There are many advantages to the Standard Ketogenic Diet (SKD) and many disadvantages to SKD.
When you look at the disadvantages, most of them are caused from a lack of micronutrients: vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
It’s common in Keto, because most nutrient-dense foods are fruits, vegetables, and superfoods … which are primarily carbs.
When on SKD, only 5-10% of your calories are allowed to come from carbs. That is a huge change from the 45 – 65% that the US Department of Health Recommends [1].
Overall, most people who do SKD have a significant decrease the amount of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that they consume. This provides major disadvantages to SKD and is the #1 argument against it.
Another thing I want to cover is something called “Very Bad Cholesterol”. You’ve probably heard of Good Cholesterol (HDL) and Bad Cholesterol (LDL). But when LDL interacts with a free radical, “Very Bad Cholesterol” is formed, which sticks to your arteries. Antioxidants are what removes free radicals from our body’s, which is one reason why they are so great.
What can be scary about SKD is that you’ll likely consume way more LDL cholesterol than normal AND you are likely reducing the amount of antioxidants your consuming.
This is just another reason why I don’t recommend the Standard Ketogenic Diet, but a modification to this diet called the Daily Cyclical Ketogenic Diet
… which has you adding superfoods and micronutrients into your daily routine.
