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The truth about fats and the keto fad. Diets are not long-term solutions and the latest fad diets
exploit those who are ignorant of the facts regarding nutrition.”
Today I want to share some facts that debunk the keto diet. I think there's a shift in eating consciously so most people know what healthy foods are. However, all fad diets are a cookie-cutter approach to health and exercise. We can all agree that what works for one doesn't work for all, yet most of us buy into the marketing that diets work long term. Diets imply that we all have the same metabolism, gender, age, height, weight, activity level, goals, and genetics, which is not true. Diets are nothing more than a cookie-cutter macro-ratio that will not work long term for every person across the board.
If a person has poor eating habits and goes from eating processed fast food 3 to 7 days a week down to once or twice a week will drop weight. If a person cuts sugar and fried foods from their daily eating habits they will lose weight of course. They will also plato becoming stagnant at a point because as you work out more and eat healthier foods your metabolism changes meaning your energy requirements will change over time and this is ignored by the fad diet approach.
Most of the fad diets point out food with no nutrition value "empty calories" like it's a staple as to why this new fad works. When in fact it's the junk processed fake food that no one should eat anyway. People hear this and think these representatives know what they're talking about. When eating healthy foods alone, has nothing to do with the macro ratio, an individual must seek for professional help regarding how much macro and micro nutrients are needed daily. Instead, companies or unethical nutritionist practitioners make it seem this is a way to not follow the rules and still get what you want, and it's just not true.
This has nothing to do with the harmful effects too much fat has on the body that goes unaddressed when discussing the keto diet. The keto diet will actually cause more harm than good for overall better health. The body's primary fuel source is carbs/ glucose, not fats so fats should not be the largest ratio proportion per meal. “The keto diet is 70-80% fats according to https://perfectketo.com › keto- -how-to-calculate-your-optimal-keto...While our bodies should have between 15 and 30% dietary fats for general consumption, according to International Sports Science Association in a book called Body Building Specialist pg 243.”
Eating too much fat leads to a number of health problems while simultaneously making one fat. I think what the keto followers are not grasping is that the body needs everything in moderation. The body needs a healthy balanced nutrition plan meeting its daily intake requirements to improve its health. "Choosing the right types of dietary fats to consume is one of the most important factors in reducing the risk of developing heart disease, said Alice Lichtenstein, DSC, a renowned researcher from Tufts University of Boston.” There are good fats and bad fats, good fats HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol reduces your LDL (low- density lipoprotein) cholesterol this bad fat leads to strokes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. The good fats HDL, helps your immune system, metabolism, cell membrane development, and it is also 33% of your daily brain metabolism intake.
“Our body is made up of 37 to 70 trillion cells according to Dr. Bruce Lipton
livinghoem.cluster027.hosting.ovh.net › bruce-lipton-exercises”. Cells create tissue, tissue create organs, muscle, glands, bones, and together creates a healthy or unhealthy bodily function depending on how we eat. If the cell primary fuel source is carbs/glucose how can we think that we can change the biological rule in how the body process energy based on a food preference? “According to the US Department of Agriculture the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans we shouldn't exceed 35% of fats of total calories per day yet we have twice as much following the keto diet which is 70 to 80% total calories per day. www.choosemyplate.gov/2015-2020-dietary-guidelines-answers-your-questions”.
All food falls into one of three categories, protein, carbs, or dietary fats. The
blanket term for these three categories is macro-nutrient or macros for short. All none processed whole food is some form of a macro. The good macros have micro-nutrient value as well, micros are vitamins, minerals, and water. For example, beans are considered a super-food because it has protein, carbs, fiber (fiber is considered a non-digestive carb) and healthy fats (macros-protein, carbs, fats). Beans also have vitamins A, most of the B vitamins,and phosphorus these are all micronutrients.
