According to Googles own data, the second-most popular health-related search on its engine in 2019 was, What is keto? Thats a slightly lower ranking than last year, when What is keto? was the number one health-related question people typed into Google. but its still disconcertingly high. The staying power of the ketogenic diet (what keto is short for) has simply gotta be admired; how does a diet that is largely bad for you remain something people still want to know about?
People who do keto talk about it as if theyre being paid to. Like most other diets, ketos best advertisers are the people painfully dragging themselves through its rigorous limits: No carbs, no sugars, no alcohol, no joy, etc. Keto followers are supposed to obtain 75 percent of their calories through fats, like meat (and bacon!!!). Itinerant dieters are inordinately thrilled by this, maybe because most diets dont afford them any category of food from which they can eat anything they want, or maybe because its an extremely sharp shift away from the Fats Are Evil discourse that dominated the 90s. Yes, I can eat all the cheese I want!!!! may as well be the unofficial slogan of keto, even though eating all the cheese one wants isnt a wise or sustainable choice, and overeatingeven keto-approved foodswill still cause weight gain.
Keto is supposed to work by putting the body into a state of ketosis, a sort of shock-state where the body starts breaking down stored fats to gain energy. It also works because it limits carbs so severely, dieters cant even eat one (1) whole apple if they properly abide by the rules. Most varieties of restriction diets often work, at least temporarily, because while its still possible to overeat and gain weight no matter which arbitrary restriction rules youre following, its simply boring to eat a lot of a limited range of things after a while, even if those things include bacon. Many people who lose weight by following the keto diet mightve lost weight by paying attention to what they are eating in general, which is another thing any arbitrary restriction forces them to do.
But that wouldnt be any fun at all, would it? Its way less exciting to say, no, thanks to a post-lunch cookie than it is to chomp into a wheel of bacon-wrapped cheese (is this real?) while yelling, My diet allows this!!! Keto was born in this decade and unfortunately will probably not die within it; January is just around the corner, and many people will likely continue to type what is keto into their little Google search bars, looking for a way to lose holiday pounds that probably dont exist, and that dont need losing.
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Continued here:
People Are Still Googling One of the Most Annoying Diets of the Decade - VICE
