How many times have we heard about miraculous diets that will most likely make you lose a lot of weight in a small amount of time? Well, these diets may work in the short term. However, the long term effects can be really bad in your health. Eating deprivation can lead to depression, anxiety, loss of sleep, bad mood, and reduced energy. And even if you manage to lose a lot of weight, after being so restricted with yourself, once the diet is done you will want to eat everything which will probably cause weight gain. The key to losing weight is to have a healthy lifestyle, a combination of a varied diet and fitness. After hearing about such diets, we want to introduce to you the Ketogenic Diet. You have probably heard about it but do you know what this diet is about? Keep reading and we will explain what all the fuss is about!
The Ketogenic Diet
This diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that brings with it many health benefits. Actually, more than 20 studies show that this kind of diet helps you lose weight effectively while at the same time improving your health. This diet may even have benefits against diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease… By drastically reducing your carbohydrate intake while replacing it with fat, your body enters in a metabolic state called ketosis. It is at this stage that your body becomes particularly susceptible and open to burning fat for energy. Your body can also turn fat into ketones in the liver which can supply energy for the brain. This together with the reduction in blood sugar and insulin levels can lead to various health benefits. The purpose of this diet at first was to treat neurological diseases such as epilepsy. However, researchers have shown that the Keto Diet can have a wide array of benefits for other conditions: It can improve risk factors like HDL cholesterol levels, blood pressure, blood sugar… What is very surprising is that this diet is being used to treat a few types of cancer and slow tumor growth. It can also slow the progression and reduce the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
What to eat? Most of your meals should be based on the following foods: Meat, fish (like salmon or tuna), eggs will become your best friend during this diet together with the yummy avocados. Most of your meals will be accompanied by low-carb veggies such as green veggies, tomatoes, onions…, nuts and seeds dressed with healthy oils (coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil. While following this lifestyle, you should try to avoid sugary sodas like smoothies, ice cream or candy, fruits (except berries sand strawberries), beans or legumes, potatoes, carrots, and most importantly alcohol. Alcohol has such a high carb content that it may stop your ketosis stage.
You can find tons of yummy recipes to play with while doing this diet or eventually using it as a lifestyle. You won’t be hungry during the day, there are so many options to chose from that can make your daily mails a whole adventure. Keto is waiting for you! Are you ready?