What is the keto diet and how does it work for weight loss and overall health? Does it have any relation to diabetes?
Does keto have any relation to diabetes?
- Thread starter Nazmus Saqueeb Ashrafi
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Hi Nazmus and welcome to the forums.
The keto diet is (very simply) an extremely low carb diet. There's nothing you must eat - it's just about greatly reducing carbohydrate intake - so no flour-based items - bread, pastry, pasta, as well as no sugar, no root vegetable, and most fruit is out because of fructose content.
The aim is to use a low level of carb intake to trigger the body's metabolism to start using bodyfat as fuel. This process is called ketosis which is where the approach gets its name. For me, I need to be eating around 20g carb/day to get into and stay in ketosis - some people can maintain ketosis at higher carb levels.
This has had two benefits for me. The primary one was to reduce my blood glucose from diabetic levels to normal levels within four months. They've stayed there since and I am now officially "in remission" as far as my T2 goes.
The secondary one has been weight loss of around 25kg over the last three and half years. My overall health and fitness has greatly improved and I feel better than I have for about 12 years.
From what I have learnt so far is this:
1. Time restricted feeding works way better than Keto. Although Keto can be a good start. Keep eating window between 4 to 6 hours, max.
2. One actually has to limit Fructose, instead of Glucose, in order to improve T2DM, get faster weight loss, and overall health. Ideally, the Fructose consumption should be restricted to less than 20 grams per day.
3. Nothing works if one doesn't a) Sleep early, b) Doesn't move much the entire day.
Do 10000 steps, walk for 1 hour, 5 miles etc are all misleading. One can do all of that, but, one just have move a lot and sit less. That's all.
4. Avoid grains at all costs.
5. Look for any fat which is either Saturated fat or mono Unsaturated fat and doesn't let one's Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acid ratio to go higher than 4:1 in anything consumed. Hint, read labels and learn how they hide poisonous ingredients in them.
5. Avoid "forever chemicals" (search internet for this term) at all costs. I have to admit, its not easy to do that. Nevertheless, try hardest.
6. Nothing works if one doesn't manage stress.
That should suffice.
1. Time restricted feeding works way better than Keto. Although Keto can be a good start. Keep eating window between 4 to 6 hours, max.
2. One actually has to limit Fructose, instead of Glucose, in order to improve T2DM, get faster weight loss, and overall health. Ideally, the Fructose consumption should be restricted to less than 20 grams per day.
3. Nothing works if one doesn't a) Sleep early, b) Doesn't move much the entire day.
Do 10000 steps, walk for 1 hour, 5 miles etc are all misleading. One can do all of that, but, one just have move a lot and sit less. That's all.
4. Avoid grains at all costs.
5. Look for any fat which is either Saturated fat or mono Unsaturated fat and doesn't let one's Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acid ratio to go higher than 4:1 in anything consumed. Hint, read labels and learn how they hide poisonous ingredients in them.
5. Avoid "forever chemicals" (search internet for this term) at all costs. I have to admit, its not easy to do that. Nevertheless, try hardest.
6. Nothing works if one doesn't manage stress.
That should suffice.
Hi @drsamrnew
Different approaches work better for different people.
Time restricted eating (I'm not a pet or a farm animal - so I'm not fed), is much easier once one is 'Fat Adapted' because once out of the carbohydrate hunger cycle you no longer need to eat for immediate energy and can go for days without actually being hungry (just an empty belly feeling). I doesn't need to be a small 4 to 6hr eating period, 8hrs is great, but anything under 12 hrs is better than having meals and snacks all day long!
Some people have an early body clock type and some a late one. Sleep at the right time for you!
On Fats, I keep it simple - eat real food and traditional fats that your great granny would recognise
Robbity
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I don't "do keto" but I do eat a low carbohydrate /ketogenic type diet - which in essence is a normal/natural way of eating as we're designed to use both carbohydrates and fats/ketones for fuel.
As I've evetually ended up as a somewhat carbohydrate intolerant T2 diabetic I eat this way because I can obtain most of the fuel I need for my energy from fats and ketones rather than mainly from the carbs which can raise my glucose levels too high. (Ketogenic diets hav also been used since the late 1700s to help control diabetes.) I can lose or maintain weight depending on whether I actually eat enough fuel or eat a bit less and burn off body fat instead.
And like @ianf0ster. since I'm a human being there's no "restricted feeding" involved. However because fat is a sustainable source of fuel, I may or may not choose to skip one or more meals depending on what my body feels it actually needs at the time, not what some dietary "rules" may dictate.
And @drsamrnew: this ancient clapped out old biddy has managed to reduce and keep her T2 to lowish pre-diabetic levels for nearly 10 years, over 6 of them without diabetic meds, and to lose around 30 kilos weight - much of the time sitting on her arthritic old bum all day....
As I've evetually ended up as a somewhat carbohydrate intolerant T2 diabetic I eat this way because I can obtain most of the fuel I need for my energy from fats and ketones rather than mainly from the carbs which can raise my glucose levels too high. (Ketogenic diets hav also been used since the late 1700s to help control diabetes.) I can lose or maintain weight depending on whether I actually eat enough fuel or eat a bit less and burn off body fat instead.
And like @ianf0ster. since I'm a human being there's no "restricted feeding" involved. However because fat is a sustainable source of fuel, I may or may not choose to skip one or more meals depending on what my body feels it actually needs at the time, not what some dietary "rules" may dictate.
Finally as I may just possbly be old enogh to be his great granny, I actually grew up eating mostly real food with normal full fats. So my current ketogenic type diet is broadly based on what I've nearly always eaten.
And @drsamrnew: this ancient clapped out old biddy has managed to reduce and keep her T2 to lowish pre-diabetic levels for nearly 10 years, over 6 of them without diabetic meds, and to lose around 30 kilos weight - much of the time sitting on her arthritic old bum all day....
This Keto thing is hard if you don’t have any support from your family. I’m going to stick at it come hell or high water. The you tube Chanel ( beat diabetes ) is just fantastic and checking your meter is a way of keeping your sugars down.
MissMuffett
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I like to think of the ketogenic lifestyle as one where the signals around the body are all geared to survival of a famine. Energy comes from your own fat and if you eat carbs it switches back to obtaining energy from metabolising glucose.
The main thing is add to what has been said is that when doing keto, I not only ensure I'm eating real food, I also like to ensure I have plenty of fibrous non-starchy vegetables. The importance of this - it is rarely argued - is to ensure I have enough vitamins & minerals - that my bowels work normally.
The reason it works so well for weight loss appears to be the metabolic 'switch' that occurs to use our own fat and yet this is also coupled with the fact that it is harder to eat more than you need when consuming real food than food products out of packets made in factories that tend to be relatively energy dense and nutrient poor. Remembering this last point can help if one reverts to eating carbs again.
All the best!
Mat
The main thing is add to what has been said is that when doing keto, I not only ensure I'm eating real food, I also like to ensure I have plenty of fibrous non-starchy vegetables. The importance of this - it is rarely argued - is to ensure I have enough vitamins & minerals - that my bowels work normally.
The reason it works so well for weight loss appears to be the metabolic 'switch' that occurs to use our own fat and yet this is also coupled with the fact that it is harder to eat more than you need when consuming real food than food products out of packets made in factories that tend to be relatively energy dense and nutrient poor. Remembering this last point can help if one reverts to eating carbs again.
All the best!
Mat
