Ketogenic Diet

Posted on May 9, 2009 in Diet-Health, Diet-Trends

Ketogenic diet is a very high fat, low carbohydrate and adequate protein diet. The diet was discovered about 80 years ago to treat epilepsy in children. Ketogenic diet is difficult to follow and needs specialized supervision to carry out properly.

How Ketogenic Diet Works?

In Ketogenic diet, the body copies the effect of starvation and gets about 80% of the energy from fat and the rest from proteins and carbohydrates.

Normally glucose is the main source of our energy while fats are stored in our body to be used when enough carbohydrates are in available. In Ketogenic diet, the entire glucose reserve is used up. In the absence of glucose, our body starts burning stored fat. In Ketongenic diet our body is compelled to continuously burn fat by keeping calories low and making fat the primary source of food and energy. As fasting continues, our brain starts using ketones produced by body fat instead of glucose.

Who can use Ketogenic Diet?

It is suggested that ketogenic diet can work for children who fails to respond well to various types of seizure medicines. Ketogenic diet is especially recommended for children with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

What Happens in Ketogenic Diet?

To start with, the child has to undergo 24 hours fasting. He is closely monitored to make sure that he is handling stress (of not getting food) well. Once he starts burning fat instead of glucose, gradually fats are introduced to his system as part of the diet program. Doctors and dieticians make sure that the child is getting enough nutrition.

What are the Side Effects of Ketogenic Diet?

One might suffer from pancreatitis, eye problems and decreased bone density as side effects. In some cases, fat build up can result, especially, if the child has congenital defect of processing fats properly. In adult women, the diet can cause menstrual irregularities.

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