The keto diet has been getting more and more popular over the years, and with it comes a lot of mixed opinion and uncertainty.
If you’re over the age of 65 and are looking for the right tool to help you get into a healthy target body size, the keto diet might be worth considering.
However if you’re a senior, there are a few extra steps of precaution that you’ll want to take into consideration before getting started. In this article, I’ll lay out exactly what you should consider first. fd
Benefits of Following a Keto Diet for Seniors
-
Increased likelihood of weight loss
We all know that weight loss gets more challenging as you get older, and at the same time it becomes important in order to promote longevity and reduce the chances of developing weight related health issues.
One of the main reasons people take to the keto diet is because of it’s purported weight loss capabilities.
When your body enters a state of ketosis, it is effectively able to use fat for fuel, including your own body fat. That means that it’ll be able to burn off fat a lot more quickly than a standard low calorie restrictive diet.
-
Can be linked to reduced risk of heart disease
Along with the increased likelihood of achieving weight loss, keto has also been found to help reduce risk of developing heart disease.
Lowered risk of heart disease is a natural effect of weight loss, which is why the keto diet can be an extremely powerful tool for your heart health, especially for those who are obese.
One recent study monitoring a group following a low carb, high fat diet found that those who were focused on getting fat and protein from vegetable sources saw a 23% reduced risk of heart disease than those who relied heavily on meat similar to that of the carnivore diet.
So if you’re deciding to do keto for your heart, you may want to also implement vegetables and certain fruits and nuts that are high fat, high protein, and low carb for optimal heart health results.
-
Increased amounts of energy
While there is a lot of ‘brain fog’ and low initial energy that comes with the keto diet, usually due to symptoms brought on by the keto flu, once most people break past that first barrier, they can achieve some pretty great heightened focus and natural energy.
When your body relies on burning ketones instead of glucose, it’s less prone to spikes and dips in blood sugar, which can help stabilize your energy levels throughout the day.
Ketones have additionally been proven to be a powerful fuel source for your brain. Some medical studies have determined that they can even be used to help treat certain brain injuries and memory loss.
-
Reduced levels of appetite
While there does need to be a bit more testing done to determine the exact causal relationship between the keto diet and reduced rates of hunger, many people report lowered appetites once entering a state of ketosis.
This can likely be attributed to both how our body’s become more satiated by following a high fat, low carb diet, but hormones can be a big factor at play as well.
Various studies have linked the keto diet with appetite regulating hormones like ghrelin, amylin, and leptin, which all contribute to how hungry our bodies feel at different times throughout the day, as well as how satiated or full we feel following the completion of a meal or snack.
There’s additional theories that the mental clarity and heightened focus that comes from ketones being in your blood stream on keto can also have an effect on how your brain processes hunger signals. A recent systematic review and analysis found that the presence of ketones in the blood stream may greatly impact how the brain interprets these signals from the digestive tract.
Does Ketosis Promote Longevity?
In terms of longevity, there’s unfortunately a lack of information available to assess whether the keto diet can truly extend someone’s life. This is largely because the diet has only recently become more popular, and longevity studies take decades and generations of samples sizes to yield scientifically significant results.
However there are a few main indicators that suggest that ketosis could in fact promote a longer, healthier life.
Breaking down all of the benefits mentioned above, increased likelihood of weight loss, reduced risk of heart disease, and better blood sugar stabilization are all factors that can greatly lengthen someone’s life, especially when considering that heart related conditions are the world’s number one killer in the modern age.
From a research standpoint, there is some evidence from animal studies that also points to this conclusion.
Once recent study in mice found that a group of mice who were subjected to following a ketogenic diet saw an increased rate in longevity compared to other groups of mice that weren’t on a ketogenic diet.
The study discovered that following a ketogenic diet increased the median diet of the group of mice, and also found positive effects in aged mice who were already past their midpoint of life. Importantly, only aged mice following a keto diet saw a ‘preservation of phsyiological function’, which could be a great sign for seniors looking to preserve their own physiological functions in old age. ‘
It’s challenging to make the direct claim that following a ketogenic diet will directly increase the lifespan of a human life, but the evidence above does suggest that the benefits may outweigh the cons that come with keto.
Is Keto Safe for Seniors?
While there are a lot of benefits, there’s also a lot of conflicting information out there regarding just how safe the keto diet actually is, especially for seniors.
Seniors tend to have more medical conditions than younger people, which could be important factors that could complicate their results from the keto diet, or even make it more difficult to get into a state of ketosis in the first place.
That’s why above all else, it’s important to talk with your doctor before venturing into a keto diet to make sure that you’re in optimal enough health to start.
If you have been cleared by your doctor to pursue a keto diet, you may still want to look into some of the cons of the keto diet, and assess whether or not these would be too much of a hindrance on your lifestyle.
A few major drawbacks commonly associated with following a keto diet include:
While there are ways to combat all of the above, they can be difficult to manage, especially for people in old age.
From a safety perspective however, as long as you’re cleared by your doctor, the ketogenic diet is generally considered to be safe.
