Does Keto Work For Everyone

Not Losing Weight On A Low-carb Ketogenic Diet? Don’t Give Up And Read Further

The ketogenic diet is not only known to be one of the most effective weight loss tools, but has proven to have many health benefits. Ketosis is a state at which your body produces ketones in the liver, shifting the body's metabolism away from glucose and towards fat utilization. Unless you can check your blood ketones, using Ketostix is an easy way to detect urinary ketones. It's not the most accurate method, but may be good enough to find out whether you are in ketosis. In some cases, weight loss may be difficult even on a low-carb ketogenic diet and there may be a few possible reasons for weight stalling, which I have listed in this post. If you want to know more about the ketogenic diet and how it can help you lose weight, have a look at my Practical Guide to Keto Diet which is freely available on my website also as PDF. 3 free diet plans to help you kickstart your diet, lose weight and get healthy Recipes, giveaways and exclusive deals delivered directly to your inbox A chance to win the KetoDiet app every week Top Reasons You Are Not Losing Weight on a Keto Diet 1. Carbs are Too High Your carbohydrate intake may be too high. Try to decrease your daily carbs limit. Also try to include coconut oil in your diet. Coconut oil consists of MCTs (Medium chain triglycerides), which are easily digestible, less likely to be stored by your body and are used for immediate energy. MCTs are converted in the liver into ketones, which helps you enter ketosis. If you want to know more about carbs, check out this post. For more about ketones, have a look at this post. 2. Protein is Too High or Too Low Your protein intake may be too high/ low. Protein is the most sating macronutrient and you should include high-quality animal protein in your diet. If you don't eat enough protein, you Continue reading >>

What This Dietitian Has To Say About The Ketogenic Diet Will Surprise You

You'll lose weight, even though bacon is on the menu, for starters. This article initially appeared on news.com.au and has been republished here with permission. If you have any interest in the world of diet and nutrition chances are you would have seen reference to a ‘keto’, or low carb, high fat (LCHF) approach to diets and weight loss.Used clinically for many years, specifically in the area of epilepsy where it is used to help reduce seizures, ketogenic diets are also known for their relatively quick weight loss outcomes. Not a new area of nutrition but one that has become increasingly popular in recent years, the question is, ‘is a ketogenic diet the right diet for you?’ Ketogenic diets refer to diets that are particularly low in carbohydrates (ranging from 5-20%, or 20-50g of total carbohydrates and high in fats (up to 75% in total fat). This is as opposed to standard ‘diets’ which contain 30-50% carbohydrates and just 30% fat or less. Diets that are much lower in carbohydrate than the muscles and the brain typically need to function shift the body into a state known as ‘ketosis’ in which fat stores in the body are broken down into ketones which fuel the muscles and the brain in place of the carbohydrates when they are in limited supply. The result is enhanced fat burning and relatively quick weight loss as compared to a traditional dietary approaches. There is no evidence to show that keto diets are damaging to the body. In fact, with their superior weight loss and associated reductions in inflammation in the body, there are a number of benefits, particularly for individuals with high blood glucose levels, fatty liver and significant amounts of weight to lose. The primary issue with keto diets is that the total amount of carbohydrate consumed needs Continue reading >>

3 Reasons You Might Want To Ditch That Ketogenic Eating Plan

Ketogenic eating might just be the most popular idea in the unconventional health and fitness movement right now. I get dozens of emails a week from people asking for Keto tips and tricks. I’m not convinced that most of these people should be Keto though. It’s been billed as a great way to lose weight, which has attracted a lot of attention, but it’s not all roses, unicorns, and fairy dust. Here’s three reasons why you might want to reconsider your plan to go Keto… 1. Ketogenic eating is obsessive. When I interviewed Jimmy Moore, author of Keto Clarity, this is one of the issues I brought up. Ketosis is notoriously difficult to get into, verify, and sustain without bringing back some of the old, obsessive Dieting strategies that we’ve been working hard to get away from. Tracking macros, monitoring blood glucose, and testing ketone levels are all required steps in the process for most people. This kind of protocol attracts people with disordered eating habits. It’s the perfect blend of effective, obsessive, and new. If you’re trying to get into ketosis for medical reasons, then you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. If you want to get into ketosis because you heard it’s great for weight loss or for some other non-medical reason, it’s too obsessive for my taste. 2. Ketogenic eating probably doesn’t fit your lifestyle. You know me—I’m not a huge fan of cardio or long workouts. I’m bearish on exercise as a modern concept, but I’m bullish on functional fitness and DWYLT. In other words, I want people to do active things they love with a little sprinting and short functional strength workouts thrown in. In order to actually enjoy those things and feel strong and healthy when doing them, you’ll need adequate glycogen. That’s something that� Continue reading >>