We must have complete macro meals in-order not to lose muscle, and if the body loses muscle it's under stress meaning the cortisol levels are too high. Once this happens the body holds on to the emergency energy source which is adipose tissue which is fat. This process is called gluconeogenesis when the liver breaks down muscle for and convert it into glucose. “According to the National Federation of Professional Trainers, in the book Fitness Nutrition Specialist pg 25 glucose, our body’s primary source of fuel, can either be supplied by consuming carbohydrates, fat metabolism, or gluconeogenesis. The body needs energy source, but it can accommodate for depleted carbohydrate stores by producing energy supplies that come from other metabolic states, such as ketosis which supplies ketones for brain function when the body is lacking carbohydrates for glucose synthesis (gluconeogenesis). This process occurs during sleep, for example, when the body is fasting through the night and unable to use carbohydrates to produce glucose for fuel. Hence the emphasis on ‘breakfast’, or ‘breaking the fast’, with a healthy balance of proteins, fats and complex carbohydrates in the morning to jump-start, the metabolic processes that keep our bodies efficiently running and sufficiently fueled."
The body has to be under different forms of stress in order for the ketosis state to occur. Working out causes stress on the body and too much working out has a harmful effect, so again, balance and a personalized approach are needed for long term results. Only a few conditions cause the ketosis state to occur one is when you’re starving yourself not eating properly giving the body what it needs at the right time. Or as the keto fad followers' favorite term to use wrong is, ketosis, and this is a state from not having enough carbs which can lead to hypoglycemia, the failure of your organs, even anxiety comes from a low carb intake which is associated with the keto fad. So, you see after following extreme low carb intake too long it's a dangerous game to play with your health.
Here are more facts about eating low carbs and harmful effects from a forced ketosis state. According to NFPT, Fitness Nutrition Specialist pg 42 "When glucose levels are
low (low-calorie dieting, low carbohydrate intake, negative energy balance, post-workout energy depleted state, aftermath of high calorie simple sugar intake), the pancreas releases a hormone called Glucagon whose function it is to stimulate the liver to convert and release its stored glycogen (glucose)into the bloodstream (Glycogenolysis). When liver stores are exhausted (typical under the above-listed conditions), catabolic and cannibalistic enzymes and hormones are released into the blood that break down amino acids, blood proteins, and body tissues (mostly muscle), for energy. If a low blood glucose condition is prolonged and extreme, metabolic acidosis and death may occur as a result of the toxicity of the bi-products of protein and body tissue cannibalism (Ketone bodies)."
So clearly the keto diet is more harmful than good when putting your body into a state if ketosis by forceful methods. Here’s an example of a natural way of how ketosis is created from working out long enough, “after 20 minutes of cardio (any activity done at 60-70% of your max heart rate) your body taps out of glucose in the liver, and blood then starts converting fat into fuel. After 40 minutes of cardio, the body is converting 50% of fat into fuel. According to Endurance Training Specialist pg 26” However, after an hour, you'll need to replenish the body with fuel, so it doesn't lose muscle. The body is a sophisticated bio-machine that will stop using its emergency energy fuel source in exchange for muscle after an hour going into a two-hour straight workout session.
In closing, there's a lot of misleading information out there regarding how to bio-hack the body disregarding the law and rules to how the body function. The keto diet is nothing more than a macro-ratio. People who stop eating fried foods, bad carbs like breads with enriched flour instead of whole wheat flour, drinking water over high fructose syrup rich drinks will lose weight. This is a part of a healthy lifestyle that every human should be aware of. It's wrong to use it as a premise to push a cookie-cutter one size fits all approach using a set macro ratio. Instead, each person should be examined to find out what works best for them. No matter what food preference they have the body needs a healthy balanced meal plan that meets the daily nutritional requirements.
Too much fat leads to dangerous health issues from “strokes, high blood pressure, and heart disease to name a few according to
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/effects/index.html” Our body needs dietary fats which are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats but too much fat is bad for you like anything else. Too much protein or carbs are also bad, so the key is whole food nutrition balance. Finding out what ratio between protein carbs, and dietary fats works best for you personally through personalized nutrition service.
A macro is a blanket term for protein carbs and fats. A macro-ratio, when pushed as the diet that works long-term, implies we all respond to food the same way. That we all have the same metabolism, goals, activity level, height, age, gender, and it's ethically wrong to treat people this way by exploiting them suggesting a macro-ratio. The keto diet should be seen for exactly what it is which is a macro-ratio. Instead of pushing cookie-cutter diets, we should personalize all nutrition services to find the needs of each individual and meet those needs. To have enough compassion for helping others to practice this philosophy would change more lives.
Ultimately helping people through personalized nutrition service make a smoother transition in the lifestyle change necessary to have a longer life and better health.