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Keto Diet 2

Popular Keto Diet Poses Long-Term Health Risks, Experts Say

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The philosophy of the keto diet is simple: it says you should almost entirely eliminate carbohydrates from your diet, maintaining a macronutrient ratio of roughly 70% fats, 20% protein, and 10% carbohydrates. Doing so forces the body into an alternate mode of processing energy called “ketosis,” in which the body burns fat instead of carbohydrates for sustenance, resulting in weight loss. But while the keto diet is very effective for losing weight quickly while permitting people to enjoy foods like bacon and eggs, experts say that the diet is not healthy in the long term. In fact, for the third year in a row, the U.S. News and World Report ranked the keto diet as among the worst possible diets to follow, and experts warn that a prolonged state of ketosis may cause the development of health conditions like cardiovascular disease. As such, despite the widespread popularity of the keto diet and the fast results it can provide, this diet is not optimal for sustaining health. 

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The healthy way to think of dieting is not as a temporary solution for losing weight, but instead as a lifestyle change to maintain indefinitely. This is because weight that is lost quickly on a diet can be put back on just as quickly, if not faster, once the diet ends as the body returns to the status quo. One of the risks posed by the keto diet is that as it enables rapid weight loss, dieters are prone to reintroducing carbohydrates into their diet after reaching their target weight, undoing the beneficial effects of their weight loss by kicking the body out of ketosis. And beginning the keto diet sometimes leads to the development of what’s called the “keto flu,” a set of symptoms including headache, fatigue, irritability, and nausea. While the symptoms of keto flu are temporary and disappear as the body adjusts to the new diet, other diets are not associated with the risk of developing flu-like symptoms, and there’s no good medical reason to think that engaging in a diet that can make you feel sick benefits your health overall.

Instead of the keto diet, experts recommend an eating plan based on the mediterranean diet

Although the keto diet is certainly effective for rapid weight loss, and many practitioners of the keto diet report feeling more energized and focused, the long-term health effects of practicing the keto diet are as-of-yet unknown. Therefore, as with all medical programs with unknown long-term health effects, caution is advisable when deciding whether to force your body into ketosis in order to lose weight. Instead of following “fad diets,” which rise suddenly in popularity and prescribe unique solutions for quickly losing weight, experts say it’s better to take your own personal characteristics into account when designing your eating plan by understanding the fundamental principles of nutrition and how different foods impact the body. Consulting with a registered dietician can help with this process, but doing so is not necessary. 

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Instead of the keto diet, experts recommend an eating plan based on the mediterranean diet, which emphasizes healthy fats, fish, whole grains, and produce, and has been shown to help people lose weight and keep it off, though the weight-loss process on the mediterranean diet takes longer than on more popular fad diets. The mediterranean diet is based on the eating habits of people who live in the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea, where people tend to live longer and healthier lives than elsewhere in the world. As such, the long-term efficacy of the mediterranean diet is evidence-based, as it derives from the natural eating habits of some of the healthiest people in the world. While many factors besides diet strongly impact health, one of the best things you can do for your health is to not only adopt, but maintain a healthy eating plan for life. 

Keto Diet

The Keto Diet: Is it Safe?

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The field of nutrition, it seems, is constantly evolving as new studies refute the findings of previous ones and scientists learn more about how the human body processes food. This has led to the emergence of so-called “fad diets,” which prescribe unconventional limitations on eating and promise to help people lose weight and feel better.

One such diet which has exploded in popularity is the ketogenic diet, which emphasizes eliminating the intake of nearly all carbohydrates to put the body into ketosis, which is a different way of processing food. But some nutritionists argue that it’s unhealthy to put the body into this state for an extended period of time, even though ketosis helps with weight loss and can have other positive effects. As research into this form of dieting continues, nutritionists are learning more about how the body reacts to a carbohydrate-free diet and the various health implications of putting your body into ketosis.

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Ketosis is a state brought about by the elimination of carbohydrates from one’s diet, and is characterized by the presence of molecules called ketones in a person’s bloodstream. Without carbohydrates, the body is forced to instead rely on burning fat and protein for energy, leading in many cases to weight loss. Many people believe that ketosis lowers one’s risk of developing heart disease and diabetes, and people who are on the ketogenic diet report feeling more energized and motivated.

The ketogenic diet has been shown to offer advantages not present in many other popular diets, as obese people who started the ketogenic diet lost weight rapidly, with few side effects, and kept off the weight so long as they continued the diet. As such, the diet can be particularly useful for people with obesity, as the rapid onset of weight loss it causes, in addition to the ease of incorporating the keto diet into one’s life, can encourage dieters to stick to their weight-loss plan. That being said, the diet is very strict, as the body can be rapidly taken out of ketosis by the introduction of carbohydrates, leading to negative health consequences both in the form of weight gain and fatigue or other conditions.

