Keto diet has been rising in popularity because it is simple and yields significant results. Whether you want to lose fat, increase energy, enhance brain health, improve your blood sugar levels, or improve your overall health, keto may be the diet you are looking for.
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Before we learn how to start a keto diet we MUST develop a deeper understanding of what it is and why it is so effective.
What Everyone Should Do Before trying the Keto Diet
If you’re thinking about trying the ketogenic diet run it by your doctor first ( regardless of any preexisting health conditions) and consult a registered dietitian nutritionist (find one at EatRight.org) to find a nutrition professional who can work with you to create a meal plan you can stick to.
People with kidney disease or a history of disordered eating should avoid the diet, and people with type 1 diabetes may want to avoid it, as well.
If you have risk factors for heart disease, you’ll want to speak with your doctor before considering the diet.
What exactly is Keto diet?
- Keto (Ketogenic) diet is a very low carb, high fat diet that involves drastically reducing carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fat.
- The reduction in carbs puts your body into a metabolic state called ketosis.
- The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates.
- Keto diet is well known for being a low carb diet, where the body produces ketones in the liver to be used as energy.
- It’s referred to as many different names – ketogenic diet, low carb diet, low carb high fat (LCHF), etc.
A healthy ketogenic diet should consist of about 75% fat, 10-30% protein and no more than 5% or 20 to 50 grams of carbs per day. Focus on high-fat, low-carb foods like eggs, meats, dairy and low-carb vegetables, as well as sugar-free beverages.
How Keto diet Works:Science
- When you eat something high in carbs, your body will produce glucose and insulin.
- Glucose is the easiest molecule for your body to convert and use as energy so that it will be chosen over any other energy source.
- Insulin is produced to process the glucose in your bloodstream by taking it around the body.
Since the glucose is being used as a primary energy, your fats are not needed and are therefore stored.
- On a normal higher carbohydrate diet, the body will use glucose as the main form of energy. By lowering the intake of carbs, the body is induced into a state known as ketosis.
- Ketosis is a natural process the body initiates to help us survive when food intake is low. During this state, we produce ketones, which are produced from the breakdown of fats in the liver.
- The end goal of a properly maintained keto diet is to force your body into this metabolic state. We don’t do this through starvation of calories but starvation of carbohydrates.
When you overload your body with fats and take away carbohydrates, it will begin to burn ketones as the primary energy source.
Is Keto Diet Safe?
“The keto diet is primarily used to help reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures in children. While it also has been tried for weight loss, only short-term results have been studied, and the results have been mixed.
We don’t know if it works in the long term, nor whether it’s safe,” warns registered dietitian Kathy McManus, director of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
How to start a keto diet for beginners for free
For most people to begin using stored fat as fuel, they need to limit daily carbohydrate intake to fewer than 20 to 50 grams depending on body size. (For comparison, a medium-sized banana has about 27 grams of carbs.) But this is a highly individualized process, and some people need a more restricted diet to begin producing enough ketones.
With a ketogenic diet you rarely have to worry about calories because the fats and proteins will fill you up and keep you full for a long period of time. But, if you exercise, you sometimes have to be vigilant. With exercise comes calorie deficit, and you must eat to make up for it.
READ ALSO : 3 DAY MEAL PLAN FOR KETO DIET
Keto diet for beginners how long to see results
It typically takes 2-7 days to reach a state of ketosis (when fat becomes a main source of energy).
The amount of weight you lose is totally dependent on you. Obviously adding exercise to your regimen will speed up your weight loss.
Water weight loss is common when you first start a low carb diet, this isn’t fat. But on a side (and more positive) note, that shows that your body is starting to adjust itself into a fat burning machine!
Keto diet for beginners food list
Because the keto diet has such a high fat requirement you must eat fat at each meal. In a daily 2,000-calorie diet, that might look like 165 grams of fat, 40 grams of carbs, and 75 grams of protein. (However, the exact ratio depends on your particular needs and exercise program.)
Aim for foods that are almost pure fat: avocado, macadamia nuts, cream cheese, fat bombs.
Chicken, tuna, turkey, bacon, prosciutto, etc. will be a nice addition to get a bit of protein in your system and add some extra flavor to your dishes.
What to eat on a fat fast.
Below, you can see some options for single meals:
- 2 tablespoons of Raw Coconut Butter
- 1 serving of Spiced Bacon Eggs
- 1-2 servings of your favorite Fat Bomb
- 1 serving of Cheesy Creamed Spinach
- 1 serving of Egg Salad Stuffed Avocado
- ½ medium avocado mashed with 1 tbsp. of mayonnaise
- 2 oz of mackerel, salmon or sardines (cooked or tinned) mashed with 2 tbsp. mayo (serve on 1-2 small
- 1 cup of Keto Proof Coffee
- ½ cup of Iced Green Tea
- 1 oz. Macadamia Nuts
- Macadamia nut butter with 2 oz. cream cheese
- 1 oz. chicken with 2 tbsp. mayonnaise
- 2 egg yolks with 1 tbsp. mayonnaise
- 1 cup Coffee with ¼ cup heavy cream
- 4 slices bacon (be careful with this, as it dwindles under 80% calories from fat)
- 2 oz. sour cream with ½ cup cucumber
- ½ serving of sugar-free Jell-O with ½ cup whipped cream
- keto diet for beginners weight loss
Suggestions or advise to people that aren’t losing weight while on keto Diet:
- Reduce Dairy intake
- Increase Your Fat Intake
- Decrease Your Carb Intake
- Stop Eating Nuts
- Stop Eating Gluten
- Cut Out Artificial Sweeteners
- Look for Hidden Carbs like sweets and biscuits
- Begin Cutting Processed Food from Diet
- Switch to Measuring Instead of Weighing
How to Try a short fast or a fat fast
Another way to get into ketosis is to go without eating for several hours.In fact, many people go into mild ketosis between dinner and breakfast.
Children with epilepsy have traditionally fasted for 12–72 hours before they started a ketogenic diet. This approach often required supervision in a hospital
Nonfasting protocols are more commonplace now. However, fasting can help ensure some children get into ketosis quickly so that seizures can be reduced sooner
Intermittent fasting, a dietary approach that involves regular short-term fasts, may also induce ketosis
Moreover, “fat fasting” is another ketone-boosting approach that mimics the effects of fasting.
It involves consuming approximately 700–1,100 calories per day, around 80% of which come from fat. This combination of low calorie intake and very high fat intake may help you achieve ketosis quickly
Because a fat fast is inadequate in protein and most vitamins and minerals, it should be followed for a maximum of 3–5 days. In fact, it may be difficult to adhere to for more than a couple of days.
SUMMARY
Fasting, intermittent fasting, and a “fat fast” can all help you get into ketosis relatively quickly.
SUMMARY
Anyone considering adopting a ketogenic diet should speak to a doctor first.Ketosis is a natural state for the body to be in from time to time. When it occurs, the body burns its fat reserves as energy.
Maintaining a state of ketosis for short periods involves minimal risk. However, people with type 1 diabetes should avoid ketosis due to an increased risk of complications.People should also avoid being in ketosis long-term, as they may experience fatigue and nutritional deficiencies.
Making several dietary and lifestyle changes, including eating more healthful fats and measuring ketone levels, can help a person get into ketosis faster.
