If you’ve recently browsed a magazine rack, you’ve undoubtedly seen the “Keto for weight loss” subject presented appealingly.

Something along the lines of:

By making just ONE alteration to my Keto diet, I dropped 26 pounds.

On the other hand, fewer periodicals emphasize Keto’s benefits beyond weight reduction. These advantages may be less well-known, but they are more intriguing.

The fact is that while the ketogenic diet has helped many people lose weight, it is not the only effective weight-loss program. Other techniques, such as the Mediterranean diet, can also be effective.[1]

The advantages of ketosis—the fat-burning, ketone-producing state induced by the Keto diet—are distinctive. If discussing these advantages has aroused your interest, you’ll appreciate the rest of this essay.

Keto Benefit #1: Stable energy

Sugar is your principal fuel when you consume a high-carb diet. It’s like being on a blood sugar rollercoaster.

Your blood sugar rises and then falls. Up, down, up, down, up, down. And when your blood sugar drops, so does your energy.

Keto gets you off the ride by limiting carbohydrates. Blood sugar levels remain consistent, insulin levels remain stable, and your body obtains access to the ultimate source of stable energy: body fat.[2]

Be patient with this process since returning to the smooth, steady fat train may take many days or weeks. This is referred to as fat adaptation. Say goodbye to mid-morning and afternoon slumps; you’ll have consistent energy all day.

Benefit #2: Hunger control

Another advantage of fat adaption is that it reduces appetite.

You’re undoubtedly aware that hunger is linked to blood sugar changes. When your blood sugar drops, craving strikes like a hammer. The Keto diet lowers this hunger trigger by minimizing the size of these crashes.

Aside from blood sugar, Keto reduces appetite by [3]:

• Ghrelin, your essential hunger hormone, should be reduced.
• Neuropeptide Y, an appetite-stimulating brain component, is being reduced.
• Increasing cholecystokinin levels, a hormone that helps you feel full

Much of Keto’s success as a weight loss diet is likely due to appetite suppression. Fewer hunger results in less overeating.

Benefit #3: Diabetes therapy

Over 34 million Americans have type 2 diabetes, a metabolic illness characterized by high blood sugar, high insulin, artery hardening (atherosclerosis), and obesity.[4] Diabetes raises the chance of acquiring a variety of chronic illnesses, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease.[5][6][7]

It’s a public health emergency, but there is one bright light in diabetes treatment: the Ketogenic diet.

In a now-famous study, Virta Health researchers supervised 218 types 2 diabetics for a full year of Keto diets.[8] The end product was rather stunning:

• At one year, 50% more subjects had HgbA1c levels below the diagnostic criteria for diabetes than at baseline (approximately 20% at baseline compared to roughly 70% at one year).
• 94% lowered or eliminated insulin treatment.
• The average amount of weight lost was 30.4 pounds.

Although keto isn’t the standard therapy for type 2 diabetes, a recent consensus study in the journal Diabetes Therapy highlighted carbohydrate restriction as having the “most evidence” for treating high blood sugar.[9] Keto may soon be commonly recommended as a diabetic treatment.

Benefit #4: Brain health

When you consume a carbohydrate-rich diet, your brain absorbs around 120 grams of glucose daily. However, on a Keto diet, your brain utilizes far less glucose (about 30 grams), instead depending on ketones for sustenance.

Ketones appear to be beneficial to cognition. The most compelling evidence comes from a study of older people who took MCT oil, fat that your liver easily converts to ketones.[10] Working memory, visual attention, and task switching ability improved as blood ketones increased.

Then there’s a neurological illness to consider. As we age, our brains become less capable of using glucose, which likely contributes to the advancement of dementia. On the other hand, ketones appear to sustain the aging brain adequately. As a result, researchers are actively investigating the Keto diet as a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s disease[11].

Benefit #5: Potential cancer therapy

Have you heard of the Warburg Effect? It depicts cancer cells’ distorted metabolisms. Cancer cells rely on glucose for energy at a higher rate than healthy cells.[12]

As researchers experiment with metabolic cancer therapy, the Warburg Effect has recently gotten much attention. The ketogenic diet is one of these treatments.[13]

The Keto diet produces adverse circumstances for many forms of cancer by lowering blood glucose and insulin levels. Ketosis makes cancer cells more susceptible to traditional therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy. This is very encouraging, but additional study is required before making general recommendations.

Benefit #6: Inflammation management

Most degenerative illnesses are caused by a low-grade immune response known as chronic inflammation. These chronic illnesses, which include heart disease, diabetes, and COPD, constitute the most significant danger to human health, according to the World Health Organization.[14]

Here are four strategies that the Keto diet may use to reduce excessive inflammation:

1. Reduce oxidative stress. Ketone metabolism in mammals produces less reactive oxygen species (ROS) than glucose metabolism.[15] In general, less oxidative stress causes less inflammation.
2. By lowering blood sugar levels. Hyperglycemia, often high blood sugar, can be reversed by following a ketogenic diet.[16]
3. By reducing inflammation. The beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) ketone body suppresses the NLR3P inflammasome, an immunological sensing pathway that causes systemic inflammation.[17]
4. By enhancing the activation of adenosine receptors. Adenosine is an anticonvulsant chemical that works by attaching to brain receptors.[18] It is a signaling protein that controls the metabolism and continuing activity of nerve cells (neurons) in the brain to keep them working properly. The chemical is also anti-inflammatory and pain alleviating.[19][20] A Keto diet has been demonstrated in mice to boost the brain’s sensitivity to this natural pain reliever.[21]

Benefit #7: Endurance

Dr. Stephen Phinney, the co-founder of Virta Health, discovered an intriguing finding in 1980.[22] He discovered that 6 weeks of a protein-supplemented fast (a hypocaloric Ketogenic diet) enhanced the time obese persons could exercise on the treadmill by more than 1.5 times.

Since then, Keto has gained popularity among athletes, particularly endurance athletes. During the activity, keto permits the athlete to burn more body fat (fuel).

This is useful for extended attempts. Even a thin individual has tens of thousands of calories stored in body fat, but humans can only store approximately 2400 calories as carbohydrates or glycogen.[23]

That’s why long-distance runners consume that sweet gunk every hour or so. They require it for energy! Keto eliminates the need for good by allowing athletes to access body fat.

Keto Beyond Weight Loss

Yes, the Keto diet may be an effective technique for weight loss. However, it is much more than that. It’s a brain, energy, anti-inflammatory, endurance, and diabetic diet all rolled into one.

Something to think about the next time you pass by the magazine rack.

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