A Ketogenic Diet Promotes Better Health

Over the last few years now, ketogenic diets have gained popularity, fueled initially for its weight loss benefits. Now there are more and more scientific studies that show how this approach to nutrition can have positive health benefits for numerous disease conditions. As a Naturopath I have more and more clients following this type of approach or something very similar and with close monitoring, have made positive steps forward with regards to their health.
So what is a Ketogenic diet and how can it help you to advance your state of health?

In a nut shell, the diet consists of low levels of carbohydrates with increased levels of good fats and proteins. In normal physiology, the carbs that we eat convert to simple sugars which are then used for energy in the body. When there are not enough carbs in the body for this to happen, the body then switches to using fats and converting them to energy and this is what’s called ketosis.
 

Good fats: the key to this approach is to include healthy fats in the diet. Coconut oil is a good example as it contains medium chained triglycerides which convert easily to energy. Some practitioners build up clients to 5 or 6 teaspoons of the oil per day. At these levels I recommend you have supervision of a Naturopath or other qualified practitioner. Usually if you have too much, diarrhoea results, allowing your body to get rid of the excess oil.

Other good sources of fat include avocados, nuts and seeds. (see table below). Try having ½ an avocado with your salad. Great salad dressing can include cold pressed olive oil with some undistilled apple cider vinegar, garlic and seasoning. The first thing you need to do when beginning this diet is to make sure you are removing all the processed and packaged foods from your diet, eating only whole foods which are ideally prepared at home so you know exactly what’s going into the food.

You need to also begin to reduce the amount of grains in your diet. This includes breads, biscuits, breakfast cereals etc. Doing this alone is going to have massive positive effects on your health that may be what you decide to do, begin reducing the carbs to encourage the healing processes of your body. Remember that there are no ‘essential’ carbohydrates like there are essential proteins.

Now for some of you this will seem just too hard. Well, all you need to do is start small which might mean that you take a home-prepared lunch to work every second day. Just take smaller steps and work towards a full on change in your diet, over time.

Remember that carbohydrates are found in some foods that might surprise you – diary, fruits, some vegetables. As you are easing into the diet, you might find it easier to have ½ servings of fruit for example. Stopping dairy altogether is not too difficult and many health-conscious people have little or no diary anyway (finding other sources of calcium of course).

Also legumes and beans contain carbs which means that if you are a vegetarian, it can be really difficult to go on a

100% ketogenic diet. I would suggest that a vegetarians follows everything involved in a ketogenic diet include normal levels of legumes etc. and other non-meat protein sources. Although you won’t go into full ketosis and you may not go into ketosis at all, but you will certainly have some of the befits of the diet which may indeed be enough for you to achieve your health goals or begin to move towards them.

Perhaps a ketogenic diet, or something similar, is going to help you to enjoy better health and possibly help manage your particular illness or condition. If you think this might be for you, or have some questions you’d like to ask, please give the clinic a call. I also recommend that you don’t just start a ketogenic diet without advise from your health care professional.

There are some situations in which this diet can cause harm if done incorrectly or if you have certain illnesses. There are also some circumstances in which this diet is contraindicated.

What I do think is a great idea is to adopt some of the principles of the diet and begin to incorporate some of the strategies – lower carbs, high quality fats, good levels of protein. Now how much of these you need is very individual and beyond the scope of Body Talk – you will need to make sure the amounts of carbs, fats and proteins suit you and your life-style.

Healthy Oils

Olive cold pressed, extra virgin
Coconut (doesn’t oxidise at high temperatures like many other oils used for cooking.)
Animal fats omega -3 rich. Eg: Krill, fatty fish like sardines or anchovies

Butters: 
Cow’s milk – (organic)
Nuts (almond, hazel etc)
Coconut
Ghee

Seeds:
Sesame (tahini)
pumpkin etc.

Avocado
Eggs (yolks) free range
Raw cacao butter