Keto diet side effects

A ketogenic diet is the new fat diet that has been adopted by many people, including celebrities from around the world. This diet is beneficial for shredding your weight in a less span of time. A keto diet replaces carbs with fat. A typical keto diet involves 70% fats, 5% carbs, and 25% of proteins. Howbeit, the United States Department of Agriculture(USDA) recommends 30% fats, 20-35% proteins, and 50% carbs laced diet. By comparing them, you can see there is a drastic change in your diet, which can change your metabolism patterns too.

Let’s see some of the common and severe issues in which you are at risk of developing (keto diet side effects) if you are following a keto diet. 

Keto flu

This is the first issue you will face when you are on a keto diet. 

When you eat carbs, the enzymes in your body break it down to glucose, which is utilized like an energy fuel for your organisation. The significant drop in carbs leads to sugar cravings, and the body uses up fat as a fuel to energize your body. This converts your body into a fat-burning mode as well as lower insulin levels leading to a drastic reduction of weight. 

All of this leads the kidney to release excess sodium into your bloodstream, leading to a side effect known as keto flu. Some common side effects that keto dieters face are nausea, headaches, muscle cramps, dizziness, and low energy levels. 

Kidney and heart diseases

When on ketosis, the glycogen is metabolized, which can retain water. This leads to excess urination that leads to loss of electrolytes such as potassium, sodium, and magnesium. This poses a risk of developing various kidney diseases, especially kidney stones. 

Since electrolytes are also responsible for normal heartbeats, it’s scarcity will lead to a condition called cardiac arrhythmia or irregular heartbeats, which is a severe disease and might prove fatal. 

Frequent weight fluctuations

Not everybody can follow this diet consistently, which leads to a crash diet or cheat days where people satisfy all their sugary and fast food cravings. This sudden change in the diet leads to sudden weight gain, and then when you go back to your keto diet, there is an immediate reduction in weight. This has a negative impact on your body, which includes mortality.

Missing out on vital nutrients 

Due to strict low carb nature, most of the essential fruits that play a crucial role in preserving a healthy body is missed out. These fruits contain some natural sweeteners as well as fructose because of which, they get automatically eliminated from the keto diet. Such fruits are rich in essential fibres, phytochemicals, specific vitamins, and minerals, which the ones which are on a diet have lower amounts or none. This poses a risk of developing certain chronic diseases and reduced bone density. 

With low carb intake, fibre intake also decreases. Keto diet involves low consumption of fibre-rich foods such as whole grains, fruits, and starchy vegetables. This leads to specific indigestion problems, such as diarrhoea, constipation, etc. The intake of large amounts of fats also worsens this condition. The indigestion issues are commonly seen in keto dieters. 

Your Potassium intake also gets reduced, which is essential for maintaining your blood pressure and electrolyte levels. 

Halt in the growth of children

In the case of children following this diet, they can also face negative impacts too. Since insulin is the vital hormone that helps in the growth of the children, the reduced insulin levels will slow down their body growth. 

Reduced athleticism

Sports demanding high-intensity physical strength and stamina have seen bad performances from keto dieting sportspersons. Ketosis is said to impart acidosis( more acidic levels in your blood)in your body. This limits your body to perform at its peak. 

Ketoacidosis

In diabetic patients, when the accumulation of too many ketones in your blood leads to a condition, namely ketoacidosis. Ketones are produced as a result of burning body fat, which is acidic. This condition can damage your kidneys, brain, and liver. 

Risk of regaining too much weight

Since this diet is not for the long term, people eventually regain too much weight when they leave this diet. So what’s the point of losing weight if you gain it all back with extra more pounds. It is better to have a healthy and balanced diet for constant healthy weight. 

Loss of muscle mass

Keto related weight loss includes mass muscle reduction due to eating more fats as compared to proteins. Due to lessened muscle mass, the calories burned will be less as it burns more calories as compared to fats. This affects your metabolism cycle. 

Apart from this, you also gain only fats rather than muscles if you switch to the standard diet. This is the primary reason that you learn more weight when you leave the keto diet. 

Woman health

In women, this diet halts the development of certain hormones leading to excessive weight loss. This leads to delayed periods or no periods at all, leading to adverse health impacts on women’s health. Such consequences include anxiety, sexual problem, depression, and cardiovascular diseases. 

However, the women population with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which is due to higher insulin levels, faces the advantage of this diet. Although there is a specific keto diet for PCOS, women who maintain their healthy weight by following a balanced diet can also find an advantage over PCOS. 

 In case you are on a keto diet, it is advisable to slowly increase your carbs intake rather than in high amounts at once. For the people who are consenting to go on this diet, it is better to have a balanced healthy food rather than going on ketosis.

Jennifer

Jennifer is a wellness lifestyle writer. She loves sharing her thoughts and personal experiences related to natural remedies, Ayurvedic, yoga and fitness through her writing. She currently writes for How To Cure. She can connect with others experiencing health concerns and help them through their recovery journeys through natural remedies.