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[Taxexemption]

All I know is that losing the weight keto way is the same as losing weight the normal way.

Not really. Keto works because dietary fat is necessary for the production of sex hormones and a low fat diet promoted by the government lowers those hormones. Having more of these hormones at least for males burns more fat


Also, eating lots of simple carbs causes your body to produce lots of insulin which then causes a series of other chemical reactions that eventually lead to dramatic and sudden feelings of hunger.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Keto is pretty simple. Don't eat food/drinks with sugars like sucrose, glucose, lactose, etc or 'hidden sugars' like maltodextrin, dextrose, aspartame, etc. Remember that carbohydrates are essentially sugars and treat them as such. However, you should ignore the carbohydrates in vegetables when tallying your daily limit. Avoid starchy vegetables. Eat tons of cruciferous vegetables. Do not snack between meals (eating spikes insulin and slows weight loss), have it at the end of a meal. Don't be afraid of fats, but do avoid vegetable oils. Omega-6 oils are inflammatory, avoid them though sunflower oil is ok. Omega-3 is anti-inflammatory. Aim to eat only nutrient dense foods and organ meats occasionally. You don't need a ton of protein, even when building muscle; You will have to experiment to find your tolerance (around 3oz-8oz). Drink only water if you can. Don't be afraid of consuming a lot of (it's better to be over the limit than under it). Doing keto without fasting is a mistake. You want to get down to two or even one meal a day without being in a huge caloric deficit. The benefits of intermittent fasting (18+ hours) are huge. Only eat when you're hungry. That can't be stressed enough. I'm not talking a little feeling in the stomach that you can ride out, you should really be hungry.

I've possibly missed something important out but that's a quick rundown.

That's my biggest issue with hardcore keto diets. If a diet tells me to avoid certain veggies and fruits, I get suspicious. Because there is absolutely no need to. You need to eat fruits, you need to eat veggies. As much and many kinds of them as possible.

 

[jdforge]

I did keto for almost a year.

I lost a lot of weight, slept better, had no hair loss and my libido was fine. I also noticed I had clearer skin and my aches and pains were massively reduced. I felt I had more energy in general.

I didn’t have keto breath either.

On the negative side I felt bad eating so much meats and fats. It didn’t feel healthy. I also noticed that I was constantly and I mean constantly obsessing about what I could eat and found it restrictive at all times, especially when going to eat out with friends.

The diet also doesn’t lend itself to going out for drinks unless you stick to white spirits with sugar free mixers.

I also noticed some mood extremes at times where my emotions were more easily affected by every day issues.

 

[betrayal]

Your body can produce glucose when needed from fat, ketones, and dietary protein. However, after about 1-3 weeks your body will become 'keto-adapted' (when the cellular machinery has adapted to using ketones) and your endurance and energy levels will likely be greater than they ever were while running on glucose. Ketones are conservative to body muscle. The only time you'll be losing muscle on keto is if your protein levels are too high or you go too long without eating. This is a good video on the topic of keto and body building.

It is all true that carbohydrates are not needed for muscle building, but posting videos with bodybuilders who clearly use steroids is a bit...questionable. Thomas DeLauer has been doing high cycles for years and it doesn't help Dr. Berg's credibility and seriousness when he involves such people.
Otherwise, there are several studies and millions of real world examples that ketosis does not improve endurance, but generally decreases it. If this were not the case, most professional athletes would by the way have long since started to eat only ketogenic food. However, almost no one actually does this (unless they take steroids).
The fact that some people feel very good when they are on a ketogenic diet has to do with the fact that a) the calorie limit is either very low or non-existent, b) the body has switched to ketosis or they eat far too much carbohydrates and, most importantly, c) they finally stopped eating so much shit. So imagine somebody who is not doing keto and not eating shit at the same time. That's the way to peak performance.

I can't disagree with these sentiments enough. First of all, I have lost (and long-term maintained) weight from a ketogenic diet. I have never felt better throughout the day from any other diet. My body (and mind) thank me for it. Secondly, those videos are equating Atkins to a ketogenic diet. It is absolutely anything but. Atkins is a high protein diet and keto is a high fat, moderate protein, low carb diet; This distinction is important, as high amounts of protein will be metabolised the same as carbohydrates. (Additionally, keto should not be confused with other low carb diets as they don't stress the moderate protein). Going by the tone of the guy's voice and the choice data, I'm willing to believe that guy just has a vendetta against keto (or at least the Atkins diet). But I do agree, "use your brain", avoid Atkins.

The guy in the videos is certainly no opponent of healthy eating or keto. He is committed to healthy eating and all statements and videos are based on studies. 100% of the profits from videos, books etc. are donated. He earns his money as a simple doctor. Employees work there on a volunteer basis. There are no sponsors or other companies or people in the background.

