The ketogenic diet. The benefits explained.
What is the Ketogenic diet? This diet is sometimes used to treat children who suffer from severe seizures and have not responded to anti epileptic medications. The Ketogenic diet has been around for well over 70 years now. However it lost its popularity with the arrival of modern anti-consultants, even though the diet was remarkably successful in controlling seizures. There have even been instances where the diet has been more effective than medication.
How does the diet work? The diet mimics the effects of starvation. We have known for centuries that fasting leads to seizure control. There is even reference to this in the New Testament. The Ketogenic diet forces the body to use more fat to get energy rather than sugar in the form of glucose. This is achieved by increasing fat and restricting carbohydrates. Researchers however have not yet been fully able to understand exactly why and how the Ketogenic diet prevents/reduces seizures. But one thing is beyond doubt – it definitely is effective in reducing epileptic seizures in at least some children.
Ingredients of the Ketogenic diet
The diet consists of 4 grams of fat for every 1 gram of protein and carbohydrate. People who are on this diet are told to eat fatty foods, like butter, cream, and peanut butter. On the other hand, their intake of bread, pasta, fruits and vegetables is almost always severely limited. The idea is to restrict the total calories and fluids in the body.
The credit for the revival of the Ketogenic diet can be largely given to the doctors of the Mayo Clinic. It was they who came out with this way to induce the effects of starvation, that is burning fat, Ketosis and a change in blood Ph levels, by feeding the patient with large quantities of fat and limiting protein and carbohydrate.
The Ketogenic diet has been known to succeed in as high as 75% of all the cases.
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