By Colin E. Champ, MD, CSCS – Radiation Oncologist
Glucose fluctuations make us hungry and disrupt our mood and health, Blending keto with the Mediterranean diet may be a powerful method to combat this.
Understanding Ketosis
When we limit sugar intake in the form of bread, pasta, cookies, crackers, sugar, honey, high sugar fruits, and white potatoes, the body learns there are no longer enough carbohydrates to burn for energy and shifts over to burning fat, which creates ketones. Instead of using glucose for fuel, it uses ketones. For most of us, this occurs each night when we fast during our sleep. However, many health benefits can accompany the state of ketosis.
The ketogenic diet looks different to different people, but in the original version, it looked a lot like high protein, high fat, and very low carbohydrate. Many people eat eggs, cheese, and meat on this diet and think that it is a healthy lifestyle choice because they’ve lost 50lbs. While high ketone levels and low glucose will help people lose weight, and it is recommended for those with certain disorders like epilepsy, diabetes, and dementia, there is a healthier version that includes more healthy vegetables and resembles the Mediterranean diet minus the legumes and grains.
The Mediterranean diet consists primarily of fish, cheese, vegetables, olive oil, nuts, seeds, and some berries and meat. Some red wine is usually thrown into the mix as well, but it’s not needed and, in excess, can hinder ketosis.
What happens when we take the Mediterranean Diet and blend it with a well-constructed ketogenic diet?
Where the Mediterranean and ketogenic diet cross is where the lines begin to blur; the sweet spot in the middle is where I would like to see the bulk of the population – a well-balanced low-carbohydrate/ketogenic diet. This is starting to sound like a Mediterranean Ketogenic Diet, and that is exactly what I am endorsing.
The Mediterranean Ketogenic Lifestyle:
1. Keep carbohydrates low
The golden number varies, but nutritional ketosis requires it to be less than 20-50 grams per day, while a very-low and low-carbohydrate diet can range from 0-150 grams per day. This is highly dependent on the individual and personal needs.
2. Green, leafy, and colorful vegetables
Eating plenty of leafy greens, colorful vegetables, and cruciferous vegetables is a must, with the goal of having them at every meal. These fibrous vegetables contain a plethora of healthy immune system-stimulating and anticancer chemicals, along with soluble fiber to feed our bowel bacteria.
3. Fat
A true ketogenic diet or even a periodic ketogenic diet relies on plenty of fat. Take a couple of hints from the Mediterranean area and eat plenty of high monounsaturated olive oil (make sure it is real and not laced with harmful oxidized vegetable oils), fatty fish with high omega-3 fatty acids, high-quality meats, some nuts, and macadamia, coconut, avocado, and palm oil are great for garnishing and cooking.
4. Replace sweet foods with bitter ones
Like many green and cruciferous veggies, bitter foods, herbs, and spices contain chemicals that increase our defense system. Furthermore, they train our taste preferences to shy away from unhealthy sweet foods.
5. Physical Activity
Get plenty of daily activity with periods of intermixed intense activity, resistance training, and lifting heavy things. There are no elevators and escalators in the hilly communities of the Mediterranean, and simply walking around provides a muscle-pumping leg work out that becomes exponentially harder when carrying something. Lifting heavy things and contracting your muscles prompts them to release anti-inflammatory and anticancer chemicals and hormones and should be part of everyone’s repertoire.
6. Fasting
The above-mentioned foods will provide us with plenty of nutrients to function optimally while remaining a healthy weight, but that does not mean we should be eating them all day long. Avoid snacking and aim for longer stretches between meals. This is very prevalent in the real Mediterranean diet, as the Greeks and other groups fast for up to 103 days per year, providing a handful of benefits like improved heart health, improved brain health, and potential anticancer effects (initial Mediterranean diet studies left out all discussion of fasting). Increasing periods without any food will lower blood glucose and insulin while activating autophagy, which signals our cells to get rid of any clutter or junk.
7. Rest, Relaxation, and Recovery
In modern society’s go, go, go atmosphere, we forget that following a healthy lifestyle is more than just our food and activity. The times when we are not eating or exercising refuel our body to recover from exercise and replenish our muscles, while high quality and adequate sleep help promote a healthy metabolism to deal with the foods we eat, maintain a low/normal blood sugar level, and keep our mitochondria functioning optimally to help fight disease.
Inspire Exercise Medicine
Inspire Exercise Medicine is focused exclusively on supporting cancer patients on the road to regaining their health with oncologist defined evidence-based treatment plans for nutrition and exercise in support of their overall health and wellness.
A significant part of the Inspire Exercise Medicine space is dedicated to optimizing overall health and body composition via nutrition discussions, resistance training, and closely monitored exercise programs individualized for each cancer patient.
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Dr. Colin Champ, MD, CSCS
Dr. Colin Champ, MD, CSCS, is a radiation oncologist with board certifications in radiation oncology and integrative and holistic medicine. Dr. Champ is a certified strength and conditioning specialist, and his research interests include the prevention and treatment of cancer with lifestyle modification, including exercise and dietary modification.
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