National Keto Day: Here's what you should know before trying the diet
Fox News
The Vitamin Shoppe founded National Keto Day in 2019 as a way to raise awareness about the low-carb, high-fat diet, which has been credited for weight loss and epileptic seizure reduction. While many dieters have found success with ketogenic meal plans, researchers aren’t certain about keto’s impact long-term.
A study from National Jewish Health – a cardiac, respiratory and immune hospital – found that keto diets might help people shed pounds and promote "modest" improvements to heart health, but researchers warned that this high-fat dieting method could encourage "consumption of foods that are known to increase cardiovascular risk." The study also claimed that keto diets might be ineffective in preventing heart disease because dieters left to their own devices tend to eat unhealthy saturated fats.
This becomes a problem when dieters adhere to the keto diet’s nutritional breakdown: 75% of healthy fats, 20% of protein and 5% of carbohydrates, but instead eat foods that are high in saturated fat like cured meats, cheese and cream. When the diet is done right, the body goes into ketosis – the metabolic process of burning stored fat for energy in place of carbs (AKA glucose or blood sugar).