One of the great fads going on right now in the diet and weight loss industry is the ketone diet. You probably know someone who has tried this diet. You might even know someone that has had great success with this diet. For example, my mom started this diet about a year ago and has lost about 50 pound. By slowly reintroducing foods back into her diet and observing what’s happening to her body, she has been able to keep that weight off with quite a bit of ease.
In this respect, keto diets aren’t really a fad–they work. And new scientific evidence indicates that they might be helpful in other ways, too. It has been shown that ketone diets–sometimes referred to as ketogenic, or “keto”–can help with weight loss, heart health, blood sugar levels, and brain functioning. However, new research indicates that it also might be effective at helping senior citizens to avoid the flu.
This research was published in Science Immunology, a journal geared toward the prevention of illness and disease. The researchers involved were not expecting to find this, but noticed it while researching other benefits of the diet.
This isn’t that surprising. About three years ago, research was showing that a ketone-based diet was helpful in improving the aging process in mice. There was also evidence that it could help preserve memory and prevent memory loss. These current findings are just a continuation of this earlier work.
So what is a ketone diet? It’s a diet that is high in fat, and low in protein and carbs. There’s a lot of eggs and poultry in the diet, along with dairy products (cheese and yogurt). Nuts and most vegetables are also included. Breads and sugars are avoided. If you remember the Atkins diet that was popular a little more than a decade ago, you are probably noticing some similarities between the ketogenic diet and Atkins. The biggest difference is that there is more wiggle room in the ketone diet depending on how your body reacts to certain foods.
Whenever diet is the issue, it’s important to ensure that input from medical professionals is taken into account. Yes, maintaining a healthy weight is important for a lot of different aspects of health. But that doesn’t mean that any method of weight loss is going to be effective and safe. Speak with a doctor if you’re thinking about changing diets to make sure that all medical needs are going to be met through whatever diet you are thinking of implementing. It’s important that your diet is helping to improve health and not detract from it.
Again, this is not a recommendation that the ketone diet is right for you. There can be health risks to following this diet. Science has shown some health benefits to it, but that doesn’t mean that it’s perfect for everyone. However, it might be of interest to many readers here because of the benefits that have been shown to seniors; just be sure to do your own research before beginning anything new.
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