Keto Diet: Fad or Rad?

Registered dietitian nutritionist Cathy Deimeke says research does not support either the paleo or keto diet, and any diet that forces people to almost give up an entire food group is not a good choice. Deimeke says to have good health people need a balanced diet and she recommends the Mediterranean diet.”- KNXV-TV (Phoenix) (8/16/18) 

I know I spend a lot of time bashing “fad” diets, so let me pause for a second to say that the diet to which one is effectively able to adhere long-term is this best fit for that individual. Within reason, this applies to all fad diets.

Now, more insight as to why I am not a fad diet supporter. One of the biggest reasons is that fad diets frequently eliminate (or minimize to the extreme) a long list of foods or even an entire food group. This doesn’t just eliminate these foods themselves, but also the nutrients they contain. Let’s take the keto diet for example. True adherence to the ketogenic diet entails just 5% of one’s total daily caloric intake coming from carbs. Let’s put this into perspective: someone following a keto diet who is prescribed 2000 kcal/day will only be allowed to consume 25 g (100 kcal) of carbohydrates each day. Since all fruits, vegetables, whole grains and a majority of dairy products either contain some carbs or are completely comprised of them, there is no way that these 100 kcal of carbs can offer the same nutritional value as the recommended number of servings of each of the aforementioned food groups. If adhered to long-term, the keto diet will inevitably create nutritional deficiencies. Of course supplements can be taken to help compensate for the nutrients being omitted from one’s food sources. The downsides here are that a) micronutrients are in their most pure, effective, nourishing state when consumed in their original food matrix and b) the amount of supplements needed to compensate for a number of nutritional deficiencies, especially if we are talking long-term, will end up being quite costly.

I do feel it necessary to jump back to my intro here, as there are a few redeeming qualities of following such a radical diet that I must mention. For one, your mindfulness of food intake, food’s purpose, food content (especially regarding macronutrients), etc. are likely to increase. For two, many of us are prone to over-eating carbs. If starting off with an extreme restriction is what you must do to end up in a place where you are able to consume carbs in moderation, then the keto diet may be a great fit. For three, adhering to such a diet might prove to oneself that YOU are in charge of your food choices and YOU are capable of using remarkable self-control to follow any diet which you desire. Then, I think you should better utilize this self-control by applying it to a more balanced diet. 😊