Halle Berry Says 30-Year Keto Diet Helps Manage Diabetes and Slow Down Aging

According to Insider, the keto diet, helped actress Halle Berry to manage her diabetes. Berry—who has followed it for 30 years—was found to have diabetes at 22 years old. Insider remarked that the 54-year-old said that the discovery directed the actress’ toward a health journey.

“Because I’m diabetic, nutrition has been a big part of my life,” Berry said to Insider. “For the past almost 30 years I have been following the ketogenic lifestyle.”

If you are not familiar with the keto diet, The Mayo Clinic explains the basic premise of it.

“The ketogenic — or keto — diet emphasizes high-fat foods and severely restricts carbohydrates. In fact, about 60% to 80% of calories should come from fat, according to Jason Ewoldt, RDN, LD, a wellness dietitian at Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program (HLP). He notes that a true keto diet also includes only moderate amounts of protein, and less than 50 grams of carbohydrates a day,” the Mayo Clinic said.

In the article, Ewoldt remarked that foods such as nuts, seeds, full-fat cheese, and other dairy products, plain Greek yogurt, non-starchy and fibrous vegetables, oils, along with smaller amounts of meats, eggs, and fish, are keto diet mainstays.

Women’s Health reported that early in Berry’s acting career, she focused on weight workouts for body sculpting. However, she later shifted to yoga and stretching, sprinting fast, working with her own bodyweight, weights, and resistance bands, and practicing martial arts.

“After I found out I had diabetes at 22, though, things started to change and I began to see fitness as a way to care for my health and my body. As a result, throughout the next few decades, my perspective (and my workouts!) shifted. I began to focus on feeling fit more than looking fit and my workouts became acts of self-care,” Berry told Women’s Health.

Staying in great shape and eating habits merge in Berry’s lifestyle. In 2018, she shared an Instagram post about being healthy and staying in great shape.

“Keto is a very low-carb food plan which actually forces your body to burn fat like crazy. I also believe it’s been largely responsible for slowing down my aging 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,” Berry said on her Instagram account. “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! I’m sharing two links (check Stories!) that will explain the lifestyle in detail and it also offers a plan to help you get started! So today I encourage you to say yes to keto, give it a try… what do you have to lose?! 💪🏽.”