A keto diet is low in carbs and high in fat. It can help you in many ways right away. But many nutritionists don’t recommend the diet because it can have side effects, which we’ll talk about later in the article.
What is a keto diet?
Keto diets mostly involve cutting carbs out of your diet and replacing them with fats. When you cut back on carbs in this way, your body goes into a metabolic state called ketosis.
When you are in this state, your body is able to burn fat for energy in a healthy way. It can also make ketones from the fat in the liver. This helps give the brain the energy it needs.
The blood sugar and insulin levels can go down on a keto diet, which is good for your health. But they can also have side effects that we will talk about in a bit.
5 Keto Diet Tips for Beginners
There are times when people on a keto diet need to be extra careful. These tips will help you stick to the diet much better:
1. Lessen your stress
Blood sugar levels go up when the stress hormone cortisol is present in the body. So, because it has too much sugar, this keeps the body from burning fat for energy. Because of this, chronic stress can make it very hard for the body to get into ketosis.
2. Prioritise Sleep
Less sleep is a big reason why people feel more stressed. As we’ve already talked about, this can stop your body from burning fat. Keeping a regular schedule can help someone sleep better. In turn, this helps lessen stress, which makes the keto diet work.
It’s best to sleep between 8 and 9 hours every night. Many studies have shown that getting less sleep can make it harder to lose weight.
3. Take in more salt
We’ve always been told to cut back on salt, but this is only important for people who eat a lot of carbs. Insulin levels are higher in people who eat a lot of carbs, which makes the kidneys hold on to sodium.
When you go on a keto diet and cut back on carbs, your insulin levels go down and your body gets rid of a lot more salt. So, while in ketosis, you can eat an extra 3 to 5 grams of salt.
4. Exercise Frequently
Getting regular exercise while on a keto diet can help boost ketone levels and make the switch to a low-carb, high-fat diet go much more quickly. To get into ketosis, the body needs to get rid of all the glucose it has.
5. Take in a lot of water
Staying hydrated is always important, but it’s even more important when you’re on a ketogenic diet. This is because when carbs aren’t eaten as much, the body gets rid of more water. On days when you are likely to sweat more, you should drink more water.
Check out the beginner’s guide to the keto diet for more details.
5 Ketogenic Diet-Friendly Foods
For the Keto diet to work, you have to eat certain foods. Keto foods tend to have few carbs and a lot of fat. Here are some foods that can be eaten on a keto diet:
1. Food that comes from the sea
Even though salmon and other fish are full of B vitamins, selenium, and potassium, they have almost no carbs. This makes them very good for keto.
The amount of carbs in different kinds of shellfish varies, though. For your keto diet, you can always choose the low-carb versions. Anyone on a keto diet would benefit greatly from eating two servings of seafood a week.
2. Cheese
Cheese is thought to be both healthy and tasty. It is usually low in carbs and high in fat. So, they work very well with a ketogenic diet.
Cheese has a lot of saturated fat, but it hasn’t been shown to make people more likely to get heart disease. Some studies, on the other hand, say that this dairy product can actually lower these risks.
3. Low-carb Vegetables
Broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and lettuce are non-starchy vegetables that are low in calories and carbohydrates but high in vitamins and minerals. Vegetables have fiber, which your body can’t break down as it does with carbs.
These vegetables have antioxidants that help protect the body from free radicals, which are unstable molecules that damage cells.
4. Eggs
Less than one gram of carbs and less than six grams of protein are in a single large egg. Because of this, they are perfect for the ketogenic diet.
People also know that eggs make them feel full and keep their blood sugar levels steady. This means that you won’t eat as many calories for almost 24 hours.
5. Meat
Meat and poultry are important parts of the keto diet because they are low in carbs and high in B vitamins and minerals. They are also a good source of high-quality protein, which helps keep muscle mass even when carbs aren’t eaten.
Grass-fed animals are the best choice for meat because they get more omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants from the grass they eat than grain-fed animals.
