The ketogenic diet, which involves drastically reducing carbohydrate intake, doesn’t have to be done just any way.
These are the insights and recommendations for safely adopting a keto diet and reaching ketosis, the moment the body begins to draw on its fat.
1. How old is the ketogenic diet?
It’s very old, it’s over 100 years old. It was used at the hospital level for children and even for epileptics in general, but especially children who did not have two glucose receptors in the brain. So they were convulsing.
We thought that by changing the fuel, giving them those ketone bodies from fat, the convulsions would subside. That’s what worked. And then in the 1950s came the drugs. against epilepsy. The ketogenic diet has fallen into disuse.
In recent years, this diet has regained strength. It is talked about to lose weight, but also to limit or accompany certain neurological diseases.
2. What can we eat?
To reach ketosis, we can take meat, fish… And then, for once, we can take meat a little more fatty. What is needed is to try to improve the ratio of omega. 6 on omega 3. These are two families of essential fatty acids that we are obliged to find in the diet, but it turns out that the diet of the French is too unbalanced towards omega 6.
This will promote disease cardiovascular therefore that we must rebalance omega 3. We will find them in oilseeds, in seeds, for example, in vegetable oils. We can have a little butter, but we will promote oils. We can have a little bit of cream, but that’s not going to be the main thing.
3. Can we eat them in almost unlimited quantities?
We have the right to meat and fish by consuming them correctly, moderately, since we have said that it is not a high protein. We are therefore not going to make a whole chicken with the skin, but we will associate it with vegetables, oilseeds, avocado, and a drizzle of oil.
4. And what should we avoid?
Unfortunately, with this diet, there is no more pasta, no more bread, no more rice, no more legumes. We are beyond the authorized carbohydrate rate.
What is also quite annoying is that there is a sharp decrease in fruits. You have red fruits, papaya, and lemon, right now, and it stops there. Goodbye carrot, beet, pumpkin, sweet potato to go to vegetables rather green, leafy, like spinach, salad, cabbage. We do not recommend milk, yogurts, and soft cheeses which still contain lactose.
5. What are the contraindications?
You have to do a blood test before going on a ketogenic diet because some people have contraindications to the ketogenic diet.
When you eat fat like that, you will possibly increase your cholesterol level. If you have high cholesterol, We will avoid it. People who have serious illnesses, liver disease, kidney disease, type 1 diabetes… For them, it is contraindicated.
6. When does ketosis start?
It doesn’t start right away. It takes at least 72 hours for the body to change the fuel. And that period can be more or less bad. We sometimes even talk about the ketogenic flu. find, nauseous, with a runny nose. We are not well because the body is not used to this new fuel.
7. Can we do it when we are vegan or vegetarian?
Pure vegans cannot go on ketogenic diets. Vegetarians can because they will be able to eat fish, cheese. But since we are removing all sources of vegetable protein that are provided by legumes, it is complicated… However, there is still vegetable protein in oilseeds, such as almonds, for example.
8. Should you go on the ketogenic diet for the long term?
Staying on the ketogenic diet for the long term, some do, but it’s very complicated. It cuts you off from the conviviality. Pasta, pizzas, morning bread, it’s over.
We can have shortcomings, even deficiencies. It should be thought carefully before but it is true that when we do it for a period, it works well.
