One of the first dangers of a keto diet is that a large proportion of healthy carbohydrates such as fruits and vegetables and not allowed. This cuts out a large amount of your daily intake of vitamins, minerals and fibre. You need vitamins and minerals for every single function in the body. If you do not eat fruits and vegetables you will have reduced immunity and get ill more often. You will then struggle to fight off that illness. 

Without fruit and vegetables, you are also missing out on fibre. There is no fibre in meat or dairy products. Fibre is needed to keep your gut bacteria healthy, which is linked to good mental health as well as immunity. It also keeps your digestion moving and stops you getting constipated. At best constipation is uncomfortable, at worst it is extremely painful. One way to overcome constipation is to drink plenty of water, or there are medications available. But the best way is to eat fibrous fruits and vegetables

The symptoms most usually reported feel like actual flu - headache, fatigue and nausea. Other symptoms are muscle weakness, achiness and cramp; panic, anxiety, depression, acne, diarrhoea, constipation and an overall feeling of being run down. The reason for experiencing keto flu is that the body is having to change from using glucose for energy to ketones.

Ketones are used for energy on the keto diet. On a standard diet excess glucose can be stored, however, ketones cannot be stored. The body needs to get rid of them and they are excreted in the urine. Due to this you need to go pee much more often on a keto diet and this can lead to lack of water in the body, called dehydration. 

A painful danger of the keto diet is kidney stones, although you may feel it is worth the risk as it only seems to affect around 8% of adults, which increases with age 

Another embarrassing side effect of the keto diet is halitosis. As such it is not really a danger but be warned - you may lose friends! The good news is that it only lasts a couple of weeks as your body adjust to burning fat instead of carbohydrates. The best way to overcome it is to drink plenty of water and make sure your keep up with your oral hygiene.