Ketogenic Diet

Let's talk about fats. Isn't there research showing that high-fat diets have negative health effects? Is there such a thing as too much when you're keto? How do we find the balance between fats and protein?

You can find an endless number of studies concluding that "high-fat dieting" causes insulin resistance and obesity, increases bad cholesterol, and leads to cardiovascular disease.13 However, I have to emphasize that the studies showing problems with high-fat diets should actually be labeled as high-fat, high-carbohydrate diets.1
This is known as the "typical western diet," and has led to myriad health problems. However, Bob Wolfe's lab found that when they infused fat by itself into the blood, it was simply used as fuel. But when these researchers infused fat along with carbohydrates, the fat was prevented from being used as fuel and insulin resistance began to occur.13
Why does this happen? The primary reason is that fats require a particular enzyme, CPT1, to transport them into the mitochondria. High amounts of insulin inhibit this transporter and thus prevent fat oxidation.13 For this reason, during a ketogenic diet, the carbohydrates must be very low so that they don't impede fat getting used as fuel. But under these conditions, research has shown that ketogenic dieting can have a number of health benefits, such as lowering blood triglycerides and cholesterol and improving insulin sensitivity.1
As far as finding a balance between fats and proteins, the key is selecting cuts of meat and dairy that are not low-fat. That might be hard for some of you to accept at first! Dr. Jacob Wilson PH.D, CSCS
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