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As the diets of Americans shift more and more toward a high-carb diet that relies on fast food, health-conscious individuals are looking for smart ways to stay fit and even lose weight through dieting. Given its recent explosion in popularity, many people are exploring the benefits of the ketogenic diet plan. Thanks to its simple requirements and structure, everyone from doctors to celebrities have hailed the keto diet as a fast and effective way to lose weight. While we here at Axis Labs are big fans of the keto diet, we’re also willing to admit that it’s not without its challenges. Let’s take a look at some of these challenges as well as ways you can overcome them.

Lower Levels of Energy

Given that more and more pre-packaged food is being spiked with sugar, it’s easier to understand why our bodies are so ready to burn carbohydrates before it burns fat. As you start the ketogenic diet, your body has to make the switch from burning carbs to burning fat. During this transitory period, you might feel like you’re more tired than you usually are. Periods of fatigue and weakness are common, as is a sense of brain fog. This is because your body is trying to reconfigure its metabolic processes and is looking for new stores of energy (fat). But you don’t have to suffer from fatigue while on the ketogenic diet. To ensure that you maintain your energy levels, prioritize hydration. You’ll also want to make sure that your diet is rich in the essential nutrients it needs, like ielectrolytes, magnesium, and potassium. An easy way to do this is to add a little salt to your meal, or having a cup of bone broth every now and then. While your diet plan will play a big part in maintaining your energy levels, good sleep hygiene is a vital part of being successful on the keto diet. In fact, we can’t stress enough how important it is to get eight hours of sleep every night, no matter what diet or exercise routine you’re following. Getting adequate sleep lowers your stress levels and keeps you from feeling more fatigued.

You Might Be Constipated

While no one likes to think about this challenge, it’s one worth discussing. The ketogenic diet means that you’re avoiding carbs, and that means you’re probably not getting the same amount of fiber as you used to. This dearth of fiber changes your digestion and can lead to constipation. You want to avoid constipation on the keto diet as much as possible. If you’re not having regular, healthy bowel movements, your body can’t stay in ketosis and your levels of stress hormones and blood sugar will rise, leading to weight gain. To overcome this challenge of the keto diet, you can take some pretty simple steps. First, make sure you’re getting enough water. As above, hydration keeps everything in your body functioning smoothly. You can also get your source of fiber through high-fiber, low-carb vegetables like leafy greens, avocado, and other cruciferous vegetables like broccoli. If push comes to shove and still nothing is moving, consider adding a digestive enzyme to your diet routine. Lipase, in particular, is a great way to break down the fats you’re eating.

Stress Can Impact Your Ability to Stay in Ketosis

Stress has a greater impact on our health than many people realize. Left unchecked, it can do more than cloud our mental clarity. Eventually, it can affect our physical health too. Unfortunately, your keto diet plan can also be affected by your stress levels. That’s because when our bodies are stressed, they release hormones that raise our blood sugar levels. These heightened levels are meant to help us in fight or flight situations. In short bursts, these increased stress hormones are helpful, but over the long-term, it only leads to lowered levels of ketones. If you’re in a stressful period of your life, you may find it difficult to maintain ketosis. The key then is to find ways to lower your stress levels and find a sense of calm in your life while on the keto diet. This can be a struggle for some, but is absolutely achievable. Remember to practice good self-care habits, like basic hygiene, connecting with the ones you love, addressing issues as soon as they arise, and of course, offering your body the healthy foods it needs. Living a less stressful life will not only allow you to find success on the keto diet, but will help ensure your long-term health and wellness.

Decreased Muscle Strength

This challenge is of particular concern for those who are regular gym-goers who take part in bodybuilding endeavors. Not only could you generally feel more tired on the keto diet, you may not feel as strong as you do normally. The change in diet means that your body has a harder time recovering from intense workouts as quickly. There is some research that also suggests that an increase in the level of ketones can also affect performance during high intensity workouts. But this potential weakness deters you from trying the keto diet. Instead, you can avoid this challenge by being careful about your diet. You’ll want to provide your body with enough protein it needs to repair your muscles, but not so much it kicks you out of ketosis. A good rule to follow to strike that balance is to consume 1.3 grams of protein per kilogram of your ideal body weight. If you’re worried about your sodium levels as well, try adding a quarter teaspoon of natural sea salt to a glass of water each day. These two steps should offer your body the nutrients and minerals it needs to repair itself normally, keeping your muscles healthy and strong. This period of temporary muscle weakness may necessitate that you take some time off from hard or particularly intense workouts. Low-intensity training is a great way to continue to exercise even when you aren’t feeling your strongest.

You Might Feel a Little Moody

Our diet affects many things about us, and that includes our mood. For those new to the keto diet plan, they might notice changes in their sleep patterns, feelings, and even behaviors. That’s because the hormones your body produces are being created in different levels and your neurotransmitters are reacting differently, all thanks to your new low-carb, high-fat diet. During the first few weeks of your keto diet, you might feel kinda blue and unmotivated. But don’t despair. This isn’t a sign that the diet isn’t working. It just means that your brain is adapting to the change in the source of energy you’re providing it. You can help bolster your mood by adding more magnesium to your diet through foods like avocados, salmon, and rich leafy greens. Beyond just food and vitamins, you can also improve your mood with exercise, quiet reflection, and talking through your feelings with your friends.

