What’s a Ketogenic Diet?
“Ketogenic” is a term for a low-carb diet (like the Atkins diet). The
idea is for you to get more calories from protein and fat and less
from carbohydrates. You cut back most on the carbs that are
easy to digest, like sugar, soda, pastries, and white bread.
How It Works
When you eat less than 50 grams of carbs a day, your body
eventually runs out of fuel (blood sugar) it can use quickly. This
typically takes 3 to 4 days. Then you’ll start to break down protein
and fat for energy, which can make you lose weight. This is
called ketosis. It's important to note that the ketogenic diet is a
short term diet that's focussed on weight loss rather than the
pursuit of health benefits.
Who Uses It?
People use a ketogenic diet most often to lose weight, but it can
help manage certain medical conditions, like epilepsy, too. It also
may help people with heart disease, certain brain diseases, and
even acne, but there needs to be more research in those areas.
Talk with your doctor first to find out if it’s safe for you to try a
ketogenic diet, especially if you have type 1 diabetes.
Weight Loss
A ketogenic diet may help you lose more weight in the first 3 to 6
months than some other diets. This may be because it takes
more calories to change fat into energy than it does to change
carbs into energy. It’s also possible that a high-fat, high-protein
diet satisfies you more, so you eat less, but that hasn’t been
proved yet.
Cancer
Insulin is a hormone that lets your body use or store sugar as
fuel. Ketogenic diets make you burn through this fuel quickly, so
you don’t need to store it. This means your body needs -- and
makes -- less insulin. Those lower levels may help protect you
against some kinds of cancer or even slow the growth of cancer
cells. More research is needed on this, though.
Heart Disease
It seems strange that a diet that calls for more fat can raise
“good” cholesterol and lower “bad” cholesterol, but ketogenic
diets are linked to just that. It may be because the lower levels of
insulin that result from these diets can stop your body from
making more cholesterol. That means you’re less likely to have
high blood pressure, hardened arteries, heart failure, and other
heart conditions. It's unclear, however; how long these effects
last.
Acne
Carbohydrates have been linked to this skin condition, so cutting
down on them may help. And the drop in insulin that a ketogenic
diet can trigger may also help stop acne breakouts. (Insulin can
cause your body to make other hormones that bring on
outbreaks.) Still, more research is needed to determine exactly
how much effect, if any, the diet actually has on acne.
Diabetes
Low-carb diets seem to help keep your blood sugar lower and
more predictable than other diets. But when your body burns fat
for energy, it makes compounds called ketones. If you have
diabetes, particularly type 1, too many ketones in your blood can
make you sick. So it’s very important to work with your doctor on
any changes in your diet.
Epilepsy
Ketogenic diets have helped control seizures caused by this
condition since the 1920s. But again, it’s important to work with
your doctor to figure out what’s right for you or your child.
Other Nervous System Disorders
These affect your brain and spine, as well as the nerves that link
them together. Epilepsy is one, but others may be helped by a
ketogenic diet as well, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s
disease, and sleep disorders. Scientists aren’t sure why, but it
may be that the ketones your body makes when it breaks down
fat for energy help protect your brain cells from damage.
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
This is when a woman’s ovaries get larger than they should be
and small fluid-filled sacs form around the eggs. High levels of
insulin can cause it. Ketogenic diets, which lower both the
amount of insulin you make and the amount you need, may help
treat it, along with other lifestyle changes, like exercise and
weight loss.
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Exercise
A ketogenic diet may help endurance athletes -- runners and
cyclists, for example -- when they train. Over time, it helps your
muscle-to-fat ratio and raises the amount of oxygen your body is
able to use when it’s working hard. But while it might help in
training, it may not work as well as other diets for peak
performance.
Side Effects
The more common ones aren’t usually serious: You might have
constipation, mild low blood sugar, or indigestion. Much less
often, low-carb diets can lead to kidney stones or high levels of
acid in your body (acidosis). Other side effects can include the
"keto flu," which may include headache, weakness, and
irritability; bad breath; and fatigue.
Diet With Care
When your body burns its stores of fat, it can be hard on your
kidneys. And starting a ketogenic diet -- or going back to a
normal diet afterward -- can be tricky if you’re obese because of
other health issues you’re likely to have, like diabetes, a heart
condition, or high blood pressure. If you have any of these
conditions, make diet changes slowly and only with the guidance
of your doctor.
