Jackson Woolley

Diet Critique Research Paper

Nutrition 1020
Apr 2020
THE KETO DIET

Diet Summary:

The Keto diet is creatively named “Keto” because its main goal is to get the participant’s

body into what is called “Ketosis”. Ketosis is a phase that your body slips into when you

completely cut carbohydrates out of your diet. Your body usually burns carbohydrates as fuel to

keep active and alive throughout the day. Well, the theory of keto, is that if you cut

carbohydrates out, your body will turn to the fat in your body to burn as energy instead of using

the carbohydrates that are usually a large part of your diet. This will in turn help you lose weight,

specifically in the areas that have the majority of your fat stored. This is appealing to a lot of

people, because most American adults have areas on their body where they have unwanted fat.

According to US News, the Keto Diet stems from an older diet called the “Ketogenic”

diet (US News & World Report, 2020). This diet was originally used as a medicine to help

children with their seizures, and adherence to this diet shows some apparent benefits in helping

with other brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

This diet wasn’t pushed out as a weight loss diet until pretty recently, but since then there

has been a lot of information provided about the diet. In planning meals, you can visit the site

www.delish.com, for countless ideas on recipes (Peters, 2019). In understanding what the diet is,

you can just simply type “keto diet” into Google, and thousands of articles pop up. There are

even support groups designed for people who are trying to learn more about this diet and start

using it. This is a very popular diet that has been revised by countless fitness and health gurus,

but the main part of each of these diets is that you are supposed to consume a lot of fatty foods,

and as much as possible, avoid carbohydrates!

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 Jackson Woolley
Diet Critique Research Paper
Nutrition 1020
Apr 2020
The Theory:

The theory behind the Keto Diet is that your body can burn fat as energy the same way it

burns carbohydrates as energy. Carbohydrates come and go, and if your body is using those

carbs as fuel, then you need to continually consume those carbohydrates to keep your body

energized. Well, if you can convince your body to burn the plethora of fat you have stored

around your stomach area (maybe you don’t have a plethora, but I do) then you are much more

likely to get rid of that fat quicker. This phase is called ketosis. Your body then burns fat to keep

you energized, and as long as you avoid consuming carbohydrates, your body will continue to

burn the fat. Staying in this ketosis phase for short periods can be very beneficial to losing fat

and getting to a healthier weight.

The Claim:

Apparently, fat is a much better source of energy for your body. It is more sustainable

and can be used for longer periods of time. If you’re able to get your body into ketosis, you will

have more energy, be more focused, and be losing fat at the same time. It is not only a diet for

weight loss, it is also claimed to be a diet for healthier lifestyle benefits. This diet can help you

lose weight, be more productive, have more energy, improve heart health, potentially prevent

some forms of cancer, potentially reduce seizures in children, and potentially protect brain

function. Another major claim that is made by people who have entered ketosis is that their

appetite has decreased. They claim to not have cravings and not be nearly as hungry throughout

the day. There are a lot of potential claims, and obviously a lot of this is not guaranteed. It is up

to the individual to decide whether this works for them, and if these benefits are worth chasing to

give up other foods that they may enjoy.

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 Jackson Woolley
Diet Critique Research Paper
Nutrition 1020
Apr 2020
Nutritional Adequacy:

I would argue that the Keto Diet is not nutritionally adequate. After inputting my meal

plan for one day, I received back results about the keto diet not meeting the majority of the

micronutrients that are required to maintain nutritional health. Some of these are calcium,

magnesium, iron, and potassium. At least in the day of meals that I put together; the diet did not

consist of enough variety to properly meet the nutritional requirements in those categories. This

is not a good sign, nor is it maintainable for long periods. Potassium is something that my diet

regularly lacks, so I’ve tried including more potassium heavy fruits in my diet. This is not

allowed for the Keto Diet, as fruits are a food that you are not supposed to consume, due to their

high carbohydrate content. It’s regulations like that make it hard to receive the proper nutrients

from this diet.

Pros of the Keto Diet:

From what I’ve read and the testimonies that are out there, the pros of doing the Keto

Diet can be immense. One of those benefits that I have seen and heard multiple times is the

amount of energy that comes after your body enters ketosis. Apparently, your energy levels

skyrocket in a way that helps you work out harder, get more done at work and home, and allow

you more energy to play and do the things you love. This seems like a pro with many benefits,

that cannot be denied. I personally have not done the keto diet, but I know after eating really

heavy carbohydrates and sugars, I feel like doing nothing other than laying on the couch

watching TV. This would stand to reason if you cut those heavier foods out of your diet, you

may feel lighter on your feet and better able to attack those physical and mental challenges.

Another major pro to the Keto Diet, is the idea that you’re burning fat. Fat is a nuisance

on a large portion of adult’s bodies, and the idea that your body can enter a state where it is

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 Jackson Woolley
Diet Critique Research Paper
Nutrition 1020
Apr 2020
burning fat regularly is extremely appealing. And on top of that, apparently your body has more

energy when burning the fat, so this opportunity almost seems too good to be true. When looking

to get to your ideal weight, losing fat is usually the first main goal. I believe this is the main

reason that the popularity of this diet has shot up so much in the last few years. It is similar to

promising people that their debt will disappear by using the budget app you’re selling or

promising that all of their mental issues will disappear by using this meditation app that you’ve

created. There are a lot of claims out there that hook people in, even when they seem too good to

be true. These pros that we have just discussed will be covered more in depth on the last page of

this paper.

