Maybe a little bit of an overstatement, as not everyone who follows a so-called “ketogenic” diet is literally crazy. Of course not! And I haven’t written about this type of fad diet, or indeed any type, for quite some time. But a recent article in the Washington Post, plus another book out by Gary Taubes, he of Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It, has put keto back on the front burner in the sense of my being reminded once again of its non-starter status for me.
Let me start by being sure everyone understands the term “keto diet.” Here’s a good summing-up quotation from the above-cited WaPo article:
When you eat carbohydrates, your body processes them with insulin, which shuttles blood glucose into fat stores, leaving you hungry. If you don’t eat many carbs, your body starts running on ketones, which your liver manufactures from fat — less hunger, less fat accumulation. Or that’s the theory, at any rate.
I would encourage you to read the entire article and also to keep in mind that a low-carb diet isn’t necessarily the same as a keto diet, because a true ketogenic diet has you eat a majority of your calories in the form of fat–70-80%. That’s the “krazy” part. Article after article has pointed out how difficult it is to stick to such an extreme diet. It’s also–almost certainly–bad for your liver, which has to process all of it.
Just another reminder that we need balance in our lives, including what we put into our mouths.