People blindly follow the Film Industry’s trending diets. Without having to understand the pros and cons and the right method to follow the diet. Right now, Keto diet is highly trending in India and may be around the world too. Last year, in Koffee with Karan season, Karan Johar had also mentioned about his love for Keto diet and how it is helping him lose weight and keep fit.
Diabetes is spiked in blood sugar levels. Is a Ketogenic diet helpful in reversing diabetes? Before answering this question let’s look at what keto diet is. The most frequently asked question is can diabetes be cured permanently? There is still no cure for diabetes, but it is proven that keto diet can help reverse the effect of diabetes. Wanna know how? Scroll down to learn more.
What is a ketogenic diet?
The ketogenic diet famously called the “Keto diet”, is a low carb and high fat diet that offers many health benefits. This diet has proven to help you lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Ketogenic diets have great benefits against diabetes, epilepsy, Alzhimers and cancer too.
The diet involves keeping low carbohydrate intake and increasing the fat-food. This method puts the body into a metabolic state called Ketosis. This diet helps your body to burn fat at a high energy pace. It also turns the fat into ketones in the liver, which then supplies energy to the brain. All this finally helps reverse Type 2 diabetes. As it causes reduction in the blood sugar levels and insulin.
Ketogenic diet is an alternative diabetes treatment in India preferred by many individuals along with certain medications.
Different types of ketogenic diet:
There are various kinds of ketogenic diet:
Standard keto diet (SKD):
This diet includes low carb, high fat and moderate amounts of protein in the diet. It contains 10% of carbs, 20% proteins and 70% fat.
Cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD):
This diet involves high carb diets such as 5 ketogenic days followed by 2 high carb days.
Targeted Ketogenic diet (TKD):
This diet helps to add carbs around the workout.
High protein ketogenic diet :
This is similar to standard ketogenic diet and additionally includes more protein intake. The ratio containing this diet includes 5% carbs, 35% protein and 60% fat.
Cyclical and targeted ketogenic diets are more advanced ketogenic diet methods and primarily used by athletes or body builders. People who follow a ketogenic diet have lost an average of 2 pounds compared to those who follow a low fat diet.
We wouldn’t suggest that keto diet is the best treatment for diabetes in India as everybody has its own preferences, eating habits and insulin levels. One can follow a keto diet plan only in the supervision of his/her doctor.
Keto diet for diabetes and prediabetes:
Diabetes is the elevation in sugar levels in the body. It is a chronic disease which is only going to get worse in the long run. It is important to control blood sugar levels to live a healthy life. This can be achieved by maintaining a healthy body weight and following a healthy diet.
Can diabetes be cured permanently? As mentioned above, researchers are still working on groundbreaking levels to find a cure for diabetes. However, diabetes can be reversed. Ketogenic diet can help reverse type 2 diabetes by helping you lose excess fat which is closely linked with type 2 diabetes. It has also proven to reduce levels of hemoglobin A1C which is a measure of long term blood sugar management. In a nutshell keto diet is beneficial in maintaining blood sugar levels.
A person suffering from diabetes has a body whose insulin is either absent or does not work efficiently. However, no diet is the same for individuals. Everybody has a unique need for food intake depending upon preferences, eating habits and blood sugar level of that person. Keto diet helps control spike in blood sugar level due to less carb intake which is estimated to be 10% of carb thus reducing the need for insulin.
Keto diet has also helped in reduction in diabetes medicine for those following this diet consistently.
Keto diet is not just beneficial for type 2 diabetes patients but can also benefit people with other health conditions such as heart disease, brain injury, cancer, Polycystic ovary syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. The basic funda is to keep away from high carb foods.
Following are the benefits of keto diet:
- Decrease in blood pressure
- Reduction in insulin levels
- Improved insulin sensitivity
- Reducing amount of diabetes medicine intake
- Healthy weight loss
- Improvement in cholesterol
- Increase in energy level
- Decrease in hunger
Seeking for the best treatment for diabetes in India? Gleneagles Global hospital is said to be the best diabetology hospital in India offering treatment for diabetes and care for diabetes related conditions with specialists in India.
