1. What is the Keto Diet and Its English Name

The Keto Diet, which in English is called the Ketogenic Diet (or just Keto Diet for short), is a way of eating that includes a lot of fats, very few carbs (like bread, rice, or sugar), and a medium amount of protein (like meat or eggs). The main idea is to cut down on carbs so much that your body switches to a different way of getting energy, called ketosis. When you’re in ketosis, your liver turns fat into something called ketone bodies, which your body and brain use for energy instead of sugar (glucose).

The Keto Diet started back in the early 1900s as a way to help kids with epilepsy, a condition that causes seizures. It worked really well to reduce their seizures, so people started paying attention to it. Over the years, the Keto Diet has been used for other things like losing weight, managing health problems, and more. It’s become really popular in recent years.

2. What the Keto Diet Does

How It Changes the Way Your Body Works
The Keto Diet works by cutting down on carbs a lot—usually to less than 20 to 50 grams a day. This forces your body to stop using sugar for energy and start using fat and ketone bodies instead. This change usually happens in a few days to a week, but it can be different for everyone. When you’re in ketosis, your body burns fat faster, and the amount of ketone bodies in your blood goes up, giving steady energy to your brain, muscles, and other parts of your body.

How It Helps Your Health
The Keto Diet can help with a lot of health things. Here are the main ways it can help:

(1) Managing Weight and Losing Fat
The Keto Diet helps you lose fat by lowering a hormone called insulin and speeding up fat burning. Studies show that compared to diets low in fat, the Keto Diet helps you lose weight faster in the short term and keeps more of your muscle while you’re at it. Eating a lot of fat also makes you feel full, so you don’t eat as many calories overall.

(2) Helping with Blood Sugar and Related Health Issues
The Keto Diet can help control your blood sugar, make your body better at using insulin, and improve your cholesterol levels. Studies have found that it lowers your blood sugar when you haven’t eaten, reduces a marker called HbA1c (which shows your average blood sugar over time), and improves the balance between good cholesterol (HDL) and another type of fat in your blood called triglycerides. This is especially helpful for people who are at risk of diabetes or already have type 2 diabetes.

(3) Protecting Your Brain and Nerves
The Keto Diet was first used to treat epilepsy, and it might work by calming down the activity in your brain cells. Recently, researchers have been looking into whether it can help with brain diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. The ketone bodies might protect your brain cells by reducing damage and swelling in your brain.

(4) Keeping Your Heart Healthy
Even though eating a lot of fat might sound risky, the Keto Diet can help with some heart health issues by lowering insulin levels and reducing swelling in your body. This might help with things like high blood pressure or stiff arteries. But we still need more studies to know if it’s safe for your heart in the long run.

(5) Other Possible Benefits

• Reducing Swelling in Your Body: Ketone bodies (like one called beta-hydroxybutyrate) can help calm down swelling, which might help with health problems caused by long-term swelling.
• Improving Performance for Athletes: Some athletes who do long-distance sports use the Keto Diet because it helps their body use fat for energy, which can make them better at endurance activities.
• Helping with Cancer Treatment: Some studies suggest the Keto Diet might help cancer treatment by “starving” cancer cells, which need sugar to grow. But there’s not enough proof yet to say it works for sure.