Keto – Is is a Fact or Fad?

Keto! The new kid in the block! He is supposedly good in academics, is into sports, dances and sings and above all – looks good and everybody is in awe of him. He surely has some die-hard fans too! I’m sure you get our point! 🙂 Anyway, let’s analyse what exactly is this Keto Diet and is it a magic formula for your weight gain issues

Keto is a high fat, moderate protein, and nearly zero carb diet. 70% of calories come from fat, 25% from protein and only 5% from carbs. This means the dietary options are – meat, fish, egg, oil/butter/ghee & paneer. The kind of veggies allowed are highly restricted to leafy veggies (spinach), broccoli, zucchini and the only fruit allowed is perhaps Avocado! This diet was introduced as a treatment for epilepsy

First of all – Keto as a magic weight loss solution is wrong! Any diet gives weight loss because there is a calorie deficit. You only need to make sure that (i) there is enough protein to prevent muscle loss & (ii) the calorie intake is not very low. We already know that weight loss happens based on the law of conservation of mass & energy 

This means you can eat your rice, chapati and even ice cream once in a while and still become healthy!

If that is the case – why does keto give fast results? That is nothing but water loss 

If you ignore this water loss, then Keto gives EXACTLY THE SAME RESULT as that of a well-rounded diet with enough carbs.

Problems with Keto –

1. Keto restricts the food variety to a great extent. Where do you get your vitamins & minerals from, if you cannot include cereals, fruits and vegetables?
2. Keto induces a fear of carbohydrates and creates a very unhealthy relationship with food. What is the point in living a life if you cannot enjoy a piece of cake or a cup of ice cream, once in a while?
3. Keto is a high fat diet and can be even life-threatening to people who have liver issues or has gall bladder stones. There are many reported cases of such problems, after 1-2 years of doing a keto diet
4. Most importantly, keto is not sustainable. We Indians need to become healthy by eating our normally available rice, chapati, dosa/idly, meat, egg, fruits, and veggies. Only then we can do this for a life time!
5. Keto diet is very low in fiber and can create severe constipation and digestion issues.
6. During a keto diet, the body gets into a stage called ketosis which is characterised by headache and flu
7. After keto, most people regain everything (and perhaps more) they lost because they have not learned how to become healthy with a balanced eating habit

Lastly, always do everything in moderation! Keto is the baap of an extreme diet.. and anything extreme is always bad! Always remember – if something is too good to be true, then it is probably NOT true