In an attempt to create an alternative to fasting, in the 1920s modern physicians introduced the ketogenic diet (popular as the keto diet) as a treatment of epilepsy. Since then, the keto diet has been used vastly by thousands of people, but with today’s antibiotic drug treatments, the use of keto has dropped significantly.
For beginners, who have no idea what a keto diet is, it is a high-fat and low-carb diet that changes the energy source on which your body usually functions. In a keto diet, a person uses fat instead of carbohydrates to fuel their body, and when you don’t eat carbohydrates for a long time, your body enters a metabolic state, known as ketosis, which is when your body starts breaking down fat to fuel the body.
Many people believe that keto diets are very effective and help in losing a tremendous amount of weight in a very short span of time, however, several people have a misconception that the keto diet has dangerous effects on the body and it leads to many problems. Well, today you will be learning about some of the myths that have been flying around regarding the keto diet.
Myth #1 – A Weight Management Diet
People believe that keto is only for people who support a healthy weight management system. On the contrary, keto is not restricted to such people only. If you do not support healthy weight management you still can follow the keto diet.
A general misconception is that the keto diet is used to reduce weight or is a weight loss diet only, well the truth is that keto maintains a healthy body and improves cognitive functions too. You might get shocked hearing this, but while doing keto, you can also actually gain weight. This happens when a person is following a keto diet but is also taking carbs in their diet, and this doesn’t let the body enter the state of ketosis, and thus you gain weight.
Myth #2 – No Exercise While on Keto Diet
Exercise is beneficial for everybody, and no one is restricted from exercising no matter what diet they are on. A person could feel less energized during workouts, and this is because their body’s fuel intake system is changing, so you should always give some time for your body to adjust while on a keto diet.
However, after your body has adjusted to the changes, you will not feel dizzy or less energized during or after workouts. There are still some people that argue that even after months of keto they still feel less active while workouts, the reason for that is that their fat intake is not sufficient enough to support the workout as well. In this case, you should try consuming enough calories and a lot of fat.
Myth #3 – Saturated Fat Will Cause a Heart Attack
There has been a misconception among people that the consumption of saturated fat can clog your arteries, but recent studies have rejected this misconception. In the 2020 paper in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, it stated:
“Whole-fat dairy, unprocessed meat, eggs, and dark chocolate are SFA-rich foods with a complex matrix that are not associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The totality of available evidence does not support further limiting the intake of such foods.”
Previous studies were not incorporating the fact that in the past loads of sugar were eaten with saturated fat, which caused the problem. In keto, when you decrease the amount of carb intake, saturated fats are then actually considered to be good for the body.
Myth #4 – Keto Makes You Depressed
This is a very common myth, but the reality of this myth is hidden in science. When a person starts a keto diet, their body functions are changing, from a carb-driven body state, they start to shift to a fat-driven body state. In this type of situation, in your early days, you might feel depression-like symptoms, such as lethargy, irritability, laziness, etc. These feelings don’t last long, they just occur because your body is going through a change.
When you look at things in the long run, the keto diet makes people energized and their mental endurance also increases.
Myth #5 – Keto Harms Your Kidney
First and foremost, keto is a high-fat moderate-protein diet. It is generally believed that keto includes high protein in their diet, which makes it bad for the kidney. The actual case is that if you have a normal kidney, it can handle high amounts of protein without suffering from damage.
Myth #6 – Eat Any Sort of Fat on Keto
All fats are not the same, fats are ranged from good fats to dangerous fats. In a keto diet, only good fats are to be incorporated, the inclusion of bad fats can cause adverse effects on health.
During a keto diet, you should try consuming good fats that come from whole or unrefined foods, which mainly include olives, coconuts, avocados, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, non-starchy vegetables, and so on.
Talking about trans-fat (bad fat), these are the fats that a person in the keto diet should stay away from. Trans fat increase the level of bad cholesterol and it also increases the chances of heart disease. Trans fat includes fried food, commercial baked goods, margarine, fast foods, etc.
Myth #7 – Ketosis and Ketoacidosis are same
Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your body starts to break fat to fuel your body which previously was fueled by carbohydrates.
However, ketoacidosis is an entirely different thing. It develops when a person’s body does not have enough insulin for it to allow blood sugar into the cells of a person in order for the sugar to be used as a source of energy.
Conclusion
There are many misconceptions about the keto diet, these are just a few of them. If you are a person doing keto diet, do not fall for these kind of myths!