7 Lingering Myths Everyone Should Know About Low-carb Ketogenic Diets

The public’s interest in learning more about the low-carb, moderate protein, high-fat, ketogenic diet is gaining momentum and is stronger than ever as evidenced by it being the #5 most Googled diet search term in 2013. Because this nutritional approach has scientific evidence showing it to be a powerful modality against most of the chronic diseases of our time, the curiosity about it comes from a variety of perspectives. From strong evidence for conditions such as diabetes mellitus (Type 2 diabetes) to cardiovascular disease, good evidence for issues like Alzheimer’s Disease to narcolepsy, and emerging evidence for a wide variety of other issues of great research interest including cancer, fibromyalgia, traumatic brain injury and so much more, there are compelling reasons to at the very least give this way of eating a try for yourself just to see how you do in your pursuit of optimizing your health. With the overwhelming flood of support for the new book on this subject written by me and my coauthor Duke internist Dr. Eric Westman called Keto Clarity: Your Definitive Guide to the Benefits of a Low-Carb, High-Fat Diet (we are already in our fourth printing after just four weeks!), it seems many have already decided to do their own n=1 test of nutritional ketosis doing it in a methodical way making appropriate tweaks and changes along the way. But I’ve become increasingly concerned by the perpetuation of certain myths that continue to pervade the discussion about very low-carb, high-fat diets that is unfortunately turning some people away from even attempting to get into ketosis because of fear about what they have heard about it on the Internet. A number of these objections to very low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diets have been out there for many years without any sc Continue reading >>

Keto 201

Living with a Ketogenic Diet In my opinion, unless there is a medical issue you are using ketogenic to address, ketogenic eating is best done as a medium-term plan. I do not see it as a way of eating/living forever, mostly because of quality of life issues. Being a fat and oil monster gets old and I think keto is best used as a lever to accomplish a goal, after which a more sustainable, balanced, and enjoyable way of eating is adopted. During the medium-term of eating this way, though, there can be a lot of potential problems that need to be solved. Ketogenic eating, at least in my experience, has made me face several other issues around health and eating that I simply wasn’t aware of before. Almost like as soon as I cleaned up how I was eating there was nowhere left for other issues that I had to hide. Over the course of living with the ketogenic diet, one of the best attitudes you can adopt is one of flexible determination. You don’t want to be so rigid that you require certain weight loss every week, or that you make yourself crazy micromanaging your life. All eating strategies work because improved behavior is applied over a long period of time. Your weight may fluctuate up, down, and stay the same, but what we are all going for with keto is an overall loss, and that just takes time. Food Sensitivities: When Food Attacks One of the interesting things about eating keto is how it can make you face chronic food sensitivity issues. Perhaps it is that you feel so much better on keto, that feeling bad because of food feels worse and is, thus, more obvious. Or, maybe it is because through cleaning up your diet your body gets more tuned and thus any defects are more obvious. Whatever the case, ketogenic eating can unearth and make people face sometimes uncomfortable, or Continue reading >>

Why The Keto Diet Often Fails And What To Do About It

Let’s cut right to the chase. The keto diet doesn’t work for everyone. This diet is supposed to help you make ketones from fats, either from what you eat or from your own stored fat. “Ketogenic” means “ketone-originating.” Why doesn’t it always work? Taking a look under the hood of the keto diet provides some explanation. For starters, the simple description above is generally agreed upon. However, almost nothing else about the keto diet is. Indeed, the keto diet “movement’ has spawned a wide variety of approaches that too often offer conflicting advice. The main confusion arising about the keto diet is that achieving a state of ketosis—i.e., metabolizing ketones for cellular energy—focuses on food. However, while the right foods are important, achieving a healthy state of ketosis depends on much more than what you eat. Nevertheless, since food is the easiest component of the keto diet to understand, let’s see what that means in a current medical context. Eating for Ketogenesis The keto diet is supposed to be a high-fat, adequate protein, low-carbohydrate diet. The key concept behind it is that limiting carbohydrate intake directs metabolism into fat-burning mode, which generates ketones. The main question about proportioning the main three food groups is, how much fat? High fat means different things to different people. What it means medically, however, relies on its use for a variety of medical conditions. Two current examples are pediatric epilepsy (2017) and brain cancer (2012). For both conditions, high fat means 80% of the diet. In other words, a ratio of 4:1, fat to protein-plus-carbohydrate, is what works best. If you think about that ratio for a moment, you might realize that eating that much fat is a big challenge. Very few foods are t Continue reading >>

