Goodbye Carbs — Everything You Need To Know About The Keto Diet.
Science, pros, cons, and everything you need to make an educated decision.
Keto is a popular style of carb depletion dieting. This is a type of diet that is more than just “low carb” but it aims to be “no carb”, which is a dramatic and abrupt change that forces your body into certain energy systems that mandate usage of stored fats.
As stated, Keto is not just low carb. A diet containing anything less than 100g of carbohydrates a day is considered to be carbohydrate restrictive. Keto is in the category of carbohydrate depleted, landing in the 10–30g of carbohydrates a day. The exact amount of carbs for each person will differ due to body weight and caloric needs; but a true Keto diet aims for 5% of your daily calories to come from indirect carbohydrates.
Why indirect carbs and why 5%? Because having a truly zero carb diet is virtually impossible. Carbs are always sneaking into everything, 5g here and 2g there. It has been found that if you are able to keep your carbohydrate intake below 30g a day, for an average male, then the energy brought in by carbohydrates are virtually null and provide no antiketogenic effects. All carbs brought in on a keto diet are indirect because you never intentionally eat carbohydrates when following this discipline. All carbs are byproducts or accidental.
Because of the drastically low number of carbohydrates in the diet, protein and fat consumption are generally bumped up to make up for lost calories and to fight catabolic effects of gluconeogenesis. (we will discuss later)
So how does the Keto diet work?
Glucose is a sugar molecule that is most easily converted into ATP inside of the body. ATP is your body’s energy currency. In order to survive and perform your body needs a certain level of ATP to allow any and all processes to take place. Glucose is most readily made from carbohydrates. Because of your body’s dependence on glucose it goes through measures to store excess glucose as glycogen in the muscles and liver; and as fat in adipose tissue.
When you take away carbohydrates your body doesn't stop needing glucose it simply starts pulling it from other sources. Low blood sugar levels will trigger hormonal responses in the body that signal the cascading effect needed to begin a catabolic response used to break down fat and protein.
Your body has 2 major ways of making glucose from stored energy
- Converting glycogen back to glucose — easier
- Converting fat and protein to glucose, a.k.a gluconeogenesis — harder
Keep in mind! Both of these things are happening at all times. However, depending on what it readily available, they are happening at different percentages. Through the beginning stages of Keto, when you stop eating carbs but still have glycogen stores left, you will feel noticeably weaker yet no noticeable difference in fat levels. This is because your body is converting stored glycogen at a high rate and converting fat/protein at a low rate. Using up this muscle glycogen will inevitable make the affected muscles seem weaker and less “full” as we put it in the bodybuilding world.
After a certain amount of time, once muscle and liver glycogen have reached a threshold of depletion, your percentages will flip. All of a sudden your body will switch to high rate of fat/protein conversion and low rate of glycogen conversion. This happens to help try and maintain energy levels without having to run stored glycogen to a complete zero. Your body doesn’t like to use up everything of anything it stores.
Fun fact, that is why it is so hard for a person to naturally reach sub 7–9% body fat.
BOOM! So all of a sudden you are using fat for energy. This is where the term “ketosis” comes from. Stored fat is broken down into free fatty acids by a process called lypolysis. These free fatty acids are taken up by the liver and converted into Ketone Bodies. These ketone bodies are then further converted into Acetyl-CoA which is sent to the citric acid cycle. Which makes ATP (energy).
Keto Diet = Fat -> FFA -> Ketone -> Acetyl-CoA -> ATP
WARNING: THIS CAN ALSO HAPPEN WITH PROTEIN!
Gluconeogenesis is the production of new glucose from noncarbohydrate sources. i.e. Fat AND Protein. While skeletal muscle tissue is the last preferred source of energy, it is still consumed for energy when the energy demand is high enough. Remember that the very existence of muscle increases your metabolic demand. The more muscle you have the more energy you need on a daily basis. It is not confusing to understand that your body can and will kill two birds with one stone by both using your muscle for energy and decrease muscle mass at the same time. Which would decrease your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
This is the main factor behind the increased protein intake during a Keto diet. By providing dietary protein your body will be able to convert that and less often resort to your skeletal muscle protein. And in the case that your muscle is still being converted, when you couple Keto with resistance training and ample dietary amino acid profiles you will be able to combat any noticeable muscle loss. You are essentially trying to add/retain as much muscle as your are using to reach a net of zero.
It would be a far fetched idea to expect to actually gain muscle on a keto diet. Most people think they are gaining muscle, but they are actually just revealing the muscle they already sport by shedding the fat that was hiding it. You need to be in a caloric surplus to add on body composition.
*phew* Ok. That about covers the bare bones science of Keto.
So after all of that; should you follow this diet? That’s up for you to decide! But here are my top pro's and con’s for the Keto diet to consider.
Keto Pro’s
You will shed fat.
It is just a metabolic fact. Your body cannot maintain fat levels if it has no outside glucose sources. Energy is mandatory, fat storage is not. Fat exists on a functional level for this exact reason; to keep you alive in the absence of adequate food. If you have never seen much success with previous diets or if you are the type of person that needs to see quick results in order to stay motivated then this may be a good diet for you to try. Which segways us to number 2. . .
