Many have argued that low-carb diets are cholesterol magnets and could threaten people’s medical health. However, these diets are scientifically proven to be beneficial to the human body, and ketogenic meal plans prove that.
Ketogenic diets are the trending talk of the town. Many are opting for this meal plan to assist their weight loss journey. However, it has more benefits than most people know. This article will discuss the advantages of low-carb and ketogenic diets and why you should consider them.
What Are Low-Carbs and Ketogenic Diets?
Low-carbohydrate diets are meal plans that reduce or restrict the usual carbohydrate consumption to an almost zero level. It replaces the high-carb foods like French fries and bread in your diet with meals higher in protein, fat, and low-carb. These include vegetables, chicken, fish, and healthy oils.
The Keto diet is a spin-off of low-carb diets. It’s a weight loss program that aids appetite reduction and burning fat while keeping your muscle mass. Simply put, it helps you lose weight through low-carb meals that put your body through ketosis (a metabolic state where your body starts burning stored fat for energy rather than glucose). This isn’t all there is to ketogenic diets; here are ten things you’d love to know before starting the diet.
10 Health Benefits of Low-Carb and Ketogenic Diets
While it’s known that keto meals help reduce weight, there are numerous benefits attached to this weight loss plan, and these are some of them:
1. It Significantly Increases Your Energy Level
This is where low-carb differ from typical low-calorie intake diets. While many prescribed diets might make you weak and less motivated, Keto does the opposite. Although you might feel low at the start of your journey, the body replenishes quickly on a Keto diet. Once your body gets accustomed to the ketosis process, you’ll get an increased energy boost giving you better quality sleep and strength to make your low-carb recipes like the popular cauliflower fried rice.
2. It Reduces Your Appetite
The hard part of every weight loss journey is the hunger pangs accompanying portion controls. It isn’t easy to switch from eating your burgers when you want to counting calories on every nutritional information printed on your food packs. Keto solves that.
Low-carb meal plans generally tone down your appetite to help reduce your calorie intake and curb impulse eating, making the success rate of your weight loss program more feasible.
3. It Improves Your Cardiovascular Health
Low-carb meals improve your high-density lipoprotein (HDL), also known as good cholesterol. HDL transports cholesterol through the bloodstream to the liver, where it is flushed from the body. Simply put, it gets rid of excess cholesterol in your body system. Increased HDL reduces risks of heart problems and associated medical conditions such as blood pressure, hypertension, and many others.
4. It’s A Good Weight Loss Plan
Besides the numerous health benefits, weight loss is a significant advantage of keto diet plans. Cutting carbs is an ancient method of losing the extra weight that still works to date. Here’s how it works:
Insulin aids glucose conversion to energy, which the body can store in the liver, muscles, and as body fat. The deal with low-carb meals is that it burns through the stored energy instead of working with the glucose directly. This results in fat burning that eventually helps you shed unwanted weight.
5. It Reduces the Risks of Liver Failures
Processed carbs are generally bad news for your liver. You’re prone to fatty liver diseases if these sugary foods are deposited into your liver, increasing your triglycerides and fatty acids in the process; which will be stated in the next point.
Keto meals help you avoid excess fatty acid; it reduces your blood sugar levels, ultimately reducing your risks of liver diseases.
6. It Decreases Triglycerides in Your Bloodstream
Triglycerides are a major form of fats, also known as lipids, that reside in the bloodstream. Here’s why it matters:
Your body converts unwanted calorie intake into triglycerides, which are stored in the fat cells. These lipids are eventually released into the body for energy. Now, high-calorie intake would translate to a high lipid profile, which may cause critical medical conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and high blood sugar. Keto meals reduce your calorie intake, giving you an advantage over high triglycerides.
7. It Controls Your Blood Sugar
Low-carb meals reduce the risk of Diabetes. Diabetes is a high blood sugar condition where the body builds up resistance against insulin (which converts glucose to energy). This can lead to the body’s inability to produce enough insulin to burn blood sugar levels, leading to Type 2 Diabetes. However, reducing your carb intake helps reinvigorate your insulin level and regulate your blood sugar level while at it.
8. Reduced Acne Breakouts
If you frequently spot blackheads, pimples, and whiteheads breakout, you probably have an acne condition. While there are several reasons behind these breakouts, such as hormones, health conditions, and genes, high insulin levels also cause pimples. Low-carb diets regulate your insulin levels, aiding hormone balance and ultimately improving your skin condition. You can opt for this meal plan if you want to avoid taking prescriptions for your skin to look bright.
9. It Aids In Pediatric Epilepsy Seizure Treatment
Studies by the Epilepsy Foundation, Epilepsy Society, and John Hopkins Medicine researchers have shown that ketogenic meal plans help treat epileptic seizures in children. This study proves that your brain can burn ketones when carb intake reduces significantly. It has been used to reduce and cure epilepsy in children that have stopped responding to treatment and is currently being studied for other medical conditions.
10. Keto Diets Could Be The Solution To Mental Anxiety Disorders
Keto diets might help treat anxiety disorders like depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders. It has intracellular sodium concentration that most mood-stabilizing drugs use as constituents. Its low-carb constituent and high fat intake are also associated with mood stabilization and better brain stimulation.
Conclusion
The benefits of ketogenic diets are unending. You can opt for this fast and effective meal regime whether you’re planning to lose weight, trying it for medical purposes, or you’d just like a smoother face. Besides its incredible health benefits that most diet plans cannot match, you also get to try several spectacular keto dishes to know your favorite.