Amnah Maqsood, founder of Body by Butter, a low-carb and keto meal planning and delivery service active in Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Sargodha and Gujranwala, joined us for an insights session moderated by Ayesha Nasir founder of Scaryammi, to discuss the keto diet, the misconceptions around it and her entrepreneurial triumphs.
Amnah explains that the ketogenic diet removes all the gluten and sugar from your diet, making your body tap into your fat for energy, helping you lose it in the process. The keto diet is great for diabetics, epileptics, obese people and recovering cancer patients.
According to Amnah keto gets a bad name because people usually dive into it without any prior research and preparation. Initially the body releases water and minerals that are good for your gut which results in hair loss and weakness unless the dieter consumes a sufficient amount of water, supplements and multi-vitamins. The abrupt transition to keto comes as a shock to our system which can cause a varying number and extent of symptoms for a short period of time like mood swings, change in sleep patterns and body aches due to an unhealthy dependency on carbs, before the body adjusts for the better.
In Amnah’s experience beginners enthusiastically get into keto because they’ve seen a plethora of impressive before and after pictures but weight loss isn’t overnight. Individuals with more fat and mass lose fat more rapidly.
Additionally losing weight is easier than maintaining weight. People tend to revert to their old eating habits which make them lose their progress.
It’s not just about what you eat. The more stress an individual has, whether personal or professional, the more the rate of weight loss decreases. This is also why coffee isn’t recommended in immense quantities under the keto life style considering it increases cortisol, a stress hormone.
Word and mouth was invaluable to Body by Butter’s growth and now they’re ambitiously looking to further expand in Pakistan and beyond. Doing something Amnah is passionate about as her profession has granted her with the motivation to continue improving her products. A testament of which is Stevital, an original keto friendly sugar alternative Body by Butter meticulously developed and perfected over the course of 8 months and 12 trials.
To learn more about Body by Butter and the ketogenic diet, watch the full session here.
