The keto diet is a nutrition plan for eating high-fat and low-carb foods. It is similar to Atkins and other low-carb diets but with a twist. After the initial phases of the Atkins plan, you gradually increase your carbohydrate intake.
You are also free to eat however much protein you want. However, the keto diet only allows you to consume 20% of your daily calories from protein while maintaining a low carbohydrate intake.
How does the keto diet work for weight loss?
Your body enters a state known as ketosis due to the keto diet.
When you don’t consume a lot of carbohydrates, your body switches to fat storage instead of using the glucose found in carbohydrates, which it usually uses as energy. This is how weight reduction with the keto diet occurs.
This state of ketosis is not reached by your body instantly. Your body runs out of its usual fuel in three to four days, at which point you enter ketosis and begin using fat as energy for daily activities.
Health Benefits
- Weight loss: Because it helps the body use stored fat as energy, the keto diet is an effective way to burn fat, improve body composition, and lose weight.
- Managing blood sugar to treat diabetes and prediabetes: With diabetes, blood glucose levels are too high because the body has trouble producing or utilizing insulin. A ketogenic diet can help with this by improving insulin sensitivity and reducing glucose levels in the blood.
- Protects against heart disease: Eating a ketogenic diet has been linked to higher HDL cholesterol levels, which is the good cholesterol that lowers your risk of stroke and heart disease. It can also lower your blood pressure and body fat, which impact heart health.
- Improves brain health: There’s a common misconception that your brain needs carbs to survive. Ketones can provide a ton of energy for the brain. Research also shows that a keto diet can help reduce symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease.
- May help fight cancer: This one is still being researched, but some scientists think eating a keto diet can help fight cancer. Since cancer cells typically use glucose to reproduce, lowering glucose levels and using ketones as energy may stop cancer cells from spreading.
- Clears acne naturally: Adult acne is often directly linked to your diet. Studies have shown that lowering your carb intake can improve the health of your gut bacteria and help stop those annoying breakouts.
- Symptoms of PCOS: PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) is a hormonal disease in which women experience irregular periods, excess body hair, and unexplained weight gain. Eating a ketogenic diet can help ease these symptoms.
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