Ketogenic Diet Risks – How you can avoid them.
What are some of the ketogenic diet risks? I am usually a pretty calm and collected person, but this has made me pretty angry.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Ketogenic diet, its relatively simple. The ketogenic diet is basically a low carb, high fat diet which consists of healthy fats, moderate amounts of protein and a very strict limit on carbohydrates.
What I am seeing becoming more prominent recently as the lifestyle has become more mainstream makes me frustrated. What would make a calm and collected person so frustrated?
Nutrition.
Specifically, when micro nutrition gets thrown out in favour of the low carb, high fat macros.
It basically looks like this. When someone starts a ketogenic lifestyle, the hardest part is cutting out the sugar in your diet. Sometimes, people do both sugar and carbohydrates in one go. Kudos to those people! Sugar is extremely additive, and carbohydrates have been deemed necessary for energy ever since the low fat brigade made their way to the top.
However, what begins to happen is this. that person begins to eat an incredibly high amount of processed foods, just because the macro nutrients fit the ratios required. They discard nutritious foods just because the macro nutrition of vegetables don’t fit the strict food rules that the ketogenic diet implies.
It can get down to the point where instead of eating living plants, natural foods and drinking water, they substitute everything they can with a low carb alternative that is either filled with preservatives, artificially sweetened with aspartame, or has lived in a can for the past 4 years.
How many carbs does a cigarette have? – Is it good for your health? NO.
Hypothetically, eating a diet solely consisting of cheese will help you lose weight. This might work for the first weight loss goal, because you’ve effectively cut out all the insulin raising foods which prevented you from losing weight in the first place. But if you want to look after your health, then you really need to learn to understand what you’re actually eating, regardless of the carbohydrate and fat content.
The biggest Ketogenic Diet Risks come from ignoring your body, and ignoring nutrition.
So many people are deficient in many of the vital micro nutrients because all they eat is salami and artificial cheese sticks. Some of these include Magnesium, Zinc and Vitamin A, B, C and D.
You need to teach your body to re-learn what it actually needs, instead of switching from coke to diet coke, or bakery goods to an enture box of low carb sugar free cookies. The physical food needs to change, but so does your mindset about eating food.
My aim throughout this website is to teach you which items/mindsets are important to change for life long success.
Don’t jump off a cliff with everyone else. Make sure you are eating healthy fats, nutritious sources of protein and a low carbohydrate content. Don’t blindly follow everything you read.
Most of all, where ever possible, make those food choices organic, ethically sourced or free from known carninogens listed here.
If you disagree with me, or want to know more, leave a comment!
Image source – That Sugar Film
Mary N Isitor says
Good morning and happy blessed weekend. For me, these expositions are the best so far. This is not to say that all your other write-ups are not good enough. The point is that I love research and publications. This shows that you are a good teacher. I love this. Thank you and God bless.
Vicky says
Im trying to figure out what how to balance out a healthy keto meal. Like x ounces of meat, 1/2 cup greens, x amount of fat as an example Percentages don’t tell me what I need to know.
Jamaica says
Hi aaron,
I want to learn more about the correct way to live a keto lifestyle. I am interested in learning how to start it correctly. Can you do a keto lifestyle if you have high cholesterol?
Toni says
Hi Aaron, I have been strict keto, 20 carbs. Eat no processed foods. Was excited to see my labs after 7 months on. My HCL went to 74 and Trigs went to 225 from 175. They say I am an anomoly. Not sure what to do to stay keto, as it cured my T2D.
Lisa says
Aaron,
I love your website!! Very informative and easy to navigate. Thanks for all of the wonderful info!!
FatForWeightLoss says
Thanks, Lisa! That’s fantastic to hear 🙂
Pam says
hi aaron. i am doing extremely well on the diet however i am experiencing severe leg and foot cramps while i sleep making me think i am depleted in something. i get enough water and salt. any advice?
Ellen says
I experienced the same thing when I started, so I can let you know what worked for me.
I started increasing my uptake of potassium and magnesium. You can do this by taking suppliments OR by eating avocados and spinach! I usually have a spinach avocado salad at least every second day and it has really helped me with that!
Leah says
Hi Aaron,
I am new to the Keto life and so far I love it. I’m less hungry and I feel better. I ditched sugar and carbs and I’m really happy with the results so far. However, avocados have a fairly high carb content yes? How can I stay limited in carbs when I want to get the benefit of them each day?
FatForWeightLoss says
Avocadoes are also high in fiber, which means that net carbs will help in your case. strict keto is great if necessary for a health condition, but otherwise you should be fine as long as they fit in with your allocations 🙂