Your Issue The Ketogenic Diet
1) You have no practical experience with the Ketogenic Diet.
That amount to coaching a sport you have only read about and never played.
2) "I don't like the demonizing of food"...it depend on fhe food and various other factors.
From my perspective it not so much the food itself, it the amount consumed; "The poison is in the dose."
what do people mean by Keto?
what do people mean by ketosis?
Dictionary
The dictionary would provide you with what Keto is and what Ketosis is.
The majority of people come up with their own meanings for ketosis, which is generally incorrect, based a lack of education on the subject.
and if so how? blood ketones? low blood glucose? ketones in urine?
or by feeling? no desire for sugar hits? stable mood? some other feeling/emotion?
1) Ketone Test Strips: This initially work, providing you with information on if you are in ketosis and the degree. However, at some point the Keto Test Strip become unreliable. That based on research data and my own personal experience of being on the Ketogenic Diet for two years.
2) No Desire For Sugar: That is one on of the indication that you are in the ketone ball park.
3) Lipid Profile: This provides some feed back. The primary indicator is a drastic drop in Triglycerides.
Triglycerides are triggered by carbohydrate consumption. High carbohydrate consumption elevates Triglycerides; an ultra low Triglyceride reading demonstrates very low carbohydrate consumption.
Triglyceride reading below 150 are considered good. My Triglyceride reading is 51 to 55.
4) Elevated LDL: LDL is primarily drive by Saturated Fat. Thus, a higher LDL reading indicates you are consuming a greater quantity of Saturated Fat.
The determinate factor of LDL being good or bad isn't how high the number is. The determinate factor is the percentage of LDL Particle A (good) or Particle B (bad) that you have.
This can easily be determined by your Triglyceride:HDL Ratio, another topic for another time.
Determining you health condition based on how high or low your LDL alone amounts to guessing.
Thus, an increase in LDL and slight elevation in HDL along with a dramatic drop in Triglycerides indicate you are somewhere in the "Ketone Ball Park."
everyone seems to be doing the damn thing?
Very Few People Are Doing The Ketogenic Diet
1) Take your own survey and you will find that very few people are doing it the Ketogenic Diet or really know anything about it.
2) Those who think they are doing the Ketogenic Diet are NOT. The majority are on a high fat, high protein, low carbohydrate, which kicks you out of ketosis (via gluconeogenesis).
3) The majority of individual who try the Ketogenic Diet quit. That due to the fact that the diet is too demanding and most people don't have much will power.
4) Some people are on a Cyclical Ketogenic Diet; 5 days on the Keto Diet and then a two day carbohydrate reload.
This is NOT a Ketogenic Diet. Research has demonstrated that two days of carbohydrate reloading take around 3.5 to 4 days of being back on the Ketogenic Diet before you get into ketosisagain.
That means you are only in ketosis for 1 to 1.5 days during the week.
Energy Systems
Let me underscore this again.
The Ketogenic Diet works with the ATP and Oxidative Energy System.
It is sub optimal for Glycogen Energy System Training Programs.
Carbohydrate Consumption
Carbohydrates are not necessarily bad. The issue is the over consumption of carbohydrate; this is one of the primary factors with the increase in diabetes and the projection that by 2030 one-third of American will be diabetic.
Low intake of carbohydrate are okay. The amount is dependent on such thing as if you are Insulin Resistant, Diabetic, or a Glycogen Energy Athlete (where higher carbohydrates are needed).
Take Home Message
It's hard to understand something you have not done.
With that said, I have some understanding of you view on this.
I have initially disputed varies diet and training information in the past base on a lack of knowledge and no practical experience.
After doing more research and personally experimentation, I became a advocate rather than a critic with such things as: Post Activation Potentiation Training, Occlusion Training, Cluster Sets, Intermittent Fasting, the Kegogenic Diet, etc.
Kenny Croxdale