ketogenic diet

For my virtual ethnography I have decided to study the ketogenic diet support group that I am a part of on facebook. First here is some background information to help you understand, the ketogenic diet is a low carb, moderate protein and high fat diet. The idea is that when you cut out the majority of carbs your body will switch to burning fat for fuel from your fat intake and also from your bodily fat. Through this diet, many group members have lost weight and at a very quick pace too. Though there have been studies demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of the ketogenic diet(keto), the general public is usually unaware of keto and even less aware of the research backing it. Instead, what most people believe is that fat is the enemy when it comes to weight and health because that has long been the belief in the medical community. Because of how controversial the diet can be, it is common that ketoers have a hard time finding support and the will to maintain this diet. This is where the online support groups come in. The groups function not only to educate beginners but also to help people maintain the diet with food inspiration posts, transformation inspiration posts and general posts just asking for help. Over the last few weeks I have noticed that in posts discussing cheating, which means to eat carbs or something "not keto", the vocabulary used to describe cheating can be rather extreme and can also have a religious component to it. People have called carbs "the devil", they have stated that eating carbs is "sinning", even just the word cheat has negative connotations. I think that demonizing carbs can play a role in helping people maintain the diet because in their minds eating carbs has now not only become something that would be bad for their health but also a moral wrongdoing almost.