In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleWhat Is the Keto Diet?What Foods Can You Eat on the Keto Diet Plan?What Are the Potential Benefits of the Keto Diet?Can the Keto Diet Plan Help with Weight Loss?What Are the Downsides of the Keto Diet?Who Shouldn’t Do the Keto Diet Plan?The Bottom Line
In This ArticleView All
View All
In This Article
What Is the Keto Diet?
What Foods Can You Eat on the Keto Diet Plan?
What Are the Potential Benefits of the Keto Diet?
Can the Keto Diet Plan Help with Weight Loss?
What Are the Downsides of the Keto Diet?
Who Shouldn’t Do the Keto Diet Plan?
The Bottom Line
After years of being restricted to therapeutic nutrition, the ketogenic diet (typically called the keto diet) is back as one of the hottest diet trends in America.
Read More:I Tried the Ketogenic Diet for 30 Days and Here’s What Happened
There are several forms of theketogenic diet. The classic ketogenic diet is super high in fat (about 80% to 90% of your daily calories), super low in carbohydrates (up to 4% of your calories) and moderate in protein (6-8% typically of your calories), according toCure Epilepsy. This is a pretty drastic departure from theInstitute of Medicine’srecommended macronutrient distribution of 20% to 35% protein, 45% to 65% carbohydrates, and 10% to 35% fat.
The most important component of the keto diet is a natural process called ketosis. Normally, bodies run very well on glucose. Glucose is produced when the body breaks down carbohydrates. It’s a very simple process, which is why it’s the body’s preferred way to produce energy.
When you cut back on carbs or just haven’t eaten in a while, your body looks for other energy sources to fill the void. Fat is typically that source. When your blood sugar drops because you’re not feeding your body carbs, fat is released from your cells and floods the liver. The liver turns the fat into ketone bodies, which your body uses as its second choice for energy.
A typical keto diet plan consists largely of:
This short list leaves out carb-heavy foods, such as grains, rice, beans, potatoes, sweets, milk, cereals, fruits and even some vegetables.
Keto Diet Food List: What to Eat and What to Limit if You Go Keto
Featured Recipe:Salmon-Stuffed Avocados
While the keto diet certainly is not easy, research shows it has some potential therapeutic benefits in addition to its use for treating epilepsy. Here are some areas of research where a keto diet shows promise:
Alzheimer’s Disease
Parkinson’s Disease
Multiple Sclerosis
In a small 2022 study published inNeurology, patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) were put on a ketogenic diet. After six months, they reported improved quality of life, as well as physical and mental health improvements. Before doctors or researchers can make a connection between keto and MS, they need bigger sample sizes and more thorough research. Still, the preliminary findings are exciting.
Cardiovascular Disease
This is a point of confusion and controversy since a diet that relies so heavily on meat and fat is naturally thought to raise blood cholesterol and cause heart issues. However, some evidence suggests that this may not be the case. In fact, the keto diet may help improve triglyceride, HDL and LDL levels. A 2022 review published inNutrientslooked at available evidence around the ketogenic diet and cardiovascular health and found that the diet may be associated with some improvements in cardiovascular risk factors. Mind you, the authors also expressed their concerns with maintaining the diet in the long term, and they proposed that these benefits may not be long-lasting. It’s clear that we need long-term studies to fill that gap.
Type 2 Diabetes
This population has been studied heavily with the keto diet since it’s technically as low-carb as you can get. While the research to date has been conducted in very small sample sizes, evidence suggests that an ultra-low-carb diet (like the keto diet) may help reduce A1C levels and improve insulin sensitivity. In fact, a 2020 review published inNutrition & Diabetesfound that a keto diet was associated with better glucose and lipid control and weight loss. However, people in the studies included in the review lost weight, which is known to improve glucose and lipid levels. More research is needed.
Cancer
Early experimental research suggests that the keto diet may have anti-tumor effects, likely because it reduces overall calorie intake (and circulating glucose) for tumor growth. However, not all tumors respond to the effects of a ketogenic diet, as noted in theCurrent Opinion of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Carein 2019. Other research studies, such as the randomized controlled study involving rats published inCancersin 2018, suggested that the ketogenic diet had minimal impact on tumor growth in the liver. More research on humans with larger sample sizes is needed, but it’s definitely food for thought.
Featured Recipe:Parmesan Spinach Cakes
This is one of the keto diet’s main selling points and a primary reason it’s so popular—the keto diet proponents say you can drop a lot of weight in a relatively short period of time. But is that too good to be true?
Several studies, including research published in theJournal of Strength and Conditioning Researchin 2018, cited that following a low-carbohydrate diet (like the keto diet) may result in weight loss without compromising athletic performance. Promising, right? Well, weight loss is only good if that momentum is sustainable long-term, and it’s not clear that that’s the case.
A 2020 review fromCureussuggested that those who followed the ketogenic diet may have have experienced weight loss and showed improvement in blood pressure, triglycerides and good (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, these improvements were not observed beyond the 12-month mark, suggesting more long-term studies are needed to confirm the diet’s effectiveness.
Still, let’s look at some reasons why keto may work for some as a weight loss tool.
Read More:30 Healthy Low-Carb Foods to Eat
Unfortunately, it can’t all be rainbows and unicorns. Here are some potential side effects and dangers of eating keto.
Athletic Performance Impediments
Keto “Flu”
Constipation
No one likes to feel backed up and sadly, if you’re not careful about your diet choices when going keto, it could become aregularconcern. Since you’re cutting out whole grains and fruit (two of the most common sources of fiber), people on keto should up their fiber-rich veggies, and consider a fiber supplement, according to a 2019Journal of Translational Medicinereview.
Nutritient Deficiencies
As with any super-restrictive regimen, when you’re limiting certain types of food, there’s a good chance you’ll be missing something big. Here’s what you need to keep an eye open for.
Greg DuPree
Disordered Eating
As with all restrictive eating patterns, the keto diet certainly can interfere with your relationship with food. Overly restricting or removing whole food groups from your diet has the very real power to encourage orthorexic tendencies and an unhealthy obsession with what to eat.
It also interferes with some of the social aspects of food, considering how limiting it is. No cake on your birthday. No pie on Thanksgiving. No chocolate truffles on Valentine’s Day. Boo to that! If you consider yourself someone who loves to eat and takes great joy in the social experience of a good meal, then the restriction of this diet may be emotionally unhealthy.
Before starting any new diet, you should always clear it with your health care provider first. This is particularly true for certain groups for whom the keto diet may not be a healthy idea. These include (but are not limited to):
From reviewing keto research and literature, it looks like we’re just scratching the surface of understanding some of the potential therapeutic roles of the keto diet. While it’s unclear if it’s any better or worse than any other diet for weight loss, the reality is that there is no one-size-fits-all model for diets. This doesn’t even consider that weight loss diets, in general, don’t really work. While researchers can’t agree on a specific statistic, it’s commonly accepted that most people on the keto diet will regain the weight lost (and often gain extra pounds, as well). The long-term outcome of the keto diet is likely to be no different, especially given how challenging and restrictive it is to maintain.
Our advice? If you like carbs, don’t swear them off entirely. Choosehealthy carbohydratesmore often and learn ways to choose the most satiating versions of them to fuel you. And if you want to try keto, get in touch with a registered dietitian to help you work through the diet in a healthy manner.
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