Why Would You Want To Know About A Keto or Ketogenic Diet?
It is important to have keto explained, so you get the most from your keto diet. Ketogenic Diet or a Keto diet as it is commonly known as is a low-carb, and high on fats diets with numerous health benefits. As per many individual studies and experiments, a ketogenic diet is more effective in terms of rapid weight loss and helps in the overall improvement of health. Let’s uncover some aspects of this amazing diet one after the other.
What is a keto diet?
This low-carb, high-fat diet is quite similar to other popular diets like Atkins Low Carb Diet. The main thing about this diet is the drastic reduction in carbohydrate intake and substituting it with high fat. This drastic reduction in carbs in the diet puts your body into an enhanced fat-burning metabolic state known as ketosis.
Your body becomes efficient at burning fats on a ketogenic diet. As a result, your body starts breaking down your body fat into ketones. These ketones are stored in the liver and are a source of energy. These ketones have numerous other health benefits to their credit. Let’s have a closer look at other aspects of this diet.
Keto Diet Types
You will find several versions of the keto diet plan.
- Standard Keto Diet (SKD) – Approximately 75% fat, 20% protein, 5% carbohydrates
- Cyclical Keto Diet (CKD) – Involves periods of low carbs, followed by periods of higher-carb days
- Targeted Keto Diet – Consumption of the right amount of carbs for training
- High-protein Keto Diet – 60% fat, 35% protein, 5% carbs
In this article, we will focus more on the Standard Keto Diet.
Keto Diets – The Perfect Weight Loss Plan
A keto diet is a very effective way of losing a lot of weight without too many risks and side-effects.
Upon starting a keto diet, you are drastically cutting the carbs you consume. Consequently, the body utilizes whatever energies available. Fat could be ones stored in the body. If the body is forced to use these stored fats, weight loss will result.
A keto diet is far superior to any other low-fat diet. Upon eating fats instead of carbs, the process is relatively easy to follow.
Keto Diets for Prediabetics and Diabetics
These ketogenic diets make you lose your excess fat and boost your fat metabolism that reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, and other metabolic syndromes. A study suggests keto diets improve your insulin sensitivity by a whopping 75%. Around 95% of a ketogenic group stopped or reduced their diabetes medication as compared to 62% of a higher-carb diet group.
Some Other Keto-Diet Health Benefits
This diet has shown a lot of other health benefits for different health conditions.
For people with Heart conditions, keto diet improves risk factors such as HDL Cholesterol levels, blood sugar, and blood pressure and high body fat.
It can treat and inhibit several types of cancerous growth. It can treat neurological like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Epilepsy and insulin link diseases like Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. And if that’s not all people on the keto diet have shown a drastic improvement in their overall appearance and by improving the overall quality of your skin by flushing out all the unhealthy toxins.
What to Eat in a Keto Diet
List of foods you can eat on a keto diet:
- Meat – Chicken, Steak, Ham, Red Meat, Turkey, Sausages, and Bacon
- Fatty Fish – Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel, trout, and Tuna
- Eggs – Pastured and omega-3 rich eggs
- Butter and Cream
- Cheese- Unprocessed cheese (Cheddar, cream, blue or mozzarella)
- Nuts and Seeds – Almonds and Walnuts, pumpkin, chia and flax seeds, etc.
- Healthy Oils – extra virgin olive oil for salads, avocado oil and coconut oil
- Low-Carb vegetables – Most green leafy veggies, onions, tomatoes, etc.
- Herbs and Condiments – healthy herbs and spices, salt and pepper.
To sum it up to base all your diets on meat, fish, eggs, and nuts with a perfect blend of plenty of green vegetables.
Foods You Should Avoid
The bottom line is to avoid any food that is rich in carbohydrates. These include:
- Sugar rich foods – Soda, Ice-creams, smoothies, cake, ice-cream, candy, etc.
- Foodgrains and Starch – Wheat-based food, pasta, cereal, and rice.
- Fruits – All fruits except berries such as strawberries.
- Beans and Lentils- Peas, lentils, chickpeas, and kidney beans.
- Root vegetables and tubers- potatoes, radish, turnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc.
- Sauces and Ketchup, Alcohol and Sugar-free diet foods.
Some Known Side-Effects and Tips to Overcome Them
Like all other diet plans, this diet may have some initial side effects and that is perfectly normal. The same is termed as Keto Flu which for the first few days will result in poor mental and energy function, an increase in hunger and digestive discomforts and nausea and sleep issues. To minimize the effects go on a gradual carb-reduction plan rather than a sudden one and cut down carbs gradually. Keto diets can lead to mineral and fluid imbalance in the body and so ensure your salt intake and fluid intake is optimum to balance it. For any persistent symptoms consult your doctor.
Last, but Not Least
A keto diet is definitely one of the best diets for weight loss around but it may not be for everyone. It may suit an obese, diabetic or pre-diabetic person perfectly. But, someone who is an athlete may not get the results they expect from this one. Like in every fitness effort, consistency is the key. Make sure you commit and stick to the plan for the best results. And, for the rest of it, get on a keto diet and experience the difference yourself.