The Ultimate Guide To Keto Diet

A keto diet is one of the most popular diets among people craving for weight loss and fitness. This ultimate guide to keto diet is an answer for all that you need to know.

What is a Keto Diet?

If you are wondering what is keto diet then you need to simply know it is a very low carb dietary plan. It is known as the ketogenic or “keto” diet which allows the body to burn fat faster. It is used for losing weight and additionally to give your body a healthier build. All diets are related to producing energy in the body and keto diet helps in ketosis of the body to create energy. This specifically takes place in the liver where ketones are formed to release energy.

A simple understanding of keto diet and what it does would be to learn that it simply uses up fats in your body to run the energy supply. It operates on reducing insulin levels, and increases burning fat from the fat storage in your body. Keto diet is also known as low-carb high-fat diet (LCHF) where the system is the same but there are protein limitations with LCHF. Successful keto diet plans are used by athletes and fitness experts.

What is Ketosis?

Ketosis is the process that breaks down fat in the liver and typically helps in supplying energy where there is low food intake. The state of ketosis is when your body is introduced into a low carb system or (ketogenic diet foods in this case) in which it uses up fats to procure energy instead of glucose. Glucose is created with the intake of carbs and your body automatically uses the glucose-insulin combination to produce energy. As a result, fat gets unused and stored. With the help of keto diet plans, you can actually alter glucose expenditure with fat expenditure, which is ideal for a person seeking weight loss regimens.

Keto Diet: A Simple Breakdown

There are common misconceptions when it comes to a keto diet. 

1. You are not required to starve if you are following a keto diet meal plan. It is simply about not using carbohydrate-rich foods in your diet, but intake proper amounts of needed calories.
2. Fasting can also result in ketosis but one cannot fast indefinitely. So the healthier alternative to a keto diet plan is to keep the carbs low so that it gives you the same benefits as fasting. Keto diet menu tells you what you can actually eat and still lose weight!
3. In a keto diet plan, you identify the principal nutrients and protein intake and can take high-fat foods, however in quantities prescribed in your keto diet chart.
4. Keto diet ideally helps your body go into its natural state of metabolism; the goal is to achieve that with your keto diet plan.
5. Keto diet foods should not be randomly consumed by persons with diabetes, high blood pressure or lactating women.

Keto Diet For Weight Loss

Weight loss is the most sought after health and fitness journey, and a keto diet helps you achieve the same in the simplest of ways. It helps insulin to lower rates while it facilitates your body to burn fat. Because your insulin levels drop, a keto diet plan ensures that you do not feel hunger even though you are burning fat at a rapid rate. Optimising ketogenic diets result in actual and quicker weight loss results as compared to other similar diets. The secret to a keto diet is the state of ketosis. Ketoproof coffee or MCT oil help in weight loss too and are included in a keto diet plan. It is suggestive to take the advice of your fitness trainer or dietician before you switch from your regular diet to a keto diet.

9 Benefits of Keto Diet

There are multiple health benefits of following a keto diet plan. Some of these may include:

1. The most popular benefit of a keto diet is successful weight loss because of the ketosis process.
2. It can be beneficial for type II diabetes patients as it can reverse the insulin levels into low blood sugar.
3. Taking keto diet foods can help you prevent diabetes (different kinds of diabetes depend on your age, heredity etc) so the result may vary.
4. Ketones produce energy which helps in intense mental focus. Higher blood sugar can make you tired and dizzy, however with improved access to ketones through a successful keto diet meal plan your brain can increase its performance.
5. Fats burn as fuel for your body in a keto diet. Increased mental efficiency means it adds to energising the body and mind. You will not feel unusual bouts of hunger and yet lose weight and maintain energy balance.
6. Ketogenic diet offers control of executive functions of the brain and can be followed to treat epilepsy. It is also used widely in today’s times to treat uncontrollable epilepsies.
7. This benefit resonates with women having to face acne on a regular basis. Keto diet helps in reducing acne and other skin lesions. It can even reduce unnecessary inflammations. Added benefit for a keto diet could be getting clearer skin!
8. Metabolic rate increment is part of the optimising process of a ketogenic diet. Lowering cholesterol and insulin levels through keto foods would mean an active physical durability.
9. Keto diet helps in lowering insulin levels within healthy limits which allow you to manage your fat storing hormone. That is a huge plus to keep your fats under your control.

What To Eat In A Keto Diet? 

This is an important question because what you eat will determine how fast your body will get to ketosis. So, what’s on the keto diet menu?

1. Vegetables such as cauliflower are easy to add into recipes. You can grind them and treat the ground up substance like a rice base. Broccoli, asparagus, cabbage, mushrooms and bell peppers can also be a part of your keto diet food list.
2. Fatty nuts such as cashews, sunflower seeds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds belong to the keto diet family.
3. Meat can be chicken, bacon and you can make chicken broth as well. Eggs and poultry are included too.
4. A keto food list with leafy vegetables can include kale, spinach, and similar greens.
5. You can add sour cream, heavy cream, salted butter and cream cheese in your recipes.
6. You can even add fish like salmon, anchovies, salmon and or mackerel to your diet plan if you like fish.
7. You can essentially use olive oil or coconut oil for cooking.
8. Berries such as raspberries, blackberries or avocados can also be taken depending on availability.

What NOT To Eat In A Keto Diet

1. Sugary supplements such as maple syrup, plain or powdered sugar, and honey while following  a keto diet plan.
2. Foods like pasta, potatoes, bread, and rice should be avoided as they are starchy and is the opposite of what keto diet stands for.
3. Try not to take grains such as cereals, wheat or corn because they do not dissolve in your body as fast to burn fat.
4. Amongst fruits apples, oranges or bananas should be avoided for keto weight loss.

Keto Diet Plan

A keto diet plan can start with a 14-day trial and can even go on to months depending on how you adapt. You can find various ketogenic meal plan tools online, however, seek consultation with a dietician first because you may not be comfortable with all foods in the keto plan. That being said, you can always follow a keto diet chart and understand that it is a high-fat diet with moderate levels of protein and a very very low carbohydrate intake. The balance is somewhat 70% fat, 25% protein and 15% carbohydrates. You enter the ketosis process when your keto diet plan hits the 15% carb intake. You can even use work-out friendly ketogenic supplements that can be taken pre and post workouts by discussing it with your trainer.

Conclusion

We have already discussed what ketosis and a keto diet are. We also spoke about the benefits of a keto diet, ideal keto diet foods, and what not to consume when following a relevant diet plan. Finally, a good healthy lifestyle along with booming energy and physical strength calls for optimal goals of a keto diet!