Good health is one of the greatest blessings of life. Our bodies are given to us to nurture and maintain in the way that best suits our needs. That’s why we should never stop searching for new ways to take care of our bodies. It’s also why we hear about many new diets that are intended to help people stay healthy or lose weight. A recent diet that has become all the rage among fitness enthusiasts all over the world is the keto diet. Although it’s quite popular, many people still don’t understand what makes this diet so special. That’s why we’ve put together a guide to help you get started. Here’s what you should know about the keto diet.
What is Keto Diet?
The keto diet is an eating pattern that relies on a very low carb and high fat intake. Since carbs are the main energy source for the body, depleting them in a keto diet forces the body to burn fat for fuel instead, therefore maximizing weight loss. Your body would produce ketones in the liver while burning fat, which replaces the glucose released when carbs are being used for fuel. That’s when your body reaches ketosis; a metabolic state achieved in the absence of carbohydrates.
Types of Keto Diets
There are multiple variations of the keto diet that people can choose from according to the state of their health as well as goal weight and lifestyle. The standard ketogenic diet (SKD) is the easiest and most common where your daily calorie intake consists of 75% fat, 20% protein, and only 5% carbs. While the standard has moderate protein intake, another type: the high-protein ketogenic diet, consists of taking a 35% protein intake. Another keto diet type is the Cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) which consists of what is known as carb-cycling where you have, for example, four low-carb ketogenic days, followed by two high-carb days. There’s also the targeted keto diet, which only differs in the organizing of carb-intake around workouts.
The Benefits
This diet has proven to work wonders when it comes to quick weight loss with its ability to significantly reduce bloating as well as decrease hunger and sugar cravings. But it doesn’t stop there. In fact, the Keto diet was first developed to minimize seizures for patients of childhood epilepsy. It then proved to help with other health conditions like type two diabetes with its ability to regulate insulin. It was proved to have a great effect on the body in other ways like reducing heart disease risks, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and Polycystic ovary syndrome.
What to Eat
When people first hear about the keto diet and consider following it, they find it challenging to figure out what to eat. It may be confusing at first, but the keto dieticians at https://forketolife.com/ believe that the most important thing is to look up the nutritional value of any ingredient that you want to include in a meal because carbs tend to hide in many foods that you don’t know about. Overall, in a keto diet, your meals would usually be based around high-fat foods like cheese, butter, cream, all types of meat, and fatty fish like salmon and tuna. Green vegetables, healthy oils like olive oil and coconut oil, nuts, and seeds are also heavily included in the keto diet. The most important thing is to keep your carb intake at a minimum, ranging between 20-50 grams per day.
What to Avoid
You never know what you could be eating on a regular basis that may affect your keto diet and prevent you from reaching full ketosis. It may sound strange but fruits are something you want to avoid in a keto diet as much as you can, unlike most common diets. You have to also say goodbye to all wheat-based food like rice and pasta. Sugary drinks or foods are a big no-no in a keto diet as well as unhealthy fats like vegetable oil. Peas, kidney beans, potatoes, and carrots, are all to be avoided in a keto diet for having a percentage of carbs.
Before going on the keto diet, or any diet for that matter, you have to check with your physician first. You might find that your body would not be able to withstand the high fat intake, which is why you need to carefully consider your needs before making any changes to your eating habits. You also need to do enough research so you can have a better understanding of how to start and maintain the keto diet. Take this journey step by step at first to see how your body reacts and whether it suits your lifestyle before going all in. If you find that it is working just fine for you, get yourself a keto recipe book and start cooking!