Not Losing Weight On A Low Carb Diet? Here’s Why

Are you following a low carb diet, but not losing weight? Have you tried a low carb diet and didn’t lose a pound ? Or maybe you lost some weight in the beginning, but have reached a plateau ? In this article, I will show you how to blast through that plateau and lose weight again with a low carb diet. Not Losing Weight on a Low Carb Diet? Low-carb diets are a strong ally against some of the biggest health problems that plague the world today. While I like a low carb diet,we all remain unique and it doesn’t always work for everyone. Most people who give it an honest try do quite well and lose weight without restricting calories or feeling hungry. However, after a few weeks, some people reach a plateau. The weight may have fallen off at the beginning, but now the scale won’t budge. If you reached a plateau or just the results you are harvesting/harvested are not as satisfying as you expected, here are a few suggestions that would explain why : Are you Eating Real, Whole Foods ? Eating a low-carbohydrate diet is not just about lowering your intake of carbohydrates. It is about eating real, whole, nutritious foods. Go through your pantry and kitchen and eliminate all processed foods. This includes protein bars, snack foods, and sugary beverages. Choose lean meats like chicken or fish, eggs,vegetables and healthy fats such as coconut oil, avocado and nuts. While a certain food such as cookies and brownies may be made with healthy ingredients, they should NOT be eaten every day. Cutting back on processed carbohydrates is the way to go, however you want to make sure you are eating good fats that will keep you full and satiated. Weight Loss Is A Process The human body is made up of many different tissues including the fat under the skin as well as the fat inside the abdom Continue reading >>

The Keto Diet Is Gaining Popularity, But Is It Safe?

A new twist on extreme weight loss is catching on in some parts of the United States. It’s called the "keto diet." People promoting the diet say it uses the body’s own fat burning system to help people lose significant weight in as little as 10 days. It has also been known to help moderate the symptoms of children with epilepsy, although experts are not quite sure why it works. Proponents say the diet can produce quick weight loss and provide a person with more energy. However, critics say the diet is an unhealthy way to lose weight and in some instances it can be downright dangerous. Read More: What is the “Caveman Diet?” » What Is Ketosis? The “keto” diet is any extremely low- or no-carbohydrate diet that forces the body into a state of ketosis. Ketosis occurs when people eat a low- or no-carb diet and molecules called ketones build up in their bloodstream. Low carbohydrate levels cause blood sugar levels to drop and the body begins breaking down fat to use as energy. Ketosis is actually a mild form of ketoacidosis. Ketoacidosis mostly affects people with type 1 diabetes. In fact, it is the leading cause of death of people with diabetes who are under 24 years of age. However, many experts say ketosis itself is not necessarily harmful. Some studies, in fact, suggest that a ketogenic diet is safe for significantly overweight or obese people. However, other clinical reviews point out that patients on low-carbohydrate diets regain some of their lost weight within a year. Where It’s Helpful The keto diet was created by Dr. Gianfranco Cappello, an associate professor of surgery at the Sapienza University in Rome, Italy. He claims great success among thousands of users. In his study, more than 19,000 dieters experienced significant, rapid weight loss, few side Continue reading >>

Is The Ketogenic Diet Safe For Everyone?

Is a ketogenic diet safe for you? Is a ketogenic diet safe? Before you try this at home… First and foremost, if you pick up a copy of Jimmy Moore and Dr. Eric Westman’s excellent new book, Keto Clarity (which I highly recommend–see my review here) and feel (understandably) inspired to immediately embark on a ketogenic diet, I would caution anyone with a serious chronic health problem, especially anyone who is taking prescription medications, not to attempt a ketogenic diet on his/her own without medical supervision. Medications and Early Ketosis Even though I personally believe in the power of ketogenic diets to improve and even reverse many chronic illnesses, from diabetes to chronic fatigue to mood disorders, the diet does this by causing very real shifts in body chemistry that can have a major impact on medication dosages and side effects, especially during the first few weeks. Examples of problematic situations include sudden drops in blood pressure for those on blood pressure medications (such as Lasix, Lisinopril, and Atenolol), and sudden drops in blood sugar for those on diabetes medications (especially insulin). These changes in blood pressure and blood sugar are very positive and healthy, but the presence of medications can artificially intensify these effects and cause extreme and sometimes dangerous reactions unless your dosage is carefully monitored by you and your clinician in the first month or so. Another important example of a medicine that would require careful monitoring is Lithium, an antidepressant and mood stabilizing medicine. The ketogenic diet causes the body to let go of excess water during the first few days, which can cause Lithium to become more concentrated in the blood, potentially rising to uncomfortable or even toxic levels. These Continue reading >>

