CPD VOD | Exploring the ketogenic diet: Can it ever be optimal?

This course...

is: As an online on-demand-video from a live course

is for: Nutritional therapy practitioners, nutritionists, dieticians, naturopaths, other health care providers and final year nutrition students interested in applying functional medicine approaches to health and well-being (i.e. exploring how nutrients, other foods and lifestyle factors influence the function of the body and how to apply findings in a person–centred manner that recognises individuals’ unique differences)

is led by: Dawn Waldron

spans: 5 hours recording time

provides: BANT CPD 5 hours, NNA CPD 5 hours

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The ketogenic diet gets a lot of attention among health and wellness professionals, and there is a lot of confusion about what it really means and whether it’s really healthy. How do we, as health professionals, sort the fact from the fad? In this one-day deep dive you will learn exactly what conditions are needed for ketogenesis and its precise role in supporting metabolic flexibility. We’ll look at sensible strategies and key caveats for personalisation, to give you the confidence to construct and monitor personalised programmes that promote the positive aspects of ketosis while providing optimal support for other body systems.

The course will examine the ways in which the ketogenic diet may be useful in your clinical practice. We will study the underlying biochemistry to understand the mechanisms activated by the ketosis, together with its impact on the genome and microbiome, and explore ways to tailor it to your client’s specific health requirements.

The ketogenic diet has become a popular tool for millions of people. Health benefits are claimed for the range of metabolic disorders from obesity through to cancer but ‘Pop Keto’ is often seen as an extreme regime that doesn’t conform to the ideas of optimal nutrition. This course will look at the science beneath the food choices to reveal a deeper understanding of the biochemical pathways involved, providing ways to address client’s health issues building on the benefits of ketosis while also ensuring overall nutrient status and system support is maintained.

This course will look at the biochemistry of ketogenesis and its unique role in energy and growth metabolism.
We will examine the pros and cons of the popular ketogenic diet (Pop Keto) and explore ways to harness benefits using diet and lifestyle options more closely aligned with ‘optimum nutrition’.

Along the way we will look at the risks and rewards of a higher fat diet, the importance of protein balance, the role of complex carbohydrates and dietary fibre, and the effect on key health concerns such as cholesterol, antioxidants, inflammation, brain health, the gut and the microbiome.

The day will show you that there’s more than one way to achieve ketosis, and provide you with the knowledge you need to tailor ketogenic protocols to suit individuals as well as ways to monitor metabolically optimal diet, supplement and lifestyle programmes for your clients

By the end of the course, you will be able to

• Understand the underlying biochemistry of ketosis within the wider context of optimum nutrition.
· Create optimised nutrition programmes that support metabolic flexibility
· Support your recommendations with a thorough understanding of the science.
· Educate clients in testing and monitoring their own metabolic status
· Confidently in support and motivate clients with metabolic diseases.

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About the presenter:

Dawn Waldron, PGCert, BSc(Hons), DipION, FBANT

Dawn is a registered nutritionist and fellow of BANT with approaching three decades of experience of breast cancer on both a personal and professional level. Dawn first became interested in the ketogenic approach in 2010 based on her own lifelong experience of trying (and failing) to lose weight by following the received wisdom. Her quest intensified after her breast cancer diagnosis but, still, a ‘perfect ten’ was out of reach. In one of those Eureka! moments, while out walking in the woods one day, she realised that since she was doing everything right, the rules must be wrong. She finally found a measure of success following a ketogenic approach and recruited 16 volunteers to a 13 week trial which yielded impressive results. That study gave rise to her book, The Dissident Diet (now out of print) which was briefly an Amazon bestseller in the summer of 2012. Around the same time, interest in the ketogenic diet and cancer was sparked by the work of Dr Thomas Seyfried and the theory has since gained momentum, although clinical trials have been mixed and the diet itself attracts a lot of criticism. In her own practice, Dawn adapted and refined the principles behind ketogenesis in her work with breast cancer patients and learned a lot about what works, and what doesn’t. In this one day course, Dawn will share her extensive knowledge, research and experience showing you how to take the best bits of the ketogenic approach and avoid the pitfalls.

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This course originally took place on: 14th May 2025

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Upon purchasing a ticket you will be immediately granted access to the course materials and video.

To download the course materials, click the HANDOUTS button in the video player (situated between the VOLUME and QUESTIONS buttons).