Is A Ketogenic Diet Right For You?
Choosing whether or not to use a fat-based ketogenic diet, is a lot more complicated than many people think.
For starters, you will need to understand how and why fat-based diets work and then you need to understand all of the specifics accompanying this type of diet, including lifestyle changes which will probably entail a major change in your eating habits.
In this article, I will go through why ketogenic diets help many drop body fat, in addition to other important information you need to know in order to make an informed decision with regard to the dieting style you choose.
Unlike many fad diets that come and go with very limited rates of long-term success, the ketogenic diet has been practiced since the 1920s and is based upon a solid understanding of physiology and nutrition science.
The ketogenic diet works for such a high percentage of people because it targets several key, underlying causes of weight gain, including hormonal imbalances, especially insulin resistance coupled with high blood sugar levels, and the cycle of restricting and “binging” on empty calories due to hunger that so many dieters struggle with. In fact, these are some of the direct benefits of the ketogenic diet.
A ketogenic diet takes an entirely different approach to weight loss and health improvements. It works because it changes the very “fuel source” that the body uses to stay energised, from burning glucose (or sugar) to dietary fat.
Regardless Of The Diet, They All Manipulate Calories And Macros
When considering whether or not you want to use a low or high fat diet, you need to understand the basic fundamentals of how weight loss diets actually work, so that you can make an informed decision and understand the effort required to apply the diet strategically and successfully.
By understanding this, it will place you in a much better position for success, as opposed to starting a particular dieting style and subsequently discovering that you can’t maintain the diet or in fact don’t actually like the diet that you are using.
When considering different diets, just remember they are all attempting in one way or another, to manipulate calories and macro nutrients. Whichever dieting style you choose, remember that the primary objective is to make it easier to reduce calories when it comes to dieting for weight loss.
There is no getting away from calorie restriction when it comes to weight loss and it’s a factor that is lost on many people. Essentially, there’s no one diet that will be effective, but rather what is key is the dieting approach that is easiest for you to successfully use and, therefore, to be able to consistently stick to. If eating a high fat diet allows you to remain happy while better managing your calorie intake, it will probably work for you in terms of weight loss.
As One Macronutrient Increases, The Others Change As Well
Adjusting macro-nutrients is usually the method that most diets utilise, for example, increasing protein consumption and adjusting carbohydrates and fat. However, what many don’t consider is that along with changing one macronutrient, the other macros need to change as well.
The reason for this is that macronutrients have a caloric value. Carbohydrate and protein are worth 4 calories per gram, while fat is worth 9 calories per gram.
When consumed together, these macronutrients make up your total calorie intake. Thus, as one macronutrient increases, in order to maintain the same amount of calories, the other macros will need to decrease.
Understanding How Fat-Based Diets Work
Before choosing to start a fat-based diet, you should understand what is actually necessary and why those steps need to be taken if you hope to be successful.
So, as discussed earlier, as one macronutrient increases, typically the other two have to decrease. In the case of using a fat-based, ketogenic diet, that is absolutely necessary for numerous reasons.
First on the calories side of the equation, if fat is increased significantly, but the other macro-nutrients remain the same, you will be consuming more calories than you expend, which means you will gain weight.
Second, ketogenic diets work by reducing your body’s reliance on sugar in favor of using fat as fuel. Essentially, this optimises the body’s fat burning ability, which can equate to fat loss.
However, if carbohydrate and protein intake is too high, this can prevent the body from switching to fat as fuel. In that case, it’s more likely that the body will store the food you’re eating as body fat.
Essentially, it’s important to remember that with a fat-based ketogenic diet, as fat intake increases, protein and carbohydrate intake will need to drastically decrease at the same time, otherwise the diet will not be effective.
Important Considerations For A Fat-Based Diet
While fat-based diets are amazing options for reducing body fat, using this dieting style requires close attention to detail and specific restrictions that you should understand. After you consider and understand these variables, you can make an informed decision for yourself.
1. You will Have To Remove Carbohydrates
First, you need to know that on a fat-based diet, you will need to almost entirely remove traditional forms of carbohydrates from your diet. This means no bread, pasta or other starches.
While you will have some carbohydrates through fibrous vegetable intake, overall the total amount you will be able to eat will be quite low.
Since you are increasing fat intake, doing so in terms of health isn’t a big deal but it can turn out to be quite difficult for some, especially those who enjoy eating carbohydrates regularly.
For a ketogenic diet to actually work, you will need to severely restrict your carbohydrates. However, in place of the carbohydrates, you will get to increase foods high in fat such as avocado and even butter.
2. Keto Diets Can Optimise Fat Burning
The amazing thing about fat-based diets is that they can optimise the fat burning process. This is primarily because you are switching the body’s primary fuel source away from sugar (glucose) to that of fat. So, once you put yourself in a caloric deficit by reducing calories, it’s extremely likely that the weight you do lose will be from body fat.
3. Keto May Present Challenges When Eating Out
Just because you go out to dinner, it doesn’t need to mean your diet stops. If you have decided to use a ketogenic approach, you should be prepared to order food that fits within your dietary needs.
Most restaurants offer meat and vegetable dishes, which is the best option for a ketogenic diet. In this case, I always suggest opting for a fatty cut of meat or other protein source and then some form of vegetable for extra fiber.
You can consider getting salads with meat added. This is a great way to consume protein, fat and fiber all in one meal.
Order dishes that be modified, such as replacing a bun for a burger with a side salad. While many enjoy burgers, consuming the bun isn’t exactly a good idea for keto. However, simply replacing the bun with vegetables is a simple, keto-friendly solution.
Is Keto The Right Diet For You?
Even though keto-style diets are extremely effective, they come with a host of specific pieces of information that you need to understand before you jump right in.
With understanding this information, you will be able to make an informed decision that will put you on the path to success, if you do decide to use a fat-based diet.
