AskST: What Is Keto Diet And Is It Safe To Follow?
SINGAPORE – National University Hospital’s (NUH) chief dietitian Lim Su Lin recently developed a healthy version of the ketogenic diet for an ongoing clinical trial that aims to help patients lose weight without compromising their health.
AskST: What Is Keto Diet And Is It Safe To Follow?
Preliminary results show that those who follow her programme closely can lose up to 25kg in four months, as well as reduce blood pressure and control diabetes.
AskST: What Is Keto Diet And Is It Safe To Follow?
Here’s a quick look at what a standard keto diet constitutes and the risks involved.
AskST: What Is Keto Diet And Is It Safe To Follow?
What is the keto diet?
It is a strict high-fat, moderate-protein and low-carbohydrate diet. By cutting down on carbohydrate intake, your body is induced to enter a state known as ketosis where it breaks down stored fat instead of carbohydrates to produce energy.
AskST: What Is Keto Diet And Is It Safe To Follow?
In other words, the body is “tricked” into burning fat as a fuel, which helps with weight loss. This is an individualised process, however, meaning that some people will require a more restrictive diet to induce ketosis.
AskST: What Is Keto Diet And Is It Safe To Follow?
Popular keto diets suggest an average of 70 to 80 per cent fat, 5 to 10 per cent carbohydrate and 10 to 20 per cent protein. According to the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, this translates to about 165g of fat, 40g of carbohydrate and 75g of protein for a 2000-calorie diet.
AskST: What Is Keto Diet And Is It Safe To Follow?
But Dr Lim’s programme keeps fat consumption at less than 50 per cent of total daily energy and also restricts calories based on the person’s profile.
Why is the diet so popular?
On paper, the diet involves burning fats by eating more of them, allowing people to eat high-fat foods that they enjoy such as red meats, fatty fish, cheese and nuts, while still losing weight.
It is also generally seen as a more sustainable weight loss plan as fat and protein take a longer time to break down in the body, keeping people full for a longer period of time.
Is it safe?
There are risks involved in following the keto diet. At the top of the list is that it can result in a high intake of unhealthy fats – from eating too much processed food, for example – which can increase bad cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease.
According to the Gleneagles Hospital website, common side effects of putting your body…