When you hear the word “keto,” you might think it’s a new diet trend. But did you know the keto diet is actually much older than most people think? The story of keto is full of surprises, and it goes back hundreds, even thousands, of years!
The Ancient Start
Long before anyone talked about “keto,” people were already using food to heal. In ancient Greece, doctors noticed that when people with epilepsy (a brain disease that causes seizures) stopped eating for a while, their seizures got better. This was called fasting. Even Hippocrates, the famous Greek doctor, wrote about using fasting to help sick people. So, the idea of changing what you eat to help your health is very old!
🧠 Did You Know?
The Birth of Keto
Fast forward to the 1920s. Doctors wanted to help children with epilepsy, but fasting for many days was too hard and not safe for everyone. So, scientists tried to find a way to make the body act like it was fasting, but without actually starving. They found that eating lots of fat and very little carbs (like bread, rice, and sugar) made the body burn fat for energy. This made something called “ketones” in the blood, which helped control seizures. This new way of eating was called the “ketogenic diet” or “keto” for short. It was first used in hospitals to help children with epilepsy who didn’t get better with medicine. You can read more about this history here and here.
Keto Goes Quiet, Then Returns
For many years, keto was mostly used in hospitals. But when new medicines for epilepsy were invented, people stopped using the keto diet as much. It almost disappeared! But in the 1990s, a TV show told the story of a little boy whose seizures stopped after he tried the keto diet. This made people interested in keto again, and soon, it became popular not just for epilepsy, but also for weight loss and other health reasons.
Keto and Other Diets
Keto is not the only diet with a long history. Many popular diets today, like low-carb or high-protein diets, are based on old ideas. For example, the Atkins diet, which became famous in the 1970s, is also low in carbs, just like keto. Even the idea of eating more plants and less processed food is something people have done for centuries.
Why Is Keto Still Popular?
Today, people use keto for many reasons: to lose weight, to feel more energetic, or to help with certain health problems. Scientists are still studying how keto works, but one thing is clear: the idea of using food as medicine is not new at all. In fact, it’s much older than most of us!
The Shocking Truth
So, is keto really older than you think? Yes! The roots of keto go back to ancient times, and the modern keto diet is over 100 years old. Next time someone says keto is just a trend, you can tell them it’s actually a diet with a long and surprising history.