5 things you should not eat on a ketogenic diet
People on a keto diet should stay away from foods that are high in carbs and low in fats. On a ketogenic diet, you shouldn’t eat any of the foods below.
1. Cereal
People know that sugary breakfast cereals have a lot of carbs, but you might be surprised by how many carbs are in healthy cereals. One cup of regular or instant oatmeal has 32 grams of carbohydrates, but only four of them are fiber.
Even without milk, a bowl of cereal can easily put you over the carb limit on a keto diet.
2. Juice
Fruit juice contains several important nutrients. But they also have carbs that are easy to digest and cause blood sugar to rise quickly.
Your brain might not be able to use liquid carbs the same way it uses solid carbs. So, drinking juice could make you feel more hungry and want to eat more later in the day.
3. Starchy Vegetables
Many vegetables are high in fiber, which helps you lose weight and keep your blood sugar in check. On a low-carb diet, you should stay away from high-starch vegetables that have more digestible carbs than fiber.
On a low-carb diet like the keto diet, it’s best to stay away from vegetables like corn and sweet potato.
4. Yogurt with sugar
Plain yogurt has a low amount of carbs, but if it’s sweetened, it can have as many carbs as a dessert. A cup of nonfat, sweetened fruit yogurt can have almost 47 g of carbohydrates, which is more than an equal amount of ice cream.
On a keto diet, the best thing to eat instead of sweetened yogurt is Greek yogurt topped with blackberries or raspberries.
5. Beans and other legumes
Beans and other legumes are good for your health in a number of ways, like lowering your risk of heart disease and inflammation. They have a lot of fiber, but they also have a lot of carbs.
On a keto diet, you can eat beans and legumes in small amounts, but it’s best to stay away from them altogether.
5 Proven Keto Diet Benefits
Even so, these low-carb diets do have their own benefits. Here are five ways the keto diet is good for your health.
1. Less of an appetite
One of the main things that happen when you go on a diet is that you want to eat. Even though this might make a lot of people give up on their diets, a keto diet makes people less hungry.
Studies have shown that this happens when carbs are cut back and protein and fat are eaten more. This will eventually cause you to eat fewer calories.
2. Weight Loss
If you want to lose weight, cutting back on carbs is a good way to do it. Studies have shown that low-carb diets help people lose weight better than low-fat diets. This is true even though low-fat diets try to cut calories.
Low-carb diets help the body get rid of water that it doesn’t need. This lowers insulin levels, which makes it easy to lose weight quickly in the first two weeks. Studies that compared low-carb diets to low-fat diets found that low-carb diets helped people lose 2-3 times as much weight without making them feel hungry.
One study, though, found that the diet is most helpful for only 6 months. After that, it works just like any other diet to help you lose weight.
3. Better health for the heart
A keto diet plan can be a great way to improve the health of your heart. High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL), or good cholesterol, levels in the body go up when you eat more fat. The keto diet and other low-carb diets have a lot of fat.
4. It May help the brain work better
Some studies suggest that ketogenic diets do help protect the brain, but more research is needed to be sure. Some of these are helping to treat or prevent Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and some sleep disorders.
One study has also shown that children who follow a keto diet think and act more clearly and are more alert.
5. Less sugar in the blood
People with diabetes or high blood sugar have found that low-carb diets help them a lot. Studies have shown that cutting back on carbs can lower insulin and blood sugar levels by a lot.
Some people with diabetes who start a low-carb diet can cut their insulin dose by half almost as soon as they start. But if you take medicine for your blood sugar, you should talk to your doctor before making changes to the number of carbs you eat.
Also, read the article is the keto diet good for diabetes.
Summary
Ketogenic diets are known for getting results very quickly, but they are not always the best choice. Nutritionists at HealthifyMe strongly recommend that you don’t follow a keto diet plan and instead choose a much more balanced diet. This way, you can avoid the side effects of a keto diet and make sure your food intake is more stable.
