Experts Condemn Keto. Will People Finally Stop?
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For the third consecutive year, the annual U.S. News and World Report ranked the exceeding popular keto diet as one of the worst possible diets to follow. The ranking is culled from medical journals and government data, plus input from a panel of health and nutrition experts; since at least 2018, this review process has placed keto at or just above the very bottom of the list. Yet people continue to follow this diet, shoveling heaps of protein and fats into their mouths and eating so little carbs it makes them physically ill.
The core notion within keto (short for ketogenic) is that it forces the body into "ketosis," where it preferentially burns fat because there is no carbohydrate-derived fuel to use. (Never mind that your body can absolutely burn fat without being in this state of forced stress.) To achieve ketosis, the keto diet advises getting most of your calories from fat, eating moderate amounts of protein, and eating fewer carbs per day than are in an apple. Studies have shown that sort of diet to be helpful for children with epilepsy and people with diabetes, but in an otherwise healthy person, it's routinely discouraged.
