It goes without saying that right now, at the start of 2020, there is a term nearly everyone knows: keto.
I first learned of keto (short for “ketogenic diet”) around 8 years ago when I became a fan of Bulletproof Radio, a podcast (and mega brand) started by Dave Asprey. I started drinking Bulletproof coffee (and still do), read his books, and became a sponge for all things in the health world. I researched veganism, and even went vegan for nearly 2 years. I researched keto, and tested that out for about 6 months myself as well, using my body as a guinea pig.
In the last year or two, with this societal craze around intermittent fasting and the keto diet, I’ve kept my distance, observing what people are saying and doing, and ultimately, what results they’re getting. Sometimes, when in conversation with someone who wants to make a change to their body via nutrition and fitness, the word comes up, and to be honest, in most cases, when “keto” is mentioned, it’s not in a good way.
Just this week, after launching my beta test group opportunity for my upcoming hormone health for women online course, I received 38 total messages from 38 different women intrigued by the topic of eating and exercising around their menstrual cycles. Of these 38, around 1/3 of the women mentioned the word “keto.” Rather than summarize our conversations, I thought I would share with you the actual sentences I’ve been receiving, verbatim.
“No matter what I do I can’t lose weight. Keto I lose a little and it pops back on.”
“I’ve been doing keto for about a year but have hit a plateau. My husband has lost weight doing it but not me. Unfortunately my cholesterol is going up, and I’ve got to do something, which is why I’m reaching out.”
“I’ve been on keto for a week. No bread no pop or sugar just a lot of salads and lettuce wraps. Should I feel like crap? I have no energy!”
“I do keto 5-6 days a week, along with intermittent fasting, but not on the weekends. LOL. You could say I love brunching! My body just seems to be gaining in my hips and thighs, which is why your post peaked my interest. Is keto something I shouldn’t be doing?”
And so, while I’m not a certified medical professional or registered dietician, I would like to take a moment to explain to you what I know about dieting culture, the keto diet, and specifically, its impact on women’s hormones. I am someone who puts ghee and coconut oil in her coffee daily, and who researched hours upon hours of information surrounding nutrition. I am a Certified Nutrition Specialist and Certified Personal Trainer. I have also been a virtual health coach for nearly 10 years, and have worked with hundreds of women to help them lose weight and keep it off using tools that work.
To give you some background, Wikipedia says:
“The ketogenic diet is a high fat, adequate protein, low carb diet that in medicine is used primarily to treat difficult-to-control (refractory) epilepsy in children. The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than carbs. Normally, the carbohydrates contained in food are converted into glucose, which is then transported around the body and is particularly important in fueling brain function. However, if little carbohydrate remains in the diet, the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies. The ketone bodies pass into the brain and replace glucose as an energy source. An elevated level of ketone bodies in the blood, a state known as ketosis, leads to a reduction in the frequency of epileptic seizures.”
In other words, it has been around since the 1920’s originally as a means to treat epilepsy in children. Since then, it has been used in modern medicine to treat varying medical conditions, including some cancers, autism, Parkinson’s, and various deficiencies.
Let me be clear in saying that I fully support the ketogenic diet as prescribed by a doctor, with metrics for the patient to follow in a way that scientifically proves their body is in a healthy state of ketosis (this can be attained by measuring ketone levels in the blood or urine).
What I have issue with, which is the purpose of this post, is that since keto began to gain traction in mainstream media, it has been the content source of a modern day version of the game “telephone.”
Ever played telephone? Flash back to kindergarten, when your teacher had you sit in a circle and she whispered in one student’s ear something like, “A guppy in a shark tank.” Then that student has to whisper the same phrase to the student next to him/her, and the chain continues until all students have been given the secret phrase. At the end of the circle, the last student has to say the phrase for all to hear, and in 90% of cases, what does the student say?
NOT “a guppy in a shark tank.”
They might say something like, “A puppy in a tank top” or something way off course from how the phrase originally started.
And this, my friends, is the point with keto.
What is a solid medical plan of action for some individuals has been turned into a popular fad diet that now looks nothing like what it should.
What should really look like free range eggs cooked in ghee with a small portion of green vegetables and whole avocado, or grass-finished beef with a side of veggies cooked in coconut oil, along with proper urine and blood level testing to determine ketogenic state, now looks like this on social media:
Recipes float around Facebook and are shared virally of “bacon cheddar ranch casseroles” and “low-carb keto grilled cheese.” This, my friends, couldn’t be further from the truth and further from healthy, and it’s making America sick.
