How a Ketogenic Meal Plan Can Control Your Diabetes
If you’re ready to tap into the power of nutritional change to help manage Diabetes Type 2, you may have heard of the popular Ketogenic diet by now. Though Ketogenic meal plans have been around for almost 100 years, they’ve only recently come into the national spotlight. Historically, specialized diets meant to help manage Diabetes Type 2 have focused on losing weight...and the Ketogenic diet is all about consuming heart-healthy fats. Fats?! A high-fat diet like Keto for weight loss and insulin control? The idea may, at first, leave folks scratching their heads...
What Does ‘Ketogenic’ Mean, Anyways?
With most meal plans today -- both unhealthy and healthy ones, we often get most of our energy from the sugars (aka carbs) we eat. With the Keto diet, you would get your energy from the fats you eat instead (the magic is that these fats are converted into energy through the process of Ketosis). 
Because of the unique mechanism of action behind the Ketogenic meal plan, Keto has the potential to help change the way in which the body stores and metabolizes energy, which carries the potential of helping to lessen symptoms for those with Diabetes Type 2. Because of this, Keto meal plans put the focus on eating quality fats as the primary source of calories...and significantly reducing calories from carbohydrates.
Though the Ketogenic diet was first introduced in the 1920’s as a revolutionary new way to help control epilepsy before pharmaceuticals were introduced, recent years have given way to much research around the Ketogenic diet’s ability to help treat a range of other conditions, including but not limited to Diabetes Type 2.
The Ketogenic diet has the potential to help those with Diabetes Type 2 in two major ways: through weight loss and via less stress resulting from blood sugar spikes and lows.
Simply losing weight can help those with Diabetes Type 2 better manage their condition. Many folks who are diagnosed with Diabetes Type 2 are often overweight...and having more pounds can make the production and regulation of insulin far more difficult and taxing on your body. Obviously, starting on a high-fat diet when you may already be overweight doesn’t seem to make sense. However, because the Keto meal plan forces you to consume heart-healthy fat, and, as a result, you start getting your calories from fat and not sugar, you end up burning fat first (and yes, that includes reserves of fat that you want to lose so that you can lose weight and start feeling better across many areas of your health).
Beyond just helping with weight loss, the Ketogenic diet has the potential to assist with hunger and appetite control. The Ketones (which are the body’s main source of energy when following the Ketogenic meal plan) that are produced as a result of Ketosis have been shown, in studies, to reduce hunger.
The Ketogenic meal plan has the potential to help manage Diabetes Type 2 because it leads to less blood sugar spikes. As carbohydrates are metabolized into sugar in the body...and this, in turn, causes blood sugar levels to spike. If, for example, you have high blood glucose levels, too many cards can lead to problems; when you consume heart-healthy fats, however, there is the potential to reduce blood glucose levels through changing your diet. By consuming heart-healthy fats, there is less sugar for the body to process and, as a result, the digestive system responsible for the production of insulin is not as taxed.
The evidence supports this: research on the short-term usage of the Ketogenic diet supports the potential for Ketogenic meal plans to bring about positive metabolic changes that support the management of Diabetes Type 2. For example, research released in 2014 indicates that “in isocaloric experiments, individuals with insulin resistance showed dramatically improved markers of metabolic syndrome than diets lower in fat.” If you want to understand more about how the Keto diet works, you can read more about it in our blog.
Isn’t Following a Ketogenic Meal Plan Only Going to Make Managing My Diabetes 2 Even More Complicated?
You may have heard all about Ketogenic diets and meal plans from friends, relatives, neighbors, or the Internet. If so, you’ve probably read that following a Ketogenic diet can get complicated...fast.
It’s true that Ketogenic meal plans aren’t as easy to follow as many of today’s leading diet plans -- after all, Keto was originally developed to control epilepsy and to really be effective, a certain ratio must be followed in order for it to be successful.
Some bad news...if you were to try and follow it on your own, you may find it difficult. True Keto requires a great deal of diligence, detailed planning, measuring, and strict adherence.
Ready for some good news? The Keto diet has become so popular and well known that companies are innovating to meet the demand. Instead of folks having to figure all of the elements of Keto out on their own every day, companies like ours here in St. Louis (Pure Plates) offer customized Keto meal plans that make adapting to a Ketogenic meal plan not only easy and painless, but also delicious!
Painless? While we can only speak for what we do for our customers, we are proud to say that we’ve transformed the way our customers approach food. We do the planning, the shopping, the prepping, the cooking, and even the delivery (if you want). You simply heat up your food in our BPA-free containers and enjoy.
Delicious? Yep….at Pure Plates, for example, we offer meal plans to fit every goal and taste. Examples of Keto meals we offer that our customers love include: our beef tenderloin steak with fire-roasted veggies, the meat lovers scramble, the omelette stacker supreme, cashew butter logs, berry bars, and the bacon burger salad:
Bottomline? Nutritional changes have been shown to help those with Diabetes Type 2 take more control and better manage their symptoms. If you want to make positive changes for your health, you may want to consider how following a Ketogenic meal plan can help you. Discuss your options with your doctor and nutritionist. If you’re in St. Louis, our company offers Ketogenic meal plans for everyone; if you aren’t local, make sure you find a quality meal plan provider before you sign up (and you can read more about choosing the right meal plan provider here).