The keto diet is all the rage these days. It has the backing of many celebrities as well as those in the medical field. It can help people to lose weight and help with their overall health.
There are many diets out there that make this claim. However, the keto diet has proven results.
What is Keto?
Keto is where you eat foods that encourage your body to go into ketosis. Ketosis is where your body will burn fat instead of glucose. When the body burns glucose, you will not lose any weight.
In fact, you will feel hungry all the time, which will lead you to eat more foods that contain carbs and sugar. Keto is great for those that have extra body fat that needs to be burned off.
Why You Should Start Keto?
You should start keto if you are overweight and want to lose a few pounds. If you are unsure if you need to lose weight, check out your BMI to see where you stand. If you are not at your BMI, you will need to consider losing weight.
If you are already sure that you need to lose weight, you will want to start on the keto diet. This diet is not like any other diet. It will allow you to lose weight while still getting to enjoy many different foods.
Who Benefits from Keto?
Everyone that starts the keto diet will benefit. Not only does it help you lose weight, but this diet can help mitigate several different ailments.
It has been shown to minimize the symptoms of diseases like PCOS and diabetes.
Doing the keto diet helps your body to fight off any inflammation or illness. People who suffer from conditions like epilepsy have also benefited from switching to the keto diet.
Foods You Should Be Eating
There are a broad variety of different things you should be eating while on the keto diet. These foods will help your body enter ketosis, so your body starts to lose weight.
Below is an overview of what you should be eating.
Vegetables
It is important that you know what foods that you can eat without making your body go into ketosis. It is important to avoid carbs, so you will need to make sure that the vegetables that you eat are low-carb.
Many people make a mistake when starting out on this diet by not paying attention to the carb level of certain vegetables.
- Here are the vegetables that you can safely eat while on this diet:
- Asparagus
- Avocado
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Cucumber
- Green beans
- Eggplant
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Olives
- Peppers
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
- Zucchini
Seafood
Seafood is an excellent choice for people on the keto diet. There are many different varieties of seafood that you can eat. You will just need to make sure that you are looking at the carb level.
For example, shellfish may need to be eaten in moderation as it can have a somewhat high carb count.
You should be eating the following fish for the omega-3 benefits:
- Mackerel
- Sardines
- Salmon
Meat
Fresh meat and poultry do not have any carbs and can safely be eaten on the keto diet. It contains many nutrients that your body needs to help encourage the body to fight off the fact.
It is important to note that you should be getting grass-fed beef so that you are getting the maximum benefits.
Eggs
Eggs are a great source of protein and are low carb. They are extremely versatile and perfect for the keto diet. Eggs are also great at making you feel full.
People on the keto diet should have at least one egg every day added to their diet.
Avocado
Avocados are perfect for the keto diet. They are low-carb and can be made into several different dishes or even eaten plain. They have many different health benefits, including the fact that they can lower your harmful cholesterol levels.
Nuts
Nuts are great snacks for people who are on the keto diet. They are full of protein and very healthy.
People who are looking for nuts for the keto diet need to make sure that the nuts are not salted or sweetened and organic.
Berries
You should add berries into your keto diet. Berries like blueberries are rich in antioxidants.
They make a perfect snack for keto and can help to boost the body’s immune system.
Olive Oil and Coconut Oil
You will want to avoid any kind of salad dressing while you are on the keto diet. Salad dressings are notorious for being high carb.
It is best that you use olive oil or even coconut oil when dressing your salad.
Steer clear of using vegetable oil. Vegetable oil will harm your body and help you to go out of ketosis. If you need to cook with an oil, switch to a grass fed butter or use coconut or olive oil.
Foods You Should Not Be Eating
There are many things that you cannot eat on the keto diet. If you eat these foods, you run the risk of going into ketosis and not losing any weight.
Some of the things that you should not consume on the keto diet include:
- Sugars. If you consume a lot of sugars, your body will burn the fat in your body. You will need to get away from any sugar. Consider sweetening your food with honey to help keep your body in ketosis.
- Artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners will not help you lose weight. In fact, there may be risks with some of the artificial sugars that are on the market today. Instead of these artificial sweeteners, look for the sweeter Stevia instead. Stevia is made for a plant and can help lower your blood sugar along with helping to reduce your blood pressure.
- High carb foods. You will need to avoid any a high carb food. This includes high carb vegetables along with bread and pastries. While it might not be easy to cut them out at first, eventually, you will grow used to eating low-carb foods.
- Energy bars. Many people make the mistake of thinking that energy bars or protein bars are great to eat on the keto diet. However, these are usually loaded with high sugar content and artificial sweeteners that are not safe. If you must have an energy bar, consider creating your own keto-friendly energy bar.
Overcoming Keto Flu
When you first start the keto diet, you can experience something called the keto flu. The keto flu causes symptoms like tiredness, nausea, diarrhea, muscle aches, and many other symptoms.
This is due to the fact that you are putting your body in ketosis and changing up the normal routine. Thankfully, this should only last a few days as your body gets used to the new diet.
There are several things that you can do to control the keto flu.
1. Stay Hydrated
You will need to drink plenty of water during this time to ensure that your body is properly hydrated. This is especially true if you have diarrhea or you have been vomiting.
You should be drinking about 9 or 13 cups of water a day while dealing with the keto flu. This will help you to recover. You do not just have to drink water.
You can do keto smoothies, fruits, or bone broth.
2. Consume More Fiber
During this time, you may find that you are suffering from digestive issues, and you may be experiencing increased hunger.
To help aid in this, consider adding more fiber to your diet. Add items like avocado, low carb vegetables, mushrooms, and peppers to help boost your fiber intake.
3. Increase your Fat Intake
To have success in producing ketone bodies, you will need to make sure that you are eating enough fat. This is especially true during the keto flu.
To make sure that you are in ketosis, make sure that you are getting plenty of healthy fats. This includes grass-fed butter, and fatty fish.
4. Making Sure You Get Enough Rest While you are dealing with the keto flu, it is important that you get the rest that you need. You will find that you have lower energy, and this is why you need to take it easy during this time.
It is recommended that you do not exercise strenuously at this time. Let your body get used to the new diet before you start any kind of exercise routine.
You should be getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep at night to help your body have the energy to adapt to this diet.
5. Meal Planning
One of the biggest things that you can do to help promote a good experience with the keto diet is to make sure that you meal plan. When you first get up in the morning, you will not feel like standing there and trying to figure out what you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Pick a day during the week to sit down and figure out what you want to eat for every meal. This will help to ensure that you stay on track with your diet and not get overwhelmed by having to figure out what you are going to eat each meal.
Getting Help from Others
When going through the keto diet, you will want to have support. Having support will equal greater success as you have somebody else who is going along with the diet with you.
Try to find a local weight loss support group that is doing the keto diet. If you cannot find one, there are many communities online that are geared toward helping people succeed with the keto diet.
By joining a group of people that are doing the same diet you are, they can help hold you accountable to your diet. They can also be a treasure chest full of information if they have been doing the diet longer than you.
They may have various recipes as well as tricks and tips to help you succeed with this diet.
Staying on Track for Success
The most important thing that you can do when doing this diet is to make sure that you stay on track. It can be easy to fall back into your old ways of eating carbs and sugary foods.
If you need to, you can create a cheat day where you can have some of these foods.
It is important not to overdo it as you can cause your body to stop ketosis. If you make your body come out of ketosis, you may go through having the keto flu again and having to start over.
You also run the risk of gaining all the weight you lost back. Just remember to stay on track and focus on your end goal. Create a goal weight to ensure that you have something look for to.
The keto diet has helped many people to succeed in all of their weight loss goals. It is also helped people to regain their health. If you think the keto diet is right for you, sit down and come up with a meal plan that will help you to start this diet.