Is the ‘keto’ diet the latest celebrity diet or could it be the lifestyle modern society needs in order to address spiralling obesity rates and metabolic disease? If you haven’t heard of the ketogenic diet here is a run down:
Foods consumed are high in fat with a very low carbohydrate intake. By reducing carbs and replacing with fat the body goes into a metabolic state called ketosis. Ketosis is where the body uses ketones from the fats as its source of energy rather than from carbohydrates. Ketones are water soluble molecules produced by the liver from fatty acids when carbohydrate consumption is restricted. Ketones are converted into acetyl-CoA which are eventually used (after some complicated biological functions!) for energy by the mitochondria in our cells for physical as well as mental energy.