The ketogenic diet has been hailed for being a serious fat burner, and now the fan favorite new diet is also being recognized for its mental health benefits, as well. Turns out, it’s also now a great way to help fight and prevent anxiety. The diet strategy, which is based around low-carb and high-fat food that forces your body to go into ketosis (a fat-burning state), has been proven to change body fat percentage and increase metabolic rate.
Studies Show That The Keto Diet Can Help Fight Anxiety
According to a 2014 study published in the journal Brain and Behavior, a ketogenic diet can have powerful effects on your mood. In fact, when researchers looked into how a keto diet can not only affect adult mice, but also their offspring, they found that an increase in keto foods “reduced susceptibility to anxiety and depression, and elevated physical activity level,” meaning that not only their mood improved, but their preference for fitness did too. And if we could boost our mood, fight anxiety and depression, and love our workouts even more, it sounds like it’s worth a shot. And since we know that exercise is a natural way to fight anxiety and depression, it means an even added mental health reinforcer. What’s more is that if you follow a keto diet early in your life, it can continue to work its mood-boosting effects long into adulthood and beyond.
“Sugar is a culprit of many mood disorders and can be found in most everyday items, which can make it hard to stay away from,” Lindsey Smith, author of the forthcoming book Eat Your Feelings: The Food Mood Girl’s Guide to Transforming Your Emotional Eating, tells Popsugar Australia. “Additionally, when you are feeling stressed or anxious, your body tends to crave sugary foods because your body is looking for a quick, feel-good serotonin boost. However, sugar will only lead to a crash and can actually worsen anxiety symptoms over time.” The anti-depressant effects of the keto diet once again show the dangers of sugar. Not only can in lead to weight gain, but it can also seriously mess with your mental health, and that’s yet another reason to kick the habit and embrace the keto. Check out these other unexpected ways to fight anxietyand give these ketogenic “fatballs, “keto smoothies”, and surprisingly low-carb desserts and breakfasts a try.
The Supplement We Love to Maintain Ketosis
We love the Kapex ketogenic supplement from BiOptimizers, a plant-based, one-of-a-kind supplement that is designed to work with a keto diet. Their CEO Matt Gallant has been on a keto diet for 26 years and coached hundreds of people through it. He observed that many people struggle with keto flu and digestive problems, which prevent them from fully benefiting from ketosis. Here are just a few of the benefits of Kapex below.
- Improve keto, low-carb, and paleo digestion.
- Boosts AMPK (an enzyme that promotes energy production) in muscles by 52% and fat cells by 300%.
- Ups ATP (energy) in your liver by 22%, which makes the liver better at ketogenesis and detoxification.
- Amps adiponectin (a hormone from fat cells that promotes fat loss and healthy blood lipids, while balancing inflammation) by up to 248%.
- Improves sensitivity to important blood sugar-regulating hormones by increasing glut4 by 488% in fat and muscle cells.
- Helps lower inflammation.
- Boosts cardiovascular health.
- Helps reduce bad cholesterol.
- Support fat and protein digestion.
- Prevent digestive upset from high-fat meals.
- Aids digestion.
- Increases energy.
- Reduces keto flu and fatigue during keto-adaptation.
- Improves exercise performance, especially on a low-carb or ketogenic diet.
- Enhances fat loss (when combined with proper exercise and nutrition).
- Improves mitochondrial health and activates anti-aging pathways
