The Keto Hype

This year, one of the hottest New Year diets is keto. Although keto has significant health benefits and can help you shed pounds, it's pretty extreme IMO. Adopting a keto diet can definitely jump-start your longer-term health goals, but I don't believe it is a) right for everyone or b) sustainable long-term.

I can't tell you how many times in the past few weeks I've heard: What's keto? Should I try keto? Is keto safe? Why do people do keto? What are the benefits of keto? Everyone seems to be curious about it, but few know exactly what it entails (or why.)

At its core, the ketogenic diet, aka "keto", is a very low-carb, high-fat diet. It's an iteration of traditional low-carb diets (like Atkins or Paleo), but what makes keto unique is that it focuses on replacing missing carbs with fat.

Let’s zoom out. Some quick and relevant background for context: In the 1990's and early 2000's, America experienced the "fat-free" fad, where people were afraid of fat and opted for fat-free and low-fat foods. Ironically, during this time (aka the war on dietary fat), our obesity rates dramatically increased as a country. Research now clearly shows that both unsaturated and saturated fat are not the main culprits of dietary-caused weight gain - a diet high in refined carbohydrates usually is.

So why replace carbs with fat?

When you dramatically reduce your carb intake and swap out carbs for fat, your blood sugar and insulin levels decrease. This allows your body to enter ketosis, a metabolic state where your body starts to burn fat for fuel (rather than carbs/sugar.)

Keto promotes a diet that is 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% carbs. So what does this look like? For someone who eats 2,300 calories a day, that would mean 1,725 calories from fat, 460 calories from protein, and 115 calories from carbs. To show how extreme this is, you would hit these numbers by eating one sweet potato, one and a half chicken breasts, 3 whole avocados, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 Tbs peanut butter, and 2 Tbs chia seeds in a cup of coconut milk each day. That’s a lot of fat.

Personally, I think the traditional keto diet is a little too extreme. Does it work for some people? Sure. It's probably not for me and I wouldn't necessarily recommend a diet this low in carbs to most people, especially women, who tend to need more carbs than men. However, as always, I promote listening to your body and its individual needs. Keto has definitely worked well for many, especially those looking to lose weight, so if keto feels good for you - have at it! It definitely helps people with diets high in sugar and refined carbs cut back, which is always a good thing.

If you’re into keto, my biggest piece of advice is to make sure you're still getting enough fiber and nutrients. Reducing carbs to 5% of your daily diet likely means a significant reduction in fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that come with many carbs. This can cause a whole host of issues, including poor digestion, weakened immune system, and nutrient deficiency, so make sure you are eating lots of leafy greens and supplementing with things like spirulina, chlorella, and wheatgrass.