Keto diet: meaning, health benefits, common side effects

A keto diet is one which is low in carbohydrate. Moreover, they are a rich source of fats, similar to atkins. Intake of these can replace the carbohydrates with essential fats. The reduction of excess carbohydrate takes place in our body. Thus, our body reaches a state called ketosis. As a matter of fact, these diets have gained their name from the ketosis effect and are called keto diets.

Keto diet Health benefits:

1. Reduces hunger

Dieting is tough to perform because it increases hunger. Moreover, increased hunger insists  an individual to give up. However, these diets are low in carbohydrates. Thus, they destroy appetite.

• Weight loss

Reducing carbohydrate intake is the best way of reducing body weight. As a matter of fact reducing carbohydrate intake is a better way of losing weight than reducing fat intake. Moreover, when carbohydrates are consumed in lesser amount the excess water also decreases. Thus, a fall in insulin level occurs.

• Reduces abdominal fat

Not all fats are similar in structure. We know that keto diets are a good source for reducing fat. However, large amount of fat lost are abdominal fats, causing serious metabolic problems.

• Drops Triglyceride levels

Triglycerides are the special type of fat molecules that lead to severe health conditions. They also increase the chances of heart diseases. Therefore, these low in carbohydrate diets are good for reducing levels of triglyceride in blood.

• Increases HDL cholesterol

Being low in carbohydrates, they tend to have high fat content. Moreover, they are all healthy fats. Thus they increase the levels of HDL cholesterol.

• Treats brain disorders

Our brain requires glucose, it is the only kind of sugar that it can burn. Therefore a large part of our brain can burn ketones, due to the low intake of carbohydrates supplied by this diet. Thus, this mechanism is useful for the treatment of epilepsy and ones not responding to drugs.

Side effects:

1. Switching to these diets changes the source of energy from sugars to stored fats. Breaking down of these fats produce ketones. Hence they can only be removed by frequent urination, leading to dehydration. This might also lead to keto flu.
2. Body runs out of electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and magnesium . Moreover, urination leads to further loss of these chemicals. These situations might lead to acute kidney injury, and irregular heartbeat.
3. Keto diets are difficult to follow and can lead to weight fluctuation, mortality risk.