Keto Diet Part 1 - Where does it come from?

Ketogenic diet, or Keto, is arguably the most trending diet right now. As usual, we start to take notice of it since high profile athletes and celebrities have it in their routine.

Whether it's LeBron James using keto for athletic performance or Kourtney Kardashian for weight loss, we want to look and feel better.

Keto is not new. Going back in the 1920's, medical researchers discovered the production of ketone bodies in healthy individuals who were fasting or consuming high fat low carb diets.

In 1921, the 1st generation keto was used in treatment of seizure. As seizure medications starting to come out on the market and the start of standard American diet movement (that fat is bad for health), keto gradually lost it's place.

Keto diet has then underwent transformation to become healthier and more sustainable but mainly for research purposes. And benefits such as, weight loss, improved focus, mood, sleep, gradually became known to us.

Keto diet triggers ketosis, a natural metabolic state. During ketosis, a person switch from using carbohydrate as main energy source to using fat. During starvation or long periods of fasting, our body goes into ketosis for survival as it consumes fat stored in the body.

You may think starving yourselves would trigger ketosis and I can lose weight!

But it's not that simple. First of all, starvation is not sustainable. Second, usually after you've skipped a meal or two and realized starving yourselves is too painful, your body was only consuming the glycogen tank (sugar stored in the body) and didn't even touch the fat. Third, your body will restore the sugar consumed during your "starvation" as soon as you eat. You may have done this before and noticed you've eaten more than usual as soon as you start eating.

Similarly, calorie counting doesn't really work for most people for this reason.