The Guardian looks at the latest diet sensation, which takes high-fat to an extreme: anything more than a handful carbs a day is forbidden, because the point is to put your body in a state of ketosis. I hope you like meat, eggs, greens and nuts!
The ketogenic diet has been called the “new Atkins” and is being taken up by an increasing number of people. But Professor Thomas Seyfried from Boston College, who has conducted research on the regimen, urges caution. “This diet is not to be taken lightly and there are healthcare professionals who work specifically in administering it,” he says. “Done incorrectly, you can alter your blood lipid parameters, which is not healthy. But when done the correct way, the blood parameters for the heart look beautiful.”
It's a proven treatment for certain medical conditions, which is the focus of The Guardian's article. For the rest of us, doctors caution that it makes it difficult to pull in important nutrients.
I've been on ketogenic diet for about three weeks, and have lost about 20 pounds. I just don't get hungry much on it, and hunger is a different sensation. It's a feeling of literal physical emptiness, rather than a craving that must be addressed. When I reach my target weight, I'm going to post before-and-after blood work to see what it did to my body in unseen ways.
