the keto diet, another typical fad diet? actually,it's been around for a while now, and people are getting some pretty good results fromit. so what exactly is so different? well, most of these fad diets you find simply tellsyou to eat this certain type of food and avoid those certain type of food and voila, you'reon your way to losing a hundred pounds! of course, a lot of them don't really work andmakes very little sense. what's special about the keto diet, short for ketogenic, is thatit changes how your body feels, and most importantly, how your body uses energy by placing you intoa state known as ketosis. and this is where all the magic happens.in ketosis, your body starts utilizing substances known as ketone bodies, which are producedby the breakdown of your body fat triglycerides.
quick science, first understand that yourbody loves glucose. if it has glucose on hand, it's going to use that first for energy. inaketo diet, the amount of carbohydrates you consume goes down, therefore, the amount ofglucose goes down, too. in order to combat this, your body uses stored glucose in theform of glycogen, but then that's going to run out as well. the next step is to converta substance known as oxaloacetate in the liver into glucose. at the same time this is happening,your body is breaking down your fat into free fatty acids and sending it to your liver tometabolize another important substance known as acetyl coa. acetyl coa is then placed intothe krebs cycle in the liver cells to produce energy. but it can't do that right now. rememberthat oxaloacetate that was being broken down
into glucose? well, oxaloacetate is also neededfor the krebs cycle to function. now your liver has all of these acetyl coa lying aroundso it decides to break it down into two substances called acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate,which are known as ketone bodies. it sends them into the bloodstream where other bodycells pick them up, convert the ketone bodies back into acetyl-coa, into krebs cycle, andenergy is produced! this is also really good news for your brain, since even though yourbrain loves glucose, too, it can function on ketone bodies as well. in fact, ketonebodies provide more energy per gram for the brain versus glucose, so win-win for yourmental capacity! now so far, everything sounds good. your bodyno longer relies heavily on carbohydrates,
it burns a lot of fat, and your brain functionspretty well. but of course, there's always a catch, a number of catches in this case.studies show that power output decreases in cases where maximum intensity is required.this makes sense because the breakdown of glucose via glycolysis, plays a crucial rolein providing immediate energy for your body. with no glucose and glycogen in your body,intense workouts become a lot harder. and the lack of glycogen also affects muscle growth,since there is a strong positive connection between glycogen availability and proteinsynthesis. take the glycogen away, and the process slows down.oh, and there's the keto flu, something that happens when your body starts transitioningoff of carbs and rely more heavily on ketone
bodies. the "keto flu," which isn't an actualflu, contains symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, coughing, nausea, and even upsetstomach. the positive note, though, is that it passes quite quickly and won't come backagain unless you come out of ketosis. the keto diet is also very food restrictive.a conventional diet has you eating roughly 20% fat, 30% protein, and 60% carbs. the ketodiet, on the other hand, shifts you all the way to 70% fat, 25% protein, and 5% carbs,or below 30 grams. that's a huge change that some people just cannot do. cutting out somany carbs is easier said than done. this is a huge battle itself, and a lot of times,a losing battle. but even with the drawbacks, people stilladvocate for it. and the reason that's the
case can be summed up from this study in 2004from the annals of internal medicine: "a low-carbohydrate diet (such as a keto diet), had better participantretention" compared to a low-fat diet. that is saying, even with all the drawbacks, individualson a keto diet find it much easier to stick to the diet more so than a conventional diet.this is because, with so much more fat and protein-dense foods, your satiety, or fullnesslevel, goes up much faster. a 200 calorie chicken breast or 200 calories worth of greenleafy vegetables, will make you feel more full than say a 200 calorie, carb-heavy pasta.but even if this is the case, a calorie is still a calorie. yes, protein and fat calorieswill make you feel more full, but it won't help you lose weight if you're still eatingmore calories than you burn.
so is the keto diet worth it? well, it allcomes down to, "it depends." if you're someone that struggles a lot with feeling full wheneveryou go on a weight loss diet, then yes, the keto diet might help you battle those feedingfrenzies. just remember those drawbacks that will occur, and at the end of the day, itstill comes down to calories in versus calories out.what's your take on the keto diet? shared your comments below! thanks for watching andplease subscribe for more future health and fitness videos!
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