Common Keto Diet Misconceptions
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, lately there are a ton of articles discrediting the ketogenic diet, and though some might have some basis in truth, many are just full of common misconceptions made by a lack of fundamental knowledge about the diet. I might’ve personally reached my breaking point after seeing a recent article with a headline claiming the diet is dangerous, then proceeds to only mention a negative impact on anaerobic performance as observed in a study using 16 people, after only 4 days on the diet. Now if you’re familiar with keto, you know you’re probably not going to be feeling great after four days on the diet and that it takes around a week for your body to become adapted and efficient at running on ketones instead of glucose. Regardless, it’s editorialized as keto not being good for you. So as I sift through these articles, I thought it would be a great time to address some of what is mentioned in a lot of them. Nutrition has to be one of the most polarizing topics to discuss, but let’s keep an open mind as we delve into the controversy.
The Keto Diet is a new trendy diet.
Somewhat false. The ketogenic diet has been around since 1921 where it was developed for the purpose of epilepsy management, and it’s still used for that purpose today. The use for epilepsy has declined since the 70’s due to new anticonvulsants having been developed, but the diet is still used for the small percentage of people who the anticonvulsants don’t work for. A lot of people want to look at keto and how it “cuts out an important nutrient and food group” and just say “that’s dangerous”, while disregarding the fact that for some conditions it has been medically prescribed to patients with success.
I think what’s new is calling it “the ketogenic diet” in mainstream media. The Atkin’s diet, a generally less restrictive and modified version of the therapeutic keto diet, has been around since 1972 when Dr. Atkins published his first diet book. Also, low-carb diets have remained consistently popular through the years. Take a look at the comparison in the search terms “low carb diet” and “keto diet” from Google Trends.
The concept is not new, but the name is new and trending.
The Keto diet causes performance issues in athetes
Also misleading. While keto has been shown to cause performance issues for certain types of athletes, this can’t be a blanket statement. Keto can be detrimental if your sport or chosen activity relies or short bursts of energy like sprinting, powerlifting, etc. due to carbs and glucose burning faster, allowing for that quick stream of energy. However, for people like runners, cyclists, and endurance athletes, it’s shown to have no negative impact.
Take a look at endurance athlete and ultra-marathoner, Zach Bitter. He broke an American record by running 100 miles in 11 hours, 40 minutes. He eats on a keto diet.
Another popular person in the field of endurance athletes and keto is Ben Greenfield. A New York Times best-selling author and Ironman triathlete, he’s a great resource to look to when it comes to fitness and training.
“But you can’t grow muscle!”
If you’re a bodybuilder or powerlifter, it might not be for you. As I’ve said before on this website, the keto diet is not for everyone. However, the loss of muscle and perceived lack of muscular growth potential is something I’ve seen come up a lot. As you can tell from the keto athletes mentioned, they aren’t exactly Mr. Olympia material. That’s not to say you can’t grow muscle on the diet. It’s definitely possible following normal bodybuilding procedures and ensuring you’re getting enough protein in your diet. If you’re looking to build muscle, a cyclic ketogenic diet might be more for you, or even a moderate-carb diet instead of something as low as standard strict keto.
Ketosis = Ketoacidosis
This is by far one of the most common misconceptions I’ve seen across the internet. For those of you who don’t know, diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA, is a life-threatening complication of type 1 diabetes. DKA is caused by a lack of insulin and dangerously high blood sugar. It can kill you and is the leading cause of death in people under 24 years old who have diabetes.
Ketosis is the state of having ketones in your body, fueling your body. This is accomplished through a low-carb diet or fasting. If you’re in ketosis, the ketone levels are high, but not high enough to cause acidosis. Your body produces ketones when it’s burning fat. Ketosis will not kill you.
A lot of this misconception also comes from the misunderstanding of type 1 versus type 2 diabetes. People hear that ketosis can reverse the effects of type 2 diabetes or treat pre-diabetic people, and alarm bells sound in their head. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which your body does not produce insulin. The cause is unknown, but it’s been linked to genetics. There’s also no known cure for type 1 diabetes, just management of the symptoms with a glucometer and insulin.
Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes, in which the pancreas still typically produces insulin. It’s considered more mild than type 1, however, it can still cause serious health complications. It’s caused by a combination of genetic and lifestyle factors and is generally treated by implementing better nutrition and exercise.
Keto is a high protein diet
I see this criticism a lot coming from vegans in particular. Understandable, but not entirely accurate. In general, while on the keto diet, only about 20% of your daily calorie intake for the day should be protein. It’s different for everyone, but excess protein can be converted into glucose, kicking your body out of ketosis. So eating super high protein like the Atkin’s diet allows isn’t super compatible with a keto lifestyle. I see arguments poised as keto vs. vegan a lot, and I’d like to point out that those two aren’t mutually exclusive. You can eat a vegan keto diet. See: the Vegan Keto Reddit community and this article from ruled.me. It might be difficult and a regular vegan diet is also great, but vegan keto is possible. Which means eating a ketogenic diet clearly doesn’t rely entirely on meat and protein consumption. High protein diets combined with carbohydrate restriction haven’t been studied that much, so the jury is still out, but it’s also important to make sure you choose healthy sources of protein and not rely on nothing but steaks and bacon. While being able to eat those meats is certainly a “pro” of a keto diet, it shouldn’t be your main source.
Final Thoughts
The keto diet is commonly contested in articles, however it’s not as bad as most of these publications make it. A lot of the studies commonly referenced have problems with sample size, duration, and even their own misunderstanding of how the diet takes place. Some of studies I looked at when I was writing the article “What is the keto diet?” and a lot of the diets they put people on weren’t really in line with what a ketogenic diet should be. Some of them had carbs way too high, protein way too high, or other issues. Again, I’ll encourage you to do your own research and by reading this article, you’re at least doing that. Look at sources critically while keeping an open mind.
Any other common misconceptions you see online that we didn’t address? Contact us and we’ll update this post or write about it separately if it’s deserving of a longer winded response.