10/15 Myth Busting Monday

Partners in the 9am class face off for a Team Series workout. 
Today's Myth Busting Monday blog post is written by guest blogger, Emely Lambert, RD, owner of RidgeLine Fuel. 
Emely has her background of working with the military, collegiate and Olympic athletics. Emely has 9 years of military service serving as a unit health & fitness coordinator leading physical training and developed a nutrition education course Hydration, Fueling on the move, Macros on Deployment during Operation Enduring Freedom 2012-2013. She has worked with all levels of athletes including combative sport athletes at the collegiate level. Recently, Emely has spent the past two years working at the VA healthcare hospital and Olympic training center in Southern California. Her expertise is diverse and can assist individuals with complex medical conditions, injury and healing, to the elite and para-athletes.
Emely's blog is all about the ketogenic diet. 

Keto Diet for Weight Loss/Performance: A Review of the Evidence 

The ketogenic diet was originally developed as a therapeutic diet for patients with epilepsy. It has also been used for cancer patients to alter the main source of energy available for the individual with goal of slowing the progression of cancer. 

Ketogenic Diet
The criteria of a ketogenic diet to put the body into ketosis are 80% fat, 15% protein and 5% carbohydrates. The ratio of protein:fat can vary with higher intakes of protein around 25%. 
Mechanism of ketosis:
24-72 hours: glycogen stores depleted, body begins to rely of utilizing proteins and fats to make glucose for fuel (gluconeogenesis)
Concentration of fatty acids increase
3-4 days: increased breakdown of fatty acids produce ketone bodies that are used as energy
Ketosis: state where fat is the primary source of fuel. 

Evidence for Weight Loss
The current research show that there is no supporting evidence that a ketogenic diet is more effective for weight loss that a regular calorie restricted diet (50-60% carbs, 20-35% fat. 10-20% protein). Consuming a calorie restricted ketogenic diet is equally effective as a calorie restricted diet. With regards to visceral body fat, there was no significant difference comparing weight lost amongst the diet types. In some study populations, the assigned groups consuming a ketogenic diet experienced elevated LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol). In both a  a restricted calorie diet and ketogenic diet, HDL ("good") cholesterol increased. 

Evidence for Performance
Research has shown that a calorie restricted diet consisting of higher carbohydrate and a lower fat ratio leads to significantly greater improvements in speed of processing and cognition. A ketogenic or high fat based diet requires more work form the body to produce energy for the muscles and brain. This means a slower delay in utilization of energy from a fat based diet compared to higher carbohydrate (50-65% cards, 20-35% fat, 10-20 % protein) diet. 

Application
A ketogenic diet restricts many food choices thus eliminating many important nutrients such as Vitamin C and fiber. Weight loss occurs due to calorie restriction not switching primary fuel sources. Currently, there are no significant performance based benefits and research suggests speed of processing is declined with consumption of a ketogenic diet.

​An overly restrictive diet and altered performance can lead to undesired behavior habits that further inhibit you from reaching your goals. Consult with a Dietitian before restricting your diet in any manner. 

RidgeLine Fuel is the only performance nutrition organization specializing in mountain sports. RidgeLine Fuel’s Dietitians will fuel you to reach your peak performance and continue
to improve you across your journey throughout training seasons and competition. Services include fuel programming, competition preparation and tactics, body composition analysis, hydration testing, weight maintenance counseling and athlete sponsoring. RidgeLine Fuel’s mission is to provide nutritional guidance to those in search of becoming their best version on all terrains with convenience and affordability. You can contact Emely directly at ridgelinefueldietitians@gmail.com, to learn more about her programs. 

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