Over the past few years, the rise of fad dieting has taken Australia by storm.
Often highly restrictive, fad diets promise rapid weight loss through sometimes unhealthy and unbalanced eating habits such as fasting, drinking copious amounts of grapefruit juice and even eating nothing but baby food for three days straight.
A slightly less radical plan is the Ketogenic diet (keto for short), a low-carb, high-fat diet which promises health benefits such as protecting against diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s as well as swift weight loss.
Doing the rounds of health and fitness circles for years, the diet dramatically reduces carbohydrate intake and replaces it with fat and a lesser amount of protein, putting your body into a metabolic ‘fat burning’ state called ketosis.
But like many modern trends, a re-inventive spin has been put on the traditional formula.
Erin Lee, a Keto dieter from Virginia in the United States, said her nutritional lifestyle has cured her anxiety, psoriasis and enabled her to achieve this dramatic weight loss (left, Ms Lee before starting Keto and right in recent times)
Keto dramatically reduces carbohydrate intake and replaces it with fat and a lesser amount of protein, putting your body into a metabolic ‘fat burning’ state called ketosis (pictured, a Keto friendly burger)
Introducing the Dirty Keto, a diet for those who are keen on eating – well, whatever they want.
With a heavy focus on the ‘high fat’ chapter of the Keto bible, Dirty Keto preaches a 60-75 per cent calorie intake from fats, 15-30 per cent from protein and 5-10 per cent from carbs – without any stipulation on the kind of food these nutrients come from.
In practice, this means that your fat consumption does not have to include natural, healthy fats like avocado, chia seeds or nuts, and proteins are not restricted to lean cuts of meat or a bowl of legumes.
Subscribers to Dirty Keto are essentially free to get creative and eat whatever they want, provided it falls within the confines of the Keto ratio.
And if Instagram is anything to go by, it seems the creative Keto juices are definitely flowing as dieters share hundreds of photos of fatty meat cuts smothered in butter, greasy ‘carb-free’ burgers and lashings of ice cream filled desserts.
Subscribers to Dirty Keto are essentially free to get creative and eat whatever they want, provided it falls within the confines of the original Keto ratio
‘With a Ketogenic diet, your body feels fuller quicker because of the volume of fats you are consuming so people stop eating sooner than they otherwise would,’ dietitian Gabrielle Maston said
Erin Lee, a Keto dieter from Virginia in the United States who uses the hashtag ‘Dirty Keto’, took to Instagram to share the benefits of her nutritional lifestyle which she credits for a significant reduction in anxiety, major improvement in her psoriasis as well as impressive weight loss.
But dietitian and exercise physiologist Gabrielle Maston told FEMAIL the focus of dieting should be less about weight loss and more about increasing the vital nutrients are body needs for overall health.
‘With a Ketogenic diet, your body feels fuller quicker because of the volume of fats you are consuming so people stop eating sooner than they otherwise would.
A Ketogenic diet leaves your body feeling fuller, faster because of the volume of fats consumed, which causes dieters to stop eating sooner than they otherwise would
‘The fact is butter, cream and cheese which are all rich sources of fat and ‘Keto friendly’ simply don’t have the added vitamins, minerals and antioxidants found in foods like carbohydrates which this diet doesn’t permit,’ according to dietitian Gabrielle Maston
‘This obviously does lead to a certain amount of weight loss, but what I think we need to be mindful of is that health is not just about weight loss, it’s about the nutrients we put into our diets.
‘The fact is butter, cream and cheese which are all rich sources of fat and ‘Keto friendly’ simply don’t have the added vitamins, minerals and antioxidants found in foods like carbohydrates which this diet doesn’t permit.’
Ms Maston added certain fats such as saturated and trans fats are damaging to overall heart health due to their contribution to bad cholesterol, as well as causing insulin resistance which is the precursor to type two diabetes.
‘People will try to find ways of eating whatever they can which is why Dirty Keto may seem attractive, but the diet neglects the fundamentals of nutrition like fibre, calcium, iron and healthy fats which are essential for heart and digestive health’ – Dietitian Geraldine Georgeou
Tasty versions of nachos, guacamole and tacos are also allowed on the program
Accredited practising dietitian with Designer Diets Geraldine Georgeou also aired her concerns surrounding the principles of Dirty Keto.
‘The essence of the diet is unbalanced and my concern would be that it creates a cycle of restriction and binge eating which is detrimental to both short and long term health,’ she said.
‘People will try to find ways of eating whatever they can which is why Dirty Keto may seem attractive, but the diet neglects the fundamentals of nutrition like fibre, calcium, iron and healthy fats which are essential for heart and digestive health.
‘There is no reason why you can’t enjoy treats like chocolate and birthday cake now and again, but people must put balance at the core of their diets for a positive healthy outcome.’