It makes sense that if carbs are limited it would help people with diabetes, but I’d like to go a bit deeper…
How exactly does fat-burning help vs. carb burning? When we train our body to utilize stored fat for energy and fuel as compared to glucose we do not have to rely on foods throughout the day to keep our blood sugars stable. This results in a more efficient metabolism and will eventually allow your body to more easily maintain an ideal body weight.
What’s the effect on your blood glucose? Depending on the type of diabetes or the medication and nutrition regimen the person already has is a huge factor on how glucose is affected. If someone has hypoglycemia symptoms their body may take a while to adjust to the keto lifestyle. They should also make sure they are eating more frequently then those who are not insulin resistant.
Is it actually proven to help?
This out patient study showed positive results for the ketogenic diet, participants who followed it had decreased Hemoglobin A1C results, improved triglyceride levels, they dropped body weight, their medications were reduced and in some cases they were completely taken off their medications because they could control their diabetes through diet and lifestyle.
Does it help more so than, say, Atkins? And are there any drawbacks?
The Atkins diet and the Ketogenic diet are very similar. The main difference is the ketogenic has very specific macronutrient ranges and targets daily promoting actual ketosis throughout the entire diet. The Adkins’s diet has phases to the program, starting out with a diet that promotes ketosis and phasing into a diet that has more high fiber carbohydrates that may not keep you into ketosis. Both diets are good, but your body will adapt over time because of homeostasis. I recommend cycling off the ketogenic diet and following more of a plant based diet for a few weeks to keep your body guessing and metabolically adaptable to eating in general. Ensuring adequate hydration is very important for low carbohydrate diets, glycogen holds water in the muscles and glycogen stores are depleted during ketosis which increases your risk for dehydration. Drink at least half of your body weight in ounces of pure, natural hydroxide water daily; if you cramp or have other signs of dehydration increase consumption. The hydroxide water will help clear the detoxification pathways, reduce inflammation by eliminating acid (forming water) and helps ultra-hydration since it forms more water in the body then you drink (OH-+ H+=H20).
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1325029/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30289048