Ketogenic Diet, Intermittent Fasting And Mediterranean Diet

Sometimes a specific diet becomes fashionable and everyone seems to be talking about it. In this case, the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting have been the most sought-after since 2019, but do they work? It is important to understand that to achieve weight loss it is necessary to make lifestyle changes, do daily physical activity, and improve eating habits.

No option is better than the other, it is simply necessary to identify the option that best adapts to the daily routine, and food culture and, above all, understand that it is necessary to maintain this routine in the long term.

The ketogenic diet: consists of drastically reducing carbohydrate intake and increasing protein and fat consumption, thus forcing the body to use fat reserves as the main energy source instead of glucose. Care must be taken when executing this type of diet plan, as it is not recommended for people who suffer from kidney disease, pregnant women, and people who use certain hypoglycemic medications. Although the ketogenic diet is a way to achieve rapid weight loss, it is not always the most advisable, since in most cases it cannot be maintained in the long term, especially in the Guatemalan food culture; which could cause weight gain equal to or greater than the initial weight.

Intermittent fasting, as its name suggests, consists of fasting for a certain period and then consuming food in a short time window. There are several options, but one of the most commonly used is 16:8, in which the fasting period is 16 hours and the eating period is 8 hours. By limiting the amount of time for eating, either breakfast or dinner is generally skipped, which will probably create a caloric deficit and consequently lead to weight loss. However, if caloric intake is very high, even with a few meal times, it could still lead to weight gain.

The Mediterranean diet allows for the controlled consumption of complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and high biological value proteins, avoiding the intake of refined or ultra-processed products, which makes it quite varied and permissive, which is why it is one of the options with the highest rate of long-term maintenance. Multiple studies suggest a benefit to cardiovascular health when consuming this type of diet.

Do these diets guarantee weight loss? Not necessarily. It is important to understand that to achieve weight loss, it is necessary to create a caloric deficit, that is, limit the total calories in the diet the most important thing when following a diet plan is to think long-term, taking into account that very restrictive diets do not generate sustainable eating habits over time, which is why they create weight gain.