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I will say this first in my summary, I don't think I made myself perfectly clear in my original post.  This started for me as a weight loss question but evolved to much more than that, which is why I turned to the listserv for help.  I need to lose 15-20 pounds.  A friend of mine went keto.  She lost 23 pounds in 5 months, feels better than she has in a long time, sharper brain, joint pain gone, feels satiated and not hungry all the time, on and on.  She is 63. She now swears she will be on this diet forever, never going back, it will protect her brain from dimentia, prevent cancer, prevent inflammation in the body, etc.  Makes her feel younger, has more energy.  She wants to be in a state of ketosis all the time, checks her urine to be sure she is in ketosis and stays there. She keeps telling me that since I am already gluten free, it should be no problem for me to go grain free, and this is the answer to good health.
It isn't so easy for me to decide to go totally grain free.  I give up enough being gluten free, and I feel it would be difficult to sustain that diet.  And I wonder if being in ketosis will perhaps lead to other health problems down the road.  I have a tough time with the sugar avoidance in the keto diet as well.  I feel apples, oranges, bananas are all healthy.  I don't think I could give those fruits up and survive only eating berries.  How could this be so healthy? 
I am feeling that because this diet is completely gluten free, that the benefits she is feeling are due to not having gluten.  She swears that all grains are bad, even rice, corn and GF oats.  I think the real question that I started to wonder about is could it be healthier to be completely grain free?  But I had most of those health improvements and several gastrointestinal symptoms that completely went away on my gluten free diet.  But I have a hard time thinking that if people only eliminated corn and rice from their diets and continued to eat gluten-filled grains that they'd be feeling any of those things she is claiming.  Or could it simply be, as she says, that all these health benefits are from being in a state of ketosis and (as she calls it) fat-burning mode.  
The responses that I received were all advising to avoid fad diets.  A new diet comes out every so often that they say is the best diet ever.  There is no magic bullet for weight loss.  Everyone needs to do what works best for them.  Some have suggested other diets like Paleo, Whole 30 or Weight Watchers instead.  Some of the side effects from doing keto could be salt and blood pressure fluctuations, high calcium levels in urine, kidney stones, constipation, or the diet could cause insulin resistance and carb cravings.  It has worked for some for losing weight. 
Of course, we all want continued good health, both for body and brain, so I guess I got caught up in the hype and thus led to my question for the list.  I have to say that I really enjoy being a part of this listserv.  I have learned tremendously over my years of participating here.  Thank you all for taking the time to read and respond.  It helps us all!Denise 


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