Why Ketogenic Diet?

Studies from the National Institutes of Health in the United States show ketogenic diets can drastically lower blood sugar and improve insulin resistance, helping to improve diabetes and prediabetes.

It can also improve heart disease markers including the lowering of blood pressure, blood sugar and through better cholesterol ratios. In addition, keto is being increasingly used and studied as a dietary therapy for epilepsy, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

diabetes and INSULIN RESISTANCE

Low-carb diets improve insulin sensitivity. For anyone with type 2 diabetes, the keto diet may be an ideal option. According to a study at the University of Michigan, eating just 3 low-carb meals within 24 hours reduced insulin resistance by more than 30%!

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weight

The ketogenic diet is an effective tool for weight loss because of the dramatic decrease in carb intake, forcing your body to burn fat instead of carbs for energy - it trains your body to rely on fat for energy by converting fat to ketones and free fatty acids.

This natural metabolic state is often referred to as ketosis. This is achieved by limiting carbohydrate intake to encourage your body to burn fat for energy. Unlike glucose, which provides quick bursts of energy followed by energy lulls, the energy from fat is delivered at a steadier rate. As a result, you avoid the associated sugar crashes that follow a high-carb meal by following a keto diet.

A study on the long-term effects of ketogenic diets in obese people found that it significantly reduced body weight and body mass index.

sleep

Keto can impact your weight, skin, mental health and risk of disease in beneficial ways, but did you know that the keto diet can affect your sleep patterns too?

Long-term, the keto diet can lead to better deep sleep and even less required sleep overall. A recent study on the effects of keto found that adhering to this eating plan helped reduce daytime sleepiness among the obese. Previous studies have found similar results, along with increases to REM sleep.

There's some very interesting emerging research showing that ketogenic diets have an effect on a brain chemical that is important to sleep regulation: adenosine. Adenosine builds up in the body throughout the day and eventually helps to promote deeper slow-wave sleep at night. Studies show a ketogenic diet promotes adenosine activity in the body, helping to relax the nervous system, as well as reducing pain and inflammation, all of which can improve sleep.

A diet that helps you get safely to a healthy weight and stay there will benefit your sleep.

Your risks for obstructive sleep apnea and other sleep disorders will go down. You'll sleep more comfortably and wake with more energy each day. Losing weight at the expense of a sound, consistent sleep routine is NOT a smart strategy. The key is to identify the eating habits that allow you to lose excess weight, maintain a healthy weight, and sleep well at every step along the way.

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inflammation & immune system

The keto diet reduces inflammation and modulates the immune response. It can be an effective tool for reversing symptoms of autoimmunity. Ketogenic diets also increase glutathione levels, which is your body's most powerful detoxifier.

Additionally, animal studies have shown the ketogenic diet's ability to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. It also increased ATP production and improved learning, memory, and motor ability. ATP production is critical for neural development, signaling, and controlling the immune system.

gut microbiome

The ketogenic diet and the presence of ketone bodies may support a heathy gut microbiome in healthy individuals and restore imbalances in those with certain conditions.

In patients with multiple sclerosis, the ketogenic diet restored the biofermentative function of the gut microbiome, which is commonly impaired in MS.

In a mouse model of epilepsy, the ketogenic diet significantly increased two species of bacteria Akkermansia and Parabacteroides, both shown to be essential for the anti-seizure effect of the diet. These changes in the gut microbiome ultimately increased the brain's GABA (calming nerotransmitter) to glutamete (excitatory neurotransmitter) ratio, a mechanism in which the ketogenic diet elicits it's anti-seizure effects.

In an animal model of autism, ten to fourteen days on the ketogenic diet improved the ratio of firmicutes to bacteroides which is typically out of balance in autism spectrum disorder, and also related to various other metabolic conditions.

neurodegenrative disorders

There is already solid evidence that the ketogenic diet reduces seizures in children, sometimes as effectively as medication. It has been found to be especially effective when patients do not respond well to drug treatments.

New research indicates the benefits of keto extend to a broad range of neurodegenrative disorders. This includes Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and multiple sclerosis. If may also be protective in traumatic brain injury and stroke. One theory for keto's neuroprotective effects is that the ketones produced during ketosis provide additional fuel to brain cells, which may help those cells resist damage from inflammation caused by these diseases.

exercise

The main difference between exercising whilst in nutritional ketosis versus out of ketosis is how much you'll be able to rely on fat versus glucose to fuel the effort. The more fat adapted you are, the more you'll rely on fat for fuel. This holds true for all exercise intensities, even during high intensity efforts where glucose use predominates.

Interestingly, what explains the performance differences between well-trained distance runners and recreational ones is not their ability to use glucose but their ability to burn fat - the more the better.

“I have seen mood stabilization, reduced or eliminated depression, reduced or eliminated anxiety, improved cognitive functioning, greatly enhanced and evened-out energy levels, cessation of seizures, improved overall neurological stability, cessation of migraines, improved sleep, improvement in autistic symptoms, improvements with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), improved gastrointestinal functioning, healthy weight loss, cancer remissions and tumor shrinkage, much better management of underlying previous health issues, improved symptoms and quality of life in those struggling with various forms of autoimmunity (including many with type 1 and 1.5 diabetes), fewer colds and flus, total reversal of chronic fatigue, improved memory, sharpened cognitive functioning, and significantly stabilized temperament. And there is quality evidence to support the beneficial impact of a fat-based ketogenic approach in all these types of issues.”