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Intermittent Fasting and Keto

 

If you’re looking to lose weight and improve your health, you may have heard of intermittent fasting and keto. Both of these diets have been shown to be incredibly effective for weight loss and health improvement. But what if you want to try them both? Is it possible to do keto and intermittent fasting together?

 

What is the Keto Diet?

First of all, let’s clarify what both diets are. The ketogenic diet is one of the hottest diet trends right now, and for good reason. This low carb, high fat diet has been shown to help people lose weight quickly and effectively. It may sound counterintuitive, but it can also help to reduce so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol while also increasing ‘good’ cholesterol. It can reduce triglycerides, which are globules of fat in the blood, lower blood sugar levels and improve insulin resistance. This reduces the risk of diabetes. The keto diet even has anti-cancer benefits because it effectively starves the cancerous cells of their preferred “food,” which is glucose.

State of Ketosis

But what is the keto diet, and how does it work? Simply put, the keto diet is a way of eating that encourages your body to enter a state of ketosis. In ketosis, your body burns ketones for energy instead of carbohydrates. Ketones are units of energy derived from fat (1). This process not only helps you lose weight; it is also why the diet has the benefits mentioned above. If you’re looking to jump on the keto bandwagon, there are a few things you should know first.

Keto and Carbs

The keto diet requires that you eat very few carbohydrates – usually less than 50 grams per day. This can be a challenge for some people, as carbohydrates are found in a number of healthy foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. With that said, we need these foods for their vitamin and mineral content, to support our immunity and many other functions in the body. For this reason, it is best to cut out the more unhealthy carbohydrates. These include foods with sugar in such as sweets, cakes, biscuits, and desserts; processed foods such as breakfast cereals and crisps/chips; potatoes and potato products such as fries; and white foods such as bread, rice, and pasta.

Keto and Fat

The keto diet is high in fat – typically approximately 55% of your daily caloric intake. This may sound unhealthy, but it’s important to remember that not all fats are created equal. Healthy fats, such as those found in avocados, nuts, olives and olive oil, are an important part of the keto diet.

The keto diet is not for everyone. Some people may experience side effects such as headaches, fatigue, and irritability. For this reason, the keto diet can be challenging to stick to, but there are plenty of resources and recipes available to help make the transition easier.

 

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Unlike the keto diet, intermittent fasting doesn’t restrict what you eat, but rather when you eat. So, instead of eating three big meals a day plus snacks, you eat two or three meals within a smaller window of time. Intermittent fasting is simply an eating pattern that swaps between periods of eating and not eating (fasting). There are many different ways to do intermittent fasting, but the most common approach is not to eat for 16 hours and then to eat for 8 hours. Some people do this every day, while others just do it a few days a week.

Intermittent fasting, like keto, also has major benefits for your body. For one, it helps to regulate your blood sugar levels and prevent insulin spikes. Again, like keto, it can also help to put your body into ketosis. Obviously, if you are on a diet, you want to burn fat because that is what leads to weight loss.

 

Intermittent Fasting and Keto

While intermittent fasting can help you achieve ketosis, it’s not always the case. If you’re interested in achieving ketosis through intermittent fasting, there are a few things you should know. First of all, it’s important to remember that not all forms of intermittent fasting will put your body into ketosis. For example, the 16:8 method, referred to above, is very unlikely to result in ketosis unless you’re also following a very low-carb diet.

On the other hand, longer fasts (like 24-hour fasts) are more likely to put your body into ketosis. This is because there is no energy coming into the body from food, so it starts to use glycogen stores in the liver and muscles. For fat to be burnt as energy, the glycogen stores have to be used up completely first. This is why it takes a longer fast to enable your body to turn to your love handles and belly fat for energy.

Following an intermittent fasting plan, potentially kick started with a twenty four hour fast, and then eating the keto diet is an efficient way of losing weight. Although it is not easy, as we shall find out later. The keto diet trains your body to burn fat for energy, and as long as there are minimal carbohydrates eaten, the body will continue to do so. This is why the keto diet and intermittent fasting can work well together. However, once the body is burning fat for energy, if you eat a meal that has carbohydrates in it, the body will switch to using glucose for energy.

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Challenges of Combining Keto and Intermittent Fasting

 

Hunger

One of the drawbacks of intermittent fasting is hunger. However, this is another reason why the keto diet works well alongside intermittent fasting. Eating a diet high in fat and protein means it takes the body a lot longer to digest them than it does processed carbohydrates. So you feel fuller for much longer and the hunger pangs are kept at bay. In addition, the keto diet increases levels of the hormone leptin. This is good because leptin is an appetite suppressant.

Fatigue

Another drawback of intermittent fasting is feeling tired. This is another way that the keto diet can help, as it has been shown to make mitochondria work more efficiently. Mitochondria are little batteries in our cells. They produce energy from the glucose, or ketones, that enter the cell.

Constipation

Unfortunately, intermittent fasting can cause constipation.  Likewise, the keto diet can also cause constipation due to the lack of fibre that would normally come from vegetables.   Therefore, it is important not to restrict vegetables just because they contain carbohydrates. Including plenty of leafy, fibrous vegetables in your diet will provide enough fibre to keep you regular. Broccoli, spinach, cabbage and cauliflower are ideal. As cooking breaks down the fibre to some extent, eating these vegetables raw or only slightly cooked will be better for your digestive system.

Lower Levels of Gut Bacteria

In addition, fibrous vegetables keep your friendly gut bacteria healthy. This is important as ketones from a high fat diet can reduce the amount of beneficial bacteria in the gut. Our gut bacteria are incredibly important for our immunity as well as our mental health.  For this reason, it is important to include fibrous vegetables, not have too high a fat content, and not stay on a keto diet for the long term. There is no point being slim if you have low immunity and poor mental health. It is all about balance.

Sleep and Tiredness Issues

A significant side effect of the keto diet is called keto flu. This is a term that covers several symptoms. These symptoms include headaches, tiredness, feeling irritable and snappy, nausea and the constipation mentioned earlier. Despite the tiredness, it can also cause sleep problems. Unfortunately, intermittent fasting can also cause irritability, tiredness and sleep problems. To clarify, intermittent fasting, per se, does not cause sleep issues.

Click here for our section of insomnia relief.

To Do’s

However, as most people tend to skip breakfast when intermittent fasting, the main meal of the day is often in the evening. If they are particularly hungry, after fasting all day, they are more likely to overeat, or eat too close to bedtime. Both of which can cause indigestion, leading to disturbed sleep. As the digestive system slows down at night, it is extremely important to leave at least three hours between your evening meal and going to bed. This is especially important if you are also following the keto diet because fat and protein take longer to break down and digest.

Whether you are following a weight loss diet or not, you should be drinking plenty of water. Keeping hydrated is really important for all of your bodily functions. Drinking plenty of fresh water keeps your digestive system moving and helps to avoid constipation. It also sends a message to your brain that your stomach is full, which will help keep those hunger gremlins at bay. And you are likely to eat less, too.

 

Going Forward

Despite the aforementioned benefits of following a keto diet alongside intermittent fasting, it is best to start slowly to lessen the consequences of the side effects. You can do this by starting with the keto diet and introducing intermittent fasting or vice versa. Alternatively, cut out carbohydrates gradually and only fast for twelve hours initially. Just remember to listen to your body and take it steady.

In a shorter article, Healthline looks at this issue.  Click here for the article.

 

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