You don’t need to be a health buff to have heard about the keto diet. It’s been a buzzword in the health and fitness sphere for years. People swear by it, from fitness gurus to athletes.

What is Keto?

The keto diet (or the ketogenic diet) is a low carb high fat diet geared toward weight loss. Similar to the Atkins diet, the keto diet focuses on controlling carb intake.

A normal diet consists of around 50% carbohydrates. This is our body’s main source of energy. The body breaks down the carbohydrates into glucose and then uses that substance to fuel our daily activities, from involuntary actions like our heart beating, to voluntary activities like running or lifting. Any left over glucose that is not used by our bodies are stored in our bodies either as glycogen in the liver or as fat tissue under our skin.

The keto diet only allows for 5-10% carbohydrates and around 55-60% of calories provided by fats. The rest is for protein and other nutrients. Now, you may think that consuming a diet full of fat might make for an overweight person; but the keto diet actually counts on your body’s glucose levels to drop so low as to induce gluconeogenesis and ketogenesis. Gluconeogenesis is when your body creates glycogen from internal sources that are not derived from carbohydrates. Ketogenesis is a process where your body breaks down fat into ketone bodies to produce energy. Some studies suggest that the keto diet affects your hormone levels, including ghrelin, the appetite suppressing hormone.

CBD and the Ketogenic Diet

Most people worry that taking CBD will give you the munchies, thereby negating the effects of the ketogenic diet. However, research has shown that CBD actually helps control your appetite through controlling your hormones, particularly ghrelin.

CBD interacts with the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS). The ECS is a vast network of receptors that lines our body and affects the other body systems like the nervous system, our skin, and the endocrine system. CBD, through interacting with the ECS, helps bring our body’s systems back into homeostasis, helping to regulate our hormones and promote healing. As a bonus, unlike it’s cousin THC, CBD will not make you high, nor will it give you the munchies. What it will do is promote relaxation.

Some studies have also shown that CBD has the potential to actually help fight obesity. It has something to do with CBD promoting fat browning and lipid metabolism. This means that CBD can actually help your body burn fat and use that as a source of energy.

Taking CBD oil or CBD edibles while on the keto diet could help your body cope better with the drastic changes it will undergo while it is getting used to the bombardment of fat and switching from breaking down carbs into glucose to breaking down fat into ketone bodies.

Conclusion

Though further research still needs to be done for both CBD and the ketogenic diet, anecdotal evidence suggests that both things help keep a healthy body.

Though it is very important to keep in mind that the ketogenic diet is not for everybody. Having high amounts of fat in your body could be detrimental to people with underlying illnesses. It is very important to consult with your physician before making any drastic changes to your diet and before taking any CBD products because CBD can interact with some medications.

Author profile:

Heather Smith is the Communications Manager at Sunday Scaries. She’s a composed copywriter and content strategist. She’s also a CBD advocate, promoting a healthy lifestyle free of stress and scaries.