Eating Fat vs. Ketogenic Diet
Over the past decade the importance of Fat in our diets has emerged with a vengeance. There are those who say "Eat Fat Lost Fat" and there are those who are still stuck in the "Low Fat Craze" that came about in the 80's and was engrained in so many peoples minds. So the question is, which is it? Fat or no Fat?
Well lets put it this way, as people began eating fats in smaller quantities, in order to reach enough calories in a day to sustain their bodies they had to increase their carbohydrate and protein intake. Insert the production of more processed, high carbohydrate foods, full of sugar and low in fiber foods. This is where obesity rates skyrocketed. Its cheaper to eat unhealthy processed foods than it is to eat foods with actual nutritional value.
This is a very interesting concept to talk about because as we all know there is "good fat" and there is "bad fat". Eating Mcdonalds french fries everyday is probably going to make you Fat, while eating healthy amounts of unsaturated fats increase your good cholesterol, and decrease your bad. But is that to say all Saturated fat is bad? Absolutely not, insert the new release that coconut oil is bad for you.
Coconut Oil has been proven to lower triglycerides and raise HDL (good cholesterol). Vegetable Oil, Canola Oil and all the other substitutes they list as alternatives cause inflammation, and are so overly processed that they could be considered synthetic. But this is a subject for another day.
Lets get back to eating fat vs. the Ketogenic diet. Before this week, my husband and I have been eating fat, enough fat to fuel our bodies but not to turn our bodies into fat burning machines so what is the difference? And what does the Ketogenic diet do to our bodies? Well here is a short breakdown of what to expect...
Eating a Ketogenic diet literally means cutting your carbohydrates to so little that your body goes into a mode of starvation. Approximately 10% of your calorie intake is to come from carbohydrates. This number is flexible for those of us who are high endurance athletes, workout multiple times a day or are super active. Now, around 20% of your calorie intake will come from protein, and 70% from fat! Some people think "Wow, that is a lot!", but here is the deal... each gram of fat and carbs you take in accounts for 4 calories, each gram of fat your take in is 9 calories. Meaning that if you were eating a diet that was 50% protein and 50% fat, you would have to eat less than half the amount of fat as you would protein to meet these numbers.
So like I was saying.. Starvation... We are not actually starving our bodies, but we are making our bodies believe that they are starving, because we are used to bring carbohydrates for fuel. So instead by removing these carbohydrates we trick our bodies and they begin dipping into our fat stores, burning fat instead of carbohydrates or protein. So what does this mean? Usually quicker weight loss of actual fat. Increased mood. Better hormone levels, and much more.
So as we begin this journey into ketogenic, we know what to expect from our bodies, while they go through the initiation period of literally thinking we are starving them, it is important to replace all those unused carbohydrate calories with more fat so our bodies have something to burn. Eating foods such as avocados, fish, nuts, cheese, cream, eggs, olives, and much more has helped to keep us satiated and enter into the ketogenic diet as easily as possible. But i will say it is so important to have keto friendly snacks on hand at all times for when that hunger does set in, recipes of our favorites coming soon.
*Something to note: Everyones body is different! The ketogenic diet is not for everyone, in fact no diets for everyone. It is important to know your body and know what you are capable of achieving. Don't give up to easy, but also be aware or signs that this just isn't working for you. I am not a doctor, this statements above are simply my opinion based off of research I have done. Do your own research before making any conclusions, and remember only you know you.
Well lets put it this way, as people began eating fats in smaller quantities, in order to reach enough calories in a day to sustain their bodies they had to increase their carbohydrate and protein intake. Insert the production of more processed, high carbohydrate foods, full of sugar and low in fiber foods. This is where obesity rates skyrocketed. Its cheaper to eat unhealthy processed foods than it is to eat foods with actual nutritional value.
This is a very interesting concept to talk about because as we all know there is "good fat" and there is "bad fat". Eating Mcdonalds french fries everyday is probably going to make you Fat, while eating healthy amounts of unsaturated fats increase your good cholesterol, and decrease your bad. But is that to say all Saturated fat is bad? Absolutely not, insert the new release that coconut oil is bad for you.
Coconut Oil has been proven to lower triglycerides and raise HDL (good cholesterol). Vegetable Oil, Canola Oil and all the other substitutes they list as alternatives cause inflammation, and are so overly processed that they could be considered synthetic. But this is a subject for another day.
Lets get back to eating fat vs. the Ketogenic diet. Before this week, my husband and I have been eating fat, enough fat to fuel our bodies but not to turn our bodies into fat burning machines so what is the difference? And what does the Ketogenic diet do to our bodies? Well here is a short breakdown of what to expect...
Eating a Ketogenic diet literally means cutting your carbohydrates to so little that your body goes into a mode of starvation. Approximately 10% of your calorie intake is to come from carbohydrates. This number is flexible for those of us who are high endurance athletes, workout multiple times a day or are super active. Now, around 20% of your calorie intake will come from protein, and 70% from fat! Some people think "Wow, that is a lot!", but here is the deal... each gram of fat and carbs you take in accounts for 4 calories, each gram of fat your take in is 9 calories. Meaning that if you were eating a diet that was 50% protein and 50% fat, you would have to eat less than half the amount of fat as you would protein to meet these numbers.
So like I was saying.. Starvation... We are not actually starving our bodies, but we are making our bodies believe that they are starving, because we are used to bring carbohydrates for fuel. So instead by removing these carbohydrates we trick our bodies and they begin dipping into our fat stores, burning fat instead of carbohydrates or protein. So what does this mean? Usually quicker weight loss of actual fat. Increased mood. Better hormone levels, and much more.
*Something to note: Everyones body is different! The ketogenic diet is not for everyone, in fact no diets for everyone. It is important to know your body and know what you are capable of achieving. Don't give up to easy, but also be aware or signs that this just isn't working for you. I am not a doctor, this statements above are simply my opinion based off of research I have done. Do your own research before making any conclusions, and remember only you know you.
Comments
Post a Comment