Ketogenic diet is a low carb diet in which you are allowed to eat fat and protein, but virtually no carbs. The body enters into a state called ketosis, in ketones are used as an energy source instead of glucose.
Ketogenic Diet Benefits
Ketogenic diet can be very effective when follow correctly. It has been largely used both by the ones interested in weight loss and also in treating epilepsy.
It can boost your energy level and also increase testosterone, decrease bad cholesterol and prevent muscle mass loss.
Ketogenic Diet Watch-Outs
- While on a ketogenic diet, you need to drink plenty of water, in order to avoid kidney problems.
- Take care with the potential saturated fat excess. You can go for more vegetable fats, rather than animal fats.
- Eat enough alkaline foods such as veggies an nuts, in order to counter-act excessive acidity.
- In order to make sure you get enough fibers, include in your menus enough veggies, nuts, almonds and seeds.
- Some people just don’t react well to low carb diets, i.e. they feel fatigued and their body can’t adjust well to using the new source of energy.
Ketogenic Diet
In short, you will need to keep the daily carbs intake below 50 grams, while having fats and proteins in all meals. You can eat more carbs (within reason) after a weight training work-out.
To note, if your current diet is quite heavy in carbs, consider reducing carb intake over a longer period of time, i.e. a few weeks or even a few months. You can use this as a preparation period to help your body adjust gradually to the new diet and start keto afterwards.
You can eat meat, cheese, eggs, protein shakes, etc plus fat sources such as avocado, sour cream, butter, vegetable oils, nuts, almonds and so on. Pay attention not to eat proteins in excess. They should be balanced with fat sources and with alkaline foods such as allowed veggies.
In order to get good results, a key element is to not cheat. You should absolutely avoid all sugar, grains, corn, potatoes, honey, most fruits, alcohol and so on. You are allowed to take your carbs from veggies such as cucumber, broccoli, spinach, green beans, cabbage, etc.
Ketogenic Diet Supplements
Vitamin and mineral supplements are recommended, like on any diet. Then, consider taking lipotropics, i.e. supplements which support the liver to process fat – lecithin, choline, inositol and so on. Omega 3 supplements are welcome. Then, consider supplements which facilitate the use of fat as an energy source: L-Carnitine, ALC (acetyl-l-carnitine).
Conclusion
Ketogenic diet is a very effective diet when used correctly. You can lose weight, while maintaining or increasing your muscle mass. However, there are also some watch-outs you need to take into account. Most importantly, for this diet in particular, it is important to get professional medical advice.
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