Should You Go on the “Keto” Diet?

A ketogenic (i.e., keto) diet consists of high fat (75%), “adequate” protein (20%), and 5% carbohydrates (or less than 50 grams per day). A version of low-carb eating, it gained notoriety for treating epilepsy. For that, it’s terrific! It’s now becoming popular among Type II diabetics. But, due to its ill effect on energy, mood, breath (bad!) and overall biochemistry, Ketogenic diet is not the long-term solution to today’s growing rates of obesity, cancer and heart disease.

The main difference between keto diet plan and other low-carb plans is that keto advocates eating more fats than protein. Today most people are familiar with this approach, thanks to the late Dr. Atkins who villainized carbs and glorified high fat for the obese. Since then, an entire circus made of Big Food, online diet gurus and charlatans have collaborated to capitalize on this trend with a “go keto” mantra.

To sell people on the keto craze, the keto-clowns insist that low carb creates a “metabolic advantage.” And that eating 4-6 times per day helps leverage this post-meal fat-burning furnace. Both ideas are baloney, because the metabolism works the same regardless of what you eat.

Whether you’re eating seeds, nuts, cotton candy, or keto-whatever — overeating (and eating too often) will always cause an energy imbalance that favors fat storage.

The short term value of “going keto” comes from the production of ketone bodies and lowered insulin levels. But, denying the body healthy (i.e., complex) carbs can lead to undesirable physical and mental outcomes such as lethargy, muscle loss, mood swings and even depression.

The healthiest carbohydrates are complex. They come from foods like steel-cut oats, quinoa, sweet potatoes, rice, blueberries, citrus fruits, lentils, and legumes (beans and peas). Once consumed, complex carbohydrates are slowly chopped into glucose (sugar) that feeds both brain and body.

To transport sugar out of your bloodstream, your pancreas produces insulin. As a “sugar taxi,” it delivers glucose to muscle cells. Once at the squishy surface, glucose is vacuumed up and converted to energy. For healthy people, this is a vital and efficient sugar-removing process. It helps build muscle and encourages positive mood and focus.

However, if you’re obese, insulin resistant or suffering from Type II diabetes, your muscle cells are resistant to insulin. This means your sugar packaging and delivery system isn’t working. Insulin backs up in the blood like Amazon Prime boxes at a UPS store. This build-up leads to high glucose, increased triglycerides, raised A1C (sugar-encrusted hemoglobin), and obesity. If not treated, poor vision, lethargy, obesity, neuropathy, heart attack, stroke, and cancer become growing threats. The keto-diet can help remedy it short term, like any yo-yo-diet, but for long term health, it’s not going to be the answer you’re hoping for.

Today, most people — athletes, too — suffer from far more than just high blood sugar. After generations of excess sugar, medications, artificial flavors, and pharmafoods (lab-derived flavor mimics), biochemists have found that there’s an epidemic of poor hormone balance, output, and sensitivity (BOS). I call this “hormonal ignorance” and it’s the number one cause of decreased lifespan, today!

Hormonal ignorance is characterized by more than a malfunction in insulin. It’s also responsible for your anti-aging hormones going awry like testosterone, glucagon, estrogen, and more. Hormonal ignorance is so rampant that The Journal of The American Medical Association says people born in the year 2000 will lose 11-20 years in lifespan as a result!

Therefore, despite the positive effects of “going keto” for epilepsy or going Atkins for obesity, it won’t help reverse hormonal ignorance. Worse, those who try ultra low-carb are likely to quit and bounce back to the Standard American Diet (SAD), due to negative effects on mood, making future weight gain even more problematic.

Brain cells use twice as much energy as muscle cells. And just as muscle cells can’t function without water, brain cells can’t produce vital compounds that aid in memory and problem-solving when glycogen (from healthy carbs) and micronutrients plummet due to low carb intake. Thus, lowering carbs with a keto diet long-term can lead to low energy, poor recovery, depression, anxiety, and loss of muscle and endurance! Worse, it can cause “psychoglycemia” — AKA irritability, aggravation, and a short temper.

The only proven and sustainable way to correct hormonal ignorance — and all its complications of insulin resistance, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer — is to use Hormone Intelligence Therapy (HIT). That’s because HIT targets poor hormone balance, output and sensitivity (BOS) at any age and any activity level. And, it also generates ketones without the side effects! Once done, lean body mass is optimized, which restores the body’s ability to heal itself. Technically it’s known as cellular turnover. And just like a lizard repairs its tail, the human body can repair from the inside out. And it all starts with hormones.

Hormones are everything! They determine how much you eat and when. Whether you burn fat or store it. Whether you’re energetic and satisfied after a meal or lethargic and prone to cravings. Whether you feel groggy in the morning or rejuvenated. Without proper hormone BOS, you’re missing out on LIFE!

As a husband, father, chemist, pilot, and grappler, I’ve used Hormone Intelligence Therapy (HIT) for 20+ years to maintain my health and the energy levels of a pit bull on meth. My wife has used HIT to have 4 healthy children, win the Arnold Amateur Classic, compete in CrossFit, sport my favorite bikini, and travel around the world with our teenaged daughter! And, we’ve helped tens of thousands of people use HIT to ditch their meds and achieve their best body. Learn more at www.AMPMFatLoss.com