How Does Keto Diet Help People With Diabetes?
The Ketogeic diet has been around for a long time, since the 1920s. It certainly has been through various studies to prove its benefits. It can be a quick way to lose weight, like many restrictive diets. Dietary changes combined with increased physical activity are among the most effective lifestyle changes for the treatment or management of type 2 diabetes and prediabetes.
A common concern is whether you will be able to maintain your dietary changes in the long run. This can be challenging because keto is restrictive. Furthermore, science is revealing what other effects it may have on your health. A common query is whether it is better to lose weight through keto or fasting. Let’s get to the details for a better understanding of how does keto diet help people with diabetes, particularly Type-2 Diabetes.
The Scientific Approach to Type 2 Diabetes
Our approach is to follow the science and collective body of research on issues rather than a current trend. Lower-carb diets appear to have short-term and long-term benefits for people with type 2 diabetes, but those benefits can be sustained over time when approached with discipline.
Any dietary plan should be enjoyable, healthy, and sustainable so you can stick to it. A keto diet will work for you and you can stick to it long enough to achieve your goals. Science suggests that highly restrictive diets work in the long run.
Three Ways Keto Diet Helps with Pre and Type-2 Diabetes:
Loss of Weight
Through calorie restriction, standard diabetes protocols attempt to stimulate weight loss. Unfortunately, long-term calorie restriction causes a sustained metabolic slowdown, and the weight returns when normal portions are resumed.
The Keto diet for Diabetics, on the other hand, has been shown to aid in weight loss and maintenance in obese and diabetic people. In a study by Virta Health, type 2 diabetics lost an average of 30.4 pounds after a year of supervised keto dieting.
Why does the Keto diet for diabetics produce such results? One major reason is that it reduces hunger hormones such as ghrelin and neuropeptide. As a result, there is less hunger, less overeating, and less weight gain.
Blood Sugar Management
The primary clinical feature of type 2 diabetes is hyperglycemia or high blood sugar. It is diagnosed by measuring fasting or average blood glucose levels (HbA1c).
What causes blood sugar to rise? Carbs! Diets high in “simple” carbohydrates such as sugar, refined flour and grains, high-sugar fruits, and dairy have been shown to worsen hyperglycemia in diabetics.
A keto diet is the polar opposite of a high-carb diet. The Keto diet eliminates the dietary driver of diabetic hyperglycemia by limiting carbohydrate intake.
Insulin Activity
Late-stage type 2 diabetes patients frequently require insulin injections to control their blood sugar levels. However, because the problem isn’t insulin itself, but rather the body’s healthy management of insulin, this is more of a band-aid than a cure.
Rather than adding more insulin, Keto addresses the underlying cause of the problem: high blood sugar levels and inflammation, both of which lead to insulin resistance. Eliminating carbs can help normalise blood sugar, and as the body heals, normal insulin function can gradually be restored, breaking the fat-storing cycle of insulin resistance.
Evidence? Multiple studies have shown that the Keto diet improves insulin function, even to the point of helping diabetics eliminate the need for supplemental insulin. This contributes to the creation of conditions conducive to long-term diabetic weight loss.
Quick Keto Diet Tips
You’re probably feeling a surge of motivation to try the Keto diet especially if you’re a diabetic by this point. How to make your keto recipes with low carb and high fat enjoyable?
While the basic premise is simple, it does necessitate some planning and effort. Nothing good comes easily, right? Here are a few pointers to get you started:
- Keep Track of Your Macros: Use a Carb Manager app to track your daily meals, stay on track with macros, and prevent hidden carbs from derailing your Ketogenic goals.
- Keep Track of Your Ketones. Measure ketone levels in your blood, breath, or urine to confirm you’re in ketosis. Blood tests are the gold standard, and the Keto-Mojo metre is another recommendation. Consider a breath metre if you want to measure ketones in the breath (which correlate with blood ketone levels). By the way, these inexpensive and accurate at-home metres integrated with Carb Manager will help you visualise the relationship between your diet and ketone levels over time.
- Make a List of Everything: Planning and tracking your exercise, meals, energy levels, and sleep eliminates willpower and keeps you accountable for your health.
- Consume Enough Electrolytes: Low-carb diets are diuretic, which means they cause you to excrete more water, sodium, and potassium through your urine. Unfortunately, deficiency can cause “Keto flu”-like symptoms. Add salt or bouillon cubes to your water to increase your salt intake, and eat potassium-rich foods like spinach and meat to increase your potassium intake. Other electrolytes, such as magnesium and calcium, are essential for strong bones, a healthy nervous system, energy production, and much more.
One more thing. Getting used to burning fat for energy can take 2 to 4 weeks, and possibly longer if you’re insulin resistant. We at Keto Diabetics are privileged to assist you in your journey to build a healthy lifestyle with Keto. Liaise with our keto experts to know more.