What’s In A Ketogenic Diet?

The ketogenic diet has gained prominence and is being praised by popular actors. When you are on a low-carb diet, your body burns fat for fuel while offering nourishment with whole foods. What better way to lose weight than have your body do all the work.

How does the diet work and what should you be eating and avoiding? When you are on a ketogenic diet, you limit the intake of carbohydrates to 50 grams daily, thereby, encouraging the body into a state called ketosis. When the body is in ketosis, it is fuelled by fat, as opposed to glucose. Ketosis produces ketone bodies. These are produced from the breakdown of fats in the liver. The body uses the fat supply for energy, resulting in weight loss. Health experts recommend going on a ketogenic diet as fat has a less impact on blood sugar levels.

Advantages

  • You lose weight quickly when you are on a ketogenic diet.
  • The ketogenic diet is perfectly suited for individuals who are diabetic or insulin resistant since the fat does not have the impact on insulin the same way as carbohydrates.
  • People who suffer from heart diseases reported an improvement in their condition when they drastically lowered their intake of carbohydrates.

Disadvantages

  • A ketogenic diet can impact your health negatively as you may experience nutritional deficiencies.
  • You may experience side effects such as dizziness, kidney damage and loss of mental focus.
  • When you are on the ketogenic diet, you need to drastically decrease your carbohydrates intake, which may result in withdrawal from your social activities.

Which Food To Consume?

  • Avocado
  • Bacon
  • Egg yolks
  • Olive oil
  • Butter
  • Cheese
  • Coconut milk

Moderate amounts of protein

  • Fish
  • Seafood
  • Eggs
  • Meat
  • Poultry

A small portion of low-carbohydrates:

  • Cucumber
  • Tomatoes
  • Celery
  • Peppers
  • Mushrooms
  • Leafy greens
  • Asparagus

When you are on a ketogenic diet, you should be consuming 70% of your calories as fat, 25% from protein and only 5% as carbs.

What Should You Not Eat?

  • Bread
  • Pasta
  • Wheat
  • Corn
  • Oats
  • Splenda
  • Sweeteners
  • Diet soda
  • Drinks
  • Gluten
  • Atkins products

The Meal Guide

Breakfast

Do not forget the most important meal of the day, breakfast. To enter ketosis, you need to eat 3 egg omelets with sausages and cheese a day. To get a variety, you can opt for bacon and eggs, and avocado-baked eggs.

Lunch

For lunch, you can have a green salad or a spinach salad. On alternate days, you can choose walnuts and cottage cheese and tuna salad lettuce wrap or chicken and lettuce hummus wrap.

Dinner

Do not despair. The best meals while on the ketogenic diet are reserved for dinner. One of your options is a baked salmon with asparagus, meatloaf, slaw hash, tacos and Philly cheesesteak casserole.

You should also incorporate fruits into your ketogenic diet. Raspberries, strawberries and blueberries are a great option. For breakfast, do not forget about sour cream and yogurt. During dinner, you can also indulge in turkey, chicken and lamb. Make sure you include pumpkin and cucumbers for lunch.