and the ugly truths about the ketogenic diet

Where did the ketogenic come from?

It was originally designed for reducing the frequency and intensity of epileptic seizures back in early 1900s. It’s called keto due to the presence of ketones in the body when there is a lack of carbohydrate to fuel the bodies energy needs.

Fast forward - the atkins diet made it "famous". That is of course until atkins and the likes were rejected by science. However it’s become popular again. What does the keto diet look like?

20% protein 75% fat 5% Carbs - WTF

Carbs are around 50g/day and typically come from fibrous sources like fruits or veg or in foods they are already eating. So kiss goodbye to all good things like BREAD, PASTA & MINCE PIES. 🥲

Why do people think it's better for fat loss?

1 - Insulin & carbs.

Because they believe that since there is a lack of carbohydrate, and therefore insulin (which should result in less fat storage and more fat mobilisation). The problem with this is firstly - the “insulin hypothesis” has already been disregarded in the literature as too simplistic. And carbs aren’t the only food that cause an insulin response. Protein does too?! Secondly, insulin alone is not needed for fat storage. Other hormones like ASP can ensure that extra energy is stored as fat in the absence of insulin. An energy surplus over time causes weight gain, not a single food or hormone.

2 - Claims of metabolic advantages

They claim it offers a metabolic advantage. Because it is more costly to convert other foods to glucose therefore the body uses more calories converting protein and fat to glucose in the absence of carbs, resulting in more fat lost. However, there is no real evidence to support this. Why does it “work” for fat loss? What is actually happening a lot is keto suppresses appetite because of its high fat content. Less appetite = less food intake. This we DO see in the literature. But guess what, we can improve our hunger without having shit breath (which you get from a keto diet) and by simply drinking more water, eating more protein and fibre and maybe even potentially some intermittent fasting (works for some, not for others). We also need to cut a lot of food out to have a keto diet. This includes a lot of potentially highly processed foods and high calorie foods. Again … reducing calories = fat lost. So people on keto are losing weight due to reduced appetite and reduced calories through food elimination. Not some magic. We can do both of these things without a keto diet.

Research has time and time again shown that WHEN CALORIES ARE MATCHED, it doesn’t matter whether the diet is kept low carb, or high carb. It only matters IF YOU CAN ADHERE TO IT. Most people also get duped into thinking they have lost significant amounts of weight quickly because of lack of carbohydrate means less glycogen and water stored in the body. Which causes a huge drop in scale weight. NOT body fat. I haven’t even mentioned the negative implications on performance and health.

That’s probably for another blog post!

Hopefully that gives you a better idea about keto. It's mainly a diet for people who hate themselves or it's something people are fooled into doing in regards to it being the answer to diabetes and/or insulin resistance.

TELL THE WORLD. You don't need keto.

Tell em Sky sent ya.