Ketogenic diet gained much attention in the recent years. This diet has one of the strictest carbohydrate intake. But is ketogenic diet for diabetes ideal?
What Is Ketogenic Diet?
Ketogenic diet is a high fat, adequate protein, low carb diet. The intake of carbohydrate for ketogenic diet is limited to only five percent of your overall calorie intake, while the remainder of the calories is divided into 65 percent dietary fat and 30 percent dietary protein.
Since counting carbohydrates is important when it comes to controlling blood sugar level, Ketogenic diet for diabetes may seem ideal. However, before you get too excited, here are some important things to note.
Ketogenic Diet and Nutritional Density
First of all, when it comes to evaluating any eating plan, it is always important to consider the nutritional density of the diet plan. Sadly, this is when ketogenic diet fall short.
Since your carbohydrate intake will need to be reduced to such a small amount, it can be a challenge to selecting the most nutrient-dense foods to feed your body. This is especially so when it comes to choosing the right amount of vegetables and fruits.
Many vegetables and most fruits contain carbohydrates. This means that you need to focus on eating leafy greens and reduce starchy vegetables like peas, carrots and cauliflowers etc and fruits. Restricting the variety of vegetables and fruits can increase your risk of inflammation and diseases related complications due to the lack of dietary fiber and antioxidants. Moreover, people who are on ketogenic diet are very prone to constipation due to lack of dietary fiber.
How Ketogenic Diet For Diabetes Affects Overall Health
The next thing that you want to consider is how the diet impacts your overall health. As mentioned above, ketogenic diet is a high fat diet plan which allows for 65 percent dietary fat out of your total calorie intake. This is where it can get tricky.
Many type 2 diabetes patients also struggle with heart conditions, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure and weight issues. Hence, its very important to be mindful of the type of fat and the amount of calories you consume. You should not be feasting on foods high in saturated fat like bacon, sausage, steak and cheese. In order to see optimal results, you need to choose foods high in healthy fats. All in all, you need to consider how they can fit into your allowable calories intake if you need to lose weight.
As you can see, ketogenic diet for diabetes may not be as straightforward as it seems. However, with meticulous planning, you can still make it work for you. Consider discussing with a nutritionist to work out a detailed meal plan according to your condition.
