Written by: Victoria Nardulli
The keto diet has been one of the fastest growing diets in the past 10 years. While many people are in full support of keto for weight loss and better health overall, others question whether or not it is as beneficial as supporters make it seem. I’m here to share with you the science behind the keto diet, its pros and cons, and why I believe it has grown so much in popularity.
Let’s start with the basics. What does the word keto even mean? Well, keto is actually an abbreviation of the word ketosis. Ketosis is the metabolic state of the body that occurs only when the body has to turn to burning its own fat for energy because it cannot use glucose. Glucose is what the body traditionally relies on as a source of energy. Glucose comes from eating carbohydrates. When carbohydrates are broken down, they turn to glucose, which then very easily absorbs into the bloodstream and travels throughout the body to use an energy source. The principles of the Keto diet include severely reducing one’s intake of carbohydrates so that the body can’t use glucose for energy. Without that source of energy, fatty acids will release from fat stores and make their way to the liver to turn into ketones. The body will continuously burn and break down stored fat into ketones for energy. This is what it means to be in a state of ketosis. As long as your body is in this state, it is considered to be the optimal fat burning environment. A supporter and follower of the keto diet claims, “I have been on this diet for about a month now and while I really miss fruit and dessert, I’m enjoying watching the number on the scale go down every week.” Besides increasing weight loss, the environment this diet creates is also known to aid in type-2 diabetes as it manages blood sugar levels.
So how does one eat while trying to achieve ketosis? They change to a very low carbohydrate intake, and high fat intake. Scientists studying this diet say that the carbohydrate intake of someone trying to achieve ketosis should be from a minimum of 20 to a maximum of 50 grams a day. To give you an idea of what that looks like, a single banana has around 27 grams of carbohydrates alone. Two slices of bread has about 50! Anything higher than that, and the ketosis is interrupted. This is why this diet can be very difficult to stick to. Foods that are high in carbs include breads, grains, fruits, potatoes, legumes, and other sugary foods. These are the foods that must be eliminated in low carb diets like Keto. Foods that are eaten the most in the keto diet include leafy green vegetables, berries (the only fruit allowed), milk, plain yogurt, cheese, eggs, oils, butters, nuts, meat, seafood, and all other animal products.
This is where some controversy with the diet comes in. One opposer of the keto diet suggests, “I don’t see how this diet could be optimal in any way for our bodies. All my life I was told to eat my fruits and veggies, but now this diet comes around saying the way to be healthy and skinny is to basically eat very few? Doesn’t sound right to me.” This claim is hard to fight. From a young age we were all told that eating a colorful diet with lots of fruits and vegetables will give us the vitamins and nutrients that we need to be our healthiest. It’s hard to believe that going against that doesn't come without risks. Well actually, it does. There are many known risks and dangers of the keto diet. Some include:
-increased risk of heart disease and increased LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol)
-deprivation of vitamins and micronutrients that come from eating fruits and vegetables
- constipation due to the lack of fiber and grains in the diet
- liver complications due to too much fat having to be metabolized
- bad breath, also known as “keto breath” from the chemicals produced during ketosis
- suffering from the “keto-flu” which occurs mostly at the beginning of the diet
- symptoms include foggy headaches, nausea, and difficulty sleeping
- and of course, the risk of developing an eating disorder because of how restrictive the diet is
While that list is pretty long, supporters of the keto diet still vouch for its success in weight loss. “I haven’t experienced any negative effects of keto besides the odd breath and constipation and I've been consistently losing weight! I can’t see myself stopping keto any time soon.” For some, the benefits outweigh the risks and I won’t be the one to say that’s not a valid reason to continue.
What’s really interesting to me about the keto diet is how quickly it rose to popularity. In my eyes, the main culprit is social media. With the ever growing population of Tik Tok, many food influencers promoting the keto diet have piqued the interest of users. They post daily vlogs of their breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, that include interesting keto recipes.
One creator by the name of Janelle Rohner specifically gained a lot of attention from her bunless burgers where she replaced the high carb burger bun with tomato slices, making the burger a keto friendly meal. With viral videos like those, tiktok creators like Janelle who follow keto have drawn lots of attention towards the diet and its benefits for weight loss. The loyal followers of these tiktokers are constantly drawn into the interesting keto twists on meals, and simple swaps that can make the diet easy to maintain. As we all know, social media sites like tik tok are known to have a big influence on their users. In my eyes, this explains how the keto diet has gained, and will continue to gain popularity so quickly. People see others promoting their delicious and simple keto meals and decide to try it for themselves at home. Whether you like the idea of the keto diet or not, there is no harm in trying something new that could potentially benefit your life.