Could The Keto Diet Hold The Secret To Fat Loss And Youthfulness After 50?
Move over paleo diet! There’s a new way of eating that’s taking the world by storm, and it may hold the secret to looking young and fit well passed your 50s.
What separates the keto (or ketogenic) way of eating from the old paleo (paleolithic) diet is the science it employs to ensure weight loss and energy restoration.
While the paleo diet was more about making the right food choices, the keto diet gets more granular in its focus on adjusting your intake of the three macronutrients: fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.
The paleo diet operated under the assumption that our cave-dwelling ancestors would not have had easy access to grains and green vegetables and would have instead gotten most of their caloric intake from animal products. In turn, dieters were encouraged to eat mostly animal products and discouraged from eating carbs and processed foods—and almost no attention was given to vegetables.
In a sense, the keto diet builds upon the fad-diet of yesteryear by acknowledging the fact that human beings have had a scientific revolution since our primitive past.
While animal products still serve as the primary source of protein for keto dieters, there is a renewed attention on the importance of green vegetables and there’s even some room for carbohydrates!
Rather than putting up roadblocks to limit your choices and eliminating entire food groups, the keto diet seeks to restore balance to your diet and your life
How Does the Keto Diet Work?
To call the Keto diet a diet is a misnomer in that it isn’t really a “diet” in the traditional sense of the word.
Recently, Good Morning America’s Amy Robach interviewed the author of The Keto Reset Diet, Mark Sisson, about the benefits of the keto diet.
In the interview, Sisson explained that “the ketogenic diet is a way of eating that prompts your body to become really good at burning fat … it reduces hunger, appetite, and cravings so that you’re not running your life based on when the next meal is.”
Diets of the past, like paleo, low-fat, low-calorie, and Atkins, have all been about eliminating certain things. But, the keto diet is all about adding back nutrients that might have been removed from these other diets.
The nutrient that Keto adds back, and the one that is gaining the most attention, is dietary fat.
While it may seem contradictory to think that a diet high in fat can actually help you burn body fat, the science could not be clearer.
Research published in Annals of Internal Medicine showed that people lost more weight when following a ketogenic diet compared to participants following a low-fat diet.
Another study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism showed that people following the keto diet lost more weight than people following a low-calorie diet.
So, we know that it works, but how exactly does it work? How can you lose weight and eat so much fat?
To begin, the biggest mistake we have made throughout the history of elimination diets is equating the consumption of dietary fat with the accumulation of body fat. The two are not at all in the same category.
The American Journal of Medicine has conclusively stated that “Diets high in fat do not appear to be the primary cause of the high prevalence of excess body fat in our society, and reductions in fat will not be a solution.”
Our bodies use calories from dietary fat—that is, the fat we get through our food choices—as an energy source just as calories from protein and carbohydrates are used as an energy source.
The difference between these types of energy sources is the rate at which they are burned.
Your body turns to calories from carbohydrates first because they turn into sugar, which is easier easier to burn. When those calories are burned, your body then turns to calories from fat, which takes a bit more energy to burn.
The problem is that when there are too many calories from carbohydrates in your system, your body will not look for other sources of energy, and instead, will store those calories as body fat.
By lowering your carbohydrate intake, your body will have less to store as body fat, turning then to dietary fat as its primary source of energy.
And here’s where body fat loss can really occur. You see, dietary fat helps break down existing fat by getting your liver to produce ketones—an alternative source of energy.
When your body begins to use ketones for energy, it is said to be “in ketosis,” meaning that it is no longer using carbs as its primary source of energy.
If your body is in ketosis, it is not only burning dietary fat for energy, it will also begin burning up any excess fat that you have stored in your body.
A diet high in dietary fat also has the added benefit of keeping you feeling full for longer periods of time because your body is not burning through calories like they’re in short supply. While carbohydrates burn up like kindling, fat burns in your body like a heavy piece of beechwood.
That is why you’re not starving when it comes to be mealtime, and that is also why your meals become more concentrated. You soon find that where you once needed several trips to the buffet line to feel full, a small, nutrient-dense salad with a healthy protein is more than enough to keep you satisfied.
So I Can Just Eat All the Fatty Foods I Want, Right? WRONG!
Remember, the keto diet is all about macronutrient balance, so it is important to draw from multiple energy sources. It is also about making sure that you are eating the right kinds of fats.
It would be nice if you could just eat all the fast food and pizza that you wanted, but those are loaded with the wrong kinds of fats … and a boatload of carbs to boot.
There are good fats, bad fats, and in-between fats.
In the bad fats category are trans-fats. These are the fats that you find in store-bought snack cakes and bread products that come in those cardboard tubes. Your body can do nothing with this kind of fat but store it.
