Keto Diet and Restless Legs

My friend has been into the keto diet lately. As long as I have known him, he has suffered from fatigue. He hopes that by adjusting his diet he will feel fitter.

After a sleep study, my friend was diagnosed with PLMD (Periodic Limb Movement Disorder) last year. About 80% of people with RLS also have PLMD.

I don’t have PLMD and my boyfriend doesn’t have RLS. So that’s also an option.

He follows posts about keto on an internet forum. People tell on this forum what the effect of the diet is on certain aspects of their health. PLMD and RLS are also sometimes discussed.

In this blog I will discuss what keto is and what the possible effects are if you suffer from restless legs.

What is keto

If you follow a keto diet, you eat very few carbohydrates. Instead, you eat a relatively large amount of fats and a smaller proportion of proteins. The idea is that at some point your body system switches to burning fat for energy.

Normally, more than 50% of our diet consists of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are converted into glucose by your body. With the keto diet, you reduce the percentage of carbohydrates in your food to below 10%.

First your body uses up the remaining glucose for your energy. Then it switches to fat burning. In this process, so-called ketones are released. Your body goes into ketosis.

You can complete the keto diet in different ways. The exact ratios of carbohydrates, fats and proteins can vary. Moreover, someone who eats meat will approach it differently than someone who eats vegetarian.

Pro and contra of keto

Eating low-carb is not easy. To do this, people have to be quite motivated. That motivation can vary greatly from person to person. Some people want to lose weight. Others hope that the keto diet will help against certain diseases or conditions, such as epilepsy, type 2 diabetes or irritable bowel syndrome.

A short-term benefit is indeed that you lose weight, although this is initially due in part to fluid loss. Another benefit is a more stable blood sugar level. This ensures that you have fewer sugar fluctuations. It seems that you also feel more satiated with this diet and have less need for snacks.

A disadvantage of the ketogenic diet is that you can suffer from constipation. This is due to a lack of fiber in your diet. Another well-known disadvantage is that it gives you bad breath.

Long-term effects are as yet unknown. It is clear that at some point you will run into shortages. As mentioned, you get too little fiber, but also too few B vitamins and minerals.

Restless legs

My friend sent me some links to posts on an internet forum. Before I look, I read a few things through other internet sources. It strikes me that opinions about keto are divided. The experiences with it are also variable.

On the forum I find posts about both RLS and PLMD. Some say they benefit from the keto diet for these conditions. The link with limiting gluten is mentioned.

Others indicate that they have more complaints now that they do the diet. As a possible explanation I read in the comments the loss of minerals such as magnesium, sodium, potassium and zinc. You would then have to take extra as a supplement.

Some participants have had a lot of trouble sleeping since they started the diet, because they feel so fit and awake. That fitness in itself is of course a positive thing, but insomnia is not a pleasant side effect.

All in all, I’m not convinced that doing the keto diet would be a good remedy for restless legs. However, my friend still has his sights set on a beneficial effect for his PLMD. I hope so with him.