Does the Keto Diet Actually Work?

You’ve probably been hearing a lot about the Keto diet, but what is it?

Read More:

The fat-fueled brain: unnatural or advantageous?
“The ketogenic diet is a nutritionist’s nightmare. High in saturated fat and VERY low in carbohydrates, “keto” is adopted by a growing population to paradoxically promote weight loss and mental well-being.”

Ketogenic diet: Is the ultimate low-carb diet good for you?
"It is also important to remember that “yo-yo diets” that lead to rapid weight loss fluctuation are associated with increased mortality. Instead of engaging in the next popular diet that would last only a few weeks to months (for most people that includes a ketogenic diet), try to embrace change that is sustainable over the long term. A balanced, unprocessed diet, rich in very colorful fruits and vegetables, lean meats, fish, whole grains, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and lots of water seems to have the best evidence for a long, healthier, vibrant life."

Metabolic Effects of the Very-Low-Carbohydrate Diets: Misunderstood "Villains" of Human Metabolism
"Diabetic patients know that the detection in their urine of the ketone bodies is a danger signal that their diabetes is poorly controlled. Indeed, in severely uncontrolled diabetes, if the ketone bodies are produced in massive supranormal quantities, they are associated with ketoacidosis. In this life-threatening complication of diabetes mellitus, the acids 3-hydroxybutyric acid and acetoacetic acid are produced rapidly, causing high concentrations of protons, which overwhelm the body's acid-base buffering system."

____________________

Seeker inspires us to see the world through the lens of science and evokes a sense of curiosity, optimism and adventure.

Visit the Seeker website

Special thanks to Amy Shira Teitel for writing and co-hosting this episode of Seeker!

This episode of Seeker was co-hosted by Trace Dominguez.

[TraceDominguez]

Hey everyone! Yes, this is a fix of yesterday's video (you're not crazy). We saw your comments, and decided to pull it down. We reached out to some partners to triple check our facts and at least one part didn't hold up; we fixed that bit, and re-uploded. The Keto diet fad is something we've been wanting to cover for a while, but there's not actually a lot of empirical science around it. In our research, we focus on scholarly sources and studies, and avoid citing blogs or single professional opinions. In this case, we ran the script by a biologist and some doctors, and each had varying opinions on the food program itself. In the end, we think the video is in a good place and we thank you for your comments. This is a big reminder that myself and my team *do read the comment section, * and we do everything we can to put out accurate videos just for you. Keep doing what you're doing!

[KDeKaySleepSounds]

The keto diet is high fat, moderate protein, and low carb. It isn't low in vegetables. Perhaps you're confused because veggies have carbs, but it is net carbs that are tracked on keto (carbs minus fiber). The carbs in the greens don't matter. Lots of bitter greens are encouraged on keto. Your info is so inaccurate and misleading. If you're limiting yourselves to peer reviewed articles and don't feel you're finding enough info from them, you should perhaps consider other sources or wait until more research has been done. I'm so disappointed in this spreading of misinformation.

[outrightmed]

Ketogenic diet allows tons of vegetables. Not just few pieces of lettuce.

[cadsuane]

Incompetence. Do your research again. This new version is 90% wrong. The diet consists of loads of vegetables. Some people on the diet, eat 10 servings a day. That is significantly more than 3 leaves of lettuce.
Loads of information is readily available from fully quality medical doctors, such as Jason Fung (Kidney Specialist) or KenDBerry (Family Physician).

Refer to ncbi article like "Long-term effects of a ketogenic diet".
Partial quote from the Conclusion "There was a significant decrease in the level of triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and glucose, and a significant increase in the level of HDL cholesterol in the patients. These results indicate that the administration of a ketogenic diet for a relatively long period of time is safe."

[AnnaDamm]

they cut out the part about not eating veggies, but still put in that you eat really low veggies. thats fun, cause i am on keto for 9 months now and eat more veggies than i did all my life. like, a LOT more. i lost 30kgs already..

