Benefits of Keto Diet For Seniors
As a senior, it’s only right you watch the things you eat, given that they tend to affect your body more than when you were younger. Many dieticians and fitness specialists have developed various diet plans to help seniors live as healthy as possible. One example of such a diet plan is the keto diet.
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Although it was originally used for preventing seizures, fitness specialists have now touted it as one of the suitable diets for anyone to live healthily. However, is all the hype about the keto diet true? Perhaps you don’t even know what a keto diet is? This article contains everything you need to know about the keto diet, including its benefits to seniors.
What Is a Keto Diet?
The keto/ketogenic diet contains an assortment of low-carbohydrate meals. To put that into context, let’s use a simple example. A typical diet in the West contains a range of 225 to 325g of carbohydrates daily. However, a keto diet would push for your daily carbohydrate to just be about 10% of your entire daily calorie intake. That translates to around 50 per day. Due to this low level of permissible carbohydrate intake, you will have to avoid foods with rich carbohydrate content such as pasta, whole grains, rice, and meals in that category.
Benefits of a Keto Diet for Seniors?
Seeing how strict the diet is, you might probably be wondering if it’s worth the stress. Well, here are a few reasons why you should try it out:
It Helps in Weight Loss
One of the most important rules of a keto diet is that it requires your meals intake to contain 60 – 80% of fat. You might be wondering why this is since most people say fat is bad. However, not all types of fat are bad. Trans fats are bad, while poly- and monounsaturated fats are good for the body. Hence, it’s the latter you need to involve in your diet. Examples include full-fat dairy products, cheese, butter, etc. This intake of fats makes you feel full fast, hence, keeping the body at an optimal fat-carbohydrate ratio. The latter helps a lot in weight loss.
Helps Prevent Inflammation
Inflammation is one of the major causes of long-term pain in the body. It could e caused by various reasons such as other body diseases such as arthritis or just fatal bodily injuries. Inflammation is mediated by a particular substance produced in the body known as cytokines. However, with a keto diet, there’s a reduction in the production of cytokines, hence helping to prevent the amplification of pains in the body.
Helps to Improve Bone Health
A common symptom associated with old age is elderly ones feeling pains in their bones. This is most likely due to osteoporosis (a condition that causes fragile bones). One cause of this disease could be toxins present in the diet affecting the absorption of calcium. However, with a keto diet, the level of toxins in your diet is reduced, hence improving calcium absorption.
While the diet could be strict and stop you from eating some of your favorite foods, it is really worth it in terms of the health benefit it provides. If you’re a senior who wants to try healthy eating, a keto diet is a great choice to start with.
