There may be many ways to live a healthy life, but the leading one is always preferable: the Vegan Keto diet. A combination of loving yourself by keeping fit and loving an animal by avoiding consuming animal food or related products can be a significant milestone in living. But there is always question on Keto Vegan Diet Pros and Cons?
Keto vegan diet is a plant-based, high-fat, moderate protein, and low-carb diet. This diet plan is a perfect concoction for quick weight loss with the induction of ketosis. But the other side of it is the keto vegan diet side effects like fatigue, weakness, poor concentration, and more. Let’s dive into it.
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Benefits of a keto vegan diet
Whether you speak about the ketogenic diet or vegan lifestyle, both individually have immense benefits.
According to the studies plant-based keto diet or, in general, plant-based diet is the perfect way to the diet restriction, which has positive effects such as it helps in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, improving metabolic pathways, reduction in weight, improve blood pressure, blood glucose regulation, etc. [4]
The calorie-dense foods such as fast foods, meats & animal fats, highly refined, etc., are the core reason for the rise in type 2 diabetes. However, plant-based foods effectively treat type 2 diabetes by reducing insulin resistance or promoting healthy body weight [5].
There is evidence that dietary choices play a crucial role, whether saturated vs. polyunsaturated or plant protein vs. animal protein or refined carbs vs. whole grain carbs. Hence, the choice of plant-based ketosis can be a landmark in reducing metabolic diseases.
Some complain that maintaining a healthy diet and nutritional balance of vitamins and minerals is expensive. Still, if you are becoming keto vegan, the list of foods you will include will be vegetables, fruits, and other plant-based foods that are comparatively cost-effective to your pockets [6].
According to the nutrition review, vegan and vegetarian diets are incredibly effective in weight loss, and similar results are also obtained with the keto diet. Hence, when you do plant-based ketosis and consumption of plant protein in place of animal protein, a reduction in the microbiota sensitivity promotes an anti-inflammatory response instead of a pro-inflammatory response, further accelerating the process of weight loss and gut health [7, 8, 9].
4 Pros of Keto Vegan Diet
- Weight management and metabolic support: The keto vegan diet may offer benefits for weight management and metabolic health. By reducing carbohydrate intake and relying on plant-based fats and proteins, the body is encouraged to enter a state of ketosis. In ketosis, the body burns fat for energy, which can help with weight loss and improving insulin sensitivity, potentially benefiting those with type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance.
- Lower risk of certain diseases: Some studies suggest that plant-based diets, including vegan diets, are associated with a reduced risk of certain chronic diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and certain cancers. Combining the vegan approach with the keto diet’s potential benefits on weight and metabolic health could provide additional protection against these conditions.
- Increased intake of plant-based nutrients: The keto vegan diet encourages a higher intake of plant-based foods, such as non-starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, and healthy oils. These foods are rich in essential nutrients, antioxidants, and dietary fiber, promoting overall health and supporting digestive function.
- Environmental sustainability: A keto vegan diet may have a lower environmental impact compared to other diets that include animal products. Plant-based diets generally require fewer natural resources, produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to reduced animal suffering, making them more environmentally sustainable choices.
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Although the keto diet promotes HDL-cholesterol still always questioned for cardiovascular health; on the other hand, the vegan diet has always been known for reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. In short, it may be possible that keto with a vegan diet may overcome its drawbacks, thus the superiority of the keto vegan diet over individual diet plans. However, clinical studies are required.
4 Cons of the keto vegan diet
If you check the keto vegan food list, it is more restrictive than any other diet. First of all, to induce ketosis in the ketogenic diet, you must leave or reduce the carbs intake to less than 20%, which itself has a lot of restrictions. On top of that, with a vegan diet, you cannot eat animal or animal products, which is another restriction layer. Hence the list of foods you can’t eat in the keto vegan diet is much more extensive than the list of foods you can eat in this diet plan.
Some possible effects
- Nutritional challenges: The keto vegan diet may lead to difficulties in meeting essential nutrient requirements. Since the diet excludes animal products, which are rich sources of nutrients like vitamin B12, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids, vegans may need to pay extra attention to ensuring they get an adequate and balanced intake of these nutrients through alternative plant-based sources.
- Limited food options: Combining the restrictions of both the ketogenic and vegan diets can significantly limit the variety of foods available to eat. This could make it challenging to maintain the diet in the long term, as it may lead to food fatigue and decreased enjoyment of meals.
- Potential health risks: The long-term effects of following a strict keto vegan diet are not yet well-researched. Some health experts have expressed concerns about potential risks, such as nutrient deficiencies, increased cholesterol levels from high saturated fat intake, and potential strain on the kidneys due to increased protein consumption.
- Social and practical challenges: Adhering to the keto vegan diet may pose challenges in social situations, restaurants, and while traveling. Finding suitable meal options that align with both dietary restrictions can be difficult, potentially leading to feelings of isolation or the temptation to deviate from the diet.
Increase dependency on supplements:
Vegan diet followers are primarily at risk of deficiency of vitamins like B12, vitamin D, calcium, and iron. Mainly due to the inability of solely plant-based foods to fulfill these nutrients, and therefore they must be dependent on fortified foods or supplements [1]. If not supplemented with vitamin supplements, their deficiency may cause many diseases like osteoporotic fracture, megaloblastic anemia, neurological impairment, etc.
Complexity in the long run
Although if you follow the ketogenic diet for a short duration, you will get a positive result in terms of weight loss, in the long run, the sustainability is questionable. Moreover, many studies discuss the keto diet’s association with complications that may lead to emergency room visits, electrolyte disturbance, or hypoglycemia [2, 3]. Hence, speculation may also imply the keto-vegan diet.
Although, according to studies, the ketogenic diet favors the HDL-Cholesterol despite that concomitant rise in LDL-cholesterol and very low-density lipoprotein may risk cardiovascular health [10].
Summary
Each coin has two sides one is negative, and the other is positive; the same goes for the keto vegan diet. The keto vegan diet food list might be short with a lot of restrictions, but it works more in favor than against. Since this short food list is full of healthy foods, hence the probability is high in every trial that you will pick a healthy product for yourself. Having said that, what matters the most is that the number of pros is much higher than the cons of the vegan keto diet. Hence, you have the decision power to choose the right diet plan based on the facts and figures put forth above.
