The keto diet can help the management of type 2 diabetes. Make sure you have read The Keto Diet 101 before reading the rest of this post!
How eating keto can impact blood glucose
Quite a lot of people living with type 2 are overweight, so eating a high fat diet might seem confusing and unhelpful.
The reason the keto diet can be useful in type 2 is because it causes our body to use our fat stores for energy, rather than glucose.
Eating high fat and reducing carbohydrate intake can help to promote weight loss and regulate blood sugar levels. It is important to distinguish between the types of fat you should be consuming if following the keto diet. Avoid having a diet high in red meat and processed/packaged foods. These foods contain high levels of saturated fat, which we do not want too much of.
Instead, prioritise eating extra virgin olive oil, avocado, nut butters, nuts and seeds and hummus for example.
Things to consider
Eating keto also promotes gluconeogenesis (when the body makes glucose from other sources), and can cause an increase in cortisol in some people. In other words, gluconeogenesis and high cortisol can also cause blood sugar levels to spike.
For this reason, eating keto can make little difference to sugar levels and can leave some people feeling fatigued. While the keto diet can be helpful for some, it is not a ‘cure all’ (no diet is!).
There are other diets that can help to drastically lower blood glucose in type 2 diabetes. This can include increasing high quality fats and proteins, and swapping to lower GI carbohydrates. (I.e. reducing carb intake, but not as drastically as when eating keto).
Trial and error is the best way to figure out what dietary model suits you best. Some people living with type 2 love the keto diet and reap the benefits. So giving it a go may be worth it.
If you have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes, changing your diet is vital for your health and the management of your blood glucose levels. So chat to your doctor and see a nutritionist if you can. This is the best way to figure out which diet is best for you, and it is a decision you need to make.
Thank you so much for reading The Keto Diet and Type 2 diabetes! I hope you found this useful and it answered some of your questions! Be sure to subscribe and follow me on Instagram!
If you liked this post, be sure to check out Gluten – what is the big deal? and How to remove gluten from your diet
