Keto diet is a low carb and high-fat diet which involves reduced carbohydrates intake and high fat intake into the body. This diet puts the human body into a high metabolic state known as ketosis.
It has a lot of benefits to the body:
1. Reduced appetite
Low carbohydrate intake leads to a reduction of appetite. High fat and protein diet can help to reduce the total caloric intake, which assists in healthy weight loss. For some people, hunger is unbearable, so keto diet is the best way to achieve the goal.
2. Visceral fat loss
There are two types of fat in the body. First is subcutaneous fat, which is under the skin, and second is visceral fat, which accumulates around the organs in the abdominal cavity. A ketogenic diet helps in the rapid loss of visceral fat, which is quite common in adults in western countries. In the long-term perspective, this ultimately leads to less risk of type 2 diabetes and heart diseases.
3. Bloodstream cleared of TAGs
Triglycerides are fat molecules that are present in the vessels which can accumulate in major vessels of the body like coronary vessels and form plaques that compromise the blood supply to critical organs (heart), which results in a heart attack. A ketogenic diet helps reducing triglycerides from the blood.
4. Weight loss
Less carbohydrate in the diet regularly is the best way to lose weight. Keto diet lower insulin levels in the blood and target tissues. It also helps to remove excess water from the body aiding in rapid weight loss within weeks. Not only this, but also a person on a ketogenic diet doesn’t feel much hunger, and weight loss becomes easy. A ketogenic diet has the most significant results in the first six months.
5. Good for hypertensive patients
High blood pressure is due to narrowed blood vessels in the body. A hypertensive person is at high risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, and renal failure, and the risk further increases when there is increased carbohydrate intake. In such cases, if the ketogenic diet plan is followed, blood HDL is increased while LDL and triglycerides are decreased. It reduces the risk of clot and plaques in the vessels and prevents complications of hypertension.
6. Prevention from metabolic syndromes
Metabolic syndromes include thyrotoxicosis, diabetes mellitus, and heart diseases and their symptoms like obesity, hypertension, increased T3 and T4 levels, hyperglycemia, increased LDL and triglyceride, and decreased HDL. A ketogenic diet helps in the treatment of metabolic syndromes by treating all the above conditions.
References
Kim, D. W., Kang, H. C., Park, J. C., & Kim, H. D. (2004). Benefits of the nonfasting ketogenic diet compared with the initial fasting ketogenic diet. Pediatrics, 114(6), 1627-1630.
Lucas, P. A., Meadows, J. H., Roberts, D. E., & Coles, G. A. (1986). The risks and benefits of a low protein–essential amino acid–keto acid diet. Kidney international, 29(5), 995-1003.
