If someone twenty or thirty years ago had put all the products in two baskets and sorted them according to the principle of maximum and least usability, today you would have to make a thorough overhaul of them. The strangest story happened during this time of fat - humanity's recent greatest enemy is not only fully rehabilitated, but almost declared its savior. Is that so, nutritionist Chris More understands.
Recently, a patient admitted to me that she and her husband eat almost a kilo of bacon a week - three slices for breakfast and then two more with salad for lunch. I have been working as a nutritionist for more than twenty years and it seems like nothing would surprise me, but then I still could not resist and asked: why? The patient said her husband was watching a TV show about the keto diet and they decided to give it a try. Six months on bacon - and now the man has lost nine kilos and, according to his wife, is almost bursting with energy that overwhelms him.
Increasingly, I hear from people about the miracles that the keto diet does against them. They claim that it burns fat in the body, provides energy and conquers disease, and that from now on it is not only possible but also necessary to eat as much bacon as you want. But all their enthusiasm at least needs a serious test - is a keto diet that does not limit fat intake really that good?
The ketogenic diet is a low carbohydrate diet with high fat and moderate protein. It was originally used to treat epilepsy in children by increasing the level of ketone bodies in the blood.
What is ketosis?
Let's start with the name of the diet: where did this "keto" come from? When the body desperately lacks carbohydrates - for example due to diabetes or prolonged hunger - it must break down its own fat more actively than normal to get energy. Ketosis develops: the metabolism is disturbed and more ketone bodies accumulate in the tissue than necessary. Ketone bodies are products with fat metabolism. They are produced by the liver when insulin levels drop in the blood.
"The liver produces ketone bodies all the time, but their levels depend on the carbohydrates and proteins you eat - the body needs both, " explains Jeff Volek, a professor at Ohio University.
The breakdown of fat in the body of a healthy person and the formation of ketone bodies is a normal process, it is called ketogenesis. Unlike ketosis, ketogenesis does not lead to dramatic weight loss. Ketosis is a pathology that in addition to diabetes and prolonged fasting can be caused by a keto diet as it almost excludes carbohydrate foods from the diet. A person who has developed ketosis loses weight dramatically as well as due to some other pathologies.
The ketogenic diet forces the body to use fat as its main source of energy. Usually, this role is played by carbohydrates, which, when taken with food, are processed into glucose, which is extremely important for brain nutrition and function. However, if the diet is low in carbohydrates, the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies. Ketone bodies enter the brain and are used as an energy source instead of glucose. An increase in the level of ketone bodies in the blood (ketosis) leads to a decrease in the frequency of epileptic seizures.
In the keto diet, the majority of the daily diet - from 60 to 80% - fat, proteins - approx. 15%, and only the remaining 10% are carbohydrates (this is about half of a small bun). At first glance, it looks like the Atkins diet, but the keto diet implies a more severe carbohydrate restriction, according to Spencer Nadolsky, author of The Fat Loss Prescription. A number of theorists generally assure us that the fewer carbohydrates we eat, the more fat our body burns, and for this reason the metabolism improves, immunity increases - and in general, different miracles begin to happen to our bodies.
But in ordinary life we get about half the calories and not one tenth of them come from carbohydrates. So essentially the question is: can your body be in ketosis long enough to achieve the promised nirvana without serious health consequences? Do you literally want to start freaking out with fat?
Is the keto diet right for you?
It may sound strange, but the best diet for you is the one you are used to following. For Volek, who has been on keto for twenty years, she's good, but does she fit you? Unfortunately, there are no studies of what happens in the body of a person who has been on a keto diet for a long time. During the A to Z weight loss study, researchers studied the Atkins diet, Zone, LEARN, and some other diets, but in the study, female subjects consumed 25 to 35% of the carbohydrates - not even close to the 10% advised to limit themselves to the keto diet.
The only thing that is known for sure: on the keto diet you will really lose weight. In Italy, in 2015, they studied the performance of people sitting on it, and on average, over 10 months, they lost approx. 10-12 kg. A year earlier in Spain, it turned out that in one year you can lose around 20 kg in this way. True, over the course of the next year, subjects often returned to the weight they had before the experiment as soon as they got out of the rigid diet.
What do you eat if you decide to try it? First and foremost the bacon. Of the rest of the products, not much suits you. Starchy vegetables - potatoes, pumpkins, corn - are strictly forbidden, as are most fruits. Milk, beans, rice and pasta should also be forgotten.
The keto diet is difficult to follow and can be dangerous for some. "Extreme diets, especially the keto diet, are strictly contraindicated in people with neurodegenerative diseases such as epilepsy, " says Dr. Alan Aragon.
