The antecedent of the ketogenic diet was fasting, and fasting (starvation therapy) is also mentioned in the Bible for epilepsy.
The ketogenic diet is a progression of starvation therapy, which has been used primarily to treat epilepsy and type 2 diabetes. The ketogenic diet was widely used in the 1920s and 1930s. Then it became known because of the one-year-old son of the famous Hollywood director Jim Abraham, whose epilepsy got good results from using ketogenic therapy. The ketogenic diet has since been applied to fat loss.
In this article we’ll talk about why the ketogenic diet is used in fat loss training and some of the controversies surrounding it.
What does the keto diet look like?
The keto diet he a very low-carb, high-fat, moderate-protein diet, a strict lifestyle.
Principles of the ketogenic diet
First of all we need to know that ketone bodies he is a substitute fuel whose main components are: acetone, acetoacetic acid, and semi-hydroxybutyric acid. They are used to provide energy to the body when there is not enough glucose in the body’s bloodstream to supply the body with energy.
A ketogenic diet puts the body into a long-term ketogenic state allowing the body to adapt to fat as the main source of energy
Some studies have shown that the body is in a very good state with ketones as the main fuel. Ketones have many benefits for the body such as: they promote the growth of brain cells and can improve learning ability and energy.
Of course, the ketogenic diet also has some adverse effects: the ketogenic diet may cause gastrointestinal discomfort, the ketogenic diet will also reduce our appetite, the ketogenic diet in the beginning of a period of time, because the body to adapt to ketone energy, so will lose some muscle, when the body adapted to the general will not lose muscle.
The ketogenic diet is not suitable for anaerobic exercise, because the fat supply is relatively slow.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the ketogenic diet, so let’s talk about it.
Will the keto diet lower our blood sugar?
When entering the ketogenic state, the glycerol backbone of fat can also produce glucose, as well as carbohydrates from external sources, so the body’s blood sugar will also be in a normal state during the ketogenic state.
Can ketone bodies feed the brain?
Research has shown that it is possible, and ketone bodies can also promote the production of new brain cells, which is why the ketogenic diet is used to treat brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
A newborn baby’s brain uses 60 to 70 percent of the energy consumed by the whole body, but its blood sugar is only half that of a normal adult, which means that part of the baby’s brain energy is supplied by ketone bodies.
Does the keto diet increase the incidence of cardiovascular disease?
Some people believe that a ketogenic diet raises our intake of high saturated fats. But there are studies that show that high cholesterol alone does not cause cardiovascular disease. When high cholesterol is met with things like sugar, processed foods, and trans fats, it can cause cardiovascular disease. And the fats we consume are not all saturated fats but also unsaturated fats (to maintain the diversity of fat sources).
Can a keto diet cause ketosis?
The answer is no, the ketogenic diet will put the body into a ketogenic state.
Ketogenic state refers to a state when the body produces ketone bodies, according to the content of ketone bodies in the blood can be divided into nutritional ketosis and ketoacidosis and the ketogenic diet is to make the body reach nutritional ketosis, while ketoacidosis is generally caused by insulin deficiency, for normal people the ketogenic diet will not make the body reach the state of ketoacidosis, because insulin will inhibit the production of ketone bodies.
Conclusion
There are studies that show that the ketogenic diet can be used for weight loss, but to apply the ketogenic diet to weight loss you also have to follow the conservation of energy, so that the fat consumed is greater than the fat consumed to achieve weight loss.
It is also a very strict lifestyle and we need to be rational about it. The decision to make or not to use the ketogenic diet for weight loss is based on your own situation.