Fast results.
This diet hits hard, and it hits fast. I have never seen people lose more weight at this type of speed. All while feeling like they have plenty to eat, from the increased protein. Both myself and my clients have used this diet with success. It didn’t become famous by not working.
Skeletal muscle stores about 500 grams of glycogen and your liver stores about 100 grams of glycogen. When cut off from carbs and coupled with exercise and activity these stores can find themselves depleted in anywhere from 24–48 hours. Perhaps a little longer if you are sedentary. But once these stores are critically low, it’s go time. Have a wedding in 6 weeks? Give Keto a go.
Your brain loves it.
Keto has found itself famous for it’s brain boosting effects. People who live their lives in a carbohydrate dependant state are always taken aback when they experience the clear headedness and snappy cognition that comes with adequate ketone production. Ketosis has also recently found itself in the spotlight for discoveries of it’s neurological disease fighting properties.
Why does your brain love it?
Ketone bodies have been found to be a more effective source of energy for the brain, creating more molecules of ATP per unit of oxygen consumed vs it’s glucose counterpart. The less O2 that your brain uses means there is less cellular metabolism happening which reduces the number of reactive O2 byproducts in the brain. These reactive o2 byproducts have been directly related to early degradation of brain health. Ketones also enhance Reactive O2 breakdown through increasing the activity of glutathione peroxidase, a part of our innate anti-oxidant system.
Lastly, ketones increase the number of mitochondria found inside the cells of the brain. More mitochondria means a higher potential for mental energy production.
Many people with jobs of high mental demand will center a keto diet around a deadline. A good example of this is Tim Ferriss, who will manipulate the ketone count in his blood through diet and supplementation to peak mentally towards the completion of a book.
It’s easy.
Sure, it may not be easy to overcome your carbohydrate dependence. That is to be expected. You are addicted to carbs. But as far as the diet itself goes, it’s incredibly easy.
No hard math.
No real percentages.
Not a lot of calorie counting.
Just avoid carbs at all costs. Read the label; carbs in it? Yes? Then don’t eat it. Bada boom, your done.
Don’t worry carb lovers! It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Here are some cons.
Keto Cons
High liver and kidney stress.
The process of turning free fatty acids and amino acids into ketone bodies happens in the liver. The liver is also responsible for working the other way around by taking dietary proteins and amino acids and turning them into cellular proteins for skeletal muscle and tissues. Couple this extra hepatic (liver) workload due to the human inability to refrain from alcohol and other liver converted molecules out of our daily lives you could find yourself with a recipe for disaster. Somebody with liver damage or an excessive drinking habit should not follow this diet.
Your kidneys become a thought for concern if you have a pre-existing kidney condition or history of kidney disease. Simply through the elevated amino acid count in the blood you are sending more stuff into your kidneys for filtration. This is an increased workload and the same goes as with the liver, if your kidneys are fully functioning and healthy then you have no issues. If your kidneys are not up to par then do not follow the Keto diet; or any high protein diet, for that matter.
Metabolic Adaptation/Metabolic Damage.
Your body is always looking for homeostasis. It wants to level things out and get back to cruise control. When you force it into crisis mode a chain of events will ensue resulting in metabolic adaptation. Your body processes will slow themselves in order to lower the amount of energy output to match your energy input. This means that your metabolism will slow down, and your energy system performance will take a hit. This is why keto is not suggested for athletes with high energy outputs. **Although combating studies are currently underway.
This metabolic adaptation happens with any diet and with any physical change. That is why people adopt new normal body compositions and find themselves stuck in a rut. The human body loves ruts.
The rule of thumb is that the more intense the diet, the more intense the adaptation. and Keto is a relatively high intensity diet, as far as diets go. That means that the adaptation will be as equally intense.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
When this suppressed level of metabolism and energy output is maintained for a long enough period of time it is possible that you will never be able to return your metabolism to its previous levels. Leaving you with a suppressed metabolism for life. This is called metabolic damage. Which leads me into the next con.
This is not a long term solution.
Keto is a diet that should be used sparingly. The short term benefits of mental health and rapidly fat loss are quickly outweighed by the long term side effects of carbohydrate depletion. For a full list of long term side effects check out this article here.
Keto should be used as a tool to get a result and then the tool should be put away. Once you have utilized it for its short term benefits (generally sub-15 weeks) you need to phase into a sustainable diet that is geared towards maintenance of progress. Then once a new standard of sustainable eating practices has been established you can consider using keto again for a new round of results. Staying on keto long term will damage your body, your motivation, and your metabolism.
How long is too long? There is simply no way to tell. Just listen to your body. You will notice when the cons start to outweigh the benefits. If you feel like you are doing damage then you probably are. If you feel like it is working, then it probably is. People tend to mistrust their bodies and the signals it sends them; when in reality you should take them for what they are. Warnings. Don’t shy away from keto. But don’t dive in headfirst with horse blinders on.
Use this knowledge to make the best choice for YOU! Don’t rely on a trainer to always know what is best for you. It is your body, and your responsibility to know why you are doing what you are doing. Hopefully with the correct information you will be able to use Keto for what it is. A tool in your weight loss and healthy lifestyle arsenal.
Tyler
