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What Do I Think Of The Keto Diet?
I've got a few thoughts!
Matt Fried
June 15, 2024 • Read Time: 5 minutes
A friend asked me what I think of the Ketogenic Diet.
I have several thoughts:
The Big Picture 🖼
Explain It To Me It Like I’m 5 🧒
Hear It From Ben 🚵♂️
Better To Balance ⚖️
Parting Zen 🧘♂️
The Big Picture 🖼
The Ketogenic Diet is:
Extreme.
Often misunderstood.
Sometimes helpful, usually in the short term.
Sometimes harmful and potentially dangerous in the long term.
As I’ve said many times, no one diet works for everyone.
The Keto Diet falls squarely in that bucket.
In addition, because certain social media influencers hype it a lot, I fear that it’s doing more harm than good.
Explain It To Me Like I’m 5 👦
Today’s topic, as simply as possible:
“Balance what you eat.”
Hear It From Ben 🚵♂️
Ben Greenfield is a former endurance athlete and fitness industry leader.
He was experimenting with the Keto Diet long before you heard about it.
Better To Balance ⚖️
More Context
The central premise of the Keto Diet is that your body can use either fat or carbohydrates for fuel.
Thus, if you ‘force’ it to use the ‘fat burning’ pathway (by removing virtually almost all carbohydrates from your diet), you’ll burn fat …
… then get into great shape and eventually look and feel like a superhero.
But that is not the whole truth.
This completely dismisses the reality that you can also look, feel, and perform great while eating a more balanced diet.
Your body can generate energy from both carbohydrates and fat for a reason: not to exclusively use one. It is to use both.
This also ignores the potential long-term negative health effects of the Keto Diet.
Realistic Macros
The ‘strict’ Keto Diet calls for 70-80% of your diet to come from fat and only 5-10% from carbohydrates, with the rest from protein.
Red Flags 🚩
🚩 What about fiber and vegetables?
Most people need more than this.
🚩 Isn’t that ratio hard to adhere to?
Yes, it is!
🚩 If I buy more ‘Keto’ items, is that good?
Eating more cleverly labeled packaged snacks and bars that scream ‘Keto’ will not necessarily improve your health.
The Long Game
I’m not anti-Keto, but I am anti-misinformation.
Embarking on an extreme diet because …
… your friend lost weight doing it …
… a cutting board full of steak persuaded you …
… you’re desperate to lose 30 pounds of excess body fat …
… are not well-informed reasons.
Sure, thousands of people have lost weight doing Keto.
What were they eating before they made that change?
Often, removing what was being eaten before is the actual cause of the improvement.
What will happen to them 5 or 10 years from now?
I don’t need to write out things you can search for yourself.
If you’d like to discuss this with me in more depth, join my free Facebook or LinkedIn group, and we can talk privately about Keto (or anything else on your mind).
Parting Zen 🧘♂️
A simple word, phrase, or thought to take with you:
Extreme measures are for extreme situations - not daily ones.
Be well,
Coach Matt
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PPS: My common-sense disclaimer …
The advice I offer is not medical advice. If you have any medical issues, please consult your doctor first. The advice I offer should be personalized to your needs. I can help you make those personalizations or refer you out. Reply to this email if you need help.keto
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