The ketogenic diet or keto diet derives its name from the ketone bodies that are manufactured by the liver using body fat.
When the body is starved of carbohydrates, it enters a state of ketosis and starts utilising body fats for deriving energy, which helps in weight reduction by losing fats.
Such food, which includes very low carbs, is rich in fats, and provides adequate amounts of protein is known as the keto diet.
So, a keto diet supplies energy to the body through proteins and fats, instead of the conventional energy source – carbohydrates.
The following are 5 of the most significant benefits of following a keto diet:
5. Healthy Weight Loss
Keto diet leads to more effective burning of fats while reducing appetite due to the high-fat content of foods; this helps in rapid weight loss over time.
Moreover, fats take longer to break down in the body compared to carbs, thus making you fuller for longer.
This reduces the urge to eat more, thereby lowering the daily calorie intake and leading to a reduction in weight.
Also, the proteins in the keto diet ensure that you retain and build muscle mass to tone up the flab and get in shape.
Apart from aiding weight loss, the keto diet is healthy and sustainable as it does not dictate staying hungry or going off your favourite foods.
So, you can munch on those fat and protein snacks that have been teasing you for too long.
4. Blood Sugar Control
The primary culprit behind high sugar levels is carbohydrates.
Since keto diets encourage extremely low intakes of carbs, they reduce the risk of spiking blood glucose levels in the body; instead, blood sugar levels are more stabilised in persons following a ketogenic diet.
Keto diets are especially useful for Type 1 diabetes patients and people suffering from intolerance to insulin as they help reduce and manage HbA1c, which is an enduring indicator of blood glucose over time. Keto diet can effectively reverse the condition of pre-diabetics.
3. Protect Heart Health
Consuming lower amounts of carbs can lower triglycerides levels in the body; this happens because triglycerides, like sugar, get a boost from carbohydrates (mainly fructose), and so less carbs equal less triglycerides.
While it may seem counter intuitive, but keto diet also lowers the amount of LDL, aka bad cholesterol.
It turns out that smaller LDL fragments are connected to a higher risk of heart problems, but keto diet helps in expanding the size of LDL fragments and lowers their numbers in the bloodstream.
Whereas HDL or good cholesterol levels are boosted by consumption of low-carb and high-fat diet; therefore, the keto diet helps raise HDL levels and keeps heart ailments in check.
2. Aids in PCOS and Increased Fertility
Increased insulin levels are connected to enhanced production of androgen by the ovaries.
This combination of increased androgen and lower levels of globulin's that bind the sexual hormones causing testosterone to move in the bloodstream and intermingle with other cells.
Based on the areas that this testosterone affects, females display PCOS symptoms, including facial and chest hair, lower libido, tiredness, irregular periods, as well as infertility.
Since the keto diet can help lower and maintain sugar levels, insulin production in the body is controlled, thus lowering testosterone levels and reversing the effects of PCOS and infertility.
1. Improvement in Brain Health
The human brain functions on glucose as certain parts of the brain use only sugar as a fuel. Therefore, if the body lacks carbohydrates, the liver is designed to compensate for this by making sugars from the protein available to it.
However, the brain also is capable of using the ketone fuel produced by the liver in the absence of carbs. Ketosis is also a result of fasting, which is a documented treatment for epilepsy.
Keto diet effectively changes the body’s metabolism and epilepsy, which is a metabolic disease, can be targeted by the keto diet.
Apart from this, epilepsy is a result of the neurons getting overly excited. Keto diet causes metabolic changes in the Cerebrospinal fluid produced by the brain; this fluid has the potential to reduce the hyperactivity of the nerve cells and regulate seizures.
Lastly...
It has been observed that the keto diet leads to enhanced cognitive abilities and recall ability in individuals who have dementia. Improvement has been reported in persons who have Parkinson’s as well. Ketosis is also known to slow the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
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