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Lower blood sugar and insulin levels – helping to prevent and manage diabetes
When carbs are consumed, they are broken down into glucose, increasing the blood sugar levels. The body responds by releasing insulin (to lower blood sugar levels). Unfortunately, if you overload your body continuously with sugar (as a result of insulin), the cells in your body becomes resistant to the insulin. Your body’s natural process to reduce your blood sugar is reduced, hence your blood sugar remains unnaturally high. This is type II diabetes.
So what’s the simple solution to bringing your blood sugar down? Do not eat carbs (which produce the sugar). One study suggested diabetics on a low carb diet can reduce their insulin dosage by 50% (1).
Lower blood sugar also results in feeling better. Remember when you have a big lunch then feel sleepy for the rest of the afternoon? That was because of a spike in your blood sugar.
Suppressing your appetite
On a Ketogenic diet you feel fuller, which means you crave food (including junk food), far less. This then becomes a simple equation, if you feel like eating less, you eat less. Eating less ultimately leads to weight loss.
Greater fat loss – particularly the stubborn belly fat
Potentially one of the best benefits of the ketogenic diet is increased fat loss around the stomach area. Shedding this visceral fat around the mid region was always something I struggled with and I began to see a significant reduction in fat on a ketogenic diet. One study which compared a low fat and a low carb diet was surprised at this finding:
Both between and within group comparisons revealed a distinct advantage of a VLCK (low carb) over a LF (low fat) diet for weight loss, total fat loss, and trunk fat loss for men’ (2)
They also highlighted the trunk loss in women, but it was not as significant as within men (women tend to store fat more proportionally around the body).
The loss of visceral (internal) fat helps to reduce the chances of diabetes and general health problems in the future.
Lower levels of triglycerides
Triglycerides are fat in your blood. You may think this is a bad thing, but they are needed to provide energy around the body. If you have too many of them, however, your body saves them for a rainy day somewhere around your body as fat. High levels also lead to a higher chance of diabetes and heart disease.
One of the biggest contributing factors to high levels is simple sugars. Cutting out these sugars reduces your triglyceride levels.
Increase in good cholesterol and a decrease in bad cholesterol
At one point, all cholesterol was considered bad, however within recent years it has been proven that there is good and bad cholesterol.
LDL (low density lipoprotein) is the bad stuff, while HDL (high density lipoprotein) is the good stuff.
HDL carries cholesterol from the rest of the body for processing, where it is used or ‘thrown away’. LDL can clot and form fatty deposits, blocking arteries (contributing to heart conditions and increased blood pressure).
Studies have shown one of the best ways to increase HDL levels and reduce LDL levels is a high fat diet.
Increased mental focus
Low carb diets were one of the earliest forms of treatment for epilepsy (until more effective drugs were developed). The diet is also now being explored as a way to treat and stave off Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Fatty acids (particularly omega 3 and 6) are considered beneficial for cognitive functioning and help you keep more focused and alert.
