Unless you live under a rock, we're sure you know what the keto diet is. A predecessor to the famous Atkins diet, the keto diet is supposed to be a high-fat, low-carb plan which focuses on increasing healthy fats and limiting carbohydrates to 20-50 grams per day. While this may seem extreme, it has become rather popular for its super-fast results. People claim to slim down in no time at all and this is what shot the diet to popularity.
However, while the diet may have proved to be successful for a ton of people, it doesn't come without its faults. Expert nutritionist Lily Soutter spoke to an online media portal to reveal what downsides the keto diet may have. She said, “The most popular and trendy use for the ketogenic diet is weight loss and there are some review studies to suggest that a low carb diet can lead to a small, but significant difference in weight loss in comparison to a low-fat diet.”
“However it's important to remember that some of this weight loss will be down to water loss which accompanies a very low carbohydrate diet.” What she meant to say was that when you cut out some certain foods from your diet, it can affect the ways in which your body gains nutrients. This could affect your gut health and could also lead to nausea and bad breath.
“Cutting out food groups also means cutting out vital vitamins and minerals increasing the risk of developing nutrient deficiencies,’ she revealed. “The keto diet does come with side effects such as constipation, bad breath nausea, poor exercise performance, poor concentration and mood disturbances.”
She also spoke about how the keto diet could affect gut bacteria since the diet happens to be rather low in fibres. Fibres are essential for good gut health as they can help the digestive process. When you cut down on fibres, the gut bacteria don't have a lot to feed on and this can cause gut microbe to change over time.
However, she also said that there are still certain benefits associated with the diet. “Believe it or not, the keto diet was initially designed as an effective tool in the treatment of drug-resistant childhood epilepsy. There may also be some other health conditions in which the keto diet may be beneficial, for example, neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s,” she explained.
But she also said that one shouldn't only consume the foods recommended in the keto diet but must also add some healthy fats like avocado, cheese, butter, nuts, seeds, oils and proteins like meat, fish, eggs, cheese as well as low carbohydrate vegetables like leafy greens. Stay tuned for more updates.