[erp]

Wow this video now makes me question the content y'all put out on a regular basis

[Softballdragonfly]

The fact that you start off by calling it a fad diet says a lot about your thoughts on this way of eating. Most everyone I know on Keto has been doing it for several years and considers it to be a lifestyle change.

[AA-Ashley]

You're not supposed to eat a lot of meat on Keto that's Atkins diet you're citing.

[_ddoraemon_]

What? I have been following keto and now I eat more veggies than ever before.. Who said "just two lettuce"?

[hobolyon]

Correction, keto is NOT based on high Saturated fats ! Yes it's based on 70/75% fats but mostly unsaturated fats (healthy)

[lifeisablessing]

The fact that you guys went back to the drawing board says a lot about this like that. 👏👏👊

[douglasdms]

I really like this channel but this specific video is a bit weak on the science side. Also, weak in understanding that any diet may have a spectrum and a guideline to follow, but it is not as strict as it was explained. Just some points I would like to address:

1- Low carb does not mean without greens and veggies, it also does not count the fiber (only the net carbs). I myself, do not even count or restrict greens and veggies and I try to eat as many as possible.

2-This starvation mode that you made look so scary happens theoretically every day to everyone on earth since, well, since a long time. It could also be called fasting. And considering our genes and history, we have been a lot more time in our history on a diet that was closer to the ketogenic diet than the ordinary American diet.

3- If we do not ingest sugar our bodies create it, so, there is no such thing as essential sugars (like essential fatty acids or essential minerals and vitamins). Chill out.

Cheers.

[sophroniel]

Like any diet, you can do keto unhealthily (as you described here), but the BEST way is to cut out carbs & sugars BUT don't count carbs in vegetables and eat a LOT of them (like 6-8 cups a day). Of course fad dieters are doing it wrong and not sustainably!!

[petersarubbi]

Hey...keto does not restrict veggies...you're encouraged to eat 7-10 cups of leafy greens every day...and it's not a protein heavy diet either....and vegetable carbs are fine on keto...it's just restrictive of simple carbs and sugar and grains...you guys do great with most of your videos, but I had to "weigh" in on this one...🙏😊

[TheMiojox]

Yes. End of video. Been doing it for a year, never felt better. EDIT: adding info. Lost 20kg, HDL and LDL are fine, blood sugar too.

[mynamewhatis]

Okay, I am commenting again and pointing out specific instances of insane bias and plain incomplete misleading information!

