There are trends in dieting, good things and bad things change, and they get jumbled. Of the many pieces of information, it’s hard to tell which is meaningful and which isn’t. Meanwhile, the ketone diet is attracting attention in the diet world. The ketogenic diet, also called the ketogenic diet, simply put, refers to a dietary method that consumes so much fat and less carbohydrates that it becomes a state of ketosis.
Ketosis is the act of pushing the body into a state where it has to use lipids for energy, explains a review in the Journal of European Nutrition. As a result, ketone bodies are used as energy due to the breakdown of fats present in the blood, rather than carbohydrates. By creating this state of ketosis, it becomes easier to lose weight.
In other words, ketosis means that the body is adapting to lipids and burning more fat than it would otherwise, says Andy DeSantis, a registered dietitian in Toronto. It is not so impossible to create such a state.
Many people gain weight from consuming too many carbs, especially those who eat too many processed carbs, so following a ketone diet and giving up carbs is the quickest way to reduce calories. In addition, research suggests that ketone diets are high in fat, which increases satiety and suppresses appetite. But it’s important to remember that the diet wasn’t originally designed for dieting, DeSantis says.
There are many misconceptions when using ketone diets for weight loss. Therefore, I listed five misconceptions about the ketone diet and examined how this diet can be used in dieting.
Myth 1: Ketosis and ketoacidosis are same conditions
As mentioned above, ketosis is a state in which the body is in “fat burning mode”, which occurs only when the body consumes accumulated fat as energy and begins to produce ketone bodies. But Jim White, nutritionist Jim White, owner of Jim White Fitness and Nutrition Studio, cautions that ketosis and ketoacidosis should not be confused. Ketoacidosis is a potentially life-threatening condition in which the blood becomes acidic, usually found in diabetic patients.
Ketoacidosis can also occur in people on a ketone diet because it occurs when there are too many ketones, explains a 2017 paper published in the Strength and Conditioning Journal. Symptoms of ketoacidosis include abdominal pain, weakness, throat dropping, breathing heaving, loss of consciousness, and blurred eyes.
Myth 2: The ketone diet is a high-protein diet
To maintain ketosis but avoid ketoacidosis, you need to reduce protein, not increase it, explains Kelly Lowell, a nutritionist and researcher at Rush University. According to Lowell, who also teaches ketone diets, the misconception that ketone diets are high-protein diets is one of the most dangerous myths surrounding ketone diets.
This is because as the amount of protein increases, the amino acids contained in the protein are broken down and ketone bodies increase. While this is good for the average person on a diet, Lowell advises that people on a ketone diet already have more ketones in their blood, which increases the likelihood of more ketones developing ketoacidosis. What’s more, consuming too much protein converts it into glucose and spikes blood sugar levels, which has the opposite effect of ketogenic. This is not a good thing.
So, how much protein should you consume if you are on a ketone diet? Eating about 1% to 6% of your daily calories from protein can eliminate the risk of ketoacidosis while maintaining ketosis, White says. On the other hand, carbohydrates should be 8% to 2% of the day. For women with a daily calorie intake of 4,2000 kcal, they want to aim for 30 to 40 grams of protein. This is about 2 eggs or 85g of chicken fillet.
The reason ketone diets aren’t for people who want to gain muscle is because they don’t allow them to eat as much protein, explains the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Myth 3: You can take anything if you have lipids
You might think that with a ketone diet, you don’t have to worry about fats, but experts say you shouldn’t just eat saturated fatty acids.
According to the Journal of American College of Nutrition, replacing saturated fatty acids such as bacon, sausages and ham with unsaturated fatty acids such as walnuts, flaxseeds and fish is the most efficient means of lowering cardiovascular disease risk. This seems to be more effective than just reducing fat. Some studies suggest that processed meats like bacon increase the risk of cancer.
Mediterranean flavors should be included when on a ketogenic diet, according to Lowell. “Try to get most of your lipids from good quality extra virgin olive oil, nuts and seeds, and fatty fish.”
Myth 4: The brain works properly without carbohydrates
You must have experienced that your mind is somehow blurry before noon. Or, if you’ve ever been hungry and irritated, you know what happens when you don’t have enough sugar in your blood. In such a state, the brain is screaming for glucose, the energy that is most convenient for the brain.
Especially when you start a ketogenic diet, White says, you should feel your brain craving glucose. This is because it is said that about 100 g of carbohydrates are required per day, but ketone diets reduce the intake to 50 g if it is small.
Until you get used to using fat as energy, you may feel hungry and irritable, or you may be in the same state as before lunch. But once you get used to it, your brain can also use ketones as fuel, but White says it can take weeks or months to get to this state.
Myth 5: Dieting requires time
If you like oily foods and are not good at counting calories but don’t mind giving up carbs, the ketone diet is easy to follow. But according to a 2017 study, dieting isn’t something you should do for a long time.
The main reason is that the longer you follow a ketone diet, the more likely you are to lose muscle mass. Not only does muscle strength and muscle tone decrease, but metabolism also decreases due to a decrease in lean muscle mass. In other words, as you lose weight, so do the calories you burn.
Researchers point out that while ketogenic diets can help you lose weight in a short period of time, it’s better not to do it for more than a few weeks at a time. For example, it is better to limit yourself to working out hard at the gym. And before increasing the load of exercise, it is better to increase your carbohydrate and protein intake. However, it is certain that a ketogenic diet “makes the metabolism flexible”, allowing the body to use multiple things as an energy source, which is effective for health and weight loss.