5 Misconceptions About the Keto Diet

The ketogenic diet is about minimizing carbs intake and increasing the consumption of fat to make your body use fat as a form of energy. Even though everyone’s requirement is different, this usually means that nearly 60 to 75 percent of the calories should come from fat, 15 to 30 percent from protein, and 5 to 10 percent  from carbs.

A lot of people have benefitted from the ketogenic diet and it has a lot of proven benefits for health and weight loss. However, following the keto diet is not as easy as it sounds and some mistakes can inhibit your weight-loss goals. Here are some common misconceptions about the keto diet:

1- Keto Diet Is Only For Weight Loss

Even though the keto diet is great for torching fat and losing weight, there are other benefits of this diet too. In fact, you can follow the keto diet even if your goal is to gain weight because weight gain or weight loss is ultimately determined by the number of calories you consume. The keto diet is also great for stabilizing blood sugarlevels, regulating hormone production, improving digestive health, improving cognitive function, and reducing the risk for some disorders and diseases like such as heart diseases or diabetes.

2- It Is a High-Fat And High-Protein Diet

The keto diet is not high in protein. Your protein intake should be moderate when you are on the ketogenic diet. This will allow you to burn fat faster. Excess consumption of protein will result in the conversion of some of the protein to glucose and this could be counterproductive to your weight loss goals.

3- Keto Diet Is Not Backed By Science

The keto diet was developed by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in the 1920s to help patients with epilepsy. A lot of studies have shown that the keto diet offers a lot of benefits. For instance, scientific studies say that the keto diet can help manage type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, obesity, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s disease, dyslipidemia, and muscle loss.

4- All Kinds Of Fats Are Allowed

When you are on the keto diet, most of your calories are supposed to come from fat. However, that doesn’t mean that you get a free pass to eat all types of fats. Ideally, you should replace saturated fat such as sausages with unsaturated fats like fish, olive oil, walnuts, and flaxseed. This will help lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

5- Intermittent Fasting Is A Must

Even though intermittent fasting can help boost results such as weight loss and detoxification, it is not a key requirement. A lot of people find intermittent fasting to be easier when they are on the keto diet as their appetite usually goes down while they are on the diet.

6-  Ketogenic diets are bad for athletes

While some professionals would say that athletes can’t benefit from the ketogenic diet because of the human body’s need to be fueled by carbohydrates, studies have shown that being in a ketogenic state assists in sports performance, weight loss and systemic inflammation. (Cox et.al, 2016; Dashti, et al., 2004).

If a client comes to work with you and is on a ketogenic diet for a medical reason, you can support and train them to reach their goals. In a ketogenic state, the body is converting fat into ketones, which are then used as the primary source of fuel.

7- There is only one kind of ketogenic diet

There are several types of ketogenic diets:

1. Standard Ketogenic Diet (SKD)
2. Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD)
3. Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD)

These variations can be used by an experienced and qualified professional to induce ketosis and accommodate physiological, athletic, and lifestyle goals because one size doesn’t fit all!

Standard Ketogenic Diet is the major type of ketogenic diet that’s been prevalent on social media. Typically, 75-80% of the SKD diet comes from fats, 20-25% from protein, and 5-10%% from Carbohydrates. Typically, it amounts to eating about 20-30 grams net CHO per day.

Targeted Ketogenic Diet can benefit athletes because the number of net carbs ingested can be increased based on activity level. It can be “targeted” to support a client’s exercise.

Cyclical Ketogenic Diet is like SKD. The major difference is there’s some cycling of Carb intake going on. Individuals on CKD would have a period of low carbohydrate intake followed by a period of eating a higher number of carbs. The cycle can be repeated based on the individual’s needs (Hughes, 2016 & Land, 2016).

If you are interested in trying the ketogenic diet, you can consult a nutritionist to get a diet plan. You can find and book an appointment with a top Nutritionist in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad through oladoc.com. You can also call our helpline at 042-3890-0939 for assistance to find the RIGHT Doctor for your health concerns.