The so-called keto diets – a term that comes from the English ketogenic, in Spanish ketogenic – have become fashionable in recent times and many people turn to them not only to lose weight, which is achieved quickly and quite effectively. if done well, but also to regain energy and, ultimately, feel better.
Do not confuse keto diets with low carb diets, since although both are based on a reduced intake of carbohydrates and many people use the term interchangeably, there are differences that mean that keto diets can only be followed occasionally, while low carb diets can be followed only occasionally. in carbohydrates can be maintained for longer.
This is explained by the doctor and nutritionist Núria Monfulleda, from the Loveyourself center in Barcelona, who sometimes prescribes keto diets to her patients (she also does them herself) for a maximum of 14 days and always prescribed to the millimeter. “A keto diet consists of consuming 5% carbohydrates, 35% protein and 60% fat daily. In so-called low carb diets, however, the percentage of carbohydrates, despite being limited, is higher, and can reach 20% of the total. They are much more bearable,” she explains.
The difference between a keto diet and a low carb diet (like the Dukan diet, so fashionable a few years ago) is that in the latter the body does not enter ketosis, while in keto it does. Ketosis occurs when the body begins to use fats for energy, generating what is known as ketone bodies, which only occurs when the carbohydrate intake does not exceed 5% of the daily total, that is, between about 15 and 20 grams approximately.
Monfulleda remembers that between the first 3 and 7 days of the diet “the body begins to use carbohydrate reserves as fuel, but when these run out is when ketosis begins to occur, since the body needs energy to continue functioning and, at the same time, "If you don't have carbohydrates, you start using fats: these are the most complicated moments, since in many cases the body begins to complain when it is deprived of its main source of energy," says the doctor, who remembers that a keto diet is absolutely unfeasible in the long or even medium term and that should be done only “on specific occasions, for a maximum of 14 days and always in a manner guided by a professional.”
The first few days we visited the Monfulleda clinic in Barcelona with the aim of trying the keto diet during those 14 days that it recommends and provides us with a meal plan in which, broadly speaking, we eat proteins (salmon, tuna, chicken, eggs, ham, some selected cheeses such as parmesan or goat cheese), good quality fats (avocado, olives, walnuts, olive oil) and a very small number of carbohydrates from vegetables such as spinach, asparagus, lettuce or mushrooms.
Obviously, the diet does not include any bread (much less pastries) or fruit, which is also rich in carbohydrates. For the rest, apart from the initial reluctance to have eggs and dry-cooked ham for breakfast, at first glance it seems like a satisfying, abundant diet full of appetizing foods, so that a priori it is not excessively difficult to follow.
However, when I explain to the doctor that my usual diet is usually rich in carbohydrates and that, furthermore, I have never been on a diet, Monfulleda reminds me that keto is not an easy place, and proceeds to explain to me everything that can happen in the next days. “Between the third and seventh day you will enter ketosis, which occurs when the body depletes its sugar reserves and has to turn to fat. This is when many people experience what is known as “keto flu”: you probably feel tired, as if a truck has run over you, and that tiredness may come suddenly or in fits and starts, it may last a few hours or appear intermittently for a few days. It is a trance that must be endured until the body begins to use fats for energy, and from this moment on you will feel much more energetic and begin to lose weight quickly. But you have to get through it,” she remembers.
Indeed, the first two days of keto are more than bearable. Who objects to having an egg with ham, parmesan and walnuts for breakfast accompanied by a coffee with semi-skimmed milk? For lunch, salmon, wild asparagus, lettuce, parmesan, egg and walnuts (a meal that is not so far from what I could make on any given day in my life before keto), and for dinner, mushrooms, bacon strips, lettuce , apetina cheese, avocado and canned tuna. Nothing bad. I finished the first day satisfied and without the feeling of having made a great effort.
The same thing happens on the second day, although at the end of the day I begin to feel what, according to the doctor, is one of the first signals that the body sends that it is starting to run out of carbohydrates: headache and a certain metallic taste in the mouth, which increases after the third day.
From the third day onwards, although the headache disappears, pronounced fatigue appears, the metallic taste persists, the sweat takes on a strong odor and I begin to urinate more frequently. According to Monfulleda, all of these are symptoms that the process is being a success. “Carbohydrates are soluble in water, while proteins and fats are not, so all the water you drink is eliminated and the feeling of bloating disappears. We must also take into account that carbohydrates cause gas and when we eliminate them from the diet we immediately have a feeling of a flat stomach, which obviously disappears as soon as we resume normal eating,” explains the Loveyourself doctor.
The obvious feeling that I am out of gas is noticeable, tangible. I am unable to effortlessly climb stairs that I used to climb in a flash, often with weight. I had never before had that specific feeling of lack of energy, as if – literally – I lacked gasoline to keep going.
Although I only feel tired when I am forced to do some physical effort, on the fourth day I begin to not feel like eating all those things that at first seemed so delicious. I find the idea of having an egg for breakfast (without bread, of course) especially terrifying. My body, Monfulleda says, is complaining. “The body is wise and needs carbohydrates to function, which is why it is not advisable to follow this diet for a long time. We must also not forget that constant ketosis generates free radicals, which are harmful to health. It is normal for the brain to start telling you in every way possible that you have to eat carbohydrates.”
