Keto Diet: Recognize the Benefits, How to Get Started, and the Risks

Diet keto is a diet that is done by applying low-carbohydrate and high-fat diets. Diet keto increasingly popular because of its rapid method in losing weight. But keto diet is also quite controversial because if not done properly, may be dangerous to health.

In order to achieve the benefits of rapid weight loss from keto diet, you should first know various things about keto diet including how to go through and the risks. With enough information about keto diet, you will also be able to understand and take into account whether this type of diet is suitable for your physical condition and body.

What is the Keto Diet?

Diet keto is similar to the Atkins diet and low-carbohydrate diets that reduce carbohydrate intake and increase fat consumption, with the right protein for the body.

The purpose of high consumption of fat in keto diet is that the body reaches ketosis conditions. Under these conditions, the body will burn fat as the main energy source. The fat will also be converted to ketoses in the liver, thus giving the energy supply to the brain.

Ketosis is actually a mild condition of ketoacidosis, a dangerous condition that often occurs in people with type 1 diabetes. Although there are still many pros and cons of this diet, some studies show keto diet is safe and also effective to do, especially by people who are overweight or obesity, as long as it is only done for a certain time limit and under the watch of a doctor. Until now, the benefits and effects of keto diet on the body are still being investigated.

The Benefits of Keto Diet for Body

Before being used to lose weight, keto diet is actually recommended as a way to help overcome some types of diseases, especially to reduce the frequency of seizures in children with epilepsy who are not successfully treated with drugs.

Some conditions that benefit from keto diet, including:

• Controlling blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes

For people with diabetes type 2 diabetes, keto diet is a recommended diet for fat consumed is a healthy fat. For example fat derived from salmon, nuts, and avocados. Low carbohydrate intake is considered effective in lowering blood sugar levels. To monitor the safety of keto diet in diabetics, it is recommended that patients routinely check blood sugar levels every day. Do not let blood sugar levels are too low. Testing ketone levels also need to be done to avoid ketoacidosis.

• Relieve epilepsy symptoms in children

A nutritionist reveals that keto diet can ease symptoms of epilepsy in children. This diet is very effective, especially for children with symptoms of epilepsy that are difficult to treat with ordinary medication. A study tested on 150 children with epilepsy showed post-Keto diet for one year, half of the children experienced a 50% decrease in seizure frequency.

• Reduce the risk of heart disease

A keto diet that is run by increasing the consumption of healthy fats may be able to reduce the risk of heart disease. This is suspected because keto diet lowers insulin levels so that cholesterol production in the body also decreased. These conditions will reduce the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure.

• Reduce the risk of nervous system disorders

In addition to epilepsy, keto diet may also have benefits to help deal with nervous system disorders such as Alzheimer's, sleep disorders, and Parkinson's disease. This is thought to be due to ketoses produced by the body decomposing fat into energy, thus able to protect brain cells from damage.

Diet keto can also provide several other benefits, such as reducing acne, helping handling PCOS, and inhibit the development of cancer. In addition, keto diet also inhibits inflammation of uric acid. Therefore, many health practitioners who recommend keto diet, but certainly must be lived in the right way.

How to Run a Proper Diet Keto

For you who are interested in keto diet, you must be willing to reduce the consumption of carbohydrates every day in large enough quantities. Diet keto standard (standard ketogenic diet) is the diet in the form of 75% fat consumption, 20% protein consumption, and 5% consumption of carbohydrates.

While high-protein diet (high-protein ketogenic diet) has a portion of protein consumption more. The applied diet is 60% fat, 5% carbohydrate, 35% protein. In addition, there are other types of keto diet more commonly done by athletes or bodybuilders are cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) and targeted ketogenic diet.

So, what foods are avoided or recommended in keto diet? Foods rich in fats recommended in keto diet are:

• Eggs, especially those containing omega 3.
• Meat, chicken, turkey, sausage, steak and other meat products.
• Tuna, salmon, mackerel.
• Cream, butter, and cheese.
• Green vegetables, tomatoes, onions, chilies and other vegetables are low in carbohydrates.
• Nuts and seeds, such as almonds, sesame, chia and pumpkin seeds.
• Avocado, whether consumed directly or in the form of cuisine.
• Olive oil, avocado oil or coconut oil.
• Salt, pepper and various natural herbs.

Meanwhile, the types of carbohydrates avoided include:

• Rice, pasta, cereals and whole grain products.
• Nuts and seeds.
• Tubers, such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots.
• Sweet foods or drinks, such as candy, ice cream, cake, fruit juice and soda.
• Unhealthy fats from vegetable oil or mayonnaise.
• The drink contains alcohol.

The keto diet is recommended for short periods (from 2-3 weeks, up to the maximum limit of 6-12 months) to limit body fat and improve health, followed by a healthy lifestyle. This is to avoid the risk of health problems that may occur if keto diet is done in the long run.

Consider Risks of Keto Diet

Some of the risks that can occur, when running a long-term keto diet:

Lack of healthy carbohydrate intakes, such as from fruit, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and vegetables rich in carbohydrates.
Losing the benefits of vitamins and minerals your body needs.
Kidney disorders, when protein consumption exceeds the recommended portion continuously in the long run.
Increased risk of ketoacidosis.

Keep in mind, while undergoing keto diet, you may initially experience some complaints. This is known as "keto-flu", which appears during the adjustment process. Some of the possible complaints are:

• Body feels weak
• Restless
• Hard to sleep
• Nausea
• Disruptive hunger
• Decreased concentration ability

Although not always the case, these complaints can be overwhelming when starting the keto diet. Generally will decrease, once you get used to this diet.

Consider the various benefits and risks of the keto diet, before going through it. Do not just simply tempted by the benefits of rapid weight loss, because there is a risk of dangerous ketoacidosis.

Basically, any diet that is done, will not always give the same results in each person. So adjusting the type of diet to the conditions, needs, and abilities of the body is highly recommended. If necessary, consult a physician or nutritionist before undergoing a keto diet.