In the videos only a small part is about protein. Most of the clearly documented disadvantages have nothing to do with the amount of protein. As I said: There are enough videos and articles on the site and everybody, really EVERYBODY, can read them and form their own opinion.

At the end of the day, it's like I said before. Common sense is sufficient for many things and so it is here. If a ketogenic diet were actually proven to have any real benefits in terms of fitness, body composition or mental performance, we would have millions of famous or well-known athletes (without steroids) and representatives to prove it to us. Meanwhile, I am still waiting for someone with a ketogenic diet to become world champion or win gold at the Olympics.

 

[digital haze]

Wait, I did forget something: Avoid fat trans trans fats like the plague.

That's my biggest issue with hardcore keto diets. If a diet tells me to avoid certain veggies and fruits, I get suspicious. Because there is absolutely no need to. You need to eat fruits, you need to eat veggies. As much and many kinds of them as possible.

It's about the insulin response. Too high of an insulin response will kick you out of ketosis. You don't need to eat fruit. Fruit is generally far too high in one of the worst kinds of sugar*. But you definitely need to eat copious amounts of vegetables and salad.
* Fructose can only be processed through the liver. In high amounts, the liver can struggle to cope and begin storing it as fat on itself.

It is all true that carbohydrates are not needed for muscle building, but posting videos with bodybuilders who clearly use steroids is a bit...questionable. Thomas DeLauer has been doing high cycles for years and it doesn't help Dr. Berg's credibility and seriousness when he involves such people.
Otherwise, there are several studies and millions of real world examples that ketosis does not improve endurance, but generally decreases it. If this were not the case, most professional athletes would by the way have long since started to eat only ketogenic food. However, almost no one actually does this (unless they take steroids).
The fact that some people feel very good when they are on a ketogenic diet has to do with the fact that a) the calorie limit is either very low or non-existent, b) the body has switched to ketosis or they eat far too much carbohydrates and, most importantly, c) they finally stopped eating so much shit. So imagine somebody who is not doing keto and not eating shit at the same time. That's the way to peak performance.

Bodybuilding isn't an area of interest, so I wouldn't know if the guy's on steroids. I wasn't implying keto would get those kinds of results, I was only interested in the data.

I'm aware there are many studies against low-carb and ketogenic diets. They tend to be carefully constructed or naive versions that shouldn't strictly be considered as either. For example, considering a daily carbohydrate limit of 100g as 'low', or including poor ingredients choices like rapeseed oil and maltodextrin. They're often short-term studies when the full benefits of keto-adaptation can be delayed potentially four weeks or never come due to the poor ingredients used.

I'd argue people tend to feel good on ketogenic diets because they aim to correct health and maintain a feeling of wellness. Particularly in swapping inflammatory foods for anti-inflammatory and foregoing ones that cause an unnecessarily high hormone response. Fasting to repair damage within the body.
I'm not saying keto will always out-perform other diets - that's on the individual and what works for them - the pattern of eating can be far more important than what you eat. The question is if that's sustainable and comfortable to do. I know I couldn't do intermittent fasting or prolonged fasting without feeling like crap while relying on glucose.

The guy in the videos is certainly no opponent of healthy eating or keto. He is committed to healthy eating and all statements and videos are based on studies. 100% of the profits from videos, books etc. are donated. He earns his money as a simple doctor. Employees work there on a volunteer basis. There are no sponsors or other companies or people in the background.

In the videos only a small part is about protein. Most of the clearly documented disadvantages have nothing to do with the amount of protein. As I said: There are enough videos and articles on the site and everybody, really EVERYBODY, can read them and form their own opinion.

I should have said it's difficult to trust his opinion and the studies he cites when he makes such elementary mistakes like saying Atkins is a ketogenic diet.
Of one of the studies I was interested in which he links (Low-carbohydrate diets and all-cause mortality...), they unfortunately don't give a breakdown of what their subjects are eating but only speak of testing high-carb, high-protein diet. They go on to say "increased intake of protein from animal sources, cholesterol and saturated fat, all of which are risk factors for mortality and CVD.", which is only true in the presence of carbohydrates (or high-protein acting as carbohydrate). Eating more cholesterol will cause the body to produce less. Cholesterol is not the cause of clogged arteries, but a necessary carrier of hormones that is caught up and used to heal inflammation of the arteries caused by carbohydrates which goes on to plaque. Saturated fat makes up 50% of cell membranes as well as being used to create hormones. I'm not surprised at the results given the diet's similarity to Atkins.

For all his good intentions, I have seen plenty of studies and emergent evidence showing benefits to a keto diet. Beyond that, I have myself as evidence and that is most important to me. But absolutely, everyone should form their own opinion.