What Is A Keto Diet And How Does It Work?

What Is A Keto Diet And How Does It Work?

Keto

What is a keto diet?

Have you ever looked at the term keto and wondered what does it stand for? Well, keto is short for ketogenic, which refers to the concept of a low-carb diet. This barely scratches the surface though, there is plenty more about the ketogenic diet that every novice must know.

What is the keto philosophy? How does a keto diet work? What are the yay and nay foods when it comes to the keto diet? And more importantly, what are the benefits of switching to a keto diet? We answer these and many other questions in this little brief. 

From where will you get calories if you cut out easy carbs from your diet? The answer is proteins and fats. In the upcoming sections of this discussion, we talk about how the process works.  

How does it work?

The idea behind limiting carbohydrate intake is to make sure that your body switches to other sources of fuel like proteins and fats. When this switch is turned on, your body is in a metabolic state known as ketosis. In ketosis, your body uses fat instead of carbs as the go-to fuel for energy. One of the easiest ways of entering ketosis is to observe intermittent fasting.

This type of fasting refers to a fast of 16 hours, followed by food intake for 8 hours and not any more than that. However, it must be mentioned here that this is not the only way to enter the state of ketosis. Another way of entering into ketosis is to limit daily carb intake to 20-50 grams and make up for the rest of the calories by consuming food like meat, fish, and eggs.

A ketogenic diet is often dubbed a low-carb, high-fat diet. But what this term doesn’t tell us is the amount of protein one should be consuming, when practicing keto. It is necessary to keep things in check with regards to protein intake because too much protein means too much glucose flowing in your blood, which is undesirable in ketosis.

To determine whether or not your body has entered the state of ketosis, you can rely on different tests that give an idea about the number of ketones produced by your body. Symptoms like dry mouth increased urination, and decreased appetite are also indicative of ketosis. 

Types of ketogenic diets 

There are more than one types of the keto diet, we talk about some of these types briefly in this section:

Standard ketogenic diet 

This diet is the perfect example of a keto diet. It can be characterized by using adjectives like low carb, high fat, and moderate protein. In terms of figures, this diet is 70 % fat, 20% protein, and 10% carbs. 

High protein ketogenic diet 

The only difference between this type of keto diet and the standard ketogenic diet lies in the protein percentage. It is considerably higher in this type of diet. In terms of percentages, such a diet is typically 60% fat, 35% protein, and only 5% carbohydrates. 

Targeted ketogenic diet 

With this ketogenic diet, you have the option of scheduling your carb intake around your workout routine. 

Cyclical ketogenic diet 

If you are finding it difficult to give up on the carbs immediately, you can opt for a cyclical ketogenic diet as well. The exact schedule can vary from person to person depending upon their subjective requirements. However, usually, it involves four-five ketogenic days followed by two to three high carb days.  

The Dos’ and Don’ts’ of a keto diet

When we talk about limiting the carb intake, it means there are certain high carb foods from which one must abstain. Similarly, high fat intake refers to the food items with which one must beef up his or her diet with. In this section of the discussion, we talk about these dos’ and don’ts’ of a ketogenic diet. 

Foods you should eat 

There are no special secret recipes that you have to whip up when it comes down to a ketogenic diet. Take meat as an example. Any red meat, steak, sausage, bacon, chicken, or turkey will do the trick of amping up your fat intake. Fatty fish like salmon or mackerel can serve the purpose of beefing up fat content in your keto diet as well. Any deficiencies can be covered up by supplementing a keto diet with eggs, nuts, oils, butter, cream, and fruits like avocados. 

Foods that you must abstain from  

Coming towards the low carb aspect of a ketogenic diet, limiting carb content is possible by abstaining from high carb foods. Some of these foods include wheat-based foods like cereal and pasta. However, this is just an example, the list is almost never-ending. Switching to low carb means that you will have to give up on most of the sugary foods like bakery products, high fructose juices, most fruits with an exception of strawberries, beans, sauces, processed foods, alcohol, and certain salads.  

How keto diets can help you lose weight?

In terms of effectiveness, keto diets are not behind low-fat diets when it comes to weight loss. In fact, in some ways, a keto diet is actually better than a low-fat diet since it has a better satiety value and a more balanced profile overall. A review study backs these claims, as well as found certain other benefits of switching to keto, which we will talk about a bit later in this discussion.

Similarly, another study evaluated the effects of following a keto diet for 15 Days. It was observed that the total amount of body fat lost by the subjects of the study was as much as five times the total body fat lost by subjects following a low-fat diet. These findings from research give further credence to the weight loss effect of a ketogenic diet. 

Keto diets for diabetes 

Apart from accelerating the weight loss process, a keto diet can help in countering the effects of diabetes as well. A diabetic patient suffers from metabolic anomalies, high blood sugar levels, and reduced insulin function. Because a ketogenic diet helps shed excess fat, it can help a diabetic patient recover insulin sensitivity by as significant a percentage as 75%. It is pertinent to mention here that these findings are true for type 2 diabetes only.

There exists a direct correlation between obesity and type 2 diabetes. Hence, following a ketogenic diet makes sense since it is super helpful in weight loss as well. Multiple studies have found that following a keto diet leads to reduced hemoglobin A1C levels as well as better sugar management overall. 

Other health benefits of a keto diet

We have talked about only a few benefits of the keto diet in detail in this discussion. Don’t let this give you the impression that this is an exhaustive list of benefits of a keto diet. Far from it, a ketogenic diet can help with several other disorders as well. Better cardiac health, tumor regression, improved brain health, and significant decline in symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are some of the most notable health benefits associated with ketogenic diets.   

What is a simple keto diet? 

At this point in the discussion, you are well familiar with the concept of a keto diet, as well as how the keto diet works. To make things more comprehensive, we are going to discuss a few simple keto diets. This exercise will achieve two purposes. One, it will help you grasp the concept a little more firmly. Second, it will give you ideas about food items that you can incorporate into your keto diet. 

Well, how about you start your day with vegetables, egg muffins? Some tomatoes will be nice also. For lunch, you can opt for a fat-loaded salad. Most novices are happy to start with a chicken salad, so here is an option that you can consider as well.

Rounding up things at dinner by having salmon cooked in butter sounds ideal, but you can opt for white fish cooked in coconut oil as well. Options are far from scant, all it takes is a little bit of imagination and creativity on your part to whip up the best keto meals. Of course, making a 7-day plan is essential to the process. 

Are there any side effects?

There are no long-term side effects reported with ketogenic diets. However, some issues might be countered in the initial days of adapting to keto diets. These issues and side effects are collectively called keto flu. Some of these side effects include diarrhea, constipation, insomnia, nausea, vomiting, and metabolic turbulences. 

FAQ

1- Can one have carb foods again in their life?

Yes, but it is better to abstain from carbs for at least 2-3 months once you are into keto diets.

2- Does switching to keto means losing muscle?

If you can maintain the protein content intake at a decent level, you can avert this risk.

3- Can one build muscles on a keto diet?

Yes but that would mean switching to a moderate rather than a low carb diet.

4- How much protein should one have while on keto?

One must exercise moderation when it comes to protein content. Any more than 35% of the total calorie intake and you are just flirting with danger. 

5- Is it ok if my breath smells?

It is. You can counter this issue by chewing some sugar-free candy or bubble gum.

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