Lubna Khan Faraz
The keto diet has become one of the most popular eating plans to emerge within the past few years. However, many people are unsure exactly what it is, what it entails and how to get started. Trying to get the keto diet can be challenging, especially when technical terms and complicated calculations, ratios and percentages are used.
Fortunately, deciphering the diet is actually pretty simple and it can be easy to follow once you get going. Here’s what you need to know about the keto diet without the jargon, plus how you can get started.
So What Is the Keto Diet?
The ketogenic diet is an eating pattern that has been around since the 1920s and was originally developed as an innovative new treatment for pediatric epilepsy. It involves severely cutting carb consumption while ramping up fat intake to switch the body into ketosis, a metabolic state in which the body burns fat for fuel instead of carbs.
Studies show that the ketogenic diet could help boost weight loss and fat-burning, enhance heart health, stabilize blood sugar levels and more. Plus, it’s easy to follow and high in healthy fats, which help support satiety, decrease appetite and keep you from feeling hungry or deprived.
How the Keto Diet Works?
Carbohydrates found in foods like fruits, starches and sugary snacks are broken down into glucose, which is the main source of energy in the body. It also increases the production of insulin, a hormone that is used to shuttle glucose from the bloodstream to the cells where it can be used as fuel.
On the ketogenic diet, carb intake is extremely limited, often around 30–50 grams of net carbs per day. This forces the body to search for other sources of energy to help power the cells, which is where healthy fats (like avocado, olive oil and grass-fed butter/ghee come into the picture). These fats can be broken down for fuel, resulting in the production of ketone bodies in the blood and causing your body to enter a state of, what’s know as “ketosis”.
Like sugar, ketones serve as a form of energy to help maintain the function of the tissues and cells to support overall health. However, ketones are often considered a more efficient energy source than sugar, providing a higher amount of energy for each unit of oxygen utilized. Not only that, but maintaining optimal levels of ketones in the blood can also be beneficial for brain health, gut function, hormone balance and energy levels. Switching into a state of ketosis can also turn your body from a sugar-burner into a fat-burning machine to boost weight loss and maximize your results at the gym.
To get started on keto, begin by cutting down on carbs and limiting your intake to just 30–50 grams of net carbs per day, which is calculated by subtracting the grams of fiber from the total grams of carbohydrates in a food. Stick to high-fiber, low-carb options such as non-starchy vegetables, keto approved fruits and certain nuts and seeds to minimize carb count and kickstart ketosis.
Next, start increasing your intake of heart-healthy fats such as avocado, coconut oil, ghee, grass-fed butter, fatty fish and olive oil. These foods help support satiety and provide your body with an alternative source of fuel. About 75 percent of your daily calories should come from fat over the course of the day.
Finally, be sure to include a moderate amount of protein in your diet, which is essential for the immune function, tissue repair and muscle growth. However, it’s best to limit your protein intake to about 15–20 percent of your total daily calories (meat, poultry, seafood and eggs).
Keep in mind that the more you restrict your carb intake, the quicker you’ll enter ketosis, and temporarily decreasing down to just 15 grams of carbs per day is often recommended to help speed up this process and minimize “keto flu”. Within days, symptoms like hunger, fatigue and low energy typically subside as the body transitions to ketosis and begins burning fat instead of sugar.
Stay tuned for my next articles on what type of keto diets best suit you!