An ugly game of telephone. That’s what this craze is.
And I’m here to tell you that if you’ve fallen victim to the delicious looking keto Pinterest recipes, or if you think you can consume high amounts of unhealthy fats (like dairy and vegetable oil) and proteins (like antibiotic-laden beef and bacon), you’re going to wind up in my inbox someday soon complaining of no energy, weight gain in the midsection and thighs, rising cholesterol, and begging for help.
So let’s just skip all of that and let me be the one to break it to you. And I’ll tell you exactly in the same way I tell my 3 year old when we go shopping in the grocery store.
“The best things to eat are the foods God made.”
I sometimes quiz my toddler by asking her… “Did God make macaroni and cheese?” And she’ll giggle and say, “Noooooo, Mama!” Truth is, she’s never seen macaroni and cheese. And then I’ll ask, “Did God make broccoli?” To which she raises her arms in celebration and says, “Yeah!”
My friends, the best way to approach your health is to, as Dr. Michael Pollan says, “Eat foods, not too much, mostly plants.”
It really is that simple.
But what if you don’t like veggies? What if they make you gag? (Yes, these are things I hear often from clients.)
While I’ll be the first to tell you that broccoli will never taste like that bacon cheeseburger, I am here to say that there are tools out there that will help you find ways of changing your taste buds and making your veggies and lean proteins taste yummy. In fact, you’ve likely discovered this article because it was shared to you by one of our Team’s Coaches. If that’s the case, talk to them about the tools we have in our tool belt to help you come to terms with, make the transition, and execute long-term a diet that fuels you nutritionally.
Are folks losing weight on a keto diet? Of course! Restricting any macro will deliver initial results. But what about over the long term? My inbox messages indicate otherwise. What overwhelms me is that while weight loss may occur, the before/after photos of these people don’t take them from overweight to strong much like the before/afters of our clients do. Those who follow this modern, twisted, telephone game of keto wind up depleting their body of energy, while those who embrace a mostly plant-based diet, with the right portions and proportions, are the ones not only leaning their bodies, but feeling great.
What about the keto diet and its impact on women’s hormone health? After all, most of the messages I receive indicate that men (spouses usually) are seeing results with keto while women are struggling. Let’s address that for a moment.
According to women’s hormone expert Dr. Stacy Sims, “When women have low carbohydrates, the body reverts back to the evolutionary perspective where women had to take care of the kids or the tribe and it was not advantageous for her to be reproductive or require more food. So you end up with menstrual cycle dysfunction, endocrine dysfunction, thyroid dysfunction, and putting on more body fat because it’s a fuel conservation. The long-term ramifications are much more than people generally talk about.”
When I think back to my brief run with a keto-esque diet (I followed the healthy food version as described in Dave Asprey’s “Bulletproof Diet” book but I did not test for ketones), I remember making astute discoveries about my body.
After 2 months, my menstrual cycles started to lengthen or disappear, some becoming anovulatory. My energy started to crash, which introduced me to eventual adrenal fatigue. And my body started to gain weight in places I hadn’t seen weight before, in my outer hips. I believe, based on the research I’ve done thanks to the research of Dr. Stacy Sims (leader in the field), Lara Briden (author of “Period Repair Manual” and expert on sex hormones), Samantha Gladish (podcaster and online course creator), and others, is that my body went into “survival mode” given my distinct cut of carbs. What’s more important to the body? To survive or reproduce? Survival. Which is why my hormones, at that point in my life, went to crap.
I’ve learned so much through both personal experience and helping other women navigate their hormone health and embrace a plant-based diet that helps them not only look good, but have great insides: cholesterol, hormonal balance, and so much more. So much that, every time I see yet another post of a “keto” recipe on my social media, or another person falling victim to the keto bandwagon, I cringe a little inside, which is why I wrote this post: to share fully my opinion and to shed light on what most people don’t know.
I end with this, my friends…
Dr. Atkins, creator of the Atkins Diet, which was popular in the 1960’s, also a high fat, low carb diet, died at the age of 72 after a long battle with congestive heart failure and and heart attacks.
I rest my case.
You can do this another way. And we are here to help. With nutritional tools and support and a willingness to learn, you can be your healthiest self at any age. We’re here to teach you that “a guppy in a shark tank” isn’t what it seems, that foods made by God can be tasty, and that you, my friend? We believe in you.
xoxo,
Jenny Swisher, Founder of Body Electric
Certified Personal Trainer, Fitness Nutrition Specialist
2X Elite, Top 200 Team Beachbody Coach