IndexThe ketogenic diet: healthy lifestyle or unhealthy lifestyleWhat the ketogenic diet can do for your healthWhat the ketogenic diet does not do for yours healthConclusionWorks CitedWhat is a good diet? Is it good if it makes you lose weight? Maybe it is considered a great diet if you lose weight quickly or does it harm us in ways we don't even consider? These are some of the questions we will ask ourselves through this research paper about the ketogenic diet and whether it is actually that beneficial for us. In today's society there is pressure coming from all around us with celebrities, magazines, media and news supporting the ideal expectation that everyone should be super skinny or have a completely curvy figure to show off. Diets are a never-ending topic at work, online, at the mall, almost everywhere you go there is always, "Get Skinny Fast!" advertisements or fat burning capsules promoting the ever-elusive flat stomach. Although most people look at these ads and some choose to believe it and others say it's a scam, do we ever actually see any real results? Not everyone is built this way naturally, and the expectation of what type of body women should have is harming our generation and society of younger women in America. I think we should support and promote all body types, but also promote healthy food options with lower cost of fresh organic products without any kind of preservatives and also build fast food restaurants that only have healthy options. I know some of these ideas have already started to take shape and it's only a matter of time before everyone, everywhere, realizes that a healthy diet is essential to a healthy lifestyle. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Ketogenic Diet: Healthy Lifestyle or Unhealthy Lifestyle A balanced and healthy lifestyle according to professionals is to include a fitness routine and healthy eating habits that are rich in nutrients for your body. I agree with this observation but for many people in the world it is difficult to maintain this type of lifestyle between work, children, school and the daily problems that arise. Although these concerns may present themselves as obstacles, we still try to lose weight by trying various options. Many have had success with different diets, but how healthy can some of these diets be for us and what are the possible risks associated with them? The ketogenic diet appears to be a rapidly growing “fad diet” available on the market today and although it boasts of having fast and effective results, we still don't really know what happens to our body when it goes through the ketosis phase period. There are many diets to choose from, such as the Atkins or Weight Watchers diet, but the results of the ketogenic approach are making an impression. While some people believe that a rigorous exercise regimen is the key to losing weight, others believe that diet is the answer. I believe that both physical activity and healthy eating habits are the key to a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Little research has been conducted to show beneficial results on the Keto diet regarding the physiological effects it has on the human body. This is a major concern since so many people continue this diet fad without knowing the potential harm it could have on their health. What can the keto diet do for your health? The keto diet is perhaps a good diet to lose weight quickly in a short period of time. I think it can be good foreveryone try different diets and see how their body reacts to each until they find a diet or eating habit that seems to have a beneficial effect on their body. What has made the keto diet so popular is its known effects that stimulate weight loss at a rapid pace, just in time for that cruise planned six months ago. “The keto diet was created by Dr. Gianfranco Cappello, associate professor of surgery at La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. It claims great success among thousands of users. In his study, more than 19,000 dieters experienced rapid and significant weight loss, few side effects, and most kept their weight off after a year” (Seegert, 2016). Seegert's statement provides a solid basis to reassure anyone considering trying this diet, but many people have not considered other benefits this diet may have on brain function. Some cases where patients have been put on a ketogenic diet have been linked to reducing the amount of seizures in children and adults almost as effectively as medications. With this new evidence, many professionals have been asking more questions about the effects a low-carb, high-fat diet might have on brain function and disorders in patients with Alzheimer's, brain cancer, Parkinson's, and even sleep disorders. Of course the questions and research don't stop there, while conducting my personal research I interviewed some colleagues who participate in the keto diet. I chose to interview four people because they had all been on the keto diet for about the same amount of time and while they all had different effects, most had experienced these similar results: weight loss of more than 10 pounds, reduced acne, overall skin better, appetite and increased energy (after getting through the first week or so). Although these results do not show any effect that the diet has on physiological effects, they still show effectiveness in weight loss, which is the main reason why most people use the ketogenic diet for faster weight loss results with a diet low carb than someone following it. a more traditional low-fat diet. While the external effects are more obvious, we still wonder what internal effects the ketogenic diet has: “A ketogenic diet has been shown to improve blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes, at least in the short term. The controversy is even greater when we consider the effect on cholesterol levels. Some studies show that some patients have increased cholesterol levels at first, only to see their cholesterol decrease a few months later. However, there is no long-term research analyzing its effects over time on diabetes and high cholesterol” (Campos, 2018). The above statement simply shows how controversial the keto diet still is as very little research has been conducted using human trials, but this is also caused by the fact that the keto diet has not been used for a long-term diet program because it is very difficult to follow. Animal testing has been the main source of research on the keto diet so far, which I disagree with using animals as experimental subjects, so this brings us all to a point where we need to consider all aspects of how a diet could affect our life. bodily functions not only for people who want to lose a few pounds but also for obese individuals. “The American Heart Association (AHA), the American College ofCardiology and the Obesity Society have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to suggest that low-carbohydrate diets such as the ketogenic diet provide health benefits to the human heart and other bodily functions” (Mclntosh, 2017). Mclntosh's statement leads us to ask how and why is this unhealthy and what are the risks involved? What the Keto Diet Won't Do for Your Health I believe that no diet can or should be a long term solution and eventually you have to abandon the diet because it denies your body some nutrients that are critical for the human body to function properly. Some of these important functions affected by the keto diet include loss of sleep, fatigue, and lack of energy that can be experienced during the keto diet. Of course, lack of sleep is already a big problem for humans because a large portion of people suffer from insomnia on a regular basis, so maybe this is just a sign that the keto diet isn't right for you. From that little research it appears that Iacovides and Meiring state that: “Most studies have been conducted on obese and/or overweight individuals or on animal test subjects. In healthy, nonobese men who slept well, a keto diet increased slow-wave sleep and decreased rapid eye movement sleep compared to a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. Studies investigating the effect of the keto diet on sleep, however, are limited by study populations and small sample sizes” (Iacovides & Meiring 2018). Evidence shows that a large number of studies have investigated the effects of the keto diet on weight loss but neglect the effect of this diet on thyroid function and maintaining one's metabolic and physiological health. With the rise in popularity of following a keto diet, scientists and researchers are questioning the long-term and possibly harmful effects on the body, but due to little research we don't know much about its long-term effects, probably because it's so difficult to stick to the fact that people can't eat this way for a long time. The keto diet isn't known for its simple menu, is difficult to follow, and can be heavy on red meat and other fatty, processed, and salty foods that are notoriously unhealthy. Diets like Keto are considered “yo-yo diets” that lead to rapid fluctuation in weight loss and are associated with increased mortality. Critics say keto-type diets usually only work in the short term and can be unhealthy. "For starters, most of the weight lost is water weight," according to Lisa Cimperman, RDN, a clinical dietitian at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Once your body goes into ketosis, you also start to lose muscle, become extremely fatigued, and eventually go into starvation mode. Then it actually becomes even more difficult to lose weight,” Cimperman told Healthline” (Seegert, 2018). Obviously hunger is not the key to a healthy lifestyle, anything under 1,200 calories a day is considered starvation and a keto diet will do more harm than not. It's fine for most non-obese people, especially if they have underlying kidney or liver problems. Others have taken the keto diet a step further, using a feeding tube inserted into the esophagus through the nose. Some animal research has also highlighted potential problems such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease resulting from long-term adherence to the diet. Although these studies are animal-based, they present a need for further research. “The diet also doesn't get rave reviews from US