What Is the Keto Diet?
The ketogenic diet centers on the approach of changing the “fuel source” that your body uses to stay energized. Rather than burning glucose (sugar) for energy, the keto diet helps you make the shift to burn dietary fat and your own body fat.
This involves a low-carb, high-fat method of eating that allows you to embrace calories rather than cutting them. By limiting carbohydrates, you automatically cut sugar from your diet. Given the abundance of research that points to sugar as the common culprit for most diseases, decreasing your sugar intake is a powerful way to improve your health.
Does the Keto Diet Really Starve Cancer?
Leading cell biologists have long theorized that cancer cells can only flourish using energy produced from sugar in the body. In fact, cancer cells actually have ten times more insulin receptors on their surface, which makes it much easier for cancer cells to quickly absorb glucose and nutrients from the bloodstream. The more glucose you consume and produce, the more cancer cells can thrive.
Since a ketogenic diet lowers the carbohydrates and sugars in your body, it automatically limits the glucose fuel that feeds cancer cells. As soon as your body enters ketosis, which is the process of burning the fat stored in your body, cancer cells are depleted of their energy supply.
How Can I Start a Keto Diet?
A ketogenic diet doesn’t need to be complicated. It’s also satisfying enough to adopt long-term as a healthy habit instead of a temporary diet. Your keto meals should consist mainly of low carb veggies, protein, and healthy fats.
Low carb veggies include broccoli, kale, asparagus, brussel sprouts, spinach, collard greens, and cauliflower. Protein sources include grass-fed beef, organic pastured poultry, and fermented dairy. Finally, avocados, coconut oil, raw seeds and nuts, and olive oil all qualify as healthy fats.
For more help tackling your cancer and becoming familiar with the ketogenic diet, call (203) 348-8805 to make an appointment with Dr. Henry Sobo MD at Optimal Health Medical in Stamford, CT.