Saturated fat is an in-between fat. This is the kind of fat that becomes solid when it reaches room temperature. Red meat, dairy products, and coconut oil fall into this category.
This kind of fat isn’t bad (in fact, one study dismissed the old notion that saturated fats cause heart problems), the issue is that it doesn’t carry as much nutritional value as other fats. So, don’t think that you’re going to get healthy eating a 20 oz. steak for every meal.
Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats—these are the fats you need to be making the most of.
This fat can be found in nuts, eggs, olive oil, and avocados. These fats stay liquid at room temperature, and only harden when they are refrigerated. The body is able to process these fats in a positive, healthy way.
Polyunsaturated fats are the fats we get from fish and seed oils. Like monounsaturated fats, these fats only harden when refrigerated. These fats also offer an additional nutritional component, carrying omega-3 and omega-6, which your body needs for a variety of health reasons. Polyunsaturated fats also contain vitamin E—the secret ingredient to healthy, vibrant skin.
The Real Benefit of the Keto Diet (It’s Not All About Losing Weight)
The most important thing to keep in mind when considering the keto diet (or any new diet for that matter) is that the goal should never be weight loss alone.
If you just wanted to lose weight, you could eat nothing but celery for the rest of your life. You would lose a ton of weight, but you would not be healthy.
What makes the keto diet so attractive is that it helps restore your body to an optimal level of health.
Regaining strength, feeling younger, and looking fitter are all by-products of good health—not weight loss alone.
That being said, the keto diet has been shown to improve the health of people suffering from a variety of health concerns.
Diabetes – Because you are consuming fewer carbs, you are producing less glucose, so your body’s insulin is better able to break down the minimal amount of glucose that is produced. According to The Diabetes Council, diabetics following a keto diet saw a reduction of insulin requirements after twelve months.
Alzheimer’s Disease – With the increase of omega-3 fatty acids—fats that are essential for proper brain function—people with Alzheimer’s disease have seen improvements in brain functionality when following a ketogenic diet. The diet has also been shown to have the potential to keep people from developing the disease in the first place.
Hypertension – As a diet built upon healthy fats rather than fats that are more likely to cause you heart troubles, low-carb/high-fat/high-protein diets like the keto diet have been repeatedly shown to help people reduce and maintain healthy blood pressure levels.
Aside from the prevention, maintenance, and amelioration of these major health concerns, the keto diet helped people regain the vital signs of youth—namely strength, energy, and healthy looking skin.
Strength – While it may not be the best for packing on muscles that will get you on the cover of bodybuilding magazines, the keto diet has been shown to help people improve their aerobic strength.
Energy – It has also been shown that keto diets are great for improving fatigue resistance. This means that you don’t get tired so easily after working out or a long day filled with activity.
Skincare – One of the more interesting aspects of the keto diet is that people are reporting that it can improve the look and feel of their skin., There is also anecdotal evidence that the diet has diminished the appearance of wrinkles.
From all the evidence we’ve seen, it is clear why celebrities over the age of 50 like Halle Berry, Drew Carey, Madonna, and Mick Jagger have all found renewed youth and vitality by following the keto diet.
How to Get Started On the Keto Diet
Before taking on any change in your diet, it is important to consult your healthcare provider. Though the keto diet has benefitted millions of people, you need to be sure that there are no irregularities in your body composition before you introduce a new eating plan into your life.
After consulting a physician, the first place you want to start is in your own home. The keto diet is built on the solid foundation of healthy, fresh, nutrient-dense foods. So anything in your pantry, refrigerator, or freezer that’s boxed, bagged, or canned will need to be reviewed. If there is an excess of sugar, carbs, or preservatives, they have to go.
There are several different takes on how to properly organize your meal around a ketogenic eating plan, but the most basic macronutrient breakdown is:
60-75% of calories from fat (or even more) 15-30% of calories from protein 5-10% of calories from carbs.
For a more accurate breakdown that takes your own dietary needs into consideration, we recommend the KetoDiet Buddy, which will help you plan your diet based on your age, weight, height, and current activity level.
For instance, a woman over the age of 50, who is 5’4”, weighs 165 lbs., and leads a lightly active lifestyle would want to consume around 30g of carbs, 78g of protein, and 107g of fats per day if she were looking to lose weight at a moderate, healthy pace.
To keep your goals in check, you will need to spend a little bit of time planning out your meals, but once you have a plan in place, you will see that following the diet could not be more simple … or delicious.
You can look forward to butter, bacon, and cheese as long as you don’t forget to load up on your green vegetables.
References
(1)
(2)
(3)
