In this blog post, I'll consider the science on the topic of combining a ketogenic (keto) diet and an infrared sauna.
Hence "is a sauna good for keto" is answered, as well as making your sauna sessions as safe as possible on a keto diet.
I also briefly consider whether everyone should follow a ketogenic diet, whether that diet impacts your sauna sessions, and how to optimise your sauna session benefits on a keto diet.
Let's begin with the basics though, as not everyone is aware of what a ketogenic diet even is:
Keto And Sauna Basics
Before digging into the concept of why saunas are a great tool for fat loss, let's consider the concept of the "keto" diet.
One caveat though:
The concepts of sauna and keto are tightly intertwined: just like increasing the amount of movement you get in a day and using heavy exercise or improved sleep quality can jumpstart your fat loss effort, the same is true for sauna use. I thus consider both "saunas" and "keto" a great potential health improvement tools.
But let's begin at the beginning:
What is "keto" or "ketosis"? The goal of a ketogenic or "keto" diet is to induce what is called "ketosis". Peter Attia, M.D. and ketosis expert, defines ketosis as follows (1; 2):
Ketosis is a metabolic state in which the liver produces small organic molecules called ketone bodies at “sufficient” levels
Ketones are an alternative fuel source to glucose for the human body. Glucose, in turn, is primarily sourced from carbohydrates you eat in your diet.
Other sources of glucose are broken-down muscle tissue and protein sources from your diet.
The body only uses ketones when it's deprived of sufficient glucose (3; 4).
As a result of glucose deprivation, ketones become an alternative fuel source for the body.
The higher level of body fat of humans compared to other primates acts as a store of energy for ketone production.
Your body fat - in absence of glucose - is thus used to create ketones, as well as dietary fats.
To enter ketosis, you need to consume fewer than 50 grams of carbohydrates a day - or exercise a lot to compensate for carbohydrate ingestion.
I will say that the validity of the ketogenic diet is heavily contested nowadays, from a scientific standpoint (5; 6; 7; 8). Here's why:
Proponents argue the ketogenic diet aids body fat loss, gives you more energy and aids cognitive function.
Detractors claim the ketogenic diet causes stress, argue that carbohydrates are the preferred and optimal fuel source for humans and that there's no difference in fat loss between ketogenic and non-ketogenic diets when not correcting for calorie intake (9; 10).
My take?
Test the diet for yourself and observe whether you've got good or bad results! I'll come back to that perspective later. Let's first dig into why saunas, especially infrared saunas, can hypercharge your fat loss on a keto diet:
