Keto Diet: What’s in a Name?

Like so many other people, I made a New Year’s resolution. Did you? Mine was to lose weight and gain health. I have tried many different things over the years. This time I decided to give the Keto diet a whirl. You’ve heard about this one, right? It is probably one of the hottest diets out there today. 2018 was its all time banner year. You’ve likely heard of it somewhere in your travels. So what is the keto diet is it, you wonder. In this post I’m going to lay out just a few fun facts. Ok, maybe they’re not fun, but they’re facts lol.

Let’s start with the name; it derives from the state of ketosis when the body creates many ketones. Before you get super confused let me break it down to you so you understand.

In most diet styles, the body gets most of its energy from carbons.
 The carbons break down to glucose and this is the source of energy of the body.
 In 1921 Dr. Russel Wielder that researched epileptic kids in the US found out that when the body doesn’t eat carbs the liver breaks down the fat to ketones which are good energy units and that this compensates for the loss of carbons.
So now that we know where the name comes from, let’s have a look at the diet itself.

Wait, What?!

From first look all the alarming light bolts turned on when you look at this diet that is based mostly on fat, actually 70% of your calories will come from fat! So can fat burn fat? Basically yes.
The idea is that we will make the body “think” we are fasting because we don’t give it the food that it can use immediately, so it must create ketones from fat. Since the body creates ketones from the fat that we bring in and the fat from the body itself we lose weight.

The smart thing behind this diet is that the body needs to put a lot of effort in order to get its energy and in that time we feel full. So we basically do a diet and we don’t feel hungry because it takes so much time to break the fat, and in the meanwhile since we’ve “told” the body that there are no carbs it just breaks down any fat it can find – then we lose a lot of weight while feeling also feeling full.

Who Should Do the Keto Diet?

The key people that this diet was planned to were epileptic kids. 
Now days there are other medicine for those people and everyone can use it for weights lose purposes.
The diet was found extremely helpful with patients who suffer from diabetes type 2, which obviously makes sense if you think about the fact you almost don’t eat carbs.

Is the Keto Diet Safe?

Disclaimer: As always, please do not take my experience with this diet or any part of this blog as a replacement for anything your doctor or health care provider has instructed. Please be sure to consult with your doctor and other professionals before trying anything new! I only wish to share my information and experiences with you, but I’m not a professional researcher or health care provider.

That being said, the research says this diet seems to be safe for most people. If you decide to try it, pay attention to your body signals. There are possible side effects, as with most other changes to one’s diet.

They are: 

• Nausea,
• Feeling sick,
• Diarrhea and
• Constipation

The long term side effects could be:

• Higher fat rate in the body,
• Kidney stone disease
• Lessening bone density.

Since you will probably do the diet for less than 2 -3 months, these long term side effects will likely be irrelevant to you.

Ketogenic Diet Meal Plan

So here is the million dollar question that comes with every diet plan: What can I eat?! Fair enough. Here’s a sampling of a typical day in the life of a keto-er. (yes I made that up lol)

In the morning

Eggs with cheese, spinach, cream and butter

For lunch

Fish in butter or cream sauce – or meat, veggies in a full fat cream and cheese

Dinner

Cabbage, mushrooms in a full fat or creamy cheese sauce

Between meals/snacking:

Berries, whipped cream with no sugar, full fat cheese, veggies, sausages

Here’s a Go-to Keto-Friendly Dessert!

1 Cup Natural PB
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Unrefined Coconut Oil
1/4 Cup Lakanto Sugar-Free Syrup
2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. It may need to be warmed slightly to get everything fully combined. Pour into mini muffin tins and place in the freezer. Store in the freezer in a container with lid. Yields 30

Macros
10.93g Fat
1.27g Carbs
2.13g Protein

For more information about the Keto Diet, here is a brief video with Dr. Oz. As always, I encourage you to make informed decisions about your health. Be well, friends!