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From the desk of Dr Nandita Shah
These days, a lot of people are in favour of keto diet to lose weight and to reduce diabetes. But is it optimal? Anyone who has tried this diet knows that though this may work initially to lose weight and control blood sugars, it leaves you feeling fatigued, and is likely to raise blood pressure creating new complications. And in the long term even the blood sugars may go up and you will also put on weight.
A keto diet means eating foods that are high in proteins and fats, and low in carbs. This means more animal products (which are inherently high in protein and fat) and less fruit, vegetables and grains which are high in carbs. This comes from the notion that carbs are high in calories so they make you put on weight and raise blood sugars.
It is true that refined carbohydrates like sugar, white rice and white flour or cornstarch are unhealthy. They contain carbohydrates but no nutrition. But that’s true of any refined substance, even oil. These empty calories will definitely make you put on weight, and have little or no nutrient value.
Actually, fats produce 9 calories per gram and so are the highest in calories. Both proteins and carbohydrates produce 4 calories per gram. Animal proteins come along with high fat so net calories are more. Whole plants food come with fibre, so net calories are less.
But then how do people lose weight on a keto diet? Keto diets are so difficult for the human body to digest that the body actually uses up energy just in the very process of digestion. That’s also why you feel so tired when you eat a keto diet. In contrast, a whole plant-based diet should leave you feeling light and energetic.
It's also a myth that a keto diet is healthy. Eating this kind of diet can lead to a variety of health issues. Dr Atkins who promoted the Atkins diet, a version of the keto diet, weighed 258 pounds (117 kg) and had a history of heart attack, congestive cardiac failure and hypertension at the time of his death.
In any case, I advocate a whole food, plant-based diet simply because we have the anatomy and physiology of an herbivore and because every animal on the planet eats its food whole and raw and so we should at least eat those things that we could potentially eat whole and raw. With a whole plant-based diet, it’s harder to overeat. If we eat closer to what Nature expected us to eat, we are more likely to be healthy and within a normal weight frame. Remember, no animal in nature is overweight simply because they eat the right foods.
If you would like to reach the best weight for body, try a whole-plant based diet and see the results!
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