The Ketogenic Diet
Institution
The Ketogenic Diet
The ketogenic diet is a jargon mainly used for low carbohydrate diets. The main idea behind the keto diet is for the person to consume more calories from the proteins and fat while eating fewer carbohydrates. During a ketogenic diet, carbohydrates intakes easy to digest like the white bread, pastries, soda, and sugar get limited. When a person consumes less than 50 grams of carbohydrates in a day, the body naturally runs out of fuel, which in most cases, is the blood sugar. The process usually takes 3-4 days before the body disintegrates protein and fat, which makes a person lose weight. The method of breaking down food is referred to as ketosis.
The ketogenic diet involves participants coming from different fields, including; registered nurses that experienced with childhood epilepsy (Martin et al., 2015). Other individuals involved are neurologists experienced with providing ketogenic diets, and a registered pediatric dietician who oversees the menu. Experts like medical social workers can also assist with diet provision because they have mastered the carbohydrate contents of most medicines. Besides, caregivers, including the parents and the guardians, should be adequately informed about different aspects of the diet for safe implementation.
People using keto diet are individuals striving to lose weight, but during certain circumstances, the food can assist manage particular medical conditions like epilepsy, acne, brain complications, and heart diseases (Newman et al., 2017). The nervous system disorders tend to affect organs like the nerves, spine, and brain, which are interlinked. Therefore, a keto diet can assist in curing complications like sleep disorders, Parkinson’s diseases, and Alzheimer’s.
However, it is advisable to seek medical advice to ascertain the safety of the keto diet in particular if a person is suffering from type 1 diabetes. The menu tends to assist a person to lose a significant amount of weight during the first 3-6 months compared with other weight loss programs. The reason underlining the biological process is that the body consumes more calories to convert fat into energy than it does to convert the carbohydrates into energy. There is also an assumption that additional fat and high-protein diet tend to satisfy the body hence making a person eat less.
A ketogenic diet also helps the body burn away insulin at a significant rate, meaning that the body generates minimal insulin. Such low levels of insulin are likely to protect the human body from different kinds of cancer or inhibit the growth of cancerous cells. The hypothesis given regarding small heart disease is that the ketogenic diet minimizes the bad cholesterol while increasing proper levels of cholesterol. Such a scenario implies that a person is less likely to suffer from different heart complications like heart failures, hardened arteries, and excessive blood pressure.
Ketogenic diets also cure women related complications like polycystic ovary syndrome. This is a condition when the woman’s ovaries expand beyond the standard size, and small fluid-filled sacks tend to occur around the eggs. Such a situation is usually caused by an excessive amount of insulin inside a person’s body. Because keto diets lower the level of insulin generated and the amount required by the human body, the food can assist in treating such complications (Stumpf et al., 2019). It is recommended that keto diets should be administered alongside other lifestyle changes such as weight loss programs and regular exercise.
References
Martin, K., Jackson, C. F., Levy, R. G., & Cooper, P. N. (2016). Ketogenic diet and other dietary treatments for epilepsy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (2).
Newman, J. C., Kroll, F., Ulrich, S., Palop, J. J., & Verdin, E. (2017). The ketogenic diet or BHB improves epileptiform spikes, memory, survival in Alzheimer’s model. bioRxiv, 136226.
Stumpf, S. K., Berghoff, S. A., Trevisiol, A., Spieth, L., Düking, T., Schneider, L. V., & Kusch, K. (2019). Ketogenic diet improves axonal defects and promotes myelination in Pelizaeus–Merzbacher disease. Acta neuropathologica, 1-15.