Health benefits of ketogenic dieting
Recently, the keto diet has become extremely popular for its health benefits, such as weight loss and disease prevention. The keto diet can be very beneficial, but how does it work to provide these benefits?
What is the Keto diet?
You may have heard of the Atkins diet high in protein and low in carbohydrates. The keto diet keeps carbohydrate levels low, but instead of increasing the amount of protein in your diet, the keto diet increases the amount of fat. A typical keto diet is aimed at meals with 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% carbohydrates. Eating a high-fat diet can still imply a healthy diet. Seafood, beef, dairy products, poultry, vegetables and nuts are often included in the diet list.
How does the Keto diet work?
It may seem contradictory that adding more fat to your diet can lead to weight loss. Normally, your diet is high in carbohydrates, which break down into glucose or blood sugar, to use as energy. As glucose enters the bloodstream, your body releases insulin to store excess glucose in the form of fat. The more carbohydrates, the more glucose. The more glucose, more insulin and more insulin, more fat.
The keto diet takes advantage of the fact that when your meals are high in fat and low in carbohydrates, there is no insulin spike and it does not increase your fat stores. In contrast, dietary fat and stored fat are broken down into ketones ("keto" is the abbreviation for "ketogenic" producing ketones). Like glucose, ketones can be used for energy, keeping your body functioning without increasing blood sugar or increasing excess fat. The benefits of the keto diet can be enormous.
Weightloss
In general, the keto diet is an excellent way to burn fat and lose weight. Eating fewer carbohydrates suppresses appetite, and studies have shown that participants in the ketogenic diet eat fewer calories overall due to this. Burning fat can result in rapid weight loss.
Blood sugar and insulin reduction
Since carbohydrate intake is limited, blood sugar and insulin levels are reduced. This is particularly important for people with type 2 diabetes, which causes an accumulation of glucose in the bloodstream. The keto diet can be used to reduce or eliminate the need for insulin injections for diabetics.
Reduced triglycerides
Fat subunit molecules called triglycerides normally circulate in the bloodstream. High triglyceride levels are a significant risk factor in the development of heart disease. In the ketogenic diet, because fat is burned for energy, the amount of triglyceride molecules in the bloodstream decreases, which reduces the risk of heart disease.
Enhanced Cholesterol
The "bad" cholesterol (LDL) is another risk factor for heart disease. Too much bad cholesterol builds up in the bloodstream in the arteries, narrowing them and causing atherosclerosis, a type of heart disease. The keto diet reduces bad cholesterol levels while increasing the level of "good" cholesterol (HDL) in your body.
Summary
The keto diet provides many health benefits. Not only can this diet help you lose weight quickly,
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