Why The Ketogenic Diet Works

The Most Popular Diet Likely Has Other Mechanisms Behind It

What Is The Ketogenic Diet?

The ketogenic diet is among the more popular diets right now. The ketogenic diet focuses on the balance of macronutrients, i.e., fats, protein, carbohydrates, and fiber. Rather than restricting calories, necessarily, the ketogenic diet focuses on eliminating carbohydrates from the diet almost entirely, in some cases limiting daily consumption of carbohydrates to as low as 5% of calorie intake. 

Ketogenic dieters are to eat as many as 70% of daily calories in the form of fat. By limiting carbohydrates, which quickly turn into glucose (sugar) in the body, eating a diet consisting primarily of fat causes the the body to burn fat as fuel. 

Proponents of the ketogenic diet claim that it offers benefits for:

• Weight Loss
• Blood Sugar Control
• Mental Focus
• Increased Energy 
• Controlling Hunger 
• Controlling Epilepsy 
• Lowering Cholesterol
• Controlling Blood Pressure
• Reducing Insulin Resistance 
• Clearing Up Acne

This is quite a set of claims, but there is a lot of science to back up what the proponents of the diet say that it does. Particularly, since research has uncovered the dangers of sugar and the legion of problems associated with high-carbohydrate diets, it would make sense that removing carbs and sugar from the diet might have some benefit for health.

Interestingly, the foods permitted and encouraged on the ketogenic diet look very much like what the Kaufmann Diet has looked like for years. 

The Kaufmann Diet, of course, is an anti-fungal diet, designed to eliminate fungi in the body and limit exposure to foods contaminated with mold poisons, known as mycotoxins. The foods that are commonly contaminated with mycotoxins and the foods would feed a fungal infection are many of the same foods that the ketogenic diet eliminates, including grains, sugar and potatoes, and other carb-heavy foods. 

According to research done by Doug Kaufmann, fungi such as molds and yeasts, may play an underlying role in many serious health problems, including weight gain. Following an anti-fungal program seems to clear up many people’s health problems. Interestingly, many people who follow the anti-fungal program report many of the same benefits the ketogenic diet claims to confer. 

The ketogenic diet likely offers many of the same benefits against molds and pathogenic yeasts that the Kaufmann Diet does because they eliminate many of the same foods. This certainly offers and alternate explanation as to why the ketogenic diet is so effective, and subsequently so popular.