The ketogenic diet sometimes referred to as "keto," and intermittent fasting is two of the most well-liked health fads. To shed some pounds and enhance their general health, many people are utilizing either one of these diets or both of them.
The health benefits of these two diets are supported by science, yet many people are unsure of whether combining them is a wise and successful move.
What Is Keto?
A very high fat, moderate protein, and very low carbohydrate diet is the ketogenic diet. Most ketogenic dieters consume 20 to 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. Reduced carbohydrate intake forces the body to use fat stores rather than glucose reserves for energy.
Your body produces ketones when it breaks down fat for energy, and the entire process is known as ketosis. The body and brain may use these ketones as energy for all biological processes.
The keto diet is well-liked since it enables people to reduce their body weight, improve insulin resistance, enhance cognitive function, and more.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent fasting is a dietary strategy in which people include lengthier periods of fasting in their regular practice. While we all sleep for roughly 8 hours, intermittent fasting patterns require folks to fast for extended periods of time.
Fasting can be done in a variety of ways, including alternate-day fasting, one meal each day, and fasting one or two days per week. The most common is undoubtedly the 16/8, in which people fast for 16 hours and eat freely for the remaining eight.
Intermittent fasting has been demonstrated in studies to help patients lose weight, lessen their risk of cardiovascular disease, increase glucose tolerance, and reduce inflammation.
Keto and Intermittent Fasting
Many people claim to be practicing keto while intermittent fasting and enjoy it. Maybe you have friends who do it, or maybe you've seen it on social media; either way, success tales about incorporating both diets are all over. Because both diets work quite similarly, you may be able to notice benefits faster if you combine them.
Including both diets at the same time may help with the adjustment to intermittent fasting. When you fast, your body's glucose supply decreases, and your body begins to use body fat for energy, which is the premise of the keto diet. You may feel less tired, irritable, and hungry as a result of this.
Because your body begins to focus on fat burning, your body's glucose metabolism alters. Insulin and blood glucose levels will fall, which is how both diets can help people improve their glucose tolerance.
Rapid Weight Loss
Because both of these diets "teach" your body to burn fatter, you might expect to lose weight more quickly.
Both of these diets not only encourage your body to burn more fat for energy, but they also help your body keep its fat-burning potential even if you return to a normal eating pattern.
Both diets have been demonstrated in studies to help boost the mitochondrial density in your fat storage. This is a fancy way of expressing that the fat in your body has a different amount of substances than the cells do. This, in turn, boosts thermogenesis, or the amount of heat produced by your body. The more heat produced by your body, the more calories you burn.
Quicker Health Advantages
Both of these diets have similar health benefits. While no research on mixing intermittent fasting with keto has been conducted, you may see faster benefits in many markers related to general health. Both diets help people reduce their blood glucose levels, insulin resistance, inflammation, and some cardiovascular risks, therefore those with these metabolic disorders may notice faster results.
What are your options?
After reading this article, you may be tempted to begin a keto intermittent fasting diet right away. However, you should be aware of some of the potential drawbacks of this diet.
For starters, no studies have been conducted to study keto with intermittent fasting. Everything about the combination sounds amazing, but it has yet to be tried. There could be certain disadvantages that scientists aren't aware of.
Keto is difficult for many folks. Intermittent fasting should help with the shift, but it may still be too difficult for you to do. That's fine if that's the case! Humans are unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all diet. If you attempt keto with intermittent fasting and find that you can't live without bread, perhaps simply intermittent fasting is for you.
There is also the "keto flu," which many people experience when they first begin a keto diet. This is when people describe feeling exceedingly tired and angry, as well as having difficulty thinking and focusing. This happens because your body has to adapt to burning so much fat for energy. You are not in any danger, but you may be uncomfortable. While these symptoms usually subside after about two weeks, you may find them unbearable. Simply pay attention to your body and remember to do what is best for you.
Finally, persons on keto diets consume more fat (that is the idea of keto), but they frequently consume considerably more saturated fat. If you have a history of metabolic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes, you should consult with a doctor before doing keto.
Putting It to the Test
If you've decided that you still want to attempt keto and intermittent fasting, go ahead and do it! You can also start one and wait until you acclimate before incorporating the other; you don't have to start both at the same time, but it's fully up to you.
You can also try combining both diets for a few weeks or months at a time. This would be enough time for you to drop some weight, reap some health benefits, and modify your body to burn more fat in the long run. After that, you can either stick to one of the diets or return to your previous eating habits.
Typical Keto and Intermittent Fasting Day
If you're thinking about combining keto and intermittent fasting, it can be difficult to know where to begin. You can consult your doctor about how a normal day may look if you're on a 16/8 diet.
Also, if you get hungry throughout the day, feel free to snack. Nuts or nut butter, seeds, bullet-proof coffee (coffee with coconut oil and/or butter), hard-boiled eggs, raw veggie sticks, and string cheese are all keto-friendly snacks.
Because keto is so trendy, there are numerous recipes available (like our best keto-friendly nuts). If you want to try intermittent fasting with keto, it can seem restricting at first, so plan out your first week by choosing meals and purchasing supplies ahead of time - it will make the adjustment smoother.