2:13 *"It can be dangerous"* Yes, only if you have underlying health issues regarding your body's ability to self regulate blood sugars. For those of reasonable health, the protocal of high fats, moderate protein and "no" carb is safe.
2:20 *"End up eating too much protein and fats from processed foods"* How is it okay to use the inclination of an ignorant or careless person to feed themselves trash as an argument against a dietary protocal that doesn't specify the exact foods to eat? Fallacious.
2:29 *"Plus lots of red meat and fatty processed foods have been linked to heart disease, kidney problems and even osteoporosis"* I'm not arguing against processed foods (mainly hydrogenated oils and articifial sugars that are technically okay on keto but not recommended), but fatty foods provided that they are the fats that your body needs and utilizes (including saturated fats, we need those too) actually increase heart health and liver function. What is not commonly known is that it is the consumption of high fats *in conjuction* with higher carb food that causes these problems because of the heightened insulin response that most people have in response to carbs because of a low insulin sensitivity that has developed over the years of overconsuming carbs, often from processed unhealthy sources. This isn't overly complicated, but is very long to explain so I will leave it out. I can explain upon request.
As for 'lots of red meat', if following the keto protocal correctly, one will be sure to leave protein levels moderate which will limit the amount of meats, naturally.
2:35 *"Some people experience nausea, vomiting and even constipation on this diet"* Sometimes this happens when first transitioning and it's usually because of low electrolytes which are important to account for. One can negate/minimize the effects of "keto-flu" by making sure they are hydrated and replenished of electrolytes which your body flushes while losing water weight which will happen as your glycogen stores deplete. Keto-flu is the period of time at the start where you feel sluggish and fluish because your body is still getting used to being able to efficiently use fats for energy which it isn't used to. People experience this for varying lengths of time and severity depending on precisely what they eat, genetics, and other lifestyle factors. Given you make sure to get your electrolytes and consume enough dietary fats to make the transition, your body will feel better once it starts to produce more fat burning enzymes in the mitochondria giving you access to more energy.
2:42 *"Like with all fad diets, the weight loss might happen, but it doesn't last."* The definition of a fad is: "an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object's qualities; a craze.". I would like to contest the part where it mentions being 'short-lived and without basis in the object's qualities'. Keto is not a fad in and of itself, many people practice a ketogenic way of eating for years, and no weight loss from any diet ever lasts unless you're not on a diet in the sense that you are depriving yourself to lose weight and then go back to what you considered normal eating before you started dieting. For maintained weight loss, a lifestyle change is required, one that you stick to. Many people have found that with keto, not to say that there aren't other ways.
2:47 *"As a former personal trainer, I suspect it's the initial cutting out of bread that kick-starts weight loss. Cutting out this common source of simple sugar is every trainer's first comment."* It is simply not every trainer's first comment. Depending on the aims and plans set forth by the trainer and client, bread is by no means necessarily discouraged.
The cutting of bread and other refined carbs such as pasta, crackers, pastries, etc.. does initially make you lose a lot of weight. Most who start the ketogenic diet will experience an initial large weight loss the first week because of the depletion of glycogen stores for which the ratio of glucose to water that make up the glycogen molecule is 3water to 1glucose. That's a lot of water weight. This rate of weight loss is not sustained as your body starts to access your fat stores.
3:02 *"So, once you stop keto, you might likely gain weight again as your body tries to protect itself from further starvation"* If you go back to a carb based diet, even a healthy one, you will regain some glycogen storage. Provided you aren't over eating and eating healthily, it won't be a massive amount. Switching back to carbs will make it easier for you to gain weight because of your body's insulin production in response to carbs which acts as a storage hormone, inhibiting fat burning so long as it is active in your system. This is already experience by all who are eating significant amounts of carbs, so going from keto to carbs won't make this more dramatic than it already was before going keto. Saying that this process is the body's effort to avoid starvation, implication being that the causation of this process was the prolonged absence of dietary carbs is FALSE. The insulin glycogen/fat storage response will be induced by the consumption of carbohydrates in any individual of reasonable health. One thing is though, that you will have achieved higher insulin sensitivity which means that actually *less* insulin will flood your system because your body is very sensitive to it and doesn't need as much. This is what you want. Low insulin sensitivity is the cause of many health problems. If you go back to eating highly refined sugars in large amounts your insulin sensitivity will start to lower again. I can explain why upon request.
THE END, GOOD DAY

[ScottJPowers]

Ketosis is working for me. In fact, it's the only thing that has worked for me.

[ytpython]

In the absence of digested sugar, your liver makes all the glucose your brain needs. From protein. You need literally 0 carbohydrates to maintain healthy glucose levels. And before someone says "that protein comes from your muscles breaking down!" ... nope. If those nutritionists you are touting offered keto to insulin resistant people BEFORE medicines and INSTEAD of telling them to go low fat, or move more eat less, maybe we wouldn't dismiss them.

[SilentButDescriptive]

While I like the fact you listened and re did part of it, you are still talking about only a side of veggies being recommended which is bogus. Low carb high fat, aka KETO, still requires you get good nutrition to go along with the macro balance. While I am a slight bit less annoyed this is still a wrong video. "My arteries hurt just thinking about it" that is not based on anything. With LOW carb and HIGH fat it is perfectly, I repeat, PERFECTLY healthy. Please guys if you want our trust and continued support do your research properly before letting out a video.

[jasonmackay]

I don’t understand you guys. You left most of the bro science in this edited version of yesterday’s bro science 🤷🏻‍♂️
50 percent of our diets ought to be carbs? Fml. I should be dead according to this “science”.