Side Effects And Benefits Of Lazy Keto Diet

As the name itself suggests, lazy Keto is a quite straightforward version of the keto diet.

But before jumping on to know about the lazy keto diet in detail, let us know the basics of the keto diet.

Under a keto diet, you may be required to cut short your daily consumption of carbohydrates.

At the same time, you might intensify the consumption of fats and also consume protein in a moderate amount.

The major reason behind the consumption of these proportions of macronutrients is to help your body enter into a state of ketosis.

However, adhering to this high-fat ketogenic diet might be a daunting task for many.

This is because who would like to say goodbye to eating popcorn at the movies, or even eating sweet potatoes?

Moreover, since the keto diet focuses on low-carb meals, it could eliminate a plethora of food ingredients in your diet and hence make it difficult for you to stick to the diet in the longer run.

Due to this, a new modified version of the Keto diet has been developed which is referred to as the lazy keto diet.

Now, let’s know in detail about the state of ketosis.

What Is Ketosis?

Ketosis is a metabolic state that may be achieved^[1] by your body when it consumes approximately 65 to 85% calories from fat, 20% calories from protein, and not more than 10% calories from carbohydrates.

Due to the specific proportion of the macronutrients, the ketone bodies in your urine and blood may amplify.

Hence physiologic ketosis may be a response^[2] to the low glucose availability in your body due to which the major source of energy for your brain as well as the body may be in the form of ketones instead of glucose.

In simple words, when your body does not have enough carbohydrates to burn, then it may depend on the fat for energy.

Now, since you know all about the process of ketosis, let’s have a glance at the modified version of the Keto diet, which is referred to as the Lazy keto diet.

What Is The Lazy Keto Diet?

The lazy keto diet aims at focusing mostly on your carbohydrate consumption while being flexible in terms of your protein and fat consumption.

Since this diet is quite flexible and easier as compared to the keto diet, it may at the same time not help you to get into the nutritional ketosis process when compared to the stricter keto diet.

The overall aim of this diet could be to help^[3] you consume approximately 20 grams of net carbohydrates in a single day.

However, there is not much emphasis on the consumption of protein or fat on a particular day.

Since regularly tracking the consumption of the different macronutrients each day can be hectic for people, the lazy keto diet could be a good alternative for them.

Moreover, according to this study^[4], a good ketogenic diet might assist people in managing metabolic diseases and help weight management.

The major attribute behind the lazy keto diet is that the particular amount of carbohydrate consumption in this diet is enough to induce the metabolic state of ketosis in your body.

This might help your body to rely mainly on fat for energy.

So, the crux of the lazy keto diet is that it completely ignores the scientific aspects of the keto diet relating to the consumption of protein and fat and focuses on the consumption of carbohydrates.

However, this lazy diet may have its benefits and side effects as well.

So if you are willing to adhere to the lazy keto diet, then make sure to focus on the quality and the quantity of the food items you eat.

In this article, we will delineate in detail the different advantages as well as the side effects of the lazy keto diet.

Benefits Of The Lazy Keto Diet

The following are the few noteworthy benefits of a Lazy Keto diet-

1. Less Work

   No doubt that the lazy keto diet involves less work as compared to the regular keto diet.

   The people following a strict keto diet may be spending their weekends carefully analyzing the food items they will eat and prepping them for the week ahead.

   However, the lazy keto diet may not require so much planning and thought.

   Since you do not have to worry about the specific macronutrient distribution except carbohydrates, there is less work as well as less planning in the lazy keto diet.

   Moreover, adhering to just one macronutrient guideline might make it easy for you to incorporate an extensive array of food items into your diet except for carbohydrates.

2. Might Help With Weight Loss

   The lazy keto diet could even help you to achieve^[5] your weight loss goals, provided you are not much of a junk food keto eater.

   Moreover, if you’re getting most of your calories from keto fats then this lazy diet might even help you lose weight.

   Since any type of high fat and low carb diet is usually filling, the lazy keto diet could help you to evade any unnecessary snacking and hence consume fewer calories.

   But you must always focus on the quality of the ingredients which you eat so that the overall diet could help you in weight loss.

3. Other Health Improvements

   Since the lazy keto diet is quite low in carbs, it might even contribute to many other health improvements in your body.

   A lazy keto diet may help^[6] in regulating your blood pressure levels, blood sugar levels, insulin sensitivity, etc.

   When you cut off carbs, then you evade any refined grains and added sugar to your diet which could additionally, be a plus point for your overall health.

   Moreover, you might even focus on including the different low-carb and anti-inflammatory food items in your diet.

   It could help you to experience more benefits beyond just weight loss like vegetables, healthy fats like nuts, olive oil, avocado, and quality proteins.

   Including healthy fat sources like nuts, avocados, almonds, etc may help prevent^[7] heart-related risk factors. 

4. Makes Eating Out Easier

   One of the crucial negative elements of the standard keto diet may be that it will prevent you from having a social life.

   The major reason behind this is simply that since there are so many restrictions, it may not be easy for you to order from a menu.

   However, this restriction is removed in the lazy Keto diet. Since you only have to adhere to the rules of low carb, you can easily go out and eat in restaurants.