The ketogenic diet is considered to be optimal in the community for weight loss. However, according to scientific evidence, the effect of weight loss shortly after switching to a ketogenic diet is caused by a decrease in the amount of water in the body, and the amount of body fat is affected solely by the energy balance. In weight loss, the energy supplied with food should be less than that used for physical activity. One of the benefits of the ketogenic diet, like other low carb diets, is that ketosis, which occurs with a low carb diet, contributes to weight loss in obesity. The difference in calories eaten can be up to a thousand kilocalories a day compared to low fat diets. The effect of ketogenic diets is highly dependent on the protein content of the diet.
Can I take drugs that cause an increase in ketone bodies? In no case. Do not listen to the "consultants" who will assure you that even without any diet you can induce ketosis with the help of special drugs.
So is the keto diet right for you or not? If you are an extreme athlete who is ready to experiment with your body, if you like to take risks and fast results are important to you, try it! If you just want to lose a few pounds and have previously encountered the "yo-yo effect" (when a person on a strict diet breaks down and gains more weight than he managed to lose), you may not have to risk it. But if you approach the keto diet wisely, there are three lessons you can learn from it that will definitely come in handy.
- Reduce your intake of "empty" carbs. Analyze which foods you get the most out of your daily carbohydrate intake: if it comes from fruits that are rich in fiber and antioxidants, then it's okay, but if your sources of carbohydrates are sweets, sodas, and any food made with white flour, do you know what to do: Send them to the trash.
- Avoid fat. The passion for low-fat foods that started in the 90s can certainly be traced back to the past. Nothing good about it. To compensate for the lack of fat, manufacturers often increase the amount of sugar in such products. Eat fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel or sardines at least twice a week. And no matter what you cook, do not skimp on vegetables, especially good - olive oil.
- Eat lots of greens. All leafy vegetables and green vegetables go well with fatty and protein-rich foods - fans of the keto diet eat plenty of them. And you do the same. Eat kale, spinach, bok choy, arugula and other types of salads without restrictions.
What happened to my bacon patients? Their experiments with nutrition continued exactly until the moment their baby was born. Of course, they immediately forgot the diet (there is no time to think about what the young mother explained). So remember: sooner or later you will get tired of regularly stuffing bacon in yourself and you will return to normal, familiar food.
Recipes
Salmon and asparagus salad
Ingredients:
- 150 g salmon fillet
- 80 g green asparagus;
- 1/2 head iceberg lettuce;
- 2 eggs
- 4 anchovy fillets;
- 5 cherry tomatoes;
- 5 large capers (or 6-8 small ones) - take capers in salt, not brine, they must be washed before use;
- 1/2 medium red onion;
- 6-8 Art. l. olive oil;
- 1 teaspoon mustard;
- juice of half a lemon.
How to cook:
- If you have ever cooked nicoise, you can also handle this salad. It practically repeats the main course from Nice, only fatty salmon is taken instead of tuna, and asparagus is used instead of green beans (however, you can also use beans).
- Salmon is best not cooked in a hot frying pan or in a hot oven, but steamed or in a slow cooker: 20-30 minutes at a temperature of 80-85 degrees, not higher (otherwise the protein will curl and the fish will turn out hard). But you can also fry in a pan (just do not overdo it! ) - the fish must be tender and maintain a certain transparency inside.
- Cook asparagus. It should be sharp, so do not cook it too much! The cooking time depends on its size, so we do not recommend leaving the oven - asparagus cooks quickly.
- Place the separated iceberg on a plate (the salad should be washed, dried and shredded into medium pieces), asparagus, salmon separated into large pieces, halves of cherry tomatoes, anchovies, capers, onions chopped into rings and hard-boiled eggs (ideally the egg yolk should not remainliquid but soft). Top the fields with olive oil sauce with Dijon mustard and lemon juice. You do not need to salt the dish - anchovies and capers are already salty enough.
The ketogenic diet is used by athletes involved in keeping sports that require endurance, such as ultramarathon, triathlon, cycling, etc. The athletes body that follows this diet uses fat more efficiently as an energy source, thus helping to maintain glycogen stores during long-termeffort.
Bacon and lettuce salad
Ingredients:
- 2 palm head of lettuce
- 100 g bacon
- 8 sprigs of mint;
- 1 egg yolk
- 6 tbsp. l. olive oil and a little more for frying;
- 1 teaspoon grained mustard;
- 1 tbsp. l. sherry vinegar.
How to cook:
- For this salad, make a slightly more complex sauce: put mint leaves and mustard in a tall glass, add egg yolk, pour in sherry vinegar. Whisk with a blender while adding olive oil in a thin stream.
- Cut the salad in half lengthwise and fry it quickly over high heat. It should caramelize easily, that is, get a golden brown color and stay fresh and crispy on the inside. Fry the bacon over high heat without oil or in the oven until crisp. Place salad, bacon and sauce on a plate. Garnish with mint leaves.