You must have heard about another fad diet trend these days, which surprisingly has many followers.
…the all fat rounded ketogenic diet.
Like any other fad diet, the ketogenic diet comes with an obvious promise of weight loss through a fat-rich diet.
You are asking me to eat fats to lose fat? Absolutely! that is what long lengths of ketogenic diet plans help you with.
However, what about the keto diet side effects?
Unfortunately, very few people are aware of why the keto diet was introduced in the first place. People have now started following the diet without much awareness and without even questioning, whether the keto diet is safe or not? or what can be the harmful effects of the keto diet?
Let’s acquaint ourselves with what a ketogenic diet is, discuss keto side effects, and why it may not be the best option out there for you.
Table of Contents
Understanding Ketosis
The ‘keto’ diet is a strict low or no-carbohydrate diet that plunges the body into a state of ketosis. Now, what does that mean?
Ketosis is the process of ‘ketones’ accumulating in your bloodstream. What are ketones you may ask? It is a chemical produced by the liver to break down the fat in the body.
As this stores, the sugar level drops in your blood making your body break down fat for the usage of energy. The main cause why people have found a ketogenic diet working for them is mainly because of the fat melting away from their bodies.
But surely it comes with some side effects or should I say ‘keto diet side effects’. I will surely get down to that point in a minute.
Why Was the Ketogenic Diet Introduced?
The diet was first introduced by Dr. Gianfranco Cappello who introduced this to help overly obese people lose fat faster and more effectively. As crazy as it may sound, the keto diet was mostly focused on helping with the symptoms of epilepsy in children in earlier times. The keto diet profoundly helped children who did not show any improvements to the drug trial treatments for epilepsy.
Bette Klien, a practicing nutritionist in Cleveland said that children who were tested with these diets showed a reduction in the number of epileptic seizures. Despite the success, the question that ‘is the keto diet safe?’, especially for children, still remains unanswered.
Bright Side of Ketogenic Diet
The main reason why people feel keto diets working for them is due to the complete elimination of a food group making you lose your pounds faster. The main benefit of a ketogenic diet is the quick results. As people lose weight rapidly, this in return prompts them to lose extra weight.
Keeping aside the keto diet side effects, another reason why this diet sounds ideal is that it does not push you in bland recipes and still manages to keep you feeling full. You can eat cheese, ghee, and all kinds of meats when following a good ketogenic diet.
While it may sound like an ideal shot. It certainly cannot be a life choice in the long run. The keto diet only works for you if you want to shed some pounds real soon without having to starve yourself.
However many critics are of the view that there can be some serious keto side effects and this diet is extremely unhealthy in the long run. Here is how;
1. You Lose Water Weight
The weight you lose at the start of the diet is usually the water weight. According to Lisa Cimperman, R.D.N., a clinical dietitian at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio
“Once your body enters ketosis, you also begin to lose muscle, become extremely fatigued, and eventually enter starvation mode. Then it actually becomes even harder to lose weight. Keto diets should only be used under clinical supervision and only for brief periods. ”.
2. You Do Not Gain any Muscle
One of the major keto diet side effects is that it does not help you with any muscle gain if it is not affecting your muscle loss either. This is concerning if you want to transition towards a healthier lifestyle.
It is certainly not an optimal choice for someone who is trying to gain muscle. So the mystery that, is the keto diet safe is readily answerable.
On a side note if you want to gain weight, here is an excellent read on how you can gain more kilos.
3. It Can Seriously Damage your Heart
Since your heart is nothing but a profusely working muscle. Such diets can damage your heart muscles and this is one of the very concerning keto side effects.
The main reason is that keto is all about consuming fats and we all know heart health has a lot to do with fat management.
4. You Stink!
What you eat does not have much to do with your looks. Consuming a lot of fats will actually make you sweat more.
Due to the obvious reasons for consuming something pure fat, your glands will be working twice harder while your metabolism is burning your calories. The end result? You stink! The most disturbing keto side effect in my opinion.
5. Keto Diet Side Effects (Keto-flu)
While consuming a pure fat diet, you may not always be fully educated on what’s the right unsaturated fat to consume. This also depends on your body type and your body’s reaction towards a certain food item.
A lot of saturated fat can actually backfire if you are trying to lose weight. If someone is new to the keto diet it’s easy for them to experience the ‘keto-flu’ that is
- Stomach upset issues
- Low energy
- Dizziness
- Mood swings.
Wrapping it Up!
Let’s be honest here, there has been no fad diet that was sustainable in the long run. Mainly because it’s not ideal for survival. Nature has created carbohydrates as our primary need, however with sensible moderation.
Sooner or later, you will be seeing keto diet side effects exposing them to you. Therefore it’s best to stick to healthy foods and consume a little something from each food pyramid in the right moderation. If there are still some queries that you need to ask, then visit healthwire.pk to book a consultation with the relevant doctor to get your answers.