Ketogenic Diet Faq

With all the new people finding, switching, and transitioning into a low carb diet, I figured it was about time I put together an FAQ on all the common questions that are asked when someone is starting out. I don’t go too in depth in the answers, but I tried to give a direct answer and then link to a more in depth article on the topic to help you fully understand it. If you have any other questions you’d like to be added, changed, or are unsure about – please feel free to leave a comment below so I can fully explain, or make changes to the answers on this page. Best wishes, and to all the new people out there – good luck and happy dieting! Frequently Asked Questions Click any of the questions below and it will take you to the answer. How Long Does It Take To Get Into Ketosis? A ketogenic diet is not a diet that you can whimfully choose to go on and off of at any point. It takes time for your body to adjust and go into a state known as ketosis. This process? Anywhere from 2 – 7 days, depending on your body type, activity levels, and what you’re eating. The fastest way to get into ketosis is to exercise on an empty stomach, restrict your carbohydrate intake to 20g or less per day, and be vigilant with your water intake. To improve the rate at which you enter ketosis, there is a method called Fat Fasting. I’ve written an article on Fat Fasting on a Ketogenic Diet and everything involved with it. Make sure that if you use this method, it is only for a few days, otherwise it can bring harm to you. Where Can I Find Low Carb Recipes? Everywhere on the internet! There’s recipes on almost every health website nowadays, and a quick Google of what you want will definitely help you out. You can even convert high carb recipes that use sugar or fruits in them to low c Continue reading >>

This May Be Why That Popular Diet Didn't Work For You

Your friend raves about the latest diet craze, saying they lost a ton of weight on it. But when you try it, you end up gaining weight. An interesting new study in mice provides a potential explanation for this frustrating observation. It may be your genetics that gives you and your friend different results. William Barrington, a geneticist who's presenting the study results at the Allied Genetics Conference on July 15, told Tech Insider about what he and his collaborators found. The team of researchers at Texas A&M University fed mice five diets: Typical 2008 American: high in sugar and fat Mediterranean: focused on fruit, vegetables, whole grains and included a red wine mimic 1960s Japanese: included rice, fish, and a green tea mimic Ketogenic: no-carb, high-fat Regular mouse chow as a control There were four groups of mice that each had different genes, and each group had different responses to the diets, suggesting it was their genes that made the difference — not the diet itself. Overall, every group didn't do well on the American diet. Most gained weight, though one strain seemed to only have mild negative health effects without getting fat. This seems to mimic what's happening in the US today: Over a third of adults are obese. The ketogenic diet, which is becoming wildly popular these days, had the most extreme results, Barrington said. Half the mice did great and maintained weight, while the other half gained weight. Both the Mediterranean and Japanese diets did well for most of the mice, but some still had some weight gain or liver problems. "I wanted to get to the bottom of: What is the best diet? What we found is it's really dependent on who you are," Barrington said. Two mice from different genetic groups in the study. The mouse on the right gained weight o Continue reading >>

Does The Keto Diet Really Work? I Tried It To Find Out

What do Mick Jagger and Halle Berry have in common? They both follow the keto diet plan. The ketogenic diet, known as keto for short, is a high-fat, adequate protein, and low-carbohydrate diet. It works when the body goes through a process called ketosis, which burns fat rather than carbohydrates. The keto diet was initially used to treat epilepsy in children but is now a popular diet to aid in weight loss. Why I Tried It I initially looked into the keto diet as a weight loss tool. I wanted to lose at least 15 pounds. I thought this diet would be right for me because I had seen positive results first-hand when other family members had tried it. In contrast, other diets had only led to frustration and more weight gain. Given the limited free time I have as a result of my job, I was not able to dedicate the time to regular, substantial amounts of exercise. Although I did not have any health professionals to guide me, I learned a lot about the keto diet online. There is a lot of information and support out there, as well as useful recipes, all of which were a big help. I also learned the Keto diet would potentially have many other benefits, besides weight loss. Scientific Research on the Keto Diet Because I initially wanted to follow the keto diet to lose weight, I researched whether there was any scientific evidence to support it. Many studies have been done on the effects of low-carbohydrate and high-fat foods. The main outcome from these studies is weight loss in the group that followed this type of diet. I found it was easier to stay motivated once I had scientific evidence to back up the benefits of the dietary changes I was making. My Results I have been on the keto diet for 14 months, and I feel great! At month 10, I reached my ideal weight and my weight-loss goal o Continue reading >>

A Dietitian Explains Why Everyone Thinks The Keto Diet Is So Dangerous.

