Dillon Yost

July 29th 2020

NUTR 1020

Ketogenic diet

DIET SUMMARY

The Keto or Ketogenic diet has many different variations of the diet. The four most

common ones are standard Ketogenic Diet or SKD, Cyclical Ketogenic Diet or CKD, Targeted

ketogenic Diet or TKD and High-protein Ketogenic diet(UK). The one we will be going over

today will be the high-protein Ketogenic diet. The high protein diet broken down into calories

looks like this “5 percent Carbohydrates...20 percent protein…75 percent from

fat”(Northwestern Medicine). This means most of what you will be consuming will be meat nuts,

and vegetables like avocado high in natural fats. With this information based on a 2000 calorie

allowance, 1500 calories should come from fat, 400 calories from protein, and 100 calories from

carbohydrates. As you can see with this minimizing your carbohydrate intake is key for the diet

to work properly. Vegetables that are keto friendly include “cauliflower, cabbage, avocado,

broccoli and zucchini”Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt and Dr. Bret Scher).A good rule of thumb is

anything that grows below the ground isn't keto friendly(Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt and Dr. Bret

Scher). A great way to consume less carbs is to substitute pasta noodles using zucchini noodles.

They have a similar texture and taste but allow for no consumption of carbs from pasta noodles.

Nuts are a great food in the keto diet except for cashews they are higher in carbohydrates than

most other nuts, Macadamia or pecan nuts are great choices(Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt and Dr. Bret

Scher). Berries on keto are okay but because berry’s can quickly pile on the carbohydrates best

used in moderation(Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt and Dr. Bret Scher). Drinks are one of the more
restricted food groups in the keto diet with most of the time you will be drinking water with

some cucumbers in it for additional taste, other keto friendly drinks include coffee with no sugar,

tea is acceptables as long as it has not added sugars, and finally bone broth(Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt,

MD and Dr. Bret Scher).

Theory

The Keto Diet has many uses dating back to the 1920s, but today the keto diet has

promised to help those who are weight challenged to overcome their debilitating affliction. How

it works is by forcing the body to metabolize fat more often than carbohydrates because fat is the

body’s long term energy storage(Northwestern Medicine). By only eating the majority of fats not

only does it train your body to digest fat but the fat also takes longer to digest making it take

longer in between being hungry(Northwestern Medicine).

The Claim/History

The Keto Diet is said to date back as far as 1920s(Wheless). Its first use before becoming

a fad diet was preventing epilepsy attacks from happening and it worked very well compared to

the previous tactics that included excluding almost all foods or just plain starvation(Wheless).

The reason keto works so well to prevent epilepsy is because, for hundreds of years to treat

epilepsy people have found that starving oneself or fasting prevents epilepsy attacks from

happening(Wheless). It wasn’t until the 1920s that Dr. Wilder at the Mayo Clinic found that the

chemical of beta‐hydroxybutyric acid was produced from starvation or fasting(Wheless). This

chemical was the reason why the epilepsy attack in patients who were fasting was reduced and it

happened to be that the same chemical is produced when little to no carbohydrates are consumed

combined with a high intake of fat produced the chemical beta‐hydroxybutyric acid. That is how

keto was born (Wheless). However it wasn’t until the 1970s that this research began to truly
benefit others with epilepsy as the treatment gained more and more notoriety on world wide

news outlets. Almost one century later from the original discovery of the keto diet and its effect

and the narrative of this diet has changed drastically from helping patients with epilepsy reduce

attacks to helping people change how their body breaks down food to help increase the

metabolism of fat in the body to reduce body weight(Wheless).

Nutrition Adequacy (see comments for chart)

In terms of nutrition most people who are on keto have to be careful and watch their

micronutrient intake especially with not being able to consume most vegetables that are the main

source of these micro nutrients(Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt and Dr. Bret Scher). With “legumes, whole

grains, and most vegetables”(Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt and Dr. Bret Scher) all these being keto

restricted don't allow us to consume the necessary micronutrients like fiber. If you take a look at

my nutrition bar graph you will notice that every bar is either maxxed out or there is little to none

of that nutrient in the keto diet.

The most noticeable of the micronutrients is fiber being only at 18 percent of dietary fiber

along with calcium being down. What is most noticeable when looking at the bar graph is the

amount of vitamins and nutrients that are sitting at 200% to even 830% of their DRI

goal.Vitamins like B3 at 450% and vitamin b12 at 830% of the DRI values elaborates the flaws

of the keto diet and it’s problem of overloading on some nutrients heavily while not getting

enough of other vitamins. This will cause nutrient overdose and malnutrition which can cause

some troublesome side effects. The macronutrients in the diet are skewed toward protein and fat,

with that making up 90% of your calorie intake. In my bar graph I was more than generous with

vegetables and good amounts of food. Protein levels at 205g with the DRI at 58g, Carbohydrates

make up 5 Percent of my DRI goal coming in at 19g when the recommended amount is 431 for
me and finally the biggest macronutrient of them all fat which at 712.01g and my DRI being

878.46. Now the food I picked for keto was food i preferred like fish and chicken, so my fat

intake on the bar graph should be higher than where it is at now.

