KETO DIET AND ITS BENEFITS
Ketogenic diet is high fat and low carb diet which holds a lot of health benefits including weight loss. Some studies endorse the fact that keto diet is most suitable for effective weight loss. It is also helpful in improving cardiac health.
**WHAT IS A KETOGENIC DIET?
**The ketogenic diet also known as keto diet is a low carb(less than 20gm daily) and high fat diet with a moderate protein share. There are several types of ketogenic diets based on the ratio of fat and protein.
STANDARD KETO DIET: contains 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% carbohydrates.
HIGH PROTEIN KETO DIET: it has a higher protein ratio nearly 35%
Some other types of keto diet such as Cyclical and Targeted keto diets allow the addition of more carbs in diet.
CYCLICAL KETO DIET: it allows a person to som high carb period after a few strict ketogenic days. Generally it is 5 ketogenic days and 2 high carb days repeated cyclically.
TARGETED KETO DIET: mostly used by bodybuilders and athletes, allows adding carbs in diet around the work hours.
HOW IT WORKS:
In keto diet, the carbohydrate intake is replaced by the fat. Consequently the body starts burning the fat (both dietary and body fat) for energy. The fat is converted to energy molecules called ketones, which are then used by the brain for energy. This whole process of converting fat into ketones, by the liver is called ketosis.
BENEFITS OF KETO DIET:
The benefits of keto diet are innumerable. Some are listed below:
It helps in losing body weight by burning more fat and reducing insulin levels, which is a fat storing hormone. Since the diet is filling it reduces the appetite and helps in reducing weight without being calorie conscious.
It is helpful in managing type 2 diabetes by reducing blood sugar. It reduces the need of medicine in type 2 diabetes and sometimes may reverse the disease.
Keto diet has long been used to reduce seizures in children due to epilepsy.
It helps in improving the cholesterol levels and other cardiac markers.
It is also helpful in controlling some cases of acne, migraine, PCOS and some neurological diseases.
It has been used experimentally to slow down tumor growth in cancer patients.