Following is the list of high carb food that needs to be reduced or eliminated:
- Sugary Foods such as fruit juice, soda, cake, ice cream, candy etc.
- Sugar free diet foods such as syrups, candies, sweeteners, pudding, desserts etc.
- Grains or starches such as rice, pasta, cereal, wheat-based products, bread, pasta, milk etc.
- Alcohol
- Beans or legumes
- Unhealthy fats such as mayonnaise, processed oil etc.
- Root vegetables such as potato, carrots, sweet potatoes etc.
- Low fat diet products such as salad dressing
- Some sauces and condiments such as ketchup, honey mustard, barbecue sauce etc.
Following is the list of foods that you must include in your keto diet:
- Meat
- Condiments such as pepper, salt, herbs and spices
- Fatty fish
- Low carb veggies such as tomatoes, onion, peppers, green veggies etc.
- Eggs
- Avocados
- Butter and cream
- Healthy oils such as extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil
- Cheese such a s goat, cheddar, mozzarella.
- Berries
A sample one week keto diet plan (only for reference):
| Days | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
| Monday | Veggies and egg muffin with tomatoes | Chicken salad with olive oil, side salad, olives and feta cheese | Salmon with asparagus cooked in grass-fed butter |
| Tuesday | Basil, tomato, spinach, egg Omelette | Keto smoothie with sliced strawberry | Cheese shell tacos with salsa |
| Wednesday | Nut, milk, chia pudding topped with blackberries and coconut | Avocado shrimp salad | pork chops with Parmesan cheese, salad and broccoli |
| Thursday | Omelette made with avocado, eggs, salsa, peppers, onion and spices | A handful of nuts and celery sticks with guacamole and salsa | Chicken stuffed with pesto and cheese cream and side of grilled zucchini |
| Friday | Sugar free greek yoghurt, with peanut butter and berries | Tacos made of beef and sliced bell peppers | Mixed veggies |
| Saturday | Pancakes with blueberries and slide of grilled mushrooms | Zucchini and beet noodle salad | Fish cooked in coconut oil with kale and pine nuts |
| Sunday | Fried eggs with mushrooms | Chicken and broccoli | Spaghetti |
Keto diet is a strict low carb and high fat diet providing ample amounts of nutrients to the body. To follow the keto diet, one should adopt a diet plan depending on the type and preferences of their body.
Side effects of keto diet:
Following are the side effects caused by keto diet:
- Loss of salts
- Short term Keto-flu
- Headache
- Constipation
- Frequent urge of urination
- Leg cramps
- Mental fogginess
- Loss of energy
In most cases, side effects are temporary. Long term side effects may include kidney stones and increased risk of bone fracture.
Summary:
- Ketogenic diet is a low carb and high fat diet which causes reduction in the blood and insulin levels of the body thus, reversing type 2 diabetes.
- There are various kinds of keto diet. SKD is the most common and recommended diet.
- Keto diet helps to shed more weight compared to those on low fat diets because high fat diets make you less hungry.
- Keto diet helps reverse Type 2 diabetes by causing fat loss and can boost insulin sensitivity.
- Keto diet involves elimination of carb based foods such as alcohol, grains, juice, sugar, rice, potatoes etc.
- Include food in your diet such as eggs, healthy oils, tomatoes, avocado and plenty of vegetables.
- Vegetables are important part of keto diet
- Fats do not spike your blood sugar levels.
The only drawback of keto diet is that it’s difficult to follow in the long term. People should follow a diet plan that works for them and feels good. Ketogenic diet may reverse the effect of diabetes but cannot be cured. It means the disease can come back if long term changes in the diet is not maintained. Narayana Healthcare is yet another hospital providing diabetes treatment in India. They have expert diabetologists and trained medical staff offering qualitative care to diabetic patients.