Keto can work if you want to lose weight as a basketball player. Still, cutting out carbohydrates might result in lower levels of explosiveness if overdone as fat usually translates to energy slower in the body than sugar.

Keto batch cook

 

 

 

The keto diet is a relatively new trend which has its roots in the successful treatment of patients with seizures. While this effect seems quite proven other claimed positive effects of the diet like slowing down cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes are still being investigated and the body of long term studies to support these claims still has to grow. 

 

The basic idea of the Ketogenic diet, or short keto diet, is to replace the carbohydrates in your diet through fat. By this, you want to achieve that your body switches into a state where the preferred source of energy is fat instead of carbohydrates. The effect is that your body becomes a fat-burning machine and you lose weight at the places where you normally store surplus fat. 

 

To get into Ketosis on a daily basis is very hard. Depending on the diet you are on the usual recommendation is to stay under 20g of carbohydrates to achieve this. You only look at a big of crisps the wrong way and you are already over that threshold. Eating one apple will also have the same effect. Therefore there are different approaches to the diet of which some make it more palatable than others. 

 

The standard Ketogenic diet divides your macronutrients in 75% fat, 20% protein, and 5% carbohydrates. Calculate whatever the recommended daily intake is based on your gender, age, height, and weight and distribute the calories on the macros accordingly. This version of the diet is very hard to maintain without changing your lifestyle completely and saying no often when food is offered at social occasions. 

 

Things which you can’t eat 

 

 

Keto is said to have positive effects on the following diseases: 

 

 

I am no doctor so consult with your specialist for your specific case before deciding to go on the Ketogenic diet. The body of evidence for epilepsy seems to be strong while I always take the claimed benefits for diets to help with cancer and heart disease with a grain of salt before there is a lot of evidence to support it. If you want to sell a diet you have a way easier time if you claim it slows down cancer. So almost any leaflet of diet spinners claims this. What I can say is that I did see a marked improvement in my wife’s fibromyalgia symptoms when we stuck to the keto diet. 

 

What I can also vouch for is that the keto diet helped us to lose weight before our wedding. I went down by 7kg in 2 months and see wedding pictures look fabulous. I won’t talk about my wife’s weight because a wise man just simply does not. What you have to keep in mind is that any diet will work if you stick to it and there is quite a large body of evidence to support that. The weight loss is usually closer tied to the awareness how much food is eaten and a concerted effort to control it rather than the types of food themselves. 

 

Another benefit of the keto diet is that you can still eat fat. 

 

Steak? No problem. 

Berries with cream? Yes, sir, here we go. 

Platter of cheese? Bring it on 

 

If you like meat a lot and want to do a diet, keto is a great option. 

 

As you eat air of fat there is also a very low risk for you to eat too little calories. Fat is very highly condensed energy which comes in a high calorie per gram count. So eating a lot of fat will get you to your daily calorie prescription fairly fast. This is an area where vegetarians can really struggle without taking supplements. You have to eat a lot of cabbage to make it to 2000 calories. Not so much if you put a nice cream sauce on it. 

 

As with every diet, the biggest con is that you are depriving yourself of an entire component in your diet, carbohydrates. If there is no medical reason to reign this intake in, the risk-reward might be a little of. If your main goal is weight loss this can also be achieved, and maybe even easier is you don’t have to change your cooking, by taking control of your portions, cutting out desserts and alcohol. 

 

There are also claims that the higher intake of fat makes it more likely for you to get kidney stones. Your gut health might also be negatively impacted. 

 

A big personal downside to the keto diet for me is that it becomes very hard to have a proper side to your main meal. Most side dishes have a lot of carbohydrates in them so you end up only eating the meat and cheese. This went so far for my wife and me that we needed to take a break. It also doesn’t really work when your pregnant. 