If you’re coming into this diet from a previously high carb, low fat lifestyle, you may want to consider easing into it, rather than trying to restrict your way to ketosis all at once.
Many Americans don’t even realize how many carbohydrates they actually eat every day, and likely eat well over 300 total carbs per day.
While it won’t have all of the benefits of ketosis right away, slowly dropping your net carb count over a few months will help your body adjust to a lack of carbohydrates, and will help you personally be more carb conscious when it comes to food selection. This gradual process will make the immediate changes and symptoms of the keto flu a lot more easier to manage ocne you actually do enter a state of ketosis.
Keto and Common Medical Conditions for Seniors
-
Keto and Diabetes
The keto diet could be a complication for seniors who are coming at it with Type-1 diabetes.
It’s benefits as a way to stabilize and control spikes in blood sugar are great ways to prevent the onset of type-2 diabetes and in some cases even help manage symptoms once type-2 diabetes is already present, but there are a lot more complications if you are already diabetic and are considering venturing into the keto diet.
The benefits are all the same, but you’ll have to be very conscious about potential drops in blood glucose levels, which could be problematic depending on your insulin regimen and the general makeup of your diet.
If you’re coming into the keto diet as a senior with diabetes, you definitely should consult with your primary care doctor first and maybe even an endocrinologist or nutritionist to make sure you’re putting your best foot forward and avoiding any unwanted complications due to your condition.
People who need to inject insulin regularly are more susceptible to having a hypoglycemic episode while following the keto diet, which is why it’s recommended to have a doctor first approve of the diet so that they can help you manage your day to day dietary expectations.
If you’ve been diagnosed as prediabetic on the other hand, the keto diet can be a great tool, at any age, to help prevent your body from fully developing type-2 diabetes. You can learn more about how the keto diet works with Type 2 Diabetes via Healthline right here.
-
Keto and Kidney Failure
If you’re suffering from kidney failure or have had multiple cases of kidney stones, its still possible to follow the keto diet, but you’ll need to take some extra precaution with certain nutrients that you’re getting.
This condition is another cause to maybe meet with a primary care doctor or nutritionist before going all in on keto, so you know what types of foods you may want to avoid.
For example, most medical professionals recommend to stay away from lots of dairy namely via cheese, excess amounts of proteins, and certain electrolytes such as phosphorus when living with a chronic kidney illness.
These conditions can be challenging on the keto diet, because a lot of those foods and nutrients are generally seen as vital components of keto.
That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to follow a keto diet without these. And if you can follow a keto diet without complicating your kidney condition, there’s actually a lot of research that suggests that being in a state of ketosis is actually beneficial for your overall kidney health.
While more research still needs to be completed, some medical professionals believe that the same properties associated with keto that help people reverse type 2 diabetes, can also help improve chronic kidney disease.
-
Keto and Gallbladder Issues
One potential issue with the keto diet that effects a proportionally larger amount of senior citizens over younger people is if you’ve had your gallbladder removed.
It’s important to know that following a ketogenic diet after the removal of a gallbladder is still possible, but it requires a bit more of a nuanced approach. Just as the last two sections, you’ll definitely want to consult with your primary care doctor or nutritionist, or even a gallbladder specialist before considering fully getting into a state of ketosis after having a gallbladder removed.
The gallbladder plays an essential role in receiving excess bile that’s produced by the liver. When you’re in a state of ketosis, it’s common for your liver to work extra hard when generating ketones, which can produce more bile. This can become problematic if your body doesn’t have a gallbladder to handle the extra output from your liver.
This will lead to the bile turning into certain types of fats that are excreted through your stool and urine. It can lead to vitamin deficiencies and overdoses in some cases, which is why it’s important to take a calculated, gradual approach to the keto diet under these circumstances.
You can learn more about how to get through the keto diet without a gallbladder with this helpful guide from our friend’s at Perfect Keto.
-
Keto and Arthritis
The keto diet may actually be able to help with rehumatoid arthritis, which is a condition that effects more than 54 million adults!
The keto diet can be a great way to help combat arthritis because of a few reasons.
The most important of which is that the keto diet is largely focused on consuming low inflammation foods. This is because inflammation is directly linked to a heightened risk of getting kicked out of ketosis altogether.
One common misconception that a lot of people make about the keto diet is that high fat diets promote inflammation, but that’s primarily focusing on foods high in trans fats that are heavily processed. In actuality (aside from food allergies or dairy intolerances), following a diet that’s high in animal and plant based fat is incredibly healthy and in fact often good for decreasing inflammation.
Inflammation is the source behind the pain of arthritis, which is why reducing it naturally through diet is a great holistic way to manage its symptoms.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, if you’re a senior citizen and you’ve been considering starting the keto diet, getting a doctor’s approval is an absolute must before you start experimenting with carb restriction.
That being said, there’s a world of benefits that are statistically achievable if and when your doctor does give you the green light.
It’s important to note that the keto diet isn’t the only route available for weight loss, and there are many other routines and diet or fitness strategies working into if keto simply isn’t meant for you.