Why keto isn't always the magic bullet 

A ketogenic diet is one of the most popular in the diet trends, and it has good reasons to be there. It has significant health benefits including, controlled appetite, more weight-loss, mental clarity, anti-inflammatory, and metabolic flexibility. It also has studies showing it can treat, if not reserve, type 2 diabetes. You won't be depleting yourself, but instead enjoying high fat foods such as bacon, avocado, and eggs. Sounds too good to be true? Well, it's not. Keto is a wonderful tool to keep in your wellness belt, but not all people strive on keto. Although, I believe everyone should cycle a couple weeks of strict keto a year to improve metabolic flexibility, sometimes it's not the right fit for long term. 

FTO Gene

 If you have the FTO gene mutation, you might be one that does not thrive on keto. When you eat high amounts on saturated with this gene, your insulin spikes, resulting in being stored in fat. All though this isn't a total loss, most people thrive on a keto diet high in polyunsaturated fats.  

APOE4 gene

 Typically, when you go keto, your cholesterol drops, blood pressure resumes to normal, and your general well-being skyrockets. Although, with this gene mutation, the opposite happens, your cholesterol & blood pressure shoot through the roof, and you just kind of feel icky.  

Females

 It seems like we all know a guy that lives in ketosis 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and swears by it. But women are a little different. Since we have a rotating hormonal clock (men's are constant), females needing more carbs then men. Going on a strict keto diet can lead to losing your period, hair loss, and loss of sleep cycles. All hope is not lost, there are some tips and tricks to still get the health benefits of keto, but without the nasty side effects. Every night you can have a sweet potato, or do a carb refeed every couple days as needed. 

For a free consult contact: 

Kristin@modernthriving.com 

Welcome to the land of the two new popular diet trends, except these two have valid science behind both unlikely are current Americanized diet. This is 101, beginning to understand both diets can help you guide through the world of diets, and what one may be right for you. There are more spin offs of these diets that going into more restriction, or times of eating. But these are just the basics, not a narrow focus.

KETO

Keto is a low carb high fat diet(LCHFD). When you consume low carbs and high fat your body switches from glucose to fat as energy through the use of Ketones. Ketones are produced by the breakdown of fat in the liver. Ketones burn cleaner than glucose and your brains preferred energy source. Imagine your metabolism is a wood burning fire, ketones are equivalent of a big timber log (producing a long period of heat), and glucose as kindling, (quick burn, low heart). Switching from a SAD (standard American diet) to a “keto” diet induces a very uncomfortable transition period called the “keto flu”. Since you’ve been a glucose burner for so long, when you deplete your body of glucose, your body needs to revamp its metabolic abilities to burn fat. During this time you have feel weak, dissy, and generally feeling like you got the flu! Come keto staples include: bacon, dairy products, oils, avocados, eggs, butter. Typically you are getting about 80% of your daily calories from fat, and the rest from proteins and carbs.

PALEO

Paleo, in my opinion, is more of a lifestyle then it is a diet. Paleo has been labeled the “cave man diet” but it is much more. Most people who wave the “hardcore paleo flag” live a lifestyle that is reflective of their ancient ancestors. Meaning they live as natural as possible, opting for plant based cleaners and beauty products, short/high intensity workouts i.e. crossfit. The diet includes organic grass fed meat, locally grown produce & high quality “clean” oils. Absolutely no grains, dairy products, or anything even remotely processed, it’s all about quality. Most paleo includes a moderate amount of carbs sourced from sweet potatoes, squash, and natural flour sources. Although you are eating more carbs, you are likely on this diet to dip in and out of ketosis through the week depending on what you eat.

If you asking what type of diet you should be following, I can tell you it’s personal choice. Some people do better on more moderate carbohydrates and some do better on less than 20g a day. Both diets reduce inflammation tremendously. (Inflammation needs its own blog post itself, but everything that is impacting your health negatively is from inflammation) either way eating a whole food diet will benefit your health and wellness.   Personally, I fly no flag. I incorporate the food quality and no dairy from paleo, and the higher fat lower carb from keto, with weekly carb refeeds to fuel my extensive time in the gym.