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/ Source: TODAY
By Scott Stump
Savannah Guthrie has given the ketogenic diet a shot, which has left her experiencing both the good and the bad from the popular regimen.
The TODAY anchor spoke with Dr. Mehmet Oz on his show about her experience with the diet that is having its moment in the spotlight. It hasn’t exactly left her eager to go to the gym, but has had its benefits.
Savannah has experienced the range of effects from adjusting to a carb-free existence.
“I feel less energy in the sense that I don’t want to work out any more,” she said. “I think I need those carbs to want to go on a run or do aerobics or do whatever I might do, but Hoda (Kotb) says she thinks it’s making my mind sharper.”
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“Like I was remembering things, where she’s like, ‘How do you even know that?’ I’d be like, ‘Oh that was on page 252 of that book.’ She’s like, ‘Where’s this coming from, this keto diet’s insane!’ So I do feel like it made me a little sharper.”
The keto diet involves eating foods that are very high in fat while eliminating almost all carbohydrates to achieve a ratio of fat to carbs and protein of 4:1. The goal is to lose weight by burning fat for energy instead of carbohydrates.
Medical experts say it’s similar to the Atkins diet in that people tend to see serious weight loss quickly. However, it can be difficult to maintain, which can result in rapidly putting the weight back on.
“I’m still kinda doing it,” Savannah said. “It’s like a lot of meat and cheese, it’s like meat salad. It’s like salad and grilled chicken, but you can get more fat, which is kind of fun.”
“In some ways you have to deprive yourself. No carbs whatsoever, and that’s really restrictive, but it’s opened up some things that I would never let myself eat a lot of, such as cheese and bacon, so I like that.”
She wasn’t alone among the TODAY anchors in giving keto a shot. Al Roker also has been on the diet and even baked Savannah some keto-approved muffins.
Savannah said she embarked on the diet as part of “a little summer experiment” without a specific weight-loss goal in mind.
“I’m not really trying to lose weight or anything, but we might overeat and then you’re like, ‘I’d like to lose 2-3 pounds, 5 pounds, so I did it and I did like it,” she said.
When she bumped into Dr. Oz at a party over the summer, he suspected she was on the keto diet and strangely asked her to breathe on him.
“I was like, ‘I’m at a party I don’t want to breathe on you, that’s so rude!”’ she said. “And he’s like breathe on me,’ and then he said, ‘You’re not in keto,’ because one of the things is, supposedly you have bad breath when you’re in keto.”
Your breath can have an acetone smell when you’re in ketosis, Dr. Oz said. That wasn’t acetone on Savannah’s breath at the party.
“My breath was like tequila, that’s why,” she joked.
