Ever heard of the ketogenic diet? Of course you have. Everywhere you look people are talking about this latest and greatest approach to dieting in an effort to lose weight or improve fitness performance. There are quite a number of heated discussions for and against it that leave you more confused than informed. I’ll try to keep it simple and to the point.
So, what in the world is a ketogenic diet? It’s a way of sustaining your body with food that is high in fat, while consuming only moderate protein and very little carbs in order to force the body to burn fat instead of more easily accessible carbs and proteins for fuel. When your body is burning fat for energy, you are in a state of ketosis. Sounds good right? Why wouldn’t anyone want that? Before you jump in with all abandon, please be cautioned that it’s not that simple.
Let’s examine it from the health aspect of it since that’s what always needs to be at the top of your priority list. Not loosing weight or reaching a particular performance goal. Always use health as your benchmark first. Once it passes that test, you can further examine it for other possible benefits. So, is keto diet healthy? I’ll give you the bottom line. As a way of life, no. These kind of lopsided macros are not healthy.
Keto macros pie chart
Eating like this on a regular basis can lead to dehydration, kidney stones, brain fog, lethargy, constipation, bad breath and many other unwanted side effects. Remember, carbs keep our cells hydrated. People who go on low carb diet lose water weight right away. Is that healthy? No way. As a way of life, you cannot sustain yourself on very little carbs and be healthy since you will surely have to eliminate fruit from your diet. Fruit is very high in carbs but it’s also good for your health and it gives you energy. Fruit provides you with vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants that protect you from a number of ailments. Giving that up would be devastating to your health so don’t do it. Remember, health first!
Don’t let this happen to you!
On the other hand …
Like the title says, I will defend keto but only under very specific and strategic circumstances. Let me just throw something at you. Why does it have to be all or nothing? What I mean is, why can’t we experience ketosis during some parts of the day while returning to the normal balanced diet during another? For people who wake up early to run before they put anything or very little in their body, you are in ketosis! Which is great because you can still perform, burn fat and do very well.
There’s an adaptation period that your body has to go through since it doesn’t like to burn fat. Yes, you do have to train your body to get used to fueling with fat. It can be done very simply. Before a long and strenuous workout, eat only enough carbs not to be hungry. Let’s remember fat burns in a carbohydrate fire. A little piece of banana or apple would do. Since you will be putting out a big effort, at some point during the workout your body will be forced to use fat for fuel. It’s important NOT to carbo load for situations like this since that actually accomplishes the opposite. In order to reach ketosis, you need to run out of other fuel pretty quickly during the workout.
I can tell you from a personal experience that as a long distance runner I don’t need to refuel during my long runs since I’ve trained my body to burn fat for fuel. I don’t experience the sugar highs and lows and my hunger is never an issue during hours of running. And that, in my opinion, is keto’s best defense!
Now, remember, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Use keto strategically but make sure you give your body all that it needs to be healthy. I will run in ketosis but afterwards I will most certainly eat my hard earned carbs!