Keto Supplements For Your Healthy Lifestyle

The keto diet isn’t without its challenges, but they only serve to make the reward all the more satisfying. If you want to get the most out of your new diet plan, make sure to include Axis Labs’ line of keto products into your health and wellness routine. Made from proven ingredients, like exogenous ketones, our fat loss and keto products are second to none and are uniquely formulated to help you enter into ketosis more quickly, and stay there longer. Browse our products and order yours today!

Fad diets come and go, but some have an enduring appeal that is hard to explain. But when it comes to the ketogenic diet, it’s obvious why it has remained so popular for so long. Its simple, straightforward approach, and excellent host of benefits ensure that people try, and stay on, the ketogenic diet for long periods of time. But the enduring popularity of the ketogenic diet belies its long history. Despite seeing perhaps a peak of interest in Google searches in August of 2018, the ketogenic diet has been a part of human eating habits for hundreds of years. Join Axis Labs as we explore the history of the ketogenic diet!

Ancient Dieting Techniques

Even early civilizations recognized the importance of diet in everyday health and wellness. We know today, thanks to rigorous scientific study, that changes in diet can have a pronounced impact on how we feel. But even in the Hellenistic era, diet was understood to affect us. For instance, the early thinker Pythagoras was well-known for his frequent fasting practices, which he believed enhanced his mental clarity and creativity. Today, we understand that Pythagoras was correct, that fasting can change our brain chemistry in minor ways. Indeed, fasting was seen as the only therapeutic treatment option for epilepsy as recorded in the Hippocratic Collection, a collection of medical practices and ideas collected by the Greek philosopher Hippocrates. Later, in the King James version of the Bible, Jesus is said to have used fasting as a way to treat a boy’s epilepsy. But fasting isn’t exactly the same as the ketogenic diet. However, it can be a part of it. In our beginner’s guide to the keto diet, we noted that you could use fasting as a way to jump-start the ketosis process. That’s because calorie restriction of any kind forces your body to start burning more fats for energy rather than relying on simple carbohydrates and sugars that are easier for the body to burn.

The 20th Century and the Exploration of Ketosis

Centuries later, scientists and researchers again recognized the value of diet on health and wellness. In 1911, a pair of French researchers began using starvation as a treatment option for epilepsy. Gulep and Marie treated 20 adults and children with a fasting diet and found that the seizures were less frequent and less severe while the patients fast. On the other side of the Atlantic ocean, the United States was caught in the throes of perhaps the nation’s first physical fitness craze. Spurred on by larger-than-life characters like Theodore Roosevelt who championed "the vigorous life" of healthy eating and regular exercise, researchers and pseudo-scientists alike advocated for fasting and starvation diets as a way to improve health. In particular, the work of Bernarr Macfadden was influential, as he argued that fasting for three days to three weeks at a time could cure almost any ailment. Macfadden’s work through his fitness magazine, Physical Culture, created an opportunity for Dr. Hugh W. Conklin to start doing legitimate research into fasting and health. Conklin’s work revolved around the effects fasting had on epilepsy, and his results garnered much attention. Other researchers began running similar studies and used diet as a way to improve mental and physical health.

Wilder’s Work

Of course, perhaps the most famous of these early dietary researchers from the early 20th century was Russel Wilder. Working at the Mayo Clinic in 1923, Dr. Wilder was the first to suggest a set dietary plan in order to treat epilepsy. The result was the so-called "Classic Ketogenic Diet." Wilder argued that a 4:1 ratio of fat to protein and carbs was the optimal diet to help lessen the symptoms of epilepsy in children and adults. This 4:1 ratio is seen as the "golden standard" for the classic ketogenic diet. Wilder even went as far to suggest that 90 percent of an individual’s diet should stem from healthy fats, with the remaining 10 percent split between proteins and carbs. Wilder’s diet was met with acclaim. Not only was his method effective in treating epilepsy, but it could also be maintained over a much longer period of time than other starvation or fasting based diets. The classic ketogenic diets reliance on ratios of foods and nutrient sources meant that the diet could be tailored to individual patients to receive the best results. Wilder’s ketogenic diet was widely used in hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country throughout the 1920s and 1930s. It was even commonly printed to medical textbooks up until the 1980s.

The Ketogenic Diet Today

Despite the promising results and frequent use of the ketogenic diet throughout the early and mid-20th Century, the eating plan fell by the wayside starting in the 1970s. But in 1993, a two-year-old boy was admitted to John Hopkins Hospital, plagued by intense and frequent seizures. In a last-chance maneuver, Dr. John M. Freeman and Ms. Millicent Kelly put the boy on the ketogenic diet. Perhaps miraculously, the boy’s seizures disappeared. This rapid recovery led to renewed interest in the ketogenic diet. As more study was poured into the process and benefits of ketosis, the diet began being adopted as an effective strategy to treat a variety of conditions and ailments, even for those who did not suffer from epilepsy. Those with Type 2 diabetes and heart disease have found success in following the ketogenic diet. Perhaps more popularly, the ketogenic diet has been embraced by many as an effective and fast way to lose weight.

Keto Products for Your Healthy Lifestyle

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