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The keto diet, however, has more than its fair share of critics. Many argue that while the ketogenic diet can be useful to treat obesity or in the short term, it can actually damage the body in the long term. Lisa Cimperman, a clinical dietitian at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, argues that the keto diet causes people to lose muscle and experience fatigue, and actually puts the body into a starvation mode, making it even more difficult to lose weight as time goes on. While not every dietician believes that the ketogenic diet leads to muscle loss, most agree that anyone who is interested in building muscle should not use the keto diet, as ketosis is certainly not optimal for strength training.

Instead of so-called “fad diets” like the keto diet which offer impressive results in the short term but have questionable viability in the long term, most nutritionists advise their patients to consider dieting more as a set of lifestyle choices than as a regimented, temporary program. The most successful diets are the ones that people stick to for extended periods of time, as a lifetime of healthy eating provides the most positive impact. As such, food shouldn’t be thought of in terms of how it should be limited, but rather people should look forward to their meals, as this mindset is better for long-term success. Adopting a mediterranean diet, which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, fish, poultry, and eggs, is widely considered to be a safer and more effective option in the long term. Additionally, conversation about different forms of dieting often excludes discussion about exercise, which is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle, and should be considered in conjunction with choices about what you eat for best results. As such, while the ketogenic diet is tempting for its quick results, people who are serious about living a more healthy life are probably better off avoiding it.

Meal Replacement Shakes

Are Meal Replacement Shakes the Future of Food?

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You may have seen ads for brands like Soylent and Huel on Instagram or elsewhere on the web. These products purport to provide cheap and nutritionally-dense alternatives to meals, and are marketed to generally healthy people who don’t want to continue to invest time and money into meals throughout the day. While most people are likely to reject the notion of giving up breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner in favor of what ostensibly amounts to little more than a protein shake, the idea is attractive to a particular demographic. People who are deeply invested in their work, whether they are students or professionals, may see convenience and simplicity in meal replacement shakes, which are undoubtedly the easiest way to satisfy hunger throughout the day. However, replacing ordinary food with these products is certainly a major lifestyle change, and as a result there may be unintended side effects in doing so.

The implicit message in the advertising of Soylent and Huel is that these meal replacement shakes are the healthiest way to eat, as they contain all of the nutrients necessary to fuel the human body without unhealthy ingredients. Huel, a portmanteau of “human fuel,” is sold as a “nutritionally complete food,” for instance, and Soylent’s website describes the product as “engineered nutrition.” For a certain population of people who have a proclivity towards optimizing and streamlining all aspects of their lives, this can be a convincing argument. The health benefits of switching to meal replacement shakes, however, are not so clear. It’s important to note that everyone’s dietary needs are unique, and neither Huel nor Soylent recommend replacing food with their products entirely.

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Nevertheless, a number of people have experimented with doing exactly that, and have written about their experience on the internet. Jared Hill, for instance, decided to consume nothing but Huel’s shakes for a week and documented the process online. He found the product to be filling and, while not particularly exciting, the taste was acceptable. However, after a few days Hill found that he was having difficulty adjusting to such a rapid change of diet, a found himself craving solid food. After a week, Hill had returned to eating normal food in the evenings, but continued to use Huel as a replacement for breakfast and lunch, enjoying the convenience and affordability of doing so. Katia Moskvitch, writing for WIRED, drank Soylent and Huel for a month, though she did not replace food entirely with the shakes. Moskvitch quickly found that incorporating the products into her diet led to “taste fatigue,” as she quickly grew bored of drinking the same thing every day. Additionally, Moskvitch spoke with nutritionists who were skeptical of the products, who suggested it would be much healthier to make your own nutritional shakes.

It’s worth mentioning that despite the health claims featured on both companies’ websites, professional nutritionists are generally cautious about recommending meal replacement shakes. In addition to concerns about the nutritional viability of relying on these products in the long term, there are potential psychological impacts as well – eating is often a social behavior, and replacing meals with friends and family with Huel or Soylent can have detrimental emotional consequences. Additionally, losing the opportunity to taste different foods throughout the week can have negative emotional effects.

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Still, Huel’s and Soylent’s products have a number of unique benefits for particular audiences. For people who are on a budget, there is perhaps no cheaper way to eat, as both Huel and Soylent cost fewer than two dollars per meal. Additionally, Huel is compatible with vegan diets, and the environmental impact of these drinks is minimal compared to the meals they are intended to replace. Furthermore, people who are dieting can take much of the guesswork out of managing the ratio and amount of nutrients they are eating, as this information is accurately represented by nutrition labels on the products. And people who absolutely hate cooking or preparing their meals in advance, but aren’t interested in eating fast food or takeout because of the price and health implications, may benefit from incorporating these products into their diets.

As with all things relating to nutrition, deciding whether or not meal replacement shakes are right for you is a personal decision. As such, you should take into consideration your personal dietary and lifestyle needs, and it’s always a good idea to have a conversation with your doctor about any lifestyle or health changes you are considering.