The Keto Diet is a new diet form that has gained prominence recently. For those who are not aware of what a Keto Diet really is, it is basically a diet that has 1 mantra, low carbs and high fat!
High Keto Foods
It might sound weird but the fact is that when you reduce your carbs intake, your body starts using the stored fat as a form of energy, thus leading to weight loss and enhanced health performance. When you are on a Keto Diet, your body depends on fat for energy and hence it becomes easier to burn the fat off.
Let us look at some diet tips and some food items that you must include in your Keto Diet grocery list:
a) Some basic food items that you must include in your diet are natural fats (olive oil, butter and the like), cheese, meat, seafood, eggs etc. There are many more things that you can eat. You must read the labels whenever possible to understand the carb content. Limit it as much as possible.
High Keto Food
b) Even though the list of food items that you can eat is long, the ones that you must avoid are pretty stringent. Including any of these in your daily diet simply ruins your efforts. This includes bread, pasta, desserts, potatoes, soda, candies, rice etc.
c) Full fat cheese, yoghurt and sour cream can be included in your diet. Olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, sesame oil etc. are good too.
d) For those who need tea or coffee everyday to function, must note that black coffee and green tea are the best alternatives. However, you must not add sugar to it. You can add a little milk to it but do not go all out. Alcohol is a strict no-no. If you are looking for something heavier, bone broth is fine too.
Green Tea
e) When it comes to meat, though, they might have low carb content, the protein content, which must be limited in this diet, is high. You can have beef, fish, lamb meat, goat meat, pork, chicken etc.
f) Vegetables are healthy. Well haven’t we learned that through it all? Keto limits the number of vegetables you can consume and specifies the kind suitable for you. Leafy green veggies growing above the ground are the best. Broccoli, zucchini, cabbage, avocado are some that you must include in your diet. Potatoes are high in carbs and must be limited.
High Keto Vegetables
g) It is very important to be hydrated throughout the diet. Drink as many glasses of water as you can. You might notice that there are some side effects of this diet. This is mainly limited to the emotional aspect of your being as your body might take some time to adjust to this change. Drink a lot of water and always remember that the side effects will go away.
h) A lot of people might suggest you to go crazy with the nuts. Well, that is not entirely true. When it comes to carb content, each kind of nut has its own structure and composition. If you are looking for a snack, choose a kind that has low carbs as compared to the rest. Pecan, Brazil and Macadamia are the only nuts that have comparatively lower calories as compared to Almonds, Cashews, Pistachios, Walnuts, Peanuts, and Hazelnuts. It is to be noted that all we are saying is that it has fewer calories. We are not saying that they can be consumed as a snack. It is fine to have a handful of it once in a while, but try and limit it as much as you can.
Nuts
There are different kinds of Keto Diets that you can choose from:
-- The Standard Keto Diet, which includes only 20-50 grams of carbs per day. Here, about 25 percent of your diet is constituted of protein and the rest is comprised of fat.
-- The Targeted Keto Diet, which includes less than 25-45 grams of carbs per day and that too about 1 hour before working out.
--The High Protein Keto Diet, which includes having 35-40% protein, 5% carbs and 55-75 per cent fat in your diet.
-- The Cyclical Keto Diet, which includes having less than 20-40 grams of carbs on consecutive days each week. The stretch of days can be as low as 5 days and can go up to 6 days per week. The remaining days act like a cheat day. You can go all out with carbs!
These forms have been created to add a degree of flexibility to an otherwise extremely rigid diet form. The results will differ depending on the kind of diet you follow and how seriously you abide by the rules. Note that diet is a part of your lifestyle and your lifestyle cannot be changed in a matter of days. It takes long to adjust to something new. The code is to never give up. However, if at any point, you feel like this diet is not for you, feel free to stop. Do something that you know you can stick to, instead of just trying to follow the trend!
