Keto 101 - How To Start Keto
The keto diet is one of the latest forms of dieting. It’s so renown that even some restaurants are adapting their menus to cater to keto dieters. If you’re just starting the keto diet or you’re simply curious as to what it’s all about, this guide will surely lead you in the right direction! Here’s some of the top keto FAQs.
What Is the Keto Diet?
The keto diet has become one of the most popular dietary routines for people to follow. It’s a low-carb, high-fat diet in which you limit the amount of carbs you eat and focus more on the amount of fats you intake. The keto diet is notorious for helping people lose weight, as well as providing them with a variety of health benefits; some people have found that their epilepsy, diabetes, and even cancer were helped while following this diet.
How Did the Keto Diet Start?
The idea of a ketogenic diet originally surfaced in the 1920’s and 30’s as a form of therapy for people with epilepsy. Eventually, the diet was abandoned due to the introduction of new therapies for treating epilepsy. It wasn’t until 1971 when a man named Peter Huttenlocher introduced a different version of the ketogenic diet, one where 60 percent of the calories came from MCT oil, allowing more proteins and carbohydrates to be included in comparison to the previous ketogenic diet.
What Macros Can I Eat on Keto?
When on the keto diet, your macro intake should consist of 5-10% carbohydrates, 15-30% protein, and 60-75% fat.
How Many Carbs Should I Eat on Keto?
It’s important to try and keep your carb intake under 50 grams of net carbs per day on keto. The less carbs you have, the more effective your diet will be in reaching ketosis.
What Health Benefits Can Keto Have?
The keto diet can prove very beneficial to your health. It leads to weight loss, increased levels of HDL cholesterol, and it can reduce blood sugar and insulin levels. People on the keto diet have also reported their blood pressure being lowered. This diet also comes with preventative health risk measures, such as being able to treat metabolic syndrome symptoms. For decades, ketogenic diets have been used to treat children with epilepsy and other brain disorders. As such, being on the keto diet can prove therapeutic for people with brain disorders.
What Are Common Keto Foods/Ingredients?
Some foods that are commonly eaten on the keto diet consist of seafoods like fish and shellfish. Low-carb, non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, brussel sprouts, broccoli, kale, zucchini, and cauliflower are keto diet staples. Cheese is not only a delicious food, but it’s also healthy and low in carbs. Avocados are both healthy and commonly eaten in the keto diet. On the keto diet, you can also eat meat, poultry, and eggs.
What Vegetables Can I Eat on Keto?
With the keto diet, you can partake in lots of non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, kale, asparagus, spinach, cauliflower, celery, brussel sprouts, zucchini, peppers, green beans, mushrooms, cabbage, lettuce, cucumbers, eggplant, carrots, and olives.
What Fruits Can I Eat on Keto?
Avocados, tomatoes, blackberries, star fruit, cantaloupe, strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, blueberries, and lemons make up the variety of fruits that you can enjoy while on the keto diet.
Should I Exercise With Keto?
Even on keto, staying in shape is important. You can do a variety of low intensity exercise activities like biking, jogging, and yoga; these are especially beneficial on the keto diet. You might find that higher intensity exercises are harder to perform on keto.
What Is Ketosis?
To put it simply, ketosis is a process in which your body begins burning fats instead of carbohydrates for energy. When on keto, your carb intake is reduced drastically. As such, your body has to shift from burning carbs to fats because there aren’t many carbs to burn. When your body begins burning fats, it starts to make ketones which can be used for fuel.
How Do I Get in Ketosis?
The first step to getting into ketosis is to reduce the amount of carbs you consume. Then, begin adding things like coconut oil into your diet. Being more active also helps you get into ketosis. As you reduce your carb intake, increase your healthy fat intake. You can also try out a “fat fast,” which is a ketone-boosting approach that mimics fasting effects. Conversely, you could do a “short fast” in which you go without eating for several hours; some people go into mild ketosis between dinner and breakfast. It’s also imperative that you maintain an adequate protein intake when trying to get into ketosis. Maintaining a state of ketosis can be done by managing and testing your ketone levels, as well as adjusting your diet to them as needed.
How Much Weight Do People Lose With Keto?
People on the keto diet can typically expect to lose anywhere between 2 to 10 pounds after the first week. However, it’s important to understand that the weight that was lost was water weight. Eventually, your body will begin using fat stores as energy in place of the lost water weight.
What Supplements Should I Take on Keto?
The best supplements to take on keto are magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, MCT oil, vitamin D, digestive enzymes, exogenous ketones, electrolyte supplements and/or mineral rich foods, and greens powder. You can also take athletic performance boosting supplements like creatine monohydrate, caffeine, beta-alanine, and HMB.
What Is Intermittent Fasting for Keto?
For keto, intermittent fasting is where you plan out specific times for when you’re not eating. Common forms of intermittent fasting, or IF, include a 24 hour once-a-week fast, alternate day fasting (ADF), or a 5:2 fast, which is when you fast for two consecutive days out of the week. People try combining IF with the keto diet in an attempt to treat things like obesity and insulin resistance.