(Please note– if you currently have an eating disorder or are in recovery – I hope this information will help you to shift your thinking about dieting and reframe eating disorder thoughts about diets with something more rational.)
Whether you have a long history of dieting or you relatively are new to the ‘game’, the keto diet may have piqued your interest. Hailed as the diet to help you burn fat faster or watch your weight disappear, it sounds like the magic bullet you’ve been searching for – or is it?
WHAT IS THE KETOGENIC DIET?
The keto diet has been around for approximately 50 years but was used as a treatment for epilepsy. It involves removing almost all carbohydrates from your diet resulting in a significant increase in your fat intake. Foods that contain carbohydrates don’t just include pasta, bread and cake. In fact, all grains, legumes (lentils, chickpeas, beans, peanuts), fruit and ‘below ground’ vegetables would also be out of the picture.
SO WHAT IS KETOSIS?
A regular person will metabolise both carbs and fat – ie use them for energy. If you remove the majority of carbohydrates from your diet – to almost none, his halts this process for producing energy. Instead, we begin to produce ketones from the breakdown of fats in the liver. They are an alternative source of energy when glucose is not available. Overnight, we will produce ketones if we haven’t eaten for between 6 and 12 hours as we will have used up our carbohydrate stores.
IS THE KETO DIET REALLY THE ULTIMATE WEIGHT LOSS PANACEA?
If you’ve been following me for a while, you will know my take on diets. I am frequently questioned on this particular one– after all we are told it has fantastic health benefits and if it just burns fat surely it will work?
But as with all things nutrition we cannot just simplify and isolate – we need to look at the big picture. What happens in the body, how sustainable it is, the physiological knock-on effects when we restrict whole food groups|?
A recent study compared the keto diet to a traditional Mediterranean diet (which excluded refined carbs- but not all carbs -and sugar.) with prediabetic and diabetic individuals. After 12 weeks, participants on both diets lost the same amount of weight. Not a great surprise when we restrict intake and exclude sugar and refined carbs, we are likely to lose some initially. However it’s interesting that the keto diet did not live up to the hype.
It's worth noting that it was only a short-term study. The research tells us that in the longer term, weight lost from any diet is not sustained for the majority of people.
In fact, most of research investigating ketogenic approaches, tells us that initial weight loss is due partly to water loss. Some fat loss may then occur but as the sustainability of the diet wanes, the effect becomes similar to other diets after one year. (It’s after this time that we begin to see weight regain for the majority of people)
IS THIS DIET HARMLESS?
Apart from the fact that diets do not work in the long term and are often a high-risk factor for developing disordered eating behaviours and even eating disorders, this diet is extremely restrictive. We know from any kind of diet which omits foods and food groups, that it becomes extremely difficult to sustain in the long term.
Additionally, the absence of many vegetables, grains, legumes and fruit has quite an impact on the microbiome. The microbes in our gut need diversity of these plant foods to remain in a healthy balance. Not only will this impact our digestive health but may also negatively affect our immune system, mental health and possibly our weight too! (Yes, you heard that right – there is much emerging research in this area!)
These ‘forbidden’ foods are an important source of many nutrients – fibre, vitamins, minerals and polyphenols that are so essential for our wellbeing and for the body to function at its best.
So as with any diet (that is unsustainable, restricts foods and therefore important nutrients) and impacts your relationship with food – the keto diet is not all its cracked up to be and for some may cause harm.