The ketogenic diet, known as "keto," is a low-carbohydrate, high-fat eating plan. It shares similarities with the Atkins diet. You may have encountered news headlines, celebrity endorsements, and wondered about the keto craze. Determining if it suits you involves weighing its advantages against potential downsides.
What is the Keto Diet?
The keto diet is an extremely low-carb, high-fat eating plan. It involves drastically reducing carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fat. The ketogenic diet involves consuming a very low amount of carbohydrates and replacing them with fat to help your body burn fat for energy. Compared to the typical American diet of more than 250 grams of carb per day, the keto diet limits daily carb intake to 20-50 grams. The keto diet uses a ratio of macronutrients (fat, protein, and carbs). Typical ratios used are 4:1 or 3:1, meaning your diet will be made up of 4 or 3 grams of fat for every 1 gram of protein and carbohydrate combined. This equals about 70% to 80% fat and 20% to 30% protein plus carbohydrate. For a typical 2000-calorie diet, this amounts to roughly 165 grams fat, 75 grams protein, and 40 grams carbohydrate.
How the Keto Diet Works
The keto diet helps weight loss by relying on fats for fuel as opposed to carbohydrates. Typically after you eat carbs, your blood sugar goes up, and that sugar powers the body’s cells. But when you don’t eat carbs for a while, your blood sugar runs dry, and the liver begins using stored body fat for fuel. It’s like a back-up system for your body. This process is called ketosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your body uses fat for fuel instead of carbs. It occurs when you significantly reduce your consumption of carbohydrates, limiting your body’s supply of glucose (sugar), which is the main source of energy for the cells. When in ketosis, the body burns fat rapidly, which can lead to weight loss. Because the keto diet is not a full fast, your body still has an alternative source of energy, and you can maintain lean muscle mass.
Potential Benefits for Women Over 60
For many seniors, transitioning to a new diet plan requires thoughtful planning and a focus on maintaining balance. People over 50 may have success on the keto diet, because it has the potential to promote weight loss, control blood sugar, and possibly protect against heart disease. The keto diet gained so much popularity because of its health benefits, but do those same benefits also apply to seniors?
- Weight Loss Management: By encouraging the body to burn fat for fuel, the keto diet can support effective weight loss and maintenance in seniors. A ketogenic diet can help you lose slightly more weight than a low fat diet. This often happens with less hunger.
- Stable Blood Sugar: Keto helps to maintain stable blood sugar levels by reducing carbohydrate intake, which minimizes blood sugar spikes. The diet is linked to lower blood sugar. Talk to your doctor about it, but studies have shown that keto diets can help people improve their insulin sensitivity. “Type 2 diabetes can be controlled with a ketogenic diet,” says Cunnane.
- Brain Function Protection: The keto diet may protect brain health by providing ketones as an alternative energy source, which can support cognitive function. “Ketones are actually its preferred source of energy,” Cunnane says.
Risks and Considerations for Older Women
But this eating plan does have risks, and you should always check with your doctor or a licensed nutritionist before you start any new diet. And some researchers are concerned about the potential for things like kidney stones, renal damage and elevated LDL cholesterol.
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- Nutrient Deficiencies: Because of the dietary restrictions that come with keto, including a limited amount of fruit, dieters might find they lack the recommended daily amount of certain vitamins and minerals, like vitamin K or vitamin B12.
- Heart Health Concerns: High fat consumption may not be suitable for individuals with existing heart conditions. Using a high-fat diet like keto to combat heart disease may seem counterintuitive because ketosis can increase one’s low-density lipoprotein (LDL), commonly referred to as "bad" cholesterol, according to one study.
- Muscle Mass Loss: But for older adults, the biggest risk of fasting or keto dieting is the fact that you’re often depriving your body of the protein it needs to build and maintain muscle mass. “To build muscle, older people need more protein than younger people,” Prado says. So if you’re eating 2,000 calories a day, you’d be allowed only about 300 calories, or about 75 grams, worth of protein. That’s considerably less than what Prado recommends for the average 180-pound person who wants to avoid frailty, falls and fractures. Cutting protein to “go keto” means potentially sacrificing muscle mass - and that’s a big trade-off to burn a little bit of belly fat.
- Digestive Issues: Keto can have a major impact on your overall gut health. Because fiber intake is limited in a keto diet, many people report issues with constipation, while others experience diarrhea.
- Kidney Problems: Research is still being conducted into how ketogenic diets affect the kidneys. The diet itself, however, can lead to the consumption of foods that may trigger kidney stones and other kidney issues.
How to Start Keto Safely After 60
Starting a keto diet should be done under the supervision of a trusted physician or dietician to ensure safety and effectiveness, especially for seniors. The keto diet may be challenging, but some people find that when they follow it carefully, they get benefits that outweigh the drawbacks.
- Start slow: Gradually reduce your carbohydrate intake instead of making drastic changes overnight.
- Focus on nutrient-dense foods: Ensure your meals include plenty of healthy fats like avocados, nuts, seeds, and olive oil, as well as high-quality proteins such as lean meats, eggs, and fish.
- Stay hydrated: Proper hydration is essential for any diet but especially for keto, as reduced carb intake can lead to water loss. Drink plenty of water and consider electrolyte supplements if needed.
- Consider supplements: Seniors on a keto diet may require supplements to fill potential nutritional gaps, such as calcium, magnesium, or vitamin D.
- Engage in low-impact exercises: Engaging in low-impact exercises such as walking, swimming, yoga, or tai chi can complement the keto diet.
Foods to Eat and Avoid
The foods you can eat on a keto diet include:
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Cheese
- Dairy products
- Greek yogurt
- Veggies
- Eggs
- Small amounts of meat and fish
The diet asks you to avoid high-carbohydrates foods. Some of these are:
- Fruits. (Berries may be okay in small amounts, because of their high nutritional value.)
- Refined and whole grains, and starches (such as breads, cereals, pasta, rice, wheat, rye, barley, potatoes, starchy vegetables)
- Beans and legumes
- Processed foods (like cereal, microwave-ready meals, and most fast food)
Potential Side Effects
For instance, you may get:
- Flu-like symptoms
- Upset stomach
- Headache
- Fatigue
- Dizzy spells
- Trouble sleeping
- Constipation
- Muscle cramping
- Soreness
- Sugar cravings
- Brain fog
Some long-term health risks are:
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- Kidney stones
- Liver disease
- Vitamin deficiency
Alternatives to Keto
There are many other types of healthy diets out there that can support weight loss goals and lead to better health.
- The Mediterranean diet is low in carbs and somewhat high in fat, though it’s not as extreme as keto. The big difference is that the Mediterranean diet promotes more plant-based foods and far less meat, especially red meat.
- DASH stands for “dietary approaches to stop hypertension,” and it’s an excellent diet for seniors with high blood pressure.
- Lazy keto, or “dirty keto,” uses the same principles behind the ketogenic diet but forgoes tracking macros and eases up on some of the restrictions.
- The LCHF (low-carbohydrate and high-fat) diet is very similar to lazy keto but not quite the same. It uses the basic principle of carb reduction and higher fat intake but with fewer of the rules of keto.
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