Last reviewed on 11 September 2026.
NNWA publishes the name and qualifications of everyone who writes and checks its material. You can see the full teaching team on the faculty page.
This guide explains what the evidence shows, what a certification should teach, and who benefits from one. NNWA runs courses in both, so the warnings below apply to NNWA's courses as much as anyone's.
What does the evidence say about intermittent fasting?
That it works about as well as ordinary calorie reduction, for people who find it easier to follow. Well conducted trials comparing time-restricted eating with the same calorie reduction spread across the day, including a large trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2022, found similar weight loss in both groups. The benefit of fasting is mainly practical: some people find it easier to skip a meal than to eat smaller ones. For them, it is a useful tool. For people who get very hungry or who have a history of disordered eating, it can be a poor one. Our intermittent fasting evidence review covers the trials in more detail.
What does the evidence say about keto?
Ketogenic diets often produce faster weight loss in the first weeks, much of it water as the body's glycogen stores empty. Over six to twelve months, trials comparing low-carbohydrate and balanced diets at similar calorie intakes tend to show similar results, and the diet a person can stay on wins. Keto has strong evidence in specific medical uses, notably drug-resistant epilepsy under medical supervision. For general weight loss, it is one option among several, not a superior one. The keto diet plan for Indians and its vegetarian version show what it looks like on an Indian plate.
Who should not follow keto or intermittent fasting?
This is the most important thing any certification can teach. People with type 1 diabetes, people on insulin or sulfonylureas, pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with a history of eating disorders, anyone with kidney disease, and adolescents should not start either diet without medical supervision. People taking SGLT2 inhibitors, a common class of diabetes medicine, face a specific risk of a dangerous condition called euglycaemic ketoacidosis on very low-carbohydrate diets. A coach who does not ask about medicines before recommending these diets is putting clients at risk.
What should a keto or fasting coach course teach?
The physiology of ketosis and fasting, the main protocols and how they differ, the evidence for each, how to adapt them to Indian food and family meals, how to manage the difficult first weeks, how to judge whether it is sustainable for a particular client, and safety and referral. NNWA's six-week Keto Nutrition Coaching course costs 10,999 rupees and its three to four week Intermittent Fasting Nutrition course costs 8,999 rupees. Both include modules on safety and contraindications, and both carry NNWA certificates.
Why does adapting to Indian food matter so much?
Because most keto and fasting material is written for Western diets, and it falls apart in an Indian kitchen. A vegetarian keto diet in India loses dal, roti and rice at once, which removes most of the household's familiar protein. Fasting protocols collide with family mealtimes, festivals and religious fasts that people already keep. A coach who can adapt these approaches to paneer, curd, nuts, low-carbohydrate vegetables and existing fasting habits will keep clients far longer than one working from an American meal plan.
Is a keto coach certification worth it on its own?
Rarely. Keto and fasting are narrow tools, and a coach who knows only these will be tempted to use them on everyone. The most useful practitioners understand balanced nutrition first and add these as options for clients who suit them. If you are new to nutrition, start with a foundation such as NNWA's Diploma. If you already coach clients on weight, a keto or fasting course adds a tool you will use with a minority of them.
How do you decide whether keto or fasting suits a client?
By asking about their medicines, health history, eating history, work pattern and household before suggesting anything. Someone who naturally skips breakfast and eats a large family dinner may take to time-restricted eating easily. Someone who gets shaky and irritable when hungry, or who has struggled with binge eating, probably will not. A vegetarian who dislikes paneer is unlikely to last on keto. The right question is not "which diet is best" but "which approach will this person still be following in six months".
The questions that come before the protocol
The useful question is not which diet is best, but which approach this person will still be following half a year from now.
Ask about medicines before anything else
Insulin, sulfonylureas and SGLT2 inhibitors change the answer completely, so that question comes before any suggestion is made.
Take the health and eating history
A history of binge eating, or of getting shaky and irritable when hungry, points away from fasting rather than towards it.
Look at the work pattern and the household
Someone who already skips breakfast and eats a large family dinner may take to time-restricted eating with almost no effort.
Test the food against what they will actually eat
A vegetarian who dislikes paneer is unlikely to last on keto, because dal, roti and rice all go at once and paneer carries much of what is left.
Agree in advance what would make you stop
Naming the signs that an approach does not suit the client is easier while everyone is still optimistic about it.
What does the first month of coaching look like?
Mostly managing transition and expectations. Keto clients often feel tired, irritable and headachy in the first week, which is largely fluid and electrolyte change, and they need to know this is expected and how to reduce it with salt and water. Fasting clients often overeat in the eating window at first. A coach checks in frequently in the first fortnight, adjusts, and watches for signs that the approach is not suitable. Early weight loss on keto should be explained honestly as mostly water, so the client is not discouraged when it slows.
What are the red flags in keto and fasting courses?
Courses that present either diet as the answer for everyone, that promise to "reverse" diabetes or other conditions, that skip medicines and contraindications, that sell a particular brand of keto products or supplements, or that encourage coaching clients with medical conditions without a doctor. Any one of these is a reason to look elsewhere. The best courses spend a surprising amount of time on who should not follow the diet.
How do these courses fit with weight management training?
As specialisations within it. Weight management is the broader skill: understanding energy balance, appetite, behaviour and the many approaches that can work. NNWA's Weight Management and Obesity Care course at 8,999 rupees covers that broader ground. Keto and fasting are two tools inside it. A coach with both the broad training and one or two specialist tools is more useful than a specialist who knows only one method.
How do religious fasts fit with intermittent fasting coaching?
Better than most imported material assumes. Many Indian clients already fast regularly, on Ekadashi, during Navratri, on Mondays or Thursdays, or through Ramadan, and they understand going without food far better than a Western protocol expects. A good coach builds on those habits rather than replacing them, and pays attention to what is eaten when the fast breaks, which is often fried and sweet. The Navratri fasting diet plan is an example of making an existing fast work nutritionally. Clients who fast for faith also need to know that people on diabetes medicines should plan any fast with their doctor.
The honest summary
Keto and intermittent fasting can help some clients, particularly those who find them easier to follow than portion control. They are not superior to other approaches for most people, and they are dangerous for some. A certification is worth buying if it makes you better at telling those groups apart, and at adapting the diets to the way Indian families actually eat.