Ketogenic Diet And Obesity: Get Real Weight Loss Results
You may have heard of a ketogenic diet or keto diet because of real weight loss results, especially in tackling obesity. You can read our recent article on how ketogenic diets can possibly help with brain fog and assist brain health here.
Ketogenic diets have become a real hit in the wellness community. There are some very extraordinary results from ketogenic diets. These diets look to prevent build ups of fat within the tissues of the body. In short, ketogenic diets seek to use fat and proteins as an energy source, instead of using carbohydrates. While for some people this takes some getting used to, for real weight loss results this is possibly one of the best diets known so far.
Obesity is a very real issue in modern society, mainly because of sedentary lifestyles and extended lifespans. Excessive weight gain or obesity will go down as one of the biggest health challenges in human history. Obesity is also a very big issue in children’s health.
In this short article, the dynamics of keto or ketogenic diets and obesity will be considered to show how ketogenic diets could assist with providing real weight loss results.
How A Ketogenic Diet Could Work For Obesity
How a ketogenic diet and obesity interlink are essentially through energy use. Instead of carb loading, which many people do, ketogenic diets strip diet down to the very basics.
Ketogenic Diet Basics
The crucial part of a ketogenic diet emphasizes low carbohydrate intake. This means that you will be eating about 5% of your whole diet in easily digestible sugars or carbohydrates. The rest of your diet is based on protein and fat. Proteins make up 35% and healthy fats around 60% of the total diet. This could include diets with healthy fats such as MCT rich foods or omega 3 rich foods, like avocado. This may seem a little counter intuitive. Why should you eat more fat to lose weight.
Our bodies are smart and have developed various means to sustain energetic processes for survival. One key process is ketogenesis and this becomes activated during fasting. The process of ketogenesis makes ketones for energy production from proteins, needing less steps to be broken down than sugars. Another is known as gluconeogenesis, which can use fatty acids for energy as part of fasting.
With a ketogenic diet you are tricking the body into thinking it is entering survival mode. In doing this, you activate core body processes that are primal for weight loss or stored resource movement. It is like having a clear out.
It is a real mobilization of fat reserves that fuels the potential for heavy weight loss and obesity management with ketogenic diets. There are remarkable results from dietary studies with for weight loss, with patients losing large portions of their starting weight. This is with no gym work as well.
That may not be the best thing for gym results, especially muscle building, with this sort of diet deactivating key muscle building pathways. That is a tribute to its resource mobilizing effects. Lengthy ketogenic diets can also create lethargy. However, the results for reducing obesity seem to be outstanding with a ketogenic diet.
How The Ketogenic Diet Effects Gut Microbes
A ketogenic diet can also affect our gut microbes. Our gut microbes are increasingly being understood as key influencers on our health. They may have important influences on our immune system and brain health.
Gut microbe health could also impact our weight dramatically, with poor gut microbe diversity linked to weight gain. The changes in carbohydrate content could positively affect gut microbes, including improving levels of some health promoting gut microbes and reductions in inflammatory bacteria. Levels of Lactobacillus are thought to increase, which is an important health promoting bacteria in the gut. These sorts of bacteria reduce systemic inflammation, with inflammation linked to obesity and diabetes causing insulin resistance.
One important study monitoring for gut microbe health with a ketogenic diet found that there was a significant reduction in BMI and an accompanying improvement in microbe health within the gut. There were changes in important gut microbe metabolic pathways and these microbes were also associated with risk of obesity.
Is A Ketogenic Diet Good For Diabetics
Obesity and diabetes are very much linked. Because of a starvation of body glucose or sugar in ketogenesis, the body system for using sugar resets itself a bit. So, the short answer is yes, for diabetes prevention or diabetes support, a ketogenic diet could be good.
While ketogenic diet are popular diets with clinicians, if you are diabetic this is something you will need to confirm with a medical professional before starting. Especially considering that ketogenic diets could affect any existing regimes.
In the development of diabetes, one core issue is a massive rise in blood glucose levels, as well as oxidative stress and damage to key pancreatic cells. Ketogenic diets could reduce levels of oxidative stress in some cases, considering that the products of ketogenic diets seem to be easier for our mitochondria to use as an energy source.
Moreover, ketogenic diets have clear results with weight loss and could greatly reduce levels of inflammatory fats in the body. This could also reduce levels of oxidative stress in the body. Again, there can be variations here with some muscle tissues experiencing inflammatory build ups with heavy exercise. With the correct dietary support, these may be mitigated slightly, especially with improved dietary antioxidants.
Ketogenic diets strongly influence cell signalling paths, while this is not great for muscle builders, according to research a reset in insulin sensitivity could really influence diabetic outcomes. A ketogenic diet is thought to influence risk of diabetes because of this key effect on insulin levels.
Ketogenic Diet Side Effects
With the mobilization of fat tissues in the body, there are naturally going to be some side effects as the body changes. Some of this is because fat tissues can build up toxins that can produce odd feelings. Again, if you feel unwell on this diet consult a healthcare professional.
Importantly though, many studies also show that people eating ketogenic diets in moderation suffered no significant variation in key organ functions such as the liver or kidney functions. This is important for the isolation of health consequences.
Some studies actually suggest that ketogenic metabolism is easier for brain cells to fuel their day to day processes and could improve or assist optimal brain health. A ketogenic diet may also reduce build ups of oxidative stress in the brain.
Some side effects from a ketogenic diet can include, abdominal cramping, diarrhea and fatigue. Naturally, large amounts of weight loss have some side effects. Some nutritionists suggest increasing hydration levels, salt and mineral intake to support the added amino acid intake with ketogenic diets. Also, a slow transition to carbohydrate reduction is also recommended by some nutritionists. While ketogenic diets have been shown to be very safe and effective, extended ketosis may be harmful according to some researchers.
Overall, most studies support taking up a ketogenic diet as a safe means for managing obesity and fuelling weight loss results.
Summary
Ketogenic diets are considered to support healthy and real weight loss. As a result, keto diets are thought to be effective against obesity and could assist with managing obesity.
A ketogenic diet interlinks with obesity thorough changes in energy use. Essentially, ketogenic diets reduce the use of sugars as the main energy producing compound in the body. Instead, they promote the use of ketones from proteins as the main energy source. This means consuming a diet high in protein and healthy fats. This makes use of the natural fasting process within the body and mobilization of fats.
The ketogenic process fuels healthy weight loss, with various studies showing dramatic results from ketogenic diets. Most of these are also without gym work. Ketogenic diets are probably not recommended for athletes or intensive exercisers, because this diet deactivates key muscle growth or muscle building pathways. This diet can also create lethargy, however results from most studies show this is a healthy and safe means to lose weight quickly.
One interesting dynamic is the effects on our gut microbes, with gut microbes having an important effect on our weight. Ketogenic diets may actually change gut microbe levels, which could improve our health and assist with healthy weight loss.
Considering links between obesity and diabetes, the insulin sensing reset switch triggered by ketogenic diets could influence risk of diabetes and help to manage diabetes.
Overall, many studies support the use of a ketogenic diet for managing obesity and fuelling healthy weight loss.
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