Recently a good friend of my husband asked us to watch a documentary on Netflix and let him know what we thought. This friend knows I am a nutrition and health specialist. The documentary was about the ketogenic diet. Most of you are probably familiar with this diet, but in case you aren’t, the premise is to DRASTICALLY decrease your carbohydrate intake (to 20 - 50 g a day or less), and consume the rest of your calories in protein and fat, mostly fat. The reasoning behind this is to cause your body to switch the macronutrient it uses as its primary source of energy from carbs to fat. This is called ketosis. Once your body starts using fat stores as energy, you will see the pounds start to fall off.
I’ve seen a few varieties of this diet. Some don’t specify what type of fat to eat, and some are very specific about consuming mostly fats from plant-based foods. This particular documentary focused on consuming “natural” fats. What they meant by that was, fats that didn’t require a lot of processing to be digestible. Their keto diet promoted lard, butter, avocados, olive oil, and coconut oil.
I watched this documentary while on my way back from vacation, and I really liked parts of it. It almost had me wanting to try the keto diet. After all, I know some people who have had a lot of success on the keto diet. Furthermore, I’ve read opinions from registered dietitians who are okay with the diet and are willing to recommend it to some of their clients. However, I didn’t want to jump into anything too quickly and start throwing all the processed carbs out of my house. I knew I needed to research it a little more.
As it stands, it’s recommended for Americans to consume 45-65% of calories from carbohydrates and most of those carbohydrates should come from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. In reality, most of us consume too many simple and processed carbohydrates. If we were all better at following MyPlate, or the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, we wouldn’t see the obesity epidemic and chronic diseases at the elevated levels they are at now. When I say we, I’m including myself. I don’t track what I eat, and I would venture to say that on a daily basis, I probably don’t get the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. We could all benefit by just checking in with our individual eating pattern by looking over the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and keeping a food journal for a few days.
The downside of the ketogenic diet- Not enough long term studies have been conducted to find the long-term effects of a low-carbohydrate-high-fat diet. To me, this means the keto diet is not a sustainable diet, meaning one’s health and safety could be at risk if they were to follow a keto diet for more than just a couple of years. If a diet, or an eating pattern, or any behavior isn't something that can be part of a lifelong, healthy lifestyle, how healthy is it really? To fully or better understand the ketogenic diet, I HIGHLY recommend this easy-to-read, very recent article on a low-carbohydrate-high-fat diet from a trusted source.
There was one aspect of the diet they highlighted that I liked, and that was their emphasis on eating mostly whole foods and eating foods that are grown as locally as possible. So that’s the takeaway my husband and I got. As soon as we finish eating what we have at home, we will be focusing our food dollars on less processed, and more local foods as much as possible.
You just have to be careful with documentaries. It is very easy to show one side of an issue or opinion. This documentary followed three obese women with various health issues, and a little girl with autism to see what effects the diet had on each individual. I'm not taking away from any of the success those individuals had, but one thing they didn’t address in the film was that none of these individuals were adhering to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. They were mostly eating junky, convenience foods at home or eating out all the time. When you remove those things from your diet, of course you will see improvements on the scale and in the way that you feel.
If you are going to try the keto diet, or if you are already on the keto diet, it’s very important to consult with your doctor or a registered dietitian.