Side Effects Of The Lazy Keto Diet

The side effects of the Lazy Keto Diet include-

1. May Not Be Effective For Weight Loss

   It might not be easy for your body to go into a ketosis state when you are following a lazy keto diet.

   This is simply because while you are on a lazy keto diet, you may add certain food items that lack the proper nutrition your body requires to adhere to its health goals.

   Moreover, it could even include the high sodium and high processed foods that are packed with saturated fats.

   At the same time, it may have low quantities of fiber and other crucial nutrients.

   Since you do not track your macronutrient requirements, your calorie consumption could be high and hence it might lead to weight gain.

   The least amount of calories should^[8] come from carbs sources, much lesser^[9] than the daily recommended carbohydrate intake.

   Consuming too many carbohydrates could turn off ketosis and make you consume too many calories. Hence, weight loss becomes difficult.

2. Lack Of Research

   There is a lack of research on the long-term effects of the lazy keto diet.

   Due to this, diets like the Lazy keto diet or other high-fat diets may pose certain harmful effects on your overall heart health, despite the weight loss they may help you to incur.

   So the lack of long-term studies for ketogenic diets shows that it may not be beneficial for you to follow these diets for the longer term.

3. Make You Feel Hungrier

   The people following a lazy keto diet may not eat enough fat which could make them feel hungry.

   This is a major drawback of the lazy keto diet as compared to the keto diet which, on the other hand, helps you to feel full for a longer time.

4. No Science To Back Up The Lazy Keto Diet

   Though there is research^[8] on the keto diet, there is no science that could help to substantiate the credibility of the lazy keto diet.

   Due to this, it might be risky for you to opt for this diet without understanding its efficacy.

Food List

Here’s a list of the different food ingredients which you could incorporate into your lazy keto diet.

Since the lazy keto diet is a very low-carb diet, it will focus on food items like-

• Meat
• Healthy Oil
• Fish
• Non-Starchy Vegetables
• Fresh Or Dried Herbs And Spices
• Water
• Low Sugar Green juices
• Coffee
• Tea
• Non-starchy low-carb vegetables
• Quality Protein Sources
• Eggs And Poultry
• Coconut Oil
• Olive Oil
• Ghee
• Avocado

On the other hand, there are certain food items that you may not include in your lazy keto diet, like-

• Added Sugar Of All Kinds
• Legumes Or Beans
• Most Fruits
• Grains
• Products Made From Wheat
• Butternut Squash
• Potatoes
• Soda
• Juices
• Desserts
• Sweetened Dairy Products

Conclusion

Thus, this was all you need to know about the lazy keto diet.

If you wish to adhere to this diet, then you could try out certain popular lazy keto diet recipes like breakfast of coffee and heavy cream along with eggs fried in butter.

Other than this, your lunch could include a burger with melted cheddar and avocados, and your dinner may have protein like a chicken with cauliflower rice.

However, one important attribute to remember here is that since there are lesser studies and no science to back up the lazy keto diet, it is always crucial to consult your healthcare provider before following it.

References/Sources

Working4Health prefers using primary and verified references. We have strict sourcing guidelines and our primary references include peer-reviewed research, academic, and medical institution studies.

1. Diet Review: Ketogenic Diet for Weight Loss. Available from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/diet-reviews/ketogenic-diet/
2. Kiranjit K. Dhillon; Sonu Gupta. Biochemistry, Ketogenesis. Last Update: February 10, 2022. Available from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493179/
3. Robert Oh; Brian Gilani; Kalyan R. Uppaluri. Low Carbohydrate Diet. Last Update: July 11, 2022. Available from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537084/
4. Victoria M Gershuni, Stephanie L Yan, Valentina Medici. Nutritional Ketosis for Weight Management and Reversal of Metabolic Syndrome. Review Curr Nutr Rep. 2018 Sep;7(3):97-106. doi: 10.1007/s13668-018-0235-0. Available from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30128963/
5. Nassib Bezerra Bueno , Ingrid Sofia Vieira de Melo, Suzana Lima de Oliveira, et al. Very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet v. low-fat diet for long-term weight loss: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Review Br J Nutr. 2013 Oct;110(7):1178-87. doi: 10.1017/S0007114513000548. Epub 2013 May 7. Available from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23651522/
6. Xiaojie Yuan, Jiping Wang, Shuo Yang, et al. Effect of the ketogenic diet on glycemic control, insulin resistance, and lipid metabolism in patients with T2DM: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutr Diabetes. 2020; 10: 38.
   Published online 2020 Nov 30. doi: 10.1038/s41387-020-00142-z
7. Brian S Fuehrlein , Michael S Rutenberg, Jared N Silver, et al. Differential metabolic effects of saturated versus polyunsaturated fats in ketogenic diets. Clinical Trial J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2004 Apr;89(4):1641-5. doi: 10.1210/jc.2003-031796. Available from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15070924/
8. Wajeed Masood; Pavan Annamaraju; Kalyan R. Uppaluri. Ketogenic Diet. Last Update: June 11, 2022. Available from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499830/
9. Joanne Slavin and Justin Carlson. Carbohydrates. Adv Nutr. 2014 Nov; 5(6): 760–761. Published online 2014 Nov 3. doi: 10.3945/an.114.006163