- The keto diet with low fat fat and keto has become popular for weight loss.
- Keto may be helpful in improving metabolic health, but is not for everyone.
- Avoid low carb diets if you are stressed, looking for a quick fix or a history of disordered eating.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Keto diets have skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years as people have turned to fatty fats, low-carb eating plans to lose weight and improve their health.
There is evidence that the
keto diet
according to Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, a professor at the West Virginia University School of Medicine who has published research on low-carbohydrate diets, as a tool for certain people to improve their health, but it is not for everyone.
Here are six reasons why you should think twice about starting or continuing a low-carb diet.
You are already metabolically healthy
About 88 percent of Americans currently have some degree of metabolic dysfunction, according to research. This includes people with obesity, but also insulin resistance, prediabetes or type 2
diabetes
, which can happen regardless of weight.
If you are among the minority of people who have a healthy metabolism and have a good insulin response, you do not need to worry about your carbohydrate intake. Good metabolic health means that you do not struggle with a combination of problems with blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, weight or low energy.
“Eat only real food, whether it has little or no carbohydrates, and you’ll be fine,” Cucuzzella said.
You want to lose weight for short term or aesthetic reasons
Carbohydrate diets can lead to weight loss, research shows, as they help control appetite and reduce the sources of added calories such as sugar and refined grains.
But the primary benefit of keto is restoring metabolic health, improving insulin response and reducing inflammation, according to Cucuzzella.
“It’s not about losing weight, it’s about losing waist,” he said. “We want people to keep muscle and lose intestinal fat around the organs that cause inflammation. If you lose inches from your waist, you are successfully using fat as fuel.”
And while weight loss diets work by limiting calories, Cucuzzella said it can burn again when you do keto for the first time, making it harder to switch to fat burning if you don’t eat enough.
Ultimately, water is a significant amount of the rapid weight loss on keto diets in the short term, and the pounds will return quickly once you reintroduce carbohydrates into your diet.
You have a history of disordered eating
Carbohydrate diets can also be problematic if you have a difficult relationship with food, including current or previous disordered eating habits.
These include feelings of anxiety about weight gain and a compulsive need to monitor or limit food, but also eating, emotional eating or addictive behaviors towards certain foods.
Any expert who restricts what you may and may not eat can, according to experts, be extremely elusive to anyone with these problems, as well as other forms of disordered eating habits.
If this is you, it’s always best to seek professional support before considering a new diet.
You are constantly under stress, sleep poorly or sit with major life changes
It can be tempting to make a dramatic change during a difficult time. But if you are not currently able to handle your stress, you are not getting enough sleep or have recently had a disturbing life event, this is the worst time to change your diet, Cucuzzella said.
All of these factors increase the production of cortisol in your body, of which the stress hormone is too much, and it can be a challenge to get the most out of a low carb diet.
It is also best to be mentally and emotionally in the right condition for a major diet change so that you can plan ahead and have a lot of support.
“If you do not have the energy and time to prepare for success, you are not going to succeed,” Cucuzzella said.
You experience low energy, mood swings or other symptoms for more than a week
People on low-carb diets often experience a period of transition where they may feel extremely tired or rough, sometimes known as the keto flu.
Cucuzzella said it is normal to feel a little under the weather as your body adjusts to burning fat. However, you need to get more energy within four to seven days.
Failure to do so may be a sign that you have major metabolic problems that take longer to resolve, or that something is simply not right.
Either way, constant fatigue on a low-carb diet is a sign that you need to take a step back and reconsider it, ideally with professional help.
You are taking medication
Finally, although there is increasing research that low carb diets can address chronic health issues such as diabetes, it is important to consult an expert before attempting it if you are already taking medication.
This is because major changes to your diet can potentially change how your body responds to medication, Cucuzzella said.
“You need to find a doctor who is very familiar with metabolic health and will work with you to reverse the problem, and not just work with more medications,” Cucuzzella said.