Can Ketogenic Diets Help You Lose Weight?
Our body’s preferred source of fuel is glucose, a type of sugar that comes from the carbohydrates in our diet – when we eat carbs, our body breaks them down into sugars, including glucose. Our body, and our brain, then uses this glucose for fuel and energy.
When we avoid consuming carbohydrates, our body enters a metabolic state called ketosis. This means that instead of using glucose for energy, our body is forced to use fat and in turn, our body becomes very good at burning fat. The liver also turns fat into substances called ketones, that the brain uses for fuel.
Therefore, even though we’re consuming more fat, we burn it more quickly. This is the main reason for consuming a ketogenic diet – for weight loss.
Studies have found that a keto diet can be as effective or more for weight loss as eating a low fat diet. What’s more, a keto diet can also help to protect us from developing lifestyle diseases that are associated with obesity, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.
One study even concluded that participants lost nearly five times as much body fat over eight weeks by following the keto diet than those on a low fat diet. It’s thought that this is due to lower blood sugar levels improving insulin sensitivity.
