I've been thinking about starting a keto diet, but I'm not sure if it's worth the potential risks. None of them are severe, per se, but they can be uncomfortable - like constipation.
What are some of the benefits of a keto diet?
Well, it's proven to help with epilepsy in children, but a lot of people use it for general weight loss, too.
Why else do people use a keto diet?
People use it to burn fat stored in the body. Because keto diets avoid carbs, the body goes straight to fat to burn.
Oh wow. That sounds like it would be useful to a lot of people. Any other drawbacks?
Well, only social ones - you have to avoid carbs for it to work! So, no bread, beer, etc!
Yikes. I don't know if I could do that. But it sounds really intriguing.
Beer
Beer is one of the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drinks in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. Beer is brewed from cereal grains—most commonly from malted barley, though wheat, maize (corn), and rice are also used. During the brewing process, fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the resulting beer. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and
stimulator or with the drug zonisamide, and that the diet may be less successful in children receiving phenobarbital.
Adverse effects.
The ketogenic diet is not a benign, holistic, or natural treatment for epilepsy; as with any serious medical therapy, complications may result. These are generally less severe and less frequent than with anticonvulsant medication or surgery. Common but easily treatable short-term side effects include constipation, low-grade acidosis, and hypoglycaemia if an initial fast is undertaken. Raised levels of lipids in the blood