I want to preface this by saying that I’ve been an accredited practicing dietitian for over a decade. I’ve worked with everyday people through my practice on the Mornington Peninsula for both general weight loss, as well as within hospitals and bariatric clinics to help weight loss patients. I’ve now brought this expertise to the weight-loss industry as co-founder of Be Fit Food, a whole-food based weight-loss meal delivery program. With all this in mind my advice below won’t suit everyone. But that’s the nature of the game in health as it is all about the individual, and seeing that I don’t have the medical history of all those that will read this article, I can’t say that it will work the same for everyone. It’s not for everyone. I’m know how cliché this sounds, but everyone is different so what works for one may not work for the next. This is true for a ketogenic diet and some people will hear the term and want to know more, while others may see it as nothing more than another ‘trending’ diet. I’d like people to look at it and apply the same individualistic thinking that we attribute to people’s health; that ketosis might be different for everyone and it’s allowed to be. Listen: Journalist Brigid Delaney tackled the ‘wellness’ cult and came out the other side. She talks to Mia Freedman, on No Filter. Post continues after audio. It’s not what it used to be. Traditionally, ketogenic diets were quite unbalanced and were based more in a medical setting than in a weight loss setting for treating conditions such as Epilepsy and Type 1 Diabetes. You can imagine that to treat medical conditions such as these the diets were extreme and this is why I think people still treat the modern day version with apprehension. The new age approach to a Continue reading >>

The Ketogenic Diet: Does It Live Up To The Hype? The Pros, The Cons, And The Facts About This Not-so-new Diet Craze.

If you believe the buzz, ketosis — whether via the almost-zero-carb ketogenic diet or via ketone supplements— can curb appetite, enhance performance, and cure nearly any health problem that ails you. Sound too good to be true? It probably is. Want to listen instead of read? Download the audio recording here… ++++ Wouldn’t it be awesome if butter and bacon were “health foods”? Maybe with a side of guacamole and some shredded cheese on top? “I’m doing this for my health,” you could purr virtuously, as you topped your delectably marbled, medium-rare steak with a fried egg. Well, many advocates of the ketogenic diet argue exactly that: By eating a lot of fat and close to zero carbohydrates you too can enjoy enhanced health, quality of life, performance, brain function, and abs you can grate that cheese on. So, in this article, we’ll explore: What are ketones, and what is ketosis? What, exactly, is a ketogenic diet? What evidence and scientific research supports the ketogenic diet? Do ketone supplements work? Is the ketogenic diet or ketone supplementation right for me? How to read this article If you’re just curious about ketogenic diets: Feel free to skim and learn whatever you like. If you want to change your body and/or health: You don’t need to know every detail. Just get the general idea. Check out our advice at the end. If you’re an athlete interested in performance: Pay special attention to the section on athletic performance. Check out our advice for athletes at the end. If you’re a fitness pro, or interested in geeking out with nutritional science: We’ve given you some “extra credit” material in sidebars throughout. Check out our advice for fitness pros at the end. It all started with the brain. If you’ve called Client Care at Pr Continue reading >>

7 Reasons Why Keto Doesn’t Work

The reasons why keto doesn’t work, and what to do about it. How to achieve diet success on your ketogenic diet by making it work for you and your body. When I was first starting off with the ketogenic diet, there were things that I fumbled over as I got started. These same things that I struggled with are the ones that I look for in people that come to me saying, “The keto diet doesn’t work”. Before you throw in the towel and chalk it up to the diet, you may want to access whether these 7 things are standing between you and diet success. They’re pretty simple things and as soon as you’re mindful of them your entire approach to the ketogenic diet can change for the better! For video transcript PDF, scroll down. Your Mini Guide & Transcript A 5-10 page PDF with the transcript for this video, resources, and exclusive steps to taking your fat burning to the next level. Download to your device and access anytime. Simply click the button above, enter your details, and the guide will be delivered to your inbox! Get the mini guide & transcript now. Highlights… What’s standing between you and success on the keto diet Why your weight loss goal may be standing between you and happiness The role of food quality and weight loss Calories and your weight loss efforts Resources… Watch: Thin and Healthy on Keto video Listen: Fasting vs. Calorie Counting podcast Tools to balance circadian rhythm: flux and a sunlight lamp How to start eating keto with The Keto Bundle Were you doing any of these things that, once eliminated, brought you mega success on the keto diet? Let’s chat about it in the comments! Continue reading >>