Is a ketogenic state something healthy to maintain continuously or should it also be intermittent? And are diets that invoke ketotis healthy long term? I can't seem to find much on this. It seems that a lot of the foods in keto diets have their own long term health drawbacks.
The only honest answer is "we do not know", w.r.t very long term dietary ketosis. I would be skeptical if anyone claims absolute certainty on this.
Kids who were kept on such diets, would normally transition to normal diets, they apparently either outgrow epilepsy or can take drugs to control it once they get older. None of the kids preferred to stay on it for life either, I've been told (altho that neuro's sample would be small), it is quite burdensome.
Encouragingly, many mountain tribes eat primarily meat/fat based diet, and the same goes for Inuit tribes in the Arctic. They eat such diets for their entire life, and mountain tribes often have quite long lifespans on primarily sheep meat/fat and some greens. a little bread/starch every now and then.
So maybe it is safe for some period of time. It is not clear what health risks you accept as trade-off, nothing is free.
Intermittent fasting on the other hand is extremely safe and is privately practised by several physicians I trust. They all seem to be in great shape for their age, fwiw.
Having been on keto for 3 months, I don't think it's that big of a deal. It depends of course what you eat, but if you just eat "normally" with carbs left out and lots of veggies of course, in my case the end result of quite the same. Only difference is I'm losing fat at an increased rate. I can exercise as normal in the gym and so on.
And yeah, I'm using intermittent fasting too. Happens quite naturally and I guess that plus evening runs around the block really burn those calories.
Long answer (this is not medical advice): certain risk groups (related to kidney and liver function) should not observe a keto diet without consulting with their doctor. The long term risks of an animal protein heavy keto diet are unknown (think colorectal cancer from red and processed meats, including those with nitrates used in their production). Be mindful of electrolyte and water consumption while on a keto diet.
I’ve been doing keto (lazy nowadays, I guesstimate carbs of meals and try to stay under 20g a day) for 8 years, health and energy levels improved (in addition to losing 30kg, but that was front-loaded in the first year). But that’s probably the side effect of being far more aware of what I’m eating, I’m almost 100% positive that I eat far more veggies than before, my diet wasn’t the healthiest.
There is probably no “right” answer on this, at least I didn’t find one when I tried Keto a few years ago. Probably best to try and see how you feel tbh
