The "dirty keto diet" lets you eat junk food and promises you'll still lose weight

If you’ve ever tried the keto diet in order to lose weight, you’ll be well aware that there isn’t much eating much fried chicken involved.

Short for “ketogenic diet”, it involves minimising the amount of carbohydrates you eat and upping your fats – so you end up consuming roughly 60-75% of your calories from fat, 15-30% from protein and 5-10% from carbs.

The idea is that by upping your fats, you’re getting your body to use fat as a form of energy, therefore burning it. This is called ketosis.

So food group-wise, we’re talking lean meats, leafy green vegetables and olive oil.

Another diet, however, has been spotted on the horizon – and it involves a lot more deep frying.

The “dirty” keto diet basically has the same principles as the original diet, only it doesn’t focus on the overall healthiness of its dishes.

Quite the opposite: If you’re on a dirty keto diet, you can ditch those baked chicken breasts for some KFC popcorn chicken, as long as those fat-carb consumption ratios stay the same.

Basically, on the dirty keto diet, fats are fats – it doesn’t matter where they come from.

Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Well, perhaps it is too good to be true.

The NHS warns that replacing carbohydrates with fats and higher-fat sources of protein could increase your intake of saturated fat (especially if you’re hitting McDonald’s, we assume).

This can raise the amount of cholesterol in your blood, which is a risk factor for heart disease.

The NHS agrees that when you’re low on glucose, your body will indeed break down stored fat to convert it into energy.

But this probably wouldn’t be without consequence, as the ketosis process is linked to weakness, nausea, dehydration, dizziness and irritability.

Which will hardly motivate you to do much exercise, either.

Instead, it suggests limiting the amount of sugary foods you eat and replacing them with other carbs – such as whole grains, potatoes and vegetables – instead.

If you fancy eating loads of cheese right now, and not much else, the dirty keto diet sounds right up your alley.

But maintaining a balanced diet, including a mix of healthy carbs, sounds like a much better and healthier way of losing weight.

Just allow yourself a trip to Burger King now and then as well.

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