Which foods are suitable for a ketogenic diet?
In the ketogenic diet, the list of forbidden foods is long, leaving behind particularly fatty foods and protein. Meat may be eaten in large quantities, including red meat, steak, ham, bacon, chicken and turkey. Greasy fish such as salmon, trout, tuna and mackerel are also on the menu.
Dairy products like butter, cream, cheese and eggs are allowed. Nuts and seeds, for example walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and chia seeds serve as valuable sources of nutrients. Vegetables containing carbohydrates may be eaten in quantities, especially green vegetables, tomatoes, onions and avocados. Healthy oils such as virgin olive oil, coconut oil and avocado oil are an integral part of the ketogenic diet. In summary, the ketogenic diet consists mainly of meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, nuts and low-carbohydrate vegetables.
Where can I find good recipes for ketogenic diets?
For the ketogenic diet you can find numerous recipes on the Internet, which can be cooked very well. Despite the limited choice of food in this diet, you will find a wide range of recipes, which makes it much easier to stick to the diet. In addition, there are countless books containing recipes for ketogenic foods. An advantage of most books is that they contain a good guide to the ketogenic diet and give structure.
How much can I/should I lose weight with this diet form?
With the ketogenic diet you can lose an average of 1 – 2 kilograms of fat per week. In the first few days, a lot of water is washed out, which is why you can notice a particularly large weight loss on the scales in the first week of the diet. As with almost any other diet, the success of the diet depends on the initial situation, the amount of calories consumed daily and physical activity. The weight loss success is basically very different for each individual.
What are the costs of a ketogenic diet?
A ketogenic diet alone cannot end tumor disease, yet scientists have found that a diet low in carbohydrates and high in fat can help to reduce the growth of cancer cells to a small extent. The cause lies in the metabolism of the cancer cells, since some cancer cells particularly like to live on the simple sugar glucose. This means that the carbohydrates ingested with food enter the bloodstream and increase the blood sugar level.
Cancer is usually well vascularized, i.e. well supplied with blood, and removes the sugar from the blood and uses it as a source of energy. With an extremely fat-rich and at the same time carbohydrate-poor diet, ketone bodies are formed, which in large quantities reduce the absorption and utilization of sugar and this also in malignant cells. Altogether the nourishing recommendation itself ketogen to nourish is controversial for cancer patients.
The ketogenic diet has its origins in its use in epilepsy patients due to the observation in the 1920s that children who fast suffer less from seizures. The exact mechanism of action is still unclear, but this is also true for most epilepsy drugs. The ketogenic diet is discussed individually, especially in children and adolescent epileptics, and is only carried out under careful medical supervision.
For this purpose, a team consisting of a dietician, nurse and doctor is involved and the implementation is carried out under inpatient conditions. The success in the regression of the seizures is stated differently depending on age and epilepsy syndrome. Basically there is no nutritional form that can be recommended for multiple sclerosis (MS) due to its scientifically proven effectiveness.
There are various nutritionists who recommend a vegan, an anti-inflammatory or a special low-carb diet, the ketogenic diet. Renowned neurologists at the Berlin Charité found indications of positive effects of a ketogenic diet in MS, but there is no scientific proof of these indications yet. The ketogenic diet should help to keep the insulin level in the blood at a constantly low level. The hormone insulin plays a role in inflammation and there is a suspicion that insulin has negative effects on the organism in connection with carbohydrates. Anyone suffering from MS should in any case find out in consultation with the treating physician which form of nutrition is good for them and can possibly have a positive effect on the disease.