To think the keto diet

[Tattooedmama]

Is maybe not healthy...

Ive researched into this diet (or lifestyle as others put it) alot as i have around 17lbs to lose, i did toy with the idea of trying it and gave it a go a couple months ago but i cant live completely without bread and potatoes i also found it expensive buying/cooking different meals to the rest of my family (fussy eaters)
But after seeing a post on a weight loss group of a lady who is going through tests on her heart, many people adamant that the keto diet is nothing to do with it and to carry on... surely that much high fat can eventually have a detrimental affect on your health?
Im no dietician or expert, so does anyone with more knowledge have any insight into how the benefits outweigh the negatives.
I also understand it can reverse diabetes, which is fantastic.
It seems like one of the most popular weight loss plans, but i would worry about the affects of so much bacon and high fat meat.

I've been on keto for almost 3 years now, on the recommendation of my cardiologist, who is a total fan. I've lost heaps of weight, triglyceride readings are way down, feel wonderful and full of energy. I'm about to tuck into breakfast (raspberries and full-fat Greek yoghurt, coffee with cream), because I have a heavy day in the garden coming up. If my day was more leisurely, I wouldn't bother with breakfast, but would fast until mid-day. Lunch is a huge salad of lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, red peppers, cucumber, feta, avocado, slivered almonds fried in butter, hard boiled egg, with olive oil dressing. Dinner will be chicken with pesto, spinach and sour cream, cauliflower rice and a slice of avocado. Oh, and a glass of chilled white wine. No between-meal snacks, as I just don't get hungry. At 70, I've just finished my teaching career, and did get hungrier at work, so used to add a handful of almonds or mixed nuts to my lunchbox. It's a great way of life, there is plenty of variety, and surprisingly, not at all expensive. My husband's non-keto shop, which includes crisps, chocolate, cakes, is actually more costly.

That’s amazing @pollyglot

I’m so glad the medics are catching up with this

Dr David Unwin is working so hard to get doctors to see the therapeutic benefits of low carb, I think he’s managed to get it in as part of the training recently

It is interesting to read how opinions vary and how little some people know about it.

Agree, I don't understand it when there is so much info available. Apparantlyif you put a teaspoon of butter in your coffee, because you don't have time for breakfast, it's a crazy amount of fat. But if you scrape the same teaspoon on toast it's just fine.

I'm surprised how little people know about carbs, and don't understand it's in veg, even cucumber, and seem to think if you don't eat bread, rice or pasta with your meals you're some how unhealthy, and if you have a oil and balsamic dressing on your salad which you eat instead of said bread, then it's so unhealthy you'll be ill.

@Bluntness100

In my experience, people who follow keto have done their research, and are perfectly aware that cucumber contains carbs. It's simply a matter of keeping carb intake below 20 gm...so if I really feel the urge to have bread, (very, very rarely), I'll have a slice of Vogels "very thin" wholegrain (10 gm) with cheese and tomato. And I'm not a fanatic - travelling overseas, I'm quite happy to eat local food, knowing that on my return I'll simply return to the keto way of eating and any weight that has crept on disappears in days. After a lifetime of struggling with extra pounds, starvation diets that rarely work, despite a very active, very full life, keto has been a godsend.

Agree, people who do it, usually know what they are doing, sometimes not though, usually the "i was tired and didn't loose weight" is because it wasn't done correctly.

You see a lot of misinformation, usually from people who slag it off, things like "you can't cut out a whole food group" eh it's low carb, not no carb, and "crazy amounts of fat" eh, no again, it's likely as much fat as anyone else not on a diet is eating, but because you've reduced carbs, it becomes you're highest percentage.

Fat is very calorie dense and it doesn't take much. Some cheese, oil dressing on your salad, mayo, butter on your veg, fat on your meat, oily fish like salmon, and it's job done.

A lady I was friends with on facebook (we went to school together) had done keto and hadn't lost weight. She was keto bashing. Commented to ask what her diet was consisting of to see if I could help in any way as I'd been doing keto for over a year at this stage....

