KETO CAN BE A MESS TOO!!

We’ve all been there. This popular fad diet has made its way into our fitness goals at some point or another. And if you haven’t tried it yet, don’t!

Let’s talk about the basics of the keto diet.

The rules:

You cut down your carbohydrate intake to 50-100 grams/day by excluding refined sugar, pastas, rice and surgery fruits and vegetables from your diet. Instead, you fill up your plate with fat and proteins.

The mechanism:

Your liver stores some 50 grams of carbohydrates in the form of glycogen and your muscles holds onto some more. When you exclude carbohydrates from your diet, your body is forced to first utilize the glycogen stored in your liver and then muscles to obtain glucose aka energy.

Once you’ve depleted your glycogen stores, your body will start using the stored fats to get energy by way of gluconeogenesis. This way, you will slowly begin sloughing off that fat!

But there’s a catch. Our brain, the most vital organ of our body, relies solely on glucose for energy. And it needs it fast!

Getting glucose from carbohydrates is a relatively fast process, whereas getting it from fats takes time. Thereby, you end up depriving your brain of its energy source!

This slows downs your concentration, makes your grumpy and tired among other things.

Moreover, when you replace carbohydrates for fats, you take in increasingly greater quantities of triglycerides. This can raise your body cholesterol levels, and increase your risk for developing cardiovascular diseases.

So while the keto diet may seem like an easy way to get a summer bod, it’s benefits outweighs its risks. The verdict? It’s better if you stay away from fad diets