Pros of the Diet

The keto diet benefits the body in many different ways. The first being one of the earliest

treatment methods for epilepsy which most people don't benefit from(Wheless). The more

common reason is how effective the diet is at losing weight at a rapid rate. If you are able to

function without any hiccups from vitamin deficiencies then the decrease in body weight will be

bolstered

In addition to helping lose weight in a timely manner it also helps with decreasing the

amount of carbohydrates even after the person has discountuted the diet. This all in part because

of learning new nutrition skills and habits.

Cons of the Diet

One of the major cons of this diet is the lack of some necessary micronutrients that can

cause the body to act drowsy, feel foggy and lethargic, commonly called “Keto

Flu”(Northwestern Medicine).

Keto diet has helped many lose weight if done properly, but without changing one's

lifestyle by exercising and building habits. Their body can snap back to the weight they were

previously causing a weight yo-yo effect. This is because the person gets used/addicted to highly

fatty foods and when off keto there is nothing stopping you from eating heavily fatty food you

have been eating and indulging back into carbohydrates cause your weight too shoot back up.

Diet Research
 As you can see from my previous paragraphs the Keto diet has a variety of health benefits

that have been studied dating back to the 1920s(Wheless). With that in mind the keto diet will

always have at least one major health benefit and that is the production of beta‐hydroxybutyric

acid that helps prevent the effects of severe epilepsy(Wheless). Going back to 500 BC the act of

fasting and starving were the only ways to prevent extreme epilepsy attacks(Wheless). Fast

forward to 1921 Dr. Wilder is studying the reason why fasting and starving oneself causes the

body to produce something to cancel the seizure attacks(Wheless). In 1921 he made two massive

discoveries, the first being the chemical beta‐hydroxybutyric acid was being produced in the

body’s of those who were starving and fasting to prevent seizures, or by consuming two much

fatty foods paired with little to no carbohydrates. Dr Wilder makes the hypothesis that this will

help with epilepsy patients(Wheless). 50 years later Dr. Wilders research is finally brought into

the light of mainstream media where it starts to gain notoriety in the scientific

community(Wheless). With the Keto diet only being used as a last resort in modern medicine to

treat epilepsy it is now more common to see it in blog posts and websites that talk about the fad

diet as a cure-all(Wheless).

Now this isn't proven to the point where there are experiments and tons of research out

there to prove the point of keto having a beneficial effect on one's digestive track and

microbiome(Link). This comes from my father actually who has been struggling with digestive

issues for the past four years after being wrongfully diagnosed with crones to celiac disease

blocking him from eating all gluten and most carbohydrates. Recently my father has been told by

his doctor that the keto diet may prove to be beneficial to his health in regards to his digestive

issues, this sparked the reason to look into this topic more. Without any proper resources out

there regarding the topic it is difficult to say without a doubt on this topic, but i can assure you
that after two weeks of being on keto my father has said he feels like he has more energy, does

not go running to the bathroom every hour or so and overall has improved. This could be because

of the placebo effect or just his adjusting his diet to be healthier than before. Nevertheless the

keto does help lose weight and at a considerably fast rate, all though you need to have other

changes in your diet and lifestyle to maintain the weight loss of keto. It is a great first step in

helping to change one's weight quickly, and who knows maybe keto will help my father and

others with digestion issues.

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Bibliography

Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt, MD, and MD Dr. Bret Scher. “What to Eat and Avoid on a
Ketogenic Diet.” Diet Doctor, Diet Doctor, 29 Nov. 2017, www.dietdoctor.com/low-
carb/keto/foods.
Editor , UK, and Editor. “A Ketogenic Diet Is a Diet That Is Designed to Bring about
Ketosis, the Breaking down of Body Fat into Ketones, and Allow the Body to Largely
Run on Ketones Rather than Glucose.” Diabetes, 6 Mar. 2020,
www.diabetes.co.uk/keto/types-of-ketogenic-diet.html.

Hartman, Adam L., and Eileen P. G. Vining. “Clinical Aspects of the Ketogenic Diet.”
Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 18 Jan. 2007,
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1528-1167.2007.00914.x.

Link, Rachael. “Keto and Digestion: Everything You Need to Know.” Healthline,
Healthline Media, 12 July 2019, www.healthline.com/nutrition/keto-and-gut-health.

Northwestern Medicine, Northwest. “Pros and Cons of the Ketogenic Diet.”

Northwestern Medicine, www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/nutrition/pros-and-cons-
of-ketogenic-diet.

Wheless, James W. “History of the Ketogenic Diet.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley
& Sons, Ltd, 4 Nov. 2008, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1528-
1167.2008.01821.x.