A vegan diet is not suited for those that have issues with type 2 diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, and epilepsy and people should rather approach a regular ketogenic diet instead. It doesn’t mean that vegans should give up on their beliefs and turn to all supplements. You merely need to use the right amounts of high carb vegetables and the recommended allowance of supplement such as B12, & B6, magnesium, potassium to name a few. There are pros and cons of the keto vegan diet that you do need to be made aware of to understand the risks.
Pros 1. No Animal fat The diet doesn't include animal fat, and in particular, you have no atherogenic or carcinogenic animal products like a standard vegan diet. Fat causes cholesterol but vegans have a lower amount of LDL and HDL cholesterol. While the good cholesterol can help clear the bad cholesterol, by having a high amount of cholesterol overall is going to increase the risk of heart disease and possible clogged arteries. 2. High Antioxidant diet Eating foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts which contain large amounts of antioxidants are all good for improving your heart health and also lowering the risk of cancer. By eating more fruits and nuts, you are protecting yourself, but overeating can take you out of ketosis. Be wary of how much you do eat as it can put into ketoacidosis which is very dangerous.
Cons 1. Relying on Coconut oil Relying heavily on processed oil specifically coconut oil to reach that 70-80 % fat intake is the most convenient thing to eat but eating an assortment of low-calorie vegetables with a ton of oil on it and can also help meet your vegan keto targets. Coconut oil, in particular, is very high in saturated fat and studies show that it raises LDL or bad cholesterol but not quite as bad as butter. There's no reason that you have to be eating high saturated fat oils as you could be eating lower saturated fat and omega-3 oils like canola oil. A lot of people are against that; in fact, you could go low oil or no oil at all if you wanted to put your mind to it. Many whole plant foods hit the 70 to 80% fat mark mainly nuts, avocado, olives, peanuts, walnuts and almonds. Avoid the increase in cholesterol and stay away from coconut oil if you can help it. 2. Limiting Diet Keeping track and making sure that you're staying under an exact number of carbs can be a little intense especially if someone's from an eating disorder background, weighing and counting not necessarily a good thing. People are saying that you even need to count the carbs that are in vegetables and so that's a little bit of an unhealthy angle to take. This is only something you need to do when you're first starting if you get in the flow you can more intuitively know the right amount to it.
Worrying about how much to can cause stress levels, and you try to avoid it altogether. There are the certainly a lot more pros, and cons and these are only the basics and shouldn’t stop you from going on the keto diet.
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