Metabolic syndrome often starts with insulin resistance, a condition wherein the body’s cells become immune to the effects of insulin. It’s another reason why this disease gets called ‘Insulin Resistance Syndrome.’
The body utilizes insulin to turn the sugar and starches from carbohydrates that we eat into glucose, and insulin ushers the glucose into the body’s cells to be converted to energy. With insulin resistance, the glucose levels rise as the pancreas keeps producing insulin, but less of it is converted into energy.
Instead, the excess glucose gets stored as fat. Over time this continual process leads to type 2 diabetes, as insulin resistance is the main cause of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
It is imperative for people who have metabolic syndrome or insulin resistance to lose weight. Even just 5% of lost body weight can help enhance insulin sensitivity. There are a multitude of ways you can lose weight and help restore insulin sensitivity, so as to regulate healthy blood sugar levels. These include regular exercise, healthy eating, and following a weight loss diet such as the ketogenic diet.
The Ketogenic Diet
A ketogenic diet is a low carbohydrate, high fat and protein diet plan. The keto diet is very effective at lowering blood sugar in the body, causing it to burn fat and turn it into ‘ketones,’ for energy supply.
In a high carb diet, especially simple carbs, the body breaks carbohydrates down into glucose and uses that for energy. With insulin resistance, the normal process is thwarted, and so the body, though high in glucose, lacks usable energy.
When carbohydrate intake is restricted and blood sugar levels drop, the body turns to fat stores for its needed energy supply. This is ketosis – the breaking down of fat stores, which the body happily uses for energy instead of the more easily obtained glucose from carbs.
This is when you are said to be in a state of ketosis. It is at this time that you will lose weight, or more correctly, body fat.
Ketones cannot be produced from sugars, starches, or carbohydrates from the food we eat. It can only come from the breaking down of stored body fat, which is why the keto diet is a very effective and popular way to lose weight.
The keto diet reduces HbA1c and blood glucose in people with diabetes, addresses insulin resistance, and improves overall insulin sensitivity.
Prolonged insulin resistance will inevitably lead to type 2 diabetes. According to one study, a ketogenic diet followed for at least 3 months effectively lowered blood glucose levels and HbA1c levels in diabetic patients.
In a similar result, it also helped address insulin sensitivity issues by reducing insulin resistance amongst those experiencing pre-diabetic symptoms.
Overall, the ketogenic diet is a remarkable solution for addressing diabetes and pre-diabetic conditions that are all closely linked to metabolic syndrome.
Can the Keto Diet Reverse Metabolic Syndrome?
Being overweight is the first visible sign of metabolic syndrome. The presence of too much body fat often causes other metabolic syndrome symptoms to appear as well (high blood pressure, high triglyceride levels, and bad cholesterol values). A keto diet can help people lose as much as 14% body fat or lose 50% triglycerides in as quickly as 12 weeks.
The keto diet can possibly reverse metabolic syndrome by addressing most of the five contributing conditions.
Keto Diet May Lower Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
A few other studies have suggested that the keto diet may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Additionally, it may help reduce inflammation in the brain after a stroke or injury.
Stroke survivors remain at risk of another stroke within five years of their last attack. Due to the amount of inflammation in the brain, finding ways to suppress or reduce inflammation has been a pressing issue. Being in a state of ketosis is one way help address it.
The keto diet has an outstanding potential for improving our health with all of these benefits – reversing metabolic syndrome, aiding with weight loss and alleviating the impact of cardiovascular diseases. Several studies have also proven its positive benefits on patients diagnosed with epilepsy and autism.
It certainly is a diet not to dismiss lightly, for many health reasons.