 

 

There are alternatives to the keto diet if you don’t find this appealing. Some of them are: 

 

 

The low-fat diet was the trend which was based on studies that a high intake of fat would lead to cardiac arrest and other problems in your blood system. With the surge of the keto diet, these studies are being contested. Still, for decades, low fat was the way to go when you were on a diet. What food producers did not tell you was that they still wanted their products to taste nice so that you keep eating them. Things usually taste nice when they either have fat or sugar in them. When you combine both in a cake it is extra delicious. As food producers couldn’t add fat they opted for sugar. 

 

If you like sweet things you can try juicing. Juicing is a diet where you only take in food in liquid form in the form of juices. As with every diet, the idea is to cut out certain foods to make you lose weight and be healthier. The main effect is that you switch from stuffing anything in front of you in your mouth to making More deliberate decisions. 

 

Weight watchers or slimming world are dieting concepts where foods are being attributed points. For each day you get a certain number of points which you can use up. It doesn’t matter what you eat, as long as you don’t go over your daily allowance of points. You can even bank your points and budget for a week. Once a week or month you will meet with your local group to be held accountable for progress. My wife tried it and I went to one of the meetings with her. She didn’t stick long to it. To be honest, me and my wife usually like to do our own thing. For someone who likes to meet with other people to talk about their struggles on a regular basis this concept might be more appealing. There are many examples where weight watchers worked. Again, this is back to portion control, if your goal is weight loss. 

 

Basketball is a team sport with five players on each team. The goal is to score as many points as possible through the opposing team's hoop at a height of 10 feet / 3.048m. A field goal is worth two points which is scored within the three-point line. Outside of the three-point line the goal scores three points. A foul stops the time and the team which was fouled can score for one point from the free-throw line. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

 

The ball needs to be consistently bounced to be allowed to move around the court. You can also pass to your teammates for an unlimited amount. When in possession you have 24 seconds to shoot the ball. If you fail to do so possession will be handed over to the opposing team. The 24-second timer is reset when the ball touches the hoop. Of the 5 team players on each team you usually have a center, power forward, small forward, the shooting guard and the point guard. The positions are mainly determined based on skill and height of the individual player. 

 

Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith and has since then generated a lot of popularity. The sport is played all over the globe and watched by millions. 

 

Basketball is a great game to train the hand to eye coordination. It is also fast-paced and has about 40 - 50 goals per game for each site. This makes it exciting to watch and maybe even bet on. The rules are simple and you can start playing from a very young age. As basketball is so widespread nowadays you will not find it hard to find a court nearby to play. The equipment is relatively inexpensive and therefore it is a popular game to play outside or in a gym hall. 

 

It helps a lot to tall or good at jumping if you want to be good at it. If you are very small or don't like handling a ball basketball doesn't make it any easier on you. Strength athletes also usually do not seem to do well in basketball. One of the most popular examples being Thor, one of the strongest men on the planet. He quit basketball after getting injured to use his height in the strongman arena.

 

Some alternatives to basketball are

 

 

If you are tall and like to play a game with a ball and net you can also opt for volleyball. Being good at spatial awareness and handling a ball will also help in volleyball just as in basketball. A big advantage in volleyball is that you will not be one on one with the opponent as they can't enter your field. Any basketball court can usually easily be converted into a volleyball court if that is the preferred option

 

Slamball is an alternative which is often provided at entertainment events. If you are too small to jump up to the hoop this might also be an alternative for you. In slamball, you can use a trampoline to get to the hoop. The trampolines are embedded in the floor around the baskets. 

 

One of the most popular alternatives to basketball is half court. This saves space and allows twice as many games to be played in the same amount of space. You basically cut the court in half and play on one hoop. Each time the ball changes possession it has to be brought outside the three-point line before you can score again. The rest stays the same as with a regular basketball game. Half-cour is usually played 1 on 1, 2 on 2 or 3 on 3. 

 

As basketball does not place any special emphasis on appearances or strength you can try keto for basketball in its raw form. The lower protein count might not even matter. Still, depending on the athlete, you might want to have some carbohydrates in your diet to last longer and have access to quickly processed energy reserves.