Keto Diet

The latest fad diet or is it a long term trend–Keto diet or ketogenic diet–is something that is giving many people results. 

The basic concept of the keto diet is you eat high amounts of fat, low carbs, and moderate protein. You want to turn your body from running on carbs to running on fats for energy. By lowering the carb intake, your body runs in the ketosis phase  producing ketones or in other words, it is forced to break down fats for energy since you don’t have carbs. Remember, carbs allow the body to produce glucose and insulin so by avoiding carbs, you are asking your body to look for another source that can help you get energy–hence, fats become the source of energy.

You’ve probably seen many pics online of people who have changed the way they look purely because of restricting their carbs but did you know that maintenance is tough. Why is this? Well, once the weight is off and you decide to go back to including carbs, that weight will come back. Keto will have to be a lifestyle if you’d like to maintain those results though I too use it as a way to fine tune oneself so depending on your goals this diet may or may not work for you.

Another limitation of the diet is that this diet does not work for everyone. I was recently talking to someone who had 3 members of his family do the keto diet but only 1 of 3 saw success with the diet. Telling someone to eat low carbs is tough especially if you travel–where do you find high fat foods today, most labels say low fat as fat has been demonized. One of the members of his family developed gall stones due to the high intake of fat while only one found success from the diet. Though this anecdote is just that, you can clearly see the impact the diet can and cannot have. One thing to consider while doing this diet is that there is no long term study on the impact of cutting out one whole macro. If you go back in time, humans used to be hunters and gatherers so that meant eating both meat and plants so our biology says carbs should be included.

Most ketogenic diets say you should have 5% carbs or 20g of carbs but again this number can be increased depending on your goals. Fats should be 80% of your calories. Moderate protein is also necessary because if you consume too much protein you may not ever get into ketosis. Why?  By having too much protein, your body undergoes gluconeogenesis or using proteins for fuel instead of fats so this stalls your body going into ketosis plus nobody wants to break down their muscle mass for energy, right? 15-20% is ideal for protein on the keto diet.

What should I eat on the keto diet? Lots of websites out there tell you what to eat but I’ll list a few quick items so you can see what is considered high fat, low carb, and moderate protein. High fats include medium chain triglycerides (MCT) oil, avocado oil, butter, ghee, avocados, etc. Low carbs include broccoli, brussel sprouts, celery, kale, spinach, etc. Moderate protein sources include eggs, chicken, turkey, salmon, etc. Also, on this diet, the buttered coffee that I mentioned in an earlier post is a viable option too. Remember to drink tea and coffee that isn’t sweetened in moderation. If you are not allergic to dairy, then string cheese is another one of my go-to’s for snacks. Also, bone broth is another viable option. 

However, if you are unsure what to do when you travel, there are several options out there like keto powders, bars, and snacks. I picked up phat fudge to try and it tasted good and I felt like I was having dessert too but again you really don’t need to rely on these products to give you results you want. A good high fat diet and exercise is super important to achieving results.

Remember to drink plenty of water on this diet too because water is good to not only remove toxins but also will help to prevent gall stones while consuming high fats. Also, if you start this diet, you might experience keto flu (headaches, lethargy, irritability, etc.) but these go away quickly after a few days but can be avoided too if you stay hydrated and increase your salt intake.

Finally, if you are unsure if you are truly in ketosis mode, you can buy keto strips but again you don’t need these if your diet is on point. This would just allow you to get added comfort that you are truly in ketosis.