At this point, Monfulleda has a little trick to disobey the brain and not truncate the effort of a few days in a few seconds. “When it reaches that point where we are one step away from collapsing, it is best not to take that egg that we do not want at that moment and replace it with another food in the diet: perhaps an avocado or a piece of foie, or a Coca Cola Zero, which will deceive the body with the sensation of sweetness. Or some Boleros, some sachets of fruit powder that can help pass the trance towards the consolidation of ketosis,” explains the doctor, who says that she herself has experienced various ways to achieve it throughout her life.
“It has sometimes happened to me that I have experienced that flu, that discomfort and extreme tiredness, sleeping and I have woken up the next day with a lot of energy,” he points out, since when this happens, when ketosis is finally consolidated, everything changes. turn. “Let's not forget that fat has twice as much energy as carbohydrates, so if you are burning fat you will have exactly twice as much energy as if you eat carbohydrates. And that is very noticeable,” explains Monfulleda.
On the fifth day, not only did I already weigh exactly two kilos less than the first, but the feeling of rejection of the prescribed foods was increasing, especially at breakfast. It's a strange sensation: I don't know if I'm not hungry (which happens, according to Monfulleda, because the stomach takes a long time to digest fats) or if I don't feel like eating the prescribed foods. I want bread, especially bread.
I continue on my way, however, and eat spinach with a two-egg omelet, medallions of goat cheese, lettuce, avocado and tuna. In the afternoon I no longer had snacks (I had soy yogurt). I have smoked salmon and tuna for dinner with white asparagus, avocado and a pinch of apetina cheese and that's when, a couple of hours after dinner, the nausea starts.
The sensation is strange: I feel an empty stomach and at the same time a feeling of nausea, of indigestion, similar to that which appears after a binge. “It is totally normal and is due to the fact that fats do not dissolve in water,” explains Monfulleda. This means that, in simple terms, “in order for the stomach to dissolve fat, it has to notify the liver so that the gallbladder makes bile salts, which represents extra effort for the body. The liver and gallbladder complain and nausea appears as a symptom of difficulty digesting certain foods. It is a temporary effect of the keto diet,” explains the Loveyourself doctor. It's true: I go to bed and the next day the feeling of nausea has disappeared, but not the rejection of the prescribed foods and, much less, the desire to eat carbohydrates.
On day 6 I eat as scheduled, but when I finish, I have a persistent feeling of hunger. It is not anxiety or whim: the word that best defines what is happening is, plain and simple, hunger. I spend the morning of the sixth day very tired, in a bad mood and with my brain constantly thinking about eating. This is how at noon on the 6th I break down and decide to end the suffering in the only possible way: by eating bread and potatoes, as well as a tomato salad and a glass of wine. I have been defeated and I feel bad for not having managed to follow the diet for the scheduled 14 days. I call Monfulleda. “Welcome to the club,” was more or less what he answered.
“I always tell my patients that to do a 14-day keto you have to be very aware and that if on the third day they see that they are not going to tolerate it, it is better to leave it and try it another time. Sometimes stress, hormonal changes, social life or anything else can make the process difficult,” says the doctor. Monfulleda also explains that for those people who are not used to dieting or eating according to schedule, it can be especially difficult, but – he points out optimistically – “you have already gone through the worst: your body has already learned a series of things that "He's not going to forget, so next time it will be much easier."
Next time? Deep down I think I will never do this again. Why get into such a mess? Monfulleda points out that this thought is normal after post-traumatic shock, but that in reality the keto diet is a good way to “teach the metabolism to be efficient, to learn to burn fat reserves to survive.”
At the moment, I don't quite see what benefits this could have either (although, to tell the truth, the idea of an apocalypse seems more feasible every day), but maybe it's just a matter of time and right now I'm not in a position to think about anything more than sinking my teeth into a butter croissant, which I do, happily, on the morning of the 7th. My mood begins to change, I gradually recover my energy, which takes me approximately another day and a half in the I eat pizza, fruit and cereal until my body stops craving it again. “You have now replenished your glycogen reserves and your body no longer needs as many carbohydrates,” explains Monfulleda.
The question continues to resonate in my head: why? The doctor points out that there may be several reasons to follow a keto diet (on a specific basis, she insists, and always under supervision). First of all, as we said, to train the metabolism, to function more efficiently at certain times and recover energy at specific times. Also because there are people who, for some reason, need to lose weight quickly and have a deadline: from someone who is getting married to a boxer who has a competition. “There are those who prefer to lose it little by little, without titanic efforts, but there are those who prefer to get serious for a couple of weeks and give it a good push,” explains the nutritionist.
Another case in which a keto diet is usually prescribed is when some patients who need to lose a lot of weight have already been dieting for two to three months. "There comes a point in a low-calorie diet when those who follow it begin to break down, they get tired of always eating the same thing, they begin to miss their social life, the weight is lost more slowly and, ultimately, it is difficult more follow the diet. It is a good time for a keto, since the body is already accustomed to the restriction of carbohydrates and the foods are completely changed, so that the monotony is broken and there can be a greater weight loss, which also serves as an injection of Cheer up,” he explains.
In my case, after a few days I have recovered one of the two kilos I lost, but also my energy and the will to live. There is something, however, that remains intact: the certainty of never going through this by choice again.
