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Why are people excited about the ketogenic diet?

As a food activist, Samara Sonmor thought a lot about what he ate.

He has followed a plan that cuts sugar and flour, while looking for ways to stay healthy when entering menopause. He has "added a few pounds."

Sonmor, executive director of the Food Action Society of North Okanagan, began to look at all carbohydrates differently and that took him to the ketogenic diet.

"I became interested in keto because the way people talk about it is a way of eating rather than a diet. This is a change in lifestyle, not fashion, "he said. "Tight keto to lose weight. Lazy keto and other variations are more my style, because the focus is on health and not weight loss. "

The first three weeks are "terrible experiences" with intense carbohydrate cravings. For all the problems, it seems unsuccessful.

"Then one day my pants fell at work," he said. Over six months he lost 40 pounds and six pants.

Keto is full

"I'm not really calm," said Vancouver writer Katherine Brodsky. "I went to 'full keto' because I didn't know whether it would work otherwise."

While his friends experienced weight loss and increased energy, he did not feel much difference and finally released his feet from the gas.

"I realized that even though I saw the benefits, I would not stick with it because I appreciated the many foods that you had to cut as part of what made my life enjoyable," he said. "A good diet is one that doesn't involve you falling quickly.

"Therefore, I try to avoid eating as much as possible from foods that are prohibited on keto and I see oil differently. For example, avocados and grass-fed butter are valuable nutrients. "

Alex Inman is a registered dietitian.

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What we are talking about?

Interest in a low-carbohydrate diet caught fire in the 1990s with the Atkins diet, continuing at the turn of the century as the South Beach diet before turning into a romantic notion of eating like a paleolithic caveman around 2012. The ketogenic diet is the newest and most extreme, but it's not hindering its popularity in the slightest. To further explain things, we have enlisted the help of registered dietitian Alex Inman from the Vancouver Dietitian and UBC Okanagan Prof. Jonathan Little, who studies human metabolism and diabetes related to diet.

Where does the ketogenic diet come from?

Created in the 1920s as a way to treat children with seizure disorders, the ketogenic diet is intended to convert fuel that your body burns from glucose to ketones, which come from fat. The fat burning phase is called ketosis and results from limiting protein and carbohydrates to only 10 percent of your calories and eating about 90 percent fat, Little said. This reduces the frequency of seizures in some people with epilepsy, because brain cells function differently when they burn ketones.

What is the modern ketogenic diet?

The fat-protein-carbohydrate ratio varies depending on who you are talking to. Some dietitians recommend up to 80 percent of calories from fat and as little as five percent carbohydrates, 25 grams a day, max. Little believes most modern keto dieters consume about 60 to 70 percent fat and more like 50 grams of carbohydrates, which he calls the ketogenic diet "nutrition" or "pure food". They usually see an increase in ketone levels, but don't really spend a lot of time in ketosis, if ever.

"You might produce some ketones and your muscles, the heart and brain can use them, but most help people to maintain low insulin levels and higher levels of fat oxidation," Little said. Keeping insulin low prevents the body from storing energy as fat.

"Most people benefit from only cutting extra sugar, processed grains and almost all junk food that is packed, so it might not be the ketogenic part of the diet that encourages benefits," he said.

Listen Alex Inman: How hard is the Keto Diet?

Registered dietitian Alex Inman talks about the challenges of the Ketogenic Diet.

What is allowed?

It sounds rather sexy at first. You get meat, fat, eggs, grains, berries, fat-filled milk and cheese, fish, chicken, butter, and salads with fat-filled sauces. You can also eat tofu, if you want. Learn to like avocados, because you will need fiber to avoid constipation.

"It's a lot of fat and then you need to add fat. You don't just drink milk, you have to have thick cream, add extra oil to your food, high fat meat, oily fish, eggs, things like that, "Inman said. "It's very little carbohydrate and you have to really control the amount of protein you eat, because too much will get you out of ketosis too."

What is not permitted?

This list is not sexy. You will not eat bread, pasta, seeds and fruit trees. Forget potatoes – fries and potato chips – and even yummy sweet potatoes that your paleo friends can eat. There is no sugar, honey, or agave, so cakes, cakes and sweets are all gone.

There is no evidence that alcohol is incompatible with the ketogenic diet, but beer and drinks mixed with pop or juice may be avoided.

Who can benefit?

People with seizure disorders, obviously, but also certain types of cancer and type 2 diabetes. People who use insulin for diabetes may benefit from a low carbohydrate or ketogenic diet.

"You need to do this with the help of a medical professional, because you need to replace these drugs, usually reducing or eliminating them," Little said.

Are there other benefits?

Certain ketones may have effects such as beneficial hormones in the body, according to Little.

"The main circulating ketone is beta hydroxybutyrate, which has been shown to have the potential role of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant signals," he said. "So it might act like a hormone that tells the body's immune cells and other cells in our body to calm down, become less inflamed and produce less reactive oxygen species.

"Almost every disease you see involves inflammation and increased oxidation," he said.

Is Keto a long-term solution?

Almost everyone will experience weight loss in the short term, which may be the reason why healthy people try it. Inman noted that people also praised the ketogenic diet with appetite suppression, increased mental focus and energy, reduced anxiety, lowered high blood pressure, healed acne, controlled cholesterol and "everything under the sun." This is a list of suspicious miracles.

"This research is really not there to support keto to do all these things, except for increased blood sugar control and weight loss," Inman said. "But when you follow up a year later, they don't keep improving. It could be that the diet is so strict that people can't last that long."

Who should avoid the keto diet?

Children with keto show poor and stunted growth, low bone density and an increased risk of fractures. Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant should be prevented from trying keto too, said Inman.

If you really want to try the keto diet, do it under the supervision of a dietitian and ask your doctor to sign it too. It takes planning and knowledge about food in order to achieve and maintain ketosis. Without a mature plan, you might experience a lack of calcium and vitamin D and an electrolyte imbalance in potassium, sodium and magnesium. Constipation and diarrhea often occur and you may experience loss of muscle mass and increase the risk of kidney stones.

"Many people don't have a lot of food knowledge or know where carbohydrates are in their food, so it is very difficult for them to follow keto," Inman said.


How about my brain?

"Children who do not respond to seizure treatment often turn to the ketogenic diet and often it will help them," Inman said. "There is no guess that everyone will have more clarity or have a better focus or mood on keto, but for some people, maybe." Changing brain fuel, for some people "may not be a good thing and for others it won't make a difference at all. "

If you enter ketosis, all your cells will see changes in fuel and many people experience "keto flu" during the process, which can mean headaches, fatigue, nausea and confusion.

The last word is acetone

If you reach ketosis, your friends and family may suffer side effects from burning ketones, one of which is acetone, which is often used as a solvent and paint thinner. It smells bad and you might as well. A warning from a keto lover: "Keto is the only diet you don't have to tell others about you. You can smell it. Exhaled ketones are unpleasant in your work environment or in your home. The worst is empty spots, of course – in bed. I have been accompanying serial dieters for 26 years of fashion. Keto is my favorite choice around. "

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