She was eating well over 200g of carbs each day, so no wonder it wasn't working. And no wonder she felt shitty. She didn't want to take my advice though and is now an advocate for anti keto because "it doesn't work", "it made me gain weight" etc. She won't accept she did not ever do keto as she is thickbelieves she followed the plan perfectly. What can you do hey?!!

Low carb diet doing wonders for previously very sceptical dh's diabetes. After 6 months is now on half doses of medication with huge improvement in blood sugar readings. Hes a convert!

Keto is the only 'diet' I've been on that I feel I can actually sustain long term.
I started in May and have lost 2.5 stone to bring my bmi down to mid range.
I absolutely love it. I feel so full and satisfied. My cravings for sugar have gone, I have way more energy and never feel 'starving' like I did on carbs.
Yesterday my meals consisted of -
No breakfast as not hungry.
Lunch - spinach, tomato, cucumber, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, Brazil nuts and skinless chicken legs.
Dinner - salmon fillet, poached egg and steamed cauliflower with cheddar grated on top.
Definitely not 'high fat'.
I honestly don't understand how people find it more expensive either. I've found it cheaper as no more snack foods like biscuits, crisps etc plus cheaper cuts of meat, eggs etc . My food bill has reduced which is another benefit for me!

I read an article about it. Apparently the issue is that if you don't do it correctly - that is, you are on high fat high protein but you don't keep carbs and sugars low enough, then it is an extremely unhealthy diet and can cause a lot of health problems.

But if you are following it closely particularly under supervision it can have positive benefits especially if you are a prone to diabetes or other similar health issues.

I honestly don't understand how people find it more expensive either. I've found it cheaper as no more snack foods like biscuits, crisps etc plus cheaper cuts of meat, eggs etc . My food bill has reduced which is another benefit for me!

That comment about finding it more expensive I never understand either. I find it cheaper too, significantly cheaper.

Ah, my tribe! I’ve been Keto since 2016 - pretty sure that this is now me, forever. It does irk me when people say it’s unhealthy to ‘cut out’ an entire food group: as many of you on here have noted, everything has carbs and, if you’re doing keto well, you’re probably eating far more veg than you were beforehand.

Also, it isn’t a fat bomb! I eat a lot of salmon, eggs, olive oil, naice cheese, avocado. I do have cream in my coffee and I like a dollop of mayonnaise from time to time - but the hand fluttering about this from people who I have seen eat a donut 10 minutes before is absolutely mad.

I did just have a blood test, and the results were great. Vitamin D a bit low - I’m dark-skinned and it’s winter. But everything else was so good the doctor actually seemed shocked. Particularly iron which was interesting. I also have excellent cholesterol and visceral fat. If keto is keeping me this well, I certainly won’t be giving up. Also has the benefit of the weight loss, increase in energy, great sleep, etc.

Good luck everyone else who is doing it!

I worry about the effect it could have on your kidneys, processing all that protein.

Is it possible to do vegan keto?

Or would you have avocados coming out your ears?

RedSheep73 its not a high protein diet.

I don’t think you really could do vegan keto. There aren’t really enough vegan protein sources that are low enough in carbs. (Also some versions don’t advocate soy products due to the phyto-oestrogen actions.)

I've been low carb for a while and eat fewer calories and less fat than I did on a standard diet. The proportion of fat in my diet may be greater, but it's still less overall.

It's not all eggs, meat and cheese. Youre not required to have that much protein either. I eat a lot more veg (both in quantity and type) than I did before.

I’m a fan of long term low carb and find it an easy way to eat that brings extra feeling of wellness.

The cut out whole food group is inaccurate. Vegetables go up and usually I’m replacing carb with courgette or something.

I don’t find it cheaper though I will say but that’s alright. (I’ve never really bought loads of snack food anyway).

