It’s weight loss that draws many people to low carb and ketogenic diets initially but the benefits go way beyond a leaner waistline, from diabetes to dementia from cardiovascular disease to cancer. I’m going to share with you 7 different benefits of ketogenic diets and low carbs. Let’s get started!
1. Weight Loss
So low carb diets have been conclusively shown to be more effective than low-fat diets for weight loss. Low carb diets reduce insulin levels allowing us to access our stored body fat more easily. They reduced hunger allowing us to eat less. They may even create a metabolic advantage, meaning we simply burn more calories when we’re low carb and they may even help us with food addiction problems.
2. Improved Blood Glucose Control
The supply of energy from our food to our tissues is at the core of our metabolism and the regulation of our blood glucose is an important part of this. You will simply have fewer spikes in energy on a low-carb diet. The insulin or sugar crash that many people experience during the day is a result of consuming high GI or highly processed carbohydrates. It results in rapid rises in blood sugar levels and the insulin response that follows reduces our blood sugar levels quickly and which often leaves us with low energy levels when we consume fewer carbohydrates we can better regular our blood glucose levels avoiding these energy spikes.
3. Low carb diets improve cardiovascular risk markers
When we talk about heart attacks and strokes, it’s a common concern that people have about low carb and ketogenic diets is the increased fat consumption that goes hand-in-hand with
them. However, the science shows that this isn’t true and in fact, it shows that low carb diets improve many of the markers that are commonly associated with heart disease.
3.1. HDL Vs. LDL
Firstly, it improves HDL. We’ve all heard about the great cholesterol battle; HDL versus LDL … good versus evil. Attention is always given to lowering LDL. Very little attention has been paid to raising the good cholesterol levels to HDL and this is probably because drug companies have failed to provide medication to do this to date. Low carb and ketogenic diets are particularly effective in increasing HDL levels.
Secondly, it also improves LDL particle size. Many scientists now believe that we’ve been focusing on the wrong thing when it comes to ‘bad cholesterol and it’s the size of the particle that matters rather than the total number. So whilst low carb and ketogenic diets often result in raised LDL levels. The particles are larger and fluffier which are thought to be less damaging to the walls of our arteries.
Thirdly, low-carb diets reduced triglycerides. Now, these are the fats that are made in life when too much carbohydrate is consumed and we see significant improvement in triglyceride levels on low-carb diets.
3.2. High blood pressure
Moving on from cholesterol onto other risk factors for heart disease; High Blood Pressure. Now hypertension is well known to be the single biggest risk factor for heart attacks and strokes but raised insulin levels caused the kidneys to retain fluid which leads to higher blood pressure. It will therefore come as no surprise that cutting the carbs has also been found to cut blood pressure.
3.3. Abdominal obesity
Abdominal obesity is also improved. I mentioned weight loss earlier but low carb diets are especially useful at getting rid of that fat that is carried around our waist. This fat inside our abdominal cavities around our internal organs is not good for our health.
3.4. Fatty liver disease
Fatty liver disease is another big problem these days. However, it’s not caused by alcohol. Fatty liver disease is ca used by the excessive consumption of refined carbohydrates. Now small but promising studies have shown rapid reversal of fatty liver disease with low-carb ketogenic diets.
4. It reduces inflammation in the body
Excessive consumption of highly processed carbohydrates elicits an immune response in the body in the form of inflammation. If your diet regularly consists of highly processed carbohydrates, your body will remain in a state of inflammation which over time can have a detrimental effect on your immune system. Now we’ve already discussed heart disease and diabetes but beyond that chronic inflammation can also damage DNA leading to conditions such as cancer.
Now smoking is still the biggest cause of cancer in many countries but surprisingly obesity is in second place. So it’s not hard to see how weight loss might reduce your risk of cancer. Beyond that ketogenic diets are currently being investigated for how they may help prevent or treat certain cancers.
One theory is related to lowering blood glucose and therefore insulin levels. Another study found that the ketogenic diet may be a suitable complementary treatment for people who are already taking chemotherapy and radiation for certain cancers.
One of the best ways to improve arthritis in weight-bearing joints is through weight loss. However, reduced inflammation may result in less joint pain, particularly for those who suffer conditions such as arthritis and Autoimmune disease. The reduction and inflammation that goes along with a ketogenic diet are currently being widely researched in a range of autoimmune conditions and the role that the ketogenic diet plays in reducing chronic inflammation is a very exciting area of research.
5. Brain function
5.1. Improves concentration
We already talked about stabilizing blood glucose levels and overcoming those mid-afternoon energy slumps. This in itself is going to help your concentration but beyond this being in a state of ketosis means that your brain will also be using ketones as an energy source and many people report a sense of clarity and improved concentration relating to this.
5.2. Improves sleep
When people start off initially on a ketogenic diet they often report worse sleep whilst they’re becoming adapted. But beyond the first few weeks, there is anecdotal evidence that some people experience a higher quality of sleep which of course helps with daytime energy levels and concentration.
5.3. Epilepsy
Now ketogenic diets have been used to manage certain types of epilepsy, particularly in children where medication has been unable to control their symptoms. It’s currently being researched to treat or prevent conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, ADHD, and even some sleep disorders.
6. Improved skin health
Another, really, exciting area is how a low-carb diet can affect our gut microbiome diets that consist of high carbohydrate content, particularly processed carbohydrates. They have the ability to alter gut bacteria that can result in acne. A high number of foods associated with skin health, particularly those that contain vitamin A also fit really well with the ketogenic diet.
7. It improves health in women with PCOS
PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS is an endocrine disorder that causes enlarged ovaries with cysts irregular periods and fertility issues. If you have a look around the internet, you’ll find loads of anecdotal evidence suggesting that this condition can be helped by following a ketogenic diet. Whilst research is limited in this area, there is some evidence to support these claims.
Well, we can see that the benefits of ketogenic diets and low carb are beyond weight loss. Indeed, the keto diet benefits cannot be denied. Surely, it is helpful for your health diseases, brain functionality, skin health, inflammation, and much more. Furthermore, many lifestyle books are available that can help you to manage your lifestyle more properly.
