Is keto bad? We recently interviewed Joe Leech, a specialist dietician and founder of DietvsDisease. We were shocked to hear what he had to say.
What is the main benefit of a ketogenic diet?
All ketogenic does is reduce your calories. It doesn't have any specific or special weightloss properties. All it does is stop people eating junk food meaning they eat fewer calories and lose weight. The benefits are greatly outweighed by the cons.
This is a great point that Joe makes. If you think about it, a keto diet stops the consumption of junk foods that are high in carbs. This, in turn, does lead to weight loss. Not because of the lack of carbs, but the fewer calories that are consumed due to a lesser amount of junk food.
Is a ketogenic diet suitable for weight loss and why?
A keto diet is not suitable because very unsustainable, unrealistic and unpleasant. I don't know why anyone would choose to eat that way if they don't have to. If you're doing it properly you can only eat 20g of carbs per day. A piece of fruit, a piece of bread, a tiny square of chocolate. You can never go out and eat with friends, you can't celebrate occasions, think of birthdays, Christmas and Easter. You could never partake in any of those because you're trying to lose weight.
If you're going to lose weight, you want it to be sustainable. Weight loss shouldn't be a short-term adventure, it should become a lifestyle. Build the right habits to lead a healthy life rather than looking for short-term weight loss fads.
Related: Can you get in shape in 30 days?
Would you recommend a ketogenic diet?
As you probably got the gist, no. Even if it works for people, what happens when you stop? If they don't understand why what they're doing is working and if they've not introduced or learnt new habits or improved their relationship with food then when they go back to what they were doing before, it will all be for nothing. They've just gone to an extreme and haven't learnt anything different. There are always going to be exceptions to the rule, but they are just that, the exception. The majority of people I speak to and see and work with who have tried it and it didn't work for them. There are so many more ways to lose weight that are sustainable, healthy and lasting.
As Joe mentions, there are plenty of other ways that you can lose weight. These alternative methods will be significantly easier to sustain and could even be a fun experience rather than a tremendous effort to constrict carbs.
Conclusion
A ketogenic diet shouldn't be the first diet you try. This is especially true due to the insanely restrictive nature of the diet. Explore other diet options before committing to keto. And please, do your research!
Let us know in the comments what you thought about Joe's opinions! We'd love to get a discussion going!