It’s Saturday, so I’m making keto friendly bacon and sausage. But I’m also eating candy. Oops.
Keto just ain’t it for me, but maybe it’s worked out for you and that’s fantastic. If your doc said it’s cool and it’s been a healthy sustainable change for you, do it.
But have you heard some of the claims on the internet about this one and thought, “fucking really?”
Today’s Moment of Science… chewing the fat.
The story of keto wasn’t ‘on the eighth day Joe Rogan was born, carbs were banished, and the Lord said it was good.’ In the 1920s they’d used fasting to manage epilepsy- temporarily- and found that a diet without carbs could mimic some of fasting’s metabolic fuckery. One measurable effect of this was the presence of molecules we call ‘ketones’ in urine. The more interesting effect though? It got many seizure disorders under control, but with a tad more sustainable eating plan than fasting.
The original prescribed ketogenic diet was extremely strict at one gram of protein per kilogram of body mass, fifteen grams of carbs max, and an ‘all you can eat’ policy on fat. The strict nature of it meant it fell out of favor when effective anticonvulsants came on the market, but it’s still used to treat some seizure disorders.
There are several of these lower carb diets floating now, including Atkins, Dukan, and South Beach. Keto, similar to the diet for seizure control, puts the emphasis on increasing fat consumption and limiting carbs on a more permanent basis. The others start extremely low carb, increasing over time to a moderate carb consumption long term. What they all come down to is a fairly simple strategy: fuck carbs, from candy and donuts to more nutritionally dense fare like apples and sweet potatoes.
And man, the argument comes up all the time that it’s not doable long term. Which is a bad argument specifically against this one, because most diets aren’t sustainable for most people. For some people, this is the most sustainable thing they’ve found.
So, the bullshit.
Woven into keto’s ‘best diet ever’ claims are some sub-factual ideas. Eat as much as you want but you’ll only lose weight if you’re “in ketosis” because calories don’t matter, carbs do. At the same caloric intake, people have lost more weight on a low carb diet than they’ve been able to on a low fat diet because of increased calorie burn. Dieters are just less hungry on keto because the fat satisfies them.
Hooboy.
So being “in ketosis” means that you’re burning fat and producing ketones. For funsies, you can pee on a stick to measure the ketones if that’s your jam. However, there can be ketones in your urine even if you’re not on the ketogenic diet, and it doesn’t necessarily indicate much about weight loss. Besides, since ketosis requires you to get 80-90% of your calories from fat, most people doing keto are probably not in ketosis. They probably have cut some calories though, which is what causes weight loss.
It is true that there’s often initially a bit more weight loss on a low carb diet. But that weight has been well established to be from water molecules that are locked onto carbs in your system. Daydream about a cronut and it’ll be back in a day. Long term, there’s no real difference between low carb and low fat diets at the same caloric levels.
There is some neat science to support that this diet may be easier to stick to partially because of the appetite-suppressing quality of protein, but not the fat. A 2005 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that, even with carbs as a part of their diets, study participants’ appetites were markedly decreased when the protein in their diet was raised from 15% to 30% of their caloric intake.
Increasing protein to help with satiety is a fairly sound idea in any diet plan. However, the idea that cutting carbs will turn you into some sort of fat burning machine is just that: an idea, and one that lacks evidence. A 2016 study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggested that, if there is any change in calorie burn, it’s barely measurable.
None of this means the diet doesn’t work or that it’s “bad.” On the contrary, several of these points support that this diet can help people successfully manage their weight. It just means that it works the same way every other diet works: caloric restriction. Which means like every other diet, it hinges on if it’s sustainable long term for you.
So if you’ve been thinking about swapping your morning bagel for some deviled eggs, talk to your doctor and ask for a referral to a dietitian to see if this is a fit for you. One thing you can definitely leave behind along with the carbs are all the debunked ideas about this diet.
This has been your daily Moment of Science, likely not reading the comments section today for reasons.
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