The ketogenic diet offers two key benefits: You can lose weight quickly while eating lots of tasty, greasy foods. Sounds too good to be true. So is it: Here are the 3 cons of the keto diet.
The ketogenic diet has proven to be extremely effective in the treatment of epilepsy. But is it also suitable for healthy people who just want to lose weight or eat better? The following three cons will provide you with the answer.
Table of Contents
Keto Diet: The 3 Disadvantages of the Ketogenic Diet
1. Keto-Grippe
This curious phenomenon occurs especially at the beginning of the change in diet and has already been observed in several studies according to the ÄrzteZeitung . For example, an Australian team of researchers found, based on users of a health forum, that a third of those following a ketogenic diet complained of typical cold symptoms such as a runny nose, headache, fatigue, dizziness, gastrointestinal problems, lack of energy or even an irregular heartbeat. 37 percent of those surveyed classified the flu-like symptoms that occurred as severe.
2. Increased risk of atherosclerosis
While the ketogenic diet can have a positive effect on your blood sugar levels, the situation is very different when it comes to cholesterol levels. Since the keto diet consists primarily of high-fat foods, there is a very high risk that you will consume an excess of saturated animal fats and possibly even trans fats. Unfortunately, this causes more bad LDL cholesterol to build up in your body. The test persons in this study experienced an improvement in their blood sugar levels, but at the same time a deterioration in their blood lipid levels and LDL cholesterol levels. Because elevated LDL levels are one of the main risk factors for arteriosclerosisare, the keto diet is currently not recommended in the long term.
3. Jojo-Effekt
As a short-term diet, with which you want to get rid of a few pounds quickly, the ketogenic diet is only suitable to a limited extent. It is true that leaving out carbohydrates leads to our glycogen stores being emptied and with them a good deal of water disappearing from the body. The lost weight is not harmful body fat that you want to get rid of for health reasons. In addition, the glycogen returns quickly, along with the water, as soon as more carbohydrates are put on the plate. You can’t lose weight with the keto diet in the long run – unless you stick to it until the end of your life, which is not recommended for health reasons. It would be better to fundamentally and permanently switch to a balanced diet with as many vegetables as possible.
