New diet with lots of butter

Silicon Valley is the place where most hi-tech innovations originate, but in recent years the valley near San Francisco has also been a frontrunner in many food trends and diets.

Firstly because Silicon investors have discovered that innovations in the food sector and food start-ups are profitable. Secondly because this group of tech developers in the Bay Area thinks they can be most successful with an optimized body and mind to match. And they try to achieve that through what they eat and drink.

Steroids

It’s no coincidence that some of the most famous vegans and vegetarians come from this area, from Twitter founder Biz Stone to various Google executives and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. And it is thanks to them that plant-based diets are now so hot, including innovations that replace meat or protein, such as egg-free mayo.

The keto diet was nicknamed the ‘Silicon Valley diet’

The latest diet that has already been nicknamed the ‘Silicon Valley diet’ because of its success in the valley is anything but vegan. The so-called keto diet is also known as ‘Atkins on steroids’, because, like the infamous diet from the seventies, it limits carbohydrate intake. But slightly more fanatically than Mr Atkins did, namely to around 20 grams per day (a cup of white rice or a bagel). There are hardly any limits on fat consumption, however.

Butter, cheese & eggs

Fatty avocados, lots of butter, cheese, eggs, thick cream, nuts, green vegetables, cauliflower, oily fish and meat are fine. As long as they are consumed with plenty of water. No-gos include bread, pasta, rice, fruit (because it contains lots of carbohydrates and sugars, except for a few types of berries), starch, sugar, legumes and, for example, milk.

But the keto diet is also known as ‘Atkins on steroids’

If you put it all into a food pyramid, it differs as much as night and day from the standard one promoted, for example, by the Netherlands Nutrition Centre.

What is the keto diet based on? Like so many diets, it was developed to treat certain medical conditions, in this case epilepsy. And successfully so. In short, it makes your body burn fat instead of carbohydrates. In a normal diet, the human body converts carbohydrates into glucose, which is used for energy or stored in the liver and muscle mass.

You have to knock those cravings out with fat bombs, such as ‘loaded cauliflower’ with cheddar, butter, bacon and sour cream.

Survival mode

But when there are no carbohydrates, the body goes into survival mode. It first uses up all its glucose reserves and then breaks down stored fat into fatty acids. In the liver, these are converted into so-called ketones, which the brain and organs then use to function. This process is called ketosis, which gives the diet its name. To keep this ‘plan B’ going, you need to eat plenty of fat.

Fat bombs

According to keto dieters, you feel extremely fit and lose weight effortlessly. At first, you may still suffer from sugar cravings. You have to knock those out with fat bombs, such as ‘loaded cauliflower’ with cheddar, butter, bacon and sour cream.

But before you immediately start shoving that entire pack of butter down your throat: we are not doctors, and you absolutely cannot follow an intensive diet like this without medical supervision.