THE KETO diet has been ranked as the worst to embark on this year by experts.
Its premise is to cut down on carbohydrates to the equivalent of around one banana a day in order to lose weight.
1
The keto diet bans almost all carbsCredit: Alamy
People who use keto don’t eat staples such as bread, pasta, potatoes or rice. Things like cake, pastries, biscuits and popcorn are a big no-no.
Instead, the keto diet is made up of healthy fats and protein – the other two main food groups alongside carbs.
For example a dinner may be a chicken avocado salad with vegetables that are low in carbs, like spinach.
It puts the body into a state where it relies on fat to use for energy, called “ketosis”, that occurs during starvation or fasting.
While it may cause a person to lose weight, there is not much evidence this is due to cutting out carbs, as opposed to simply eating healthier or less calories.
There are a number of harms associated with the diet, one of them being the so-called “keto flu”.
Most read in Diet & Fitness
U.S. News ranked 40 diets based on input from a panel of diet, nutrition and health experts to give “the best of 2022”.
While the Mediterranean diet takes the number one spot, the keto diet is listed as number 38. Only the Dukan diet and GAPS diet are considered worse.
WHY IS KETO “BAD”?
The experts gave it a score of 2 out of 5 and ranked it bottom on almost every category except short-term weight loss results.
The low-carb plan is generally a quick, effective weight-loss strategy. But while this sounds desirable, experts caution its effectiveness in the short-term diet doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.
“This diet is fundamentally at odds with everything we know about long-term health,” one expert said.
Another said: “Any diet that recommends snacking on bacon can’t be taken seriously as a health-promoting way to eat”.
Another pointed out that the keto diet is “nutritionally unbalanced and likely difficult for most people to stick with long-term, which means that any weight loss will likely be regained.”
Any diet that is hard to stick to is unlikely to yield long-term results – unless you seriously believe you can cut…