What is a keto diet?

The Christmas holidays are already finished. New Year New Life. Close doors and open others. Or so they say. Among the list of purposes of going to the gym, reading more books and saving is also the weight loss. And among the thousand portals of nutrition and diet and news websites on how to get it in the easiest and fastest way possible, the keto diet appears .

Although it began to wake up last year, it has been a trend for some time. The ketogenic diet consists of eliminating or minimizing all the hydrates and betting on fats and proteins. It is normally used in certain sports fields or with people who are obese or overweight and need to lose weight very quickly. However, does it really work? What does it consist of?

Keto diet origins

"The keto diet comes from the term ketogenic diet that Dr. Russell M. Wilder described in 1921 for the treatment of epilepsy and consisted of increasing ketone bodies in blood to produce ketosis similar to what happens during fasting when using the reserves of fat as energy"

We can produce it by consuming very few carbohydrates causing a deficit, or making lower energy consumption where we need, or fasting. For a while now it seems to be fashionable first among athletes and currently among the general population. We find different variants according to the amount of carbohydrates and we can call them LowCarb or LCHF Low Carb High Fat.

In these diets, the maximum you can consume of carbohydrates is about 50 grams a day, which is the equivalent of three slices of bread

Risks

However, is this a miracle diet? The answer is very simple: no. "If we do a bibliographic search, we will see that possible short-term side effects are cited , such as kidney stones, gastrointestinal bleeding, vomiting, hyperlipidemia, ulcerative colitis and even in extreme cases, coma. Not only that, but they cite possible alterations biochemicals such as hypoglycemia, metabolic acidosis, hypoproteinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, hyperuricemia, hypertransaminemia, hypercholesterolemia, hyponatremia and even hypomagnasemia.

If you do a keto diet keep in mind that...

The ketogenic diet is not a panacea but it can be another tool that must be used correctly and prudently.

If you had to follow a ketogenic diet it should be based on healthy foods rich in quality fats such as extra virgin olive oil, nuts, avocado, wild caught fish, crass fed meat and free range eggs, also avoiding poor quality fats and processed foods, prioritizing vegetables, having control of electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium and magnesium

Remember that in order to be healthy, the sum of everything is important: food, physical activity, rest and sleep, habits and active social life!