Cons of the Keto Diet:

One of the main cons of this diet is the strictness of it. This is not an easy diet to follow

on the fly. You need to focus a lot on your week’s meal plans to be able to follow this diet

closely. You cannot consume more than 20-50 grams of carbohydrates in a day, which is the

difference between a single slice of bread, or a large apple. This would be so easy to slip up on,

even by accident.

Another con to this diet would be the interesting fact that it is not sustainable long term.

Not only is this diet hard to follow for most lifestyles, but it can also create some vitamin and

mineral deficiencies. This won’t cause too many problems short term, but if this is continued

long term, it can have major repercussions. This is a problem, because what should be happening

when trying to lose weight is a total change in your eating behavior. If you can’t continue this

long term, that creates the idea that you can go back to your other eating behaviors after you’ve

lost weight, which is not true. And it’s that mentality that makes it so when people stop doing the

diet, they gain the weight that they lost right back.

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 Jackson Woolley
Diet Critique Research Paper
Nutrition 1020
Apr 2020
Diet Research:

The main thing I wanted to know in researching the ketosis diet was if the claims that it

makes are scientifically true, especially when it comes to weight loss. Testimonials from people,

although beneficial in some areas, are very questionable when it comes to diet research.

Everyone reacts to certain diets differently, so the more scientific evidence that a diet has, the

more reliable it is.

According to an experiment done by the International Association for the Study of

Obesity, ketosis does in fact suppress the appetite of the individual who is participating in the

diet (Gibson, Seimon, Lee, Ayre, Franklin, Markovic, Caterson, & Sainsbury, 2015). This

experiment was set up in a way that they could study people prior to, and then during their

ketosis experience, and one of the independent variables was limiting the energy output of the

participants in different groups. They discovered that ketosis may be a reliable explanation as to

why the appetite suppression happened and claim that the main benefit to the ketogenic diet is by

suppressing the appetite, which in turn leads to weight loss.

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism also did a study in regard to weight

loss based on a low-carbohydrate diet. They examined fifty-three obese females and their diets

for the course of six months. They concluded that, “The amount of weight lost was significantly

greater in the very low carbohydrate group compared with the low-fat group” (Brehm, Seeley,

Daniels, & D’Alessio, 2003). This study confirms that the Keto Diet may be a good option if you

are trying to lose greater amounts of weight in quicker timeframes.

With the two previous sources we have determined that the Keto Diet might be able to

help with weight loss, at least in the short term. My main question now is; is the risk worth the

reward? Based on my nutrition analysis, this diet will leave you short in many different

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 Jackson Woolley
Diet Critique Research Paper
Nutrition 1020
Apr 2020
nutritional categories. According to the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological

Sciences, the lack of nutritional value doesn’t have any long-term effects on the participant after

participating in the diet for 21 days (Colica, Merra, Gasbarrini, De Lorenzo, Cioccoloni,

Gualtieri, & Marchetti, 2017). This is good to know, however, most people who are dedicated to

this diet do it for longer than 21 days. I have done my best to research more about the long-term

effects of this diet but have not been able to find any reliable sources. My suggestion moving

forward is for studies to be more based on the nutritional effects of long-term ketosis, rather than

for studies to be focused on the weight loss aspect of the diet. I feel confident to say that

ketogenic diets will help you lose weight, however, is losing that weight worth not meeting

nutritional requirements?

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 Jackson Woolley
Diet Critique Research Paper
Nutrition 1020
Apr 2020

References

Gibson, A. A., Seimon, R. V., Lee, C. M., Ayre, J., Franklin, J., Markovic, T. P., Caterson, I. D.,

& Sainsbury, A. (2015). Do ketogenic diets really suppress appetite? A systematic review

and meta-analysis. Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association

for the Study of Obesity, 16(1), 64–76. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12230

Brehm, B. J., Seeley, R. J., Daniels, S. R., & D'Alessio, D. A. (2003, April 1). A Randomized

Trial Comparing a Very Low Carbohydrate Diet and a Calorie-Restricted Low Fat Diet

on Body Weight and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Healthy Women. Retrieved April 25,

2020, from https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2002-021480

Colica, C., Merra, G., Gasbarrini, A., De Lorenzo, A., Cioccoloni, G., Gualtieri, P., … Marchetti,

M. (2017, May 21). Efficacy and safety of very-low-calorie ketogenic diet: a double blind

randomized crossover study. Retrieved April 25, 2020, from

https://www.europeanreview.org/article/12711

US News & World Report. Keto Diet. Retrieved April 25, 2020, from

https://health.usnews.com/best-diet/keto-diet

Peters, J. (2019, July 3). Creative Keto-Friendly Lunch Recipes You Haven't Seen Before.

Retrieved April 25, 2020, from

https://www.delish.com/cooking/nutrition/g28229401/keto-lunch-ideas/