A Deep Look Into Keto

We all want to live in balance. We want to live a healthy lifestyle consistently. But in this day and age, it can seem impossible to know what we need to be doing to live a balanced healthy lifestyle in the long run. The purpose of this article is to bring truth and clarity to the Keto diet and to give you some new perspectives to ponder you may not have considered.

The Ketogenic Diet, aka Keto, seems to be one of the most popular health crazes in the 20th century. It can seem like this diet has come out of nowhere and has taken over the health industry. We are asked all the time our opinion on Keto. Should you, or should you not do Keto for your specific goals?

Before we answer that question, we must look at the topic through 3 main lenses: historical evidence, biblical principles, and current evidence-based research. When many people do research about a topic, they only get a partial picture because they leave one or more of these approaches out, but it is only when we look through all 3 lenses that we see the full picture.

Biblical- the motives and mindset behind the topic, and how it lines up with biblical principles that have been proven for thousands of years.

Historical- When and where did a topic originate, and what have been the results throughout history. We must not forget what has happened in the past.

Current Research- Do current scholarly studies provide evidence to support the topic. We need the facts, not just someone’s opinion on the internet.

With that said, let’s bring some clarity to Keto.

History:

Contrary to popular belief, the ketogenic diet has actually been around for almost 100 years. It was first used in 1921 to treat patients for epilepsy.(1) Keto was originally discovered because of fasting. Fasting had been used to treat all sorts of sicknesses and disorders since before 500BC.(2) It was one of the common methods used in ancient times for healing. Fast forward to the 1920s, Dr. Russel Wilder proposed that many of the same benefits could be achieved from a low carbohydrate diet as they could from fasting.(2) It seemed to work! The use of fasting and the Ketogenic diet was used widely until antiepileptic drugs came into the picture witch caused the Ketogenic diet to fall by the wayside in 1938.(2)

Over the past 20 years, the Ketogenic Diet has come back bigger than ever, not for epilepsy, but for obesity. Wilder and the original discoverers never really needed to use Keto as a cure for obesity and diabetes as they were not near as prevalent as they are now. But in this day and age, we have a pandemic of obesity, diabetes, and other mostly preventable conditions. Researchers in recent years have seen the effects of how Keto can mimic the effects of fasting in many ways, including blood sugar regulation. But does Keto really work?

What is Keto?

What exactly is a Ketogenic Diet? Great question! A ketogenic diet primarily consists of high-fats, moderate-proteins, and very-low-carbohydrates. The dietary macronutrients are divided into approximately 55% to 60% fat, 30% to 35% protein and 5% to 10% carbohydrates. Specifically, in a 2000 kcal per day diet, carbohydrates amount up to 20 to 50 g per day.(1)

In simple terms, it is a diet that is VERY low in carbs. This causes our body to produce and use ketones instead of the usual glucose. Ketones are another energy source that our body can use to fuel our tissues.

Keto isn’t primarily about when you eat or the quality of the food, it is totally about having the right macronutrient split. This allows the keto diet to be done the wrong way or the right way. The wrong way is eating a bunch of sugar-free foods, heavy cream, and artificial sweeteners. Many people that are doing Keto, or have done it in the past have done it all wrong. Next month we will go deeper into this topic and talk about the right and wrong ways top engage in keto.