It's not high protein. I eat the same amount of meat and other protein as I did before; I just replace the carbs (potatoes, bread) with low carb veg. Is easy (as long as you stick to it), healthy and it works.

that is, you are on high fat high protein but you don't keep carbs and sugars low enough, then it is an extremely unhealthy diet and can cause a lot of health problems.But if you are following it closely particularly under supervision

Yes, and if you don't do slimming world correctly and don't keep your sugar and fats low enough it's also unhealthy. Same with calorie counting. Eat too much sugar and it's very unhealthy. What's your point? If you eat the diet which led you to get fat in the first place it isn't healthy? I think everyone knows this.

And very few need supervision, it's really not difficult or complex. If you can't manage it without supervision you won't be able to calorie count or any other diet without supervision either,

@Bluntness100 my understanding is that if you’re on keto and then slip up on the sugars and carbs - not to excess but above the levels for a keto diet specifically - then that combined with the high fat can lead to more serious health issues because it causes an insulin response. Something like that. Those are the stories of people on keto whose cholesterol goes through the roof.

Whereas if you just do a normal calorie restriction diet and cheat in sweets it may stall weight loss but not going to cause other health problems.

I didn’t say it needs to be done under supervision but the same way during the Atkins craze people got it wrong, there’s a similar risk here.

I don’t really understand it if I’m honest, I try to stay away from reading into diets massively as I have an Ed I don’t want rearing it’s head, however... there’s a few people at work been on it for about a year and they’re all really overweight.. literally all of them? I’m confused because none of them seem to have lost a single oz, then I see people on here say it’s great for weight loss?

It made me really unwell (wasn’t Keto flu or electrolytes). I did it twice and became unwell both times. A friend did the research into the original keto diet and found the %fat to carb was actually far lower than most of the online articles

Hey @TheDarkPassenger do you work in my office ? Because I’ve lost one stone 10lb this year on a LCHF diet and no one at work has noticed.

@Bluntness100 my understanding is that if you’re on keto and then slip up on the sugars and carbs - not to excess but above the levels for a keto diet specifically - then that combined with the high fat can lead to more serious health issues because it causes an insulin response. Something like that. Those are the stories of people on keto whose cholesterol goes through the roof

That would be more than a slip up. You'd have to be eating a lot of sugar and fat for an extended period of time for that to happen. So more a lifestyle than a slip up.

Let me try to show what a typical day low carb, medium protein, high fat looks like.

Breakfast, ham omelette.
Lunch, tuna mayo salad with avocado
Dinner, roast chicken, broccoli cheese, garlic mushrooms, asparagus.

Where does the fat come from?

Omelette made with butter, a normal amount.
Full fat mayo, again a normal amount. Avocado.
Roast chicken has skin on, again like many people have, cheese in the broccoli cheese. Asparagus grilled with a drizzle of olive oil. Garlic mushrooms also has a drizzle on.

Where are the carbs? They are in the veg and salad. Where is the protein, it's in the chicken, eggs and tuna.

And as such your percentage of your daily intake on that menu is fat is the highest, protein the medium and carbs the lowest.

There is nothing there to send your "cholesterol through th roof". All you're doing is eating pretty normally for most people. Without the excess carbs and sugar.

But yes if you throw in buttery mash, a couple of magnums, some crisps, , some bread and butter, or whatever, it's unhealthy. Just like it can be on any other woe. Would it send your cholesterol through the roof? Unlikely unless a propensity for it.

No ones cholesterols go through the roof due to a "slip up". It has to be something you're doing for a few weeks to start impacting, and then you can't say you're doing low carb, you're just eating unhealthily and should see a doctor.

I second what Bluntness100 said.
Normal day for me

No breakfast
Lunch - salad with tuna mayo/eggs/mackerel/chicken
Dinner - Pork chop/veg, chicken/veg, shepherds pie/fish pie (made with cauliflower mash) curry and (keto) naan
All really normal foods. I just don't eat the bread/pasta/potatoes etc
If I want something sweet I bake brownies (sugar substitute) or have some very dark chocolate.
I really don't understand all the fuss over keto. Essentially I eat unprocessed foods in their original form.