Everyday there’s a new diet fad on social media. From flat tummy teas to natural home remedies, influencers swear that whatever they’re promoting either changed their lives or slimmed their waist down by half. While I had hoped that my friends were smart enough to not fall for social media’s tricks, there is one diet that seems to be making its way onto my daily feed: the keto diet.

Now I have a couple friends who post daily keto recipes on their Instagram stories, and it makes me wonder: is it worth it? For those who don’t know, the keto diet is a diet that focuses on fats rather than carbohydrates or proteins. By focusing on fats in every meal, the goal is to produce more ketone bodies from your liver for your body to use as energy rather than carbohydrates. This is a strict diet so those who follow it must refrain from eating too much protein, otherwise it conflicts with ketosis, the metabolic state your body goes in when it produces enough ketone bodies. Furthermore, they need to keep their carbohydrate intake as low as 50 grams daily.

For many, this is a quick solution to a long term problem. In order to cut out that many carbohydrates, your body would be missing out on many vitamins and nutrients that it gets from the fruits and vegetables that you would normally intake without keto diet. This may also cause constipation since you aren’t getting the necessary amount of fiber. To add on, this diet can cause strain on your liver due to it overworking from the large amount of fats in your body at once. The recommended amount of saturated fat intake is 7% of your daily intake, however since the keto diet puts an emphasis on saturated fats, you would take more than necessary. This could lead to an increase in LDL cholesterol or heart disease. Over a period of time, all of these effects could add up and lead to deeper issues.

For a deeper understanding and alternatives to this diet, read more here.