Is it safe for a diabetic to follow the ketogenic Diet?

A ketogenic diet is safe as long as you are not a type 1 diabetic. Low Carb or Lipolysis based diets are one of the major ways to cure diabeties.

Here are some key points from the low carb guru Dr. Atkins.

• The typical American style of eating is grossly mismatched to the normal human metabolism.
• Most obesity is the result of metabolic disturbances, not over consumption of fat.
• Studies consistently show that sugar, refined white flour and junk foods are bad for your health, your energy level, your mental state and your figure.
• Low-fat diets are in effect high-carbohydrate diets and bring on the very problems that they were intended to protect us from.
• By doing Atkins you will control your weight, achieve good health and help prevent disease.
• The Atkins Nutritional Approach is composed of protein and fat, both essential to the human body, plus controlled quantities of the most nutrient-dense carbohydrates, primarily in the form of vegetables.


• It is not true that the only way to lose weight is to limit your intake of calories.
• When you control carbohydrate consumption sufficiently, your body will switch from burning glucose, derived from carbohydrate, to burning primarily fat as its energy source.
• You burn more calories when your body is operating on a fat metabolism.
• Atkins has repeatedly been proven to take off more fat than other weight loss programs when an equal number of calories is consumed.
• By drastically increasing the intake of carbohydrate, the American diet has changed dramatically in the past sixty years.
• In the past twenty years the incidence of lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease has increased by leaps and bounds.
• A significant number of all overweight people suffer from a metabolic problem known as hyperinsulinism.
• Eating large amounts of foods high in sugar, white flour and other refined carbohydrates can promote or aggravate hyperinsulinism.
• Atkins is a corrective metabolic approach to metabolic problems.
• The protein- and fat-rich foods you eat when doing Atkins stabilize your blood sugar, making food cravings disappear.
TIPS:
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Excess weight around your waist is often the first sign that your body is not metabolizing sugar properly.
• Try not eating your favorite food for a week and see if you notice any changes in how you feel.
• Don't ever go more than six hours without having a meal or protein-rich snack.
• Insulin is the hormone that transports glucose from your blood to your cells, where it can be converted to energy. The liver will convert excess glucose to glycogen, which is stored in the liver and muscles for additional, accessible energy.
• Remaining glucose will be converted to fat and stored throughout the body.
• Excessive carbohydrate intake results in an oversupply of glucose, and thus insulin, in the body.
• An ongoing cycle of excess blood glucose overproduction and insulin overproduction eventually results in hyperinsulinism and ultimately diabetes.
• Hyperinsulinism is what makes it hard for many people to lose weight.
• Atkins can stabilize insulin production to make it easier to lose weight.
• High levels of triglycerides in the blood are a proven risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
• Atkins can sharply reduce your risk of blood-sugar disorders-and by extension, heart disease and other serious ailments.
• Lipolysis is the biochemical process of dissolving fat.
• When you dissolve fat, it breaks down into glycerol and other fatty acids, which in turn break down into byproducts called ketones. When this happens you are enjoying a state called
ketosis.
• Atkins initiates ketosis by restricting carbohydrate intake to 20 grams per day, a level that is then gradually increased as you move on through the phases of Atkins.

• Only by doing Atkins can you lose weight eating the same number of calories on which you used to gain weight.
• Burning body fat has a metabolic advantage over so called "balanced" or "low-fat" diets.
• The breakthrough concept of fat-mobilization was first discovered over forty years ago.
• Numerous studies have reinforced the metabolic advantage of burning fat for energy.
• All fruits, vegetables, grains and starches contain carbohydrates.
• The more carbohydrate an individual consumes, the less body fat he or she will lose. That's why low-fat diets usually don't work.
• All carbohydrates are not created equal.
• The glycemic index measures the relative rate at which glucose enters the blood stream after a specific carbohydrate food is eaten.
• Low-glycemic vegetables contain relatively less sugar.
• Over-the-counter and certain prescription drugs can interfere with weight loss.
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Get a medical checkup to determine your overall physical health and have blood and other tests done that will serve as a baseline for comparison later.
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A five-hour glucose-tolerance test with insulin levels will evaluate the degree of stress on your glucoseinsulin-regulating mechanism before you begin Atkins.
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Typically, after six weeks doing Atkins, you can expect to see improvement in virtually all health indicators.
• Practical and psychological preparation is also key to success on Atkins.
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Induction is designed to switch your body from burning carbohydrate for energy to burning primarily fat for energy.
• Fat burning helps control your appetite.
• Withdrawal symptoms, caused by food addictions, may occur, but will subside within a few days.
• By the end of the first week most people find that they have more energy and feel better.
• Lipolysis testing strips (LTS) measure the presence of ketones in your urine, gauging your fat-burning status.
• Induction lasts a minimum of fourteen days but can be safely followed much longer.
• After two weeks doing Induction, most people begin to feel dramatically better.
• Symptoms such as difficulty sleeping, aches and pains and general malaise are often related to excess weight and blood-sugar stress.
• Be realistic and determine for yourself the weight you would be comfortable with today.
• Knowing exactly how much weight you lost during the first fourteen days of Induction will help give you a general understanding of your personal degree of metabolic resistance and help you set goals and determine your pace of weight loss.
• The key question in the decision to stay on Induction or move on is "Am I willing to trade slower weight loss for more food choices?"
• As you transition into OWL, your rate of weight loss will gradually slow. This is normal and intentional.
• The key to OWL is determining your personal Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing (CCLL).

• By incrementally increasing your carbohydrate intake you can personalize an eating program that suits your individual needs, tastes and lifestyle.
• Individuals' CCLLs can vary substantially.
•A plateau is a halt in weight loss that lasts at least a month and has nothing to do with changes in food intake or lifestyle.
•Plateaus are natural and not uncommon in later stages of weight loss.
•Causes for plateaus include adding a new medication, reduction in activity level, yeast and thyroid problems and food intolerances.
•Getting sloppy about counting carbs or not being vigilant about watching for hidden carbs in condiments and other foods is different from being on a plateau.
•If a plateau does not come to an end, it may mean you are truly metabolically resistant and need to read Chapter 20.
• The key to success on Pre-Maintenance is advancing slowly, losing less than a pound each week for two to three months.
• Nothing will have a more significant effect on reducing your long-term risks for cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes than maintaining a healthy weight.
• Increase daily carbohydrate intake by 10 grams per week so long as you continue to lose, adding new foods slowly and carefully.
• The line between gaining, maintaining and losing is a thin one, and you may have to "play" with your CCLL and CCLM for a while to understand what your body can handle.
• Lifetime Maintenance provides you with a way of eating that allows you to stay slim for the rest of your life.
• To maintain your goal weight you must know your metabolic needs.
• Don't stray more than 5 pounds from your goal weight.
• Don't be afraid to return to Induction, or OWL, for a few days if you need to restart your fat-burning engine.

TIPS:
• Stay away from foods containing sugar.
• If you feel the need to binge try eating a few hard boiled eggs instead of chips or candy, or use many of the controlled carbohydrate products.
• Variety is the spice of life: try new foods.
• A sizeable portion of us becomes addicted to the very foods to which we are intolerant.
• Food intolerances cause blood-sugar instability and can complicate weight loss.
• The symptom list for food intolerance mimics the list found on both the "Blood-Sugar Symptom Test" and the "Yeast Symptoms" sidebar in this book.

Recommended reading is : The Atkins Diet