Ketogenic Diet (KD) History

 
Keto History
 
 

Let’s go back to the years 1850 and to 1920.

We will find that ketosis was the normal metabolic state, a balance between anabolism (building cells up) and catabolism (breaking cells down). The change in foods began with the industrial age and inventions that moved people from country to city living. Processing steel out of iron, the telephone was patented, and electric light bulbs now allowed people to work at night. The first airplane flight came, and Henry Ford creates the Model T so everyone can have a car! All this created rapid change in the world. It also affected our foods.

Epilepsy and the Ketogenic Diet

In the early 1920s, Drs. Cobb and Lennox at Harvard Medical School began studying the effects of starvation as a treatment for epilepsy. They were the first to note that seizure improvement typically occurred after 2–3 days of fasting. In 1921, Dr. Wilder at the Mayo Clinic proposed that the benefits of fasting could be obtained if ketonemia was produced by other means. Dr Wilder subsequently reported on patients treated with a ketone-producing diet at the Mayo Clinic and coined the term “ketogenic diet.”. However, in 1938 a new era of medical therapy for epilepsy had begun with the advent of drugs for epilepsy and KD began to fall by the wayside as a treatment.

The Charlie Foundation Film.

The 1997 film “First do No Harm”, starring Meryl Streep, is the story of Charlie, a two-year-old with severe epilepsy who was treated successfully with the KD diet at the John Hopkins Hospital in 1993. “The Charlie Foundation for Ketogenic Therapies” gave education for doctors, dietitians and parents. In recent years less restrictive versions of the Ketogenic Diet have been developed and it is used to address autism, Parkinson’s, Type 2 diabetes, brain injury, obesity and many more chronic diseases of modern lifestyles.

Carbs, Fats and Protein.

Ketogenic diets require the eating of real foods in the form of natural fats and protein (red meat, fish, poultry) and severely restricts the daily amount of carbohydrates (sugars and starches). Sound familiar? Comparable to the Paleo diet? And the GAPS diet? It’s also similar to the Atkins diet, WAP (Weston A Price) Diet, the hCG diet, The Fat Revolution and others

On a “normal” Australian diet, carbohydrate intake is high (about 40-60% of calories) while fat intake is limited. These higher levels of insulin in high carbohydrate diets result in a condition called insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome which can result in constant hunger, weight gain, diabetes and a long list of disease outcomes.

In contrast, carbohydrate intake on a keto diet is only about 2-4% of calories. When carb intake is low, and good fats are used for taste and digestibility, meals are delicious and satiating. Hunger goes away, and more importantly, this dietary change has some powerful and beneficial metabolic effects on the human body, in part because it lowers blood sugar and insulin levels.

How Do Ketogenic Diets Work?

The key is to remember that you are exchanging carbohydrate containing foods with a higher fat intake and a moderate protein consumption. It results in a switch in metabolic pathways from using sugar as a primary fuel to burning stored and dietary fat as a primary fuel. As more fat is burned, some of it is converted in ketone bodies. As blood glucose and insulin levels drop and ketone levels rise, muscle tissue, including the heart, use the available fatty acids in the bloodstream as fuel and the brain begins using ketones as an energy source. This metabolic state of "nutritional ketosis" (blood sugar is low and ketone levels are moderate) has some powerful benefits. And remember a diet heavy in protein and low in fat and carb can also wreck the metabolism in other ways.

Ketogenic Diet in Practice.

It is recommended that one ought to not stay in a state of ketosis but naturally move in and out of ketosis, as we did before the low fat, high carbohydrate era began around the 1970’s. Of course, the popular ketogenic diet is not the medically strict diet for epilepsy, or the specialized GAPS program for autism, but the basic principle remains the same. The recent doco “The Magic Pill” proved the benefits of a ketogenic type diet with actual case studies showing benefits for autism and diabetes after six weeks on the Paleo diet of meats, fats and vegetables. However, using the blood type science (www.dadamo.com) for health and wellbeing will enable a metabolic ketogenic balance for everyday living. The blood type information can be adapted for all people to experience ketosis for health and wellbeing.

 
 

FURTHER READING

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The Feast and Famine Diet
The Feast and Famine Diet

Did you know that every culture around the world has its own form of a ketogenic diet? Also referred to as a low carb diet or low carb high fat diet (LCHF)

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Ketogenic Diet Explained
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The Ketogenic Diet, also referred to as the Ketosis Diet, or Keto for short, is a way of eating that mimics the effects of fasting.

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Ketogenic Diet (KD) History
Ketogenic Diet (KD) History

Let’s go back to the years 1850 and to 1920. We will find that ketosis was the normal metabolic state, a balance between anabolism (building cells up) and catabolism (breaking cells down).

Read More →
Keto EverythingLesley Parkerketogenic diet, ketosis, fat, gapsComment