Entry 12: my experience with low-carb/keto

 Hey team,

I'm really excited about this weeks topic so I'm just going to dive right in!

As part of my studies to become an accredited sports nutritionist, I have been undertaking my own personal challenge for 12 weeks. 

This consisted of picking a diet or style of eating and trying it out for 12 weeks.

For this, I chose to do a low-carb, high-fat/protein diet with a little bit of fasting in there as well. I didn't do traditional keto; instead, I opted for a max of 25% from carbs and then about 35-40% from fat and the rest from protein. My main goals were to lose body fat percentage and to hopefully even out my energy levels and I was able to smash both these goals!

For those of you who dont know, keto-diets are essentially an extremely low-carb diet (under 5% of your daily intake from carbs) and they are typically high in fat. 

The whole idea behind keto diets is to encourage a process that we call ketogenesis. with all the K words, this can get a little confusing so I'm going to keep it really simple... 

- ketogenesis = production of ketones
- ketones = fuel source produced when fat is broken down 
- ketosis = the state in which the body's primary fuel source is ketones

So essentially, when we lower our carb intake and increase our fat intake, we are encouraging the body to turn the fats into ketones (ketogenesis) and use that as our primary fuel source (ketosis).

People do it for all sorts of reasons, some of which may include:

- you experience frequent energy crashes during the day
- you are better at abstaining from "treat" foods than moderately consuming them in your diet 
- you are looking to lose weight relatively fast

The research behind keto diets and the processes behind it are very robust and it has proven to be extremely helpful in those with type 2 diabetes, obesity or those with traumatic brain injury. 

Some of the benefits can include:

- improved mental performance 
- improved glucose regulation
- reduction in general inflammation 


For me personally, since lowering my carb intake and increasing my healthy fat consumption, my energy throughout the day is now extremely stable. I dont experience the post-food energy crashes that I used to when eating a relatively high-carb diet. I was also able to drop over 5% body fat in the 12 weeks (approx 6kg) but I didn't feel tired or sh*t in the process. Yes I was in a calorie deficit and this is ultimately all you need to do to lose weight but when I've done this before, the weight loss process hasn't felt as easy and hasn't been very enjoyable - this time round was a completely different experience for me. 

I do want to make it really clear that this is not something that will work for everyone and that can be for a lot of reasons; it may not agree with your body but it may also just not work for your lifestyle, preferences and what you can stick to. And that's okay! Ultimately, the best "diet" is the one you can stick to and the one that you enjoy. 

And also, carbs are not bad for you! I am definitely very pro low-carb now after my experience with doing it but I still consume a decent amount of carbs and I'm less strict on how much I consume now that I've finished the challenge. A lot of people who do keto or other such diets tend to villanise carbs but that's so unnecessary. Anything is "bad" if you over do it, whether that's too much broccoli or too much cake. 

But if you are someone who eats a lot of carbs and you dont have stable energy levels or you're just curious, I highly recommend giving this a go! When I started, I ate 30-35% carbs in my first week and then progressively dropped it from there as I got the hang of it. 


I know that this stuff can be a little confusing and there are a lot of pre-formed ideas in society surrounding this stuff with people sitting firmly on either side of the argument claiming that keto is bullsh*t or that keto is the healthiest diet out there. 

I'm here to offer an alternative perspective - keto can be great for some people but it might be shit for others. It all comes back to the individual and a magnitude of factors that are specific to each person. 

If any of you have any questions or are curious about any of this stuff, please feel free to comment or message me! I absolutely love talking about anything nutrition related and I've barely scrapped the surface of the keto diet in this entry so ask away! 

- Alex :D

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