I’ve posted a lot of recipes and posts surrounding the Keto diet, but I’ve never really said what exactly Keto is. In case you haven’t delved into research mode to figure it out, I’m here to help! I’ll go over some Keto basics, some do’s and don’ts, and some simple grocery lists.
Getting to Know Keto
So what is Keto? Put simply, it’s a low carb, high fat (LCHF) diet. A traditional person’s diet burns the sugar we eat for energy. A Keto diet changes the way your body processes food and instead burns fat instead of sugar for energy. By lowering the carb intake and upping the fat, your body changes from using glucose (sugar) for energy and begins using fat – both the fat you eat and the fat you have stored. When you do this, you put your body into a state of Ketosis and your body produces Ketones.
When your body is in Ketosis, it becomes a fat burning machine! To get to that point, a lot of people experience what is known as the Keto flu. For some, it is as awful as it sounds – but it’s worth it in the long run, and it’s only short term. The Keto flu is your bodies way of transitioning. The best way to conquer the Keto flu is to increase fluids (WATER!) and replace electrolytes in your diet. (I take truVISION Heart and Hydration which significantly helps with both.)
Watching your macros is one important step of a Keto diet. Along with decreasing your carb intake, you don’t want to consume too much fat or protein – those have calories too! And if you have too much, that extra protein can be converted to sugar in the body, thus defeating the purpose.
What are my macros you ask? Generally speaking, you should have about 60-75% of your calories in a day from the fat you consume, 15-30% from protein, and 5-10% from carbs. To get a better idea of exactly how much that is for you, I recommend downloading a Keto app on your phone and track that way. You’ll enter in all your information (weight, age, sex, activity level, etc) and it’ll tell you exactly how many you should have in a day. Then you can input your food and it’ll track for you. Once you do it for a while, you’ll get pretty good at knowing how much you should be consuming.
Now for the Keto Do’s and Don’ts
- DO track what you eat, at least for a while after starting out. If you aren’t losing weight, you can go back and look at what you’ve been eating and see if you need to make some adjustments
- DO pay attention to the ingredient labels on food you eat. Just because something is advertised as ‘low carb’ or ‘sugar free’ doesn’t mean it’s Keto friendly. There are a plethora of sugar substitutes out there, and some affect your blood sugar, making it spike, just as much as regular cane sugar does. You can google glycemic index of artificial sweeteners to find all sorts of charts. Here’s an example:
As you can see, not all sugar alcohols (artificial sweeteners/sugar substitutes) are created equally. Most sugar substitutes (sweeteners) are labeled as sugar alcohols on the nutrition label, but there is one that is NOT. Allulose has a ZERO glycemic index, is natural, and is Keto approved. This is why it is so important to read labels! You want to make sure the sugar alcohol used doesn’t have a high glycemic index and if it only says sugars, you can see WHERE that sugar is coming from. - DO be prepared. Prep your grocery list before you get to the store. Meal prep. Plan around family events/parties so you aren’t tempted to eat sugary, carb loaded foods.
- DO weigh and measure yourself weekly.
- DON’T get discouraged if your weight doesn’t go down – your inches might be!
- DON’T gorge on fat and protein just because the diet is high in it – you can still eat to much and it will convert to sugar in the body.
- DON’T give up just because it’s ‘not working’ or you suffered with the Keto flu for a couple days. Your body is making major changes inside and it takes time.
- DON’T let other people tell you the Keto diet is a joke, is a fad, is bad for you, or whatever other negativity is out there. There are 1,000’s upon 1,000’s of people who successfully do Keto and have for years.
There are probably a million do’s and don’t’s of the Keto diet, but those are some good basics to start.
What Can I Eat??
The simple answer is food without carbs. But okay, what food is that?! If you search Pinterest for shopping lists, you’ll find several – here’s a few:
*These are not my graphics, these are found on pinterest*.
**KEEP IN MIND***
One thing you DO NOT want is buy anything that is low-fat, fat free, light, etc – when the fat is removed, it’s usually replaced with SUGAR! Just check your labels.
There is such a thing as Carnivore Keto, in fact, my husband does it! He does not like any sort of fruit or vegetables, so he sticks with meat and dairy – like sour cream, all sorts of cheese, and heavy cream. You can use the shopping lists above and just skip the veggies.
What is dirty Keto? What about lazy Keto?
Dirty Keto is very similar to regular Keto, but with dirty Keto, you really aren’t watching the labels or necessarily eating the ‘healthy fats’. Think of dirty Keto as prepackaged items that might have some not-so-good-for-you hidden ingredients full of preservatives and strict Keto is as clean and natural as you can get. By eating clean, you can reduce inflammation in the body.
Lazy Keto is exactly that – it’s being lazy with tracking your food and not paying attention to the ingredients. You might even eat a sugary candy bar if the carbs are within your allotment for the day. I wouldn’t exactly recommend this because if you eat real sugar, even if carbs are less than your daily total, it still has a high glycemic index and can keep you from or knock you out of Ketosis.
There is so much information to learn about Keto, but these are some of the basics. I wouldn’t say I personally do strict Keto, I probably lean a little towards Dirty Keto. Regardless, I’m down about 40 lbs and counting and it’s the easiest diet I’ve ever been on!
Comment below with any questions you may have and I’ll do my best to get you an answer!!