The Biggest Benefit of Keto is Not What You Think!
Most people begin the keto diet with the expectation of losing a lot of weight quickly... and happily, most of them do!
But when you speak to most people who have adopted a keto lifestyle, they will tell you that the weight loss, while a happy by-product of the keto way of eating has not been the biggest benefit they've seen in their life.
So what is it?
In a word: inflammation.
Let me explain. Inflammation for many people is the natural state of the body on a carb-rich diet. Inflammation is not harmful in and of itself, and in fact is the body's natural way of fighting infection and disease. But when that inflammation becomes chronic and systemic, it can wreak havoc on our physical and mental health.
Modern science is beginning to reveal that systemic inflammation is the root cause of many of our modern chronic health ailments. Type 2 diabetes, for instance, is caused by the body being unable to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugar. The body sees excess blood sugar as a problem and send insulin into the blood to fight it, but when the body can no longer produce enough insulin to fight the spikes in blood sugar, diabetes ensues. This is not to say that inflammation directly causes diabetes (the jury is still out on that), but recent medical studies have shown that adopting a keto diet can in fact reverse type 2 diabetes,
So how can adopting a keto diet help? When your body switches from using sugar and carbohydrates for fuel to being fueled by ketones, it is able to heal itself of inflammation.
This is why most people experience a sudden weight loss in the first few weeks of starting on a keto diet: your cells, which have been storing water due to a chronic inflammatory response, release that water as your body begins to heal. This leads to a rapid initial weight loss on the keto diet.
But more importantly, once the insulin response in your body becomes normalized due to lower blood sugar levels, your organs and tissues are finally able to begin to heal themselves. This is why many people start to notice profound changes to their body after only a few weeks of adopting a keto lifestyle. These include:
- a decrease in appetite and food cravings
- reduction in anxiety, depression and elevated mood
- optimal energy levels with no "crashes"
- reduction of acne and clearer skin
- reduction in migraine headaches
- improvement in sleep quality and reduction in insomnia
- reduction of acid reflux and GERD
All of these disorders have one thing in common: they are caused by inflammation. By adopting a keto diet and forcing your body to run on ketones rather than blood sugars, your body can heal and you will see a reduction or elimination of your symptoms. which will endure as long as you maintain this lifestyle.
So as evidence mounts on the benefits of adopting a ketogenic way of eating, it becomes clear that while weight loss is undoubtedly a big benefit of a keto diet, most people will have bigger benefits to boast about!
If you are looking for a way to heal your body and mind of any issues you might be experiencing, please get in touch and let's talk about how Keto Kickstart can help you!