Halle Berry says she’s been on the keto diet for 30 years to manage her diabetes

The supposed benefits of a long-term ketogenic diet have been contested by experts

Actor Halle Berry has said that she has been on a keto diet for over 30 years, ever since she was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 22.

“It was a moment I’ll never forget. I had to re-spin the way I lived my life and have carried that with me ever since. Because I’m diabetic, nutrition has been a big part of my life and for the past almost 30 years I have been following the ketogenic lifestyle,” she told the Insider.

Berry’s long association with keto comes as a surprise, as over the years, health experts have repeatedly warned against some of the adverse effects of sustained ketogenic diets.

This isn’t the first time the 54-year-old Catwoman actor is talking about her eating habits and lifestyle. During a “Fitness Friday” Instagram post in 2018, she wrote a detailed caption related to her health and food intake while mentioning how keto is “largely responsible” for slowing down her “ageing process”.

“The keto lifestyle offers so many benefits such as weight loss, (moms that’s how we get rid of our baby bellies), appetite control, more energy and better mental performance,” she said.

“If you’re like me, you can possibly reverse type 2 diabetes, you’ll experience better physical endurance, better skin, and also less acne if that’s an issue. And it even helps control migraines!” Berry wrote.

Despite Berry championing it, and presumably being a beneficiary of it for three decades, the supposed benefits of a long-term ketogenic diet have been contested. In 2019, Journalist Stephanie Nuzzo followed Berry’s keto diet for a week and revealed that she felt nauseated for the first two days while also experiencing headaches and fatigue.

She wrote in a story for Body and Soul: “Using a combination of Berry’s Instagram account and interviews with her trainer, I formed an idea of the actress’ food plan and ran with it.”

“I drank coffee in the morning with a teaspoon of MCT oil and unsweetened almond milk. My meals were usually made with eggs or a meat protein along with vegetables, avocado and cheese. Occasionally I used tofu noodles or shredded zucchini instead of grains. The tofu wasn’t bad, but zucchini is not even a close substitute for pasta,” she wrote.

On the fifth day, Nuzzo felt “less tired” and saw a clear difference in her figure, however, she mentioned that she would never stick to this diet.

“It might work for Berry, but cutting out an entire food group is just not sustainable for me. Yes, there are substitutes, but I don’t want to spend my time baking low-carb ‘bread’ or telling myself zucchini noodles are spaghetti,” she wrote.

Nutritionist Lily Soutter explained to The Independent: “The ketogenic diet is a very low carbohydrate diet with intakes of 20g to 50g of carbohydrates per day, relatively high fat and moderate protein.”

“Some major concerns with following a ketogenic diet are the potential side effects such as changes in hormonal balance,” she said.