The highs & lows of keto

Hardly a day goes by without being hounded on the right way to lose weight and gain health. It’s insane to watch billions of people caught in this vicious circle of diets and still to find so many diseased and obese people. Everyone dreams of optimum health, unfortunately they are intimidated and to them the simplest solution is – “Forget it I’m going to continue being the way I am.”

Year after year new diets proclaim their wonders. The diet merchants are waiting for suckers. The sad part is people fall for gimmicks wanting a short cut to health. Remember diet comes from the Greek word “dietika” which means ‘course of life’. Unfortunately, no one knows this or even wants to understand this fact. I tried every diet in the world when I was 160 kgs; finally, I understood that initially whether it is a high fat, high protein or high carbohydrate diet, you will lose weight. However, to lose weight and gain health and keep off the health and have optimum health a balanced eating plan works the best. Let me discuss with you the pros and cons of the most popular diet the Ketogenic diet.

This current rage advocates high fat plus protein minimum carbohydrates in the form of vegetables that practically contain no sugar. It is a modified version of Dr. Atkins theory that if you starve your body of sugar, the high fat levels that you are eating will utilize the fat in your body automatically dropping weight.

In this diet you essentially do not include in your diet all fruits, carrots, onions, pumpkin, beets, all dry fruits, all legume, lentils, pulses, beans, peas, chickpeas, all millets and grains like wheat, rye, barley, rice and even milk and yogurt are avoided. Potatoes and sweet potato, any trans-fats, or vegetable oils like canola, corn soybean oil and all of course all foods with white sugar and white flour savory snacks aerated drinks and alcohols are avoided too.

So, what you are left with to include in your diet is high fat food like cow’s ghee, coconuts, olives, butter, cheese, cream, paneer, tofu, dairy foods, avocados, egg, oily fish like rawas and mackerel, chicken, red meat, ham and bacon. Vegetarians can easily get on the Ketosis bandwagon too as it includes most low carb vegetables like the full gourd family, bell peppers, mushroom, spinach, cauliflower, cucumber, bhindi, tindli and brinjal. Nuts and seeds such as almonds, walnuts and sunflower seeds are also included in the diet.

This diet needs to be highly supplemented as well as digestive aids need to be added. It is very difficult for the body to adapt to a ketogenic diet as a lot of people land up eating too much protein which could lead to high uric acid, malfunctions of the kidney, the electrolyte balance in the body is destroyed leaving you feeling disoriented. It can lead to a feeling of gloom and low energy, your sleep cycle can go for a whack, you could be extremely constipated and bloated, and you could be dependent on laxatives.

A ketosis diet advises mineral supplements and increased level of salt, with low energy levels, the urge to exercise is reduced. The high fat would increase total cholesterol levels in the body which can be a cause of worry. It can be biochemically hazardous as it can lead to a state of ketosis which is very dangerous. The advantages from this diet are rapid inch and weight loss and drop in sugar levels and balancing of hormones.

Food plays an important part in our lives if we are restricted all the time we would just be unhappy. A best diet would be where you enjoy your food and by conscious decision we increase vegetable and good quality fat intake while reducing grains, processed foods and aerated drinks. So just enjoy what you are eating but be smart with your decisions.