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The world is all screeching and complaining about one thing in common for a decade- obesity and weight gain. The modern world and revolutions bring modern and stern health problems with it too. One of those is obesity that further invites other health complications like hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, joint pains and a lot more. Recently, people are going crazy about a diet plan that is transforming their lives – Keto diet plan. So, here we will see a guide for beginners who desire to follow this Keto diet plan. Before that, let’s see what it is exactly.
Table of Contents
Keto diet
Keto diet is basically a diet that includes high-fat and very low-carb eating regime. Consuming a keto diet will put your body into ketosis. Ketosis is a process that happens when your body’s mechanism to have energy turns to fat burning from the carb-burning one. This is believed to aid in weight loss and also controls diabetes. This diet lowers blood sugar and insulin level and shifts the body’s metabolism away from carbs and towards fat and ketones.
Also Read: 15 Food you thought were healthy but actually aren’t!
How to get ready for a ketogenic diet?
- Make a list of food you are going to eat and avoid during your ketogenic diet.
- People are afraid of fat, you won’t be able to continue if you stay away from fat. So, remove carbs and prepare for a high-fat diet.
- When you get some unwanted carbs craving, make sure you have a substitute.
- Talk to your family about the keto diet because you will not be able to eat what they eat during lunch or dinner.
- Know what is Keto flu. It is a side effect that happens when you start your keto diet where the body adjusts to burn fat.
- Your body needs more salt and potassium as the body secrets more water and electrolyte during keto.
Let’s have a look at the health benefits of following a keto diet apart from weight loss.
Other health benefits of keto:
- Heart disease: This diet can improve certain risk factors that are the causes of several heart ailments. Risk factors like body fat, cholesterol levels, blood pressure and sugar levels are improved with a keto diet.
- Alzheimer’s disease: Keto diet slows the progression and may reduce the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Cancer: This diet helps in treating several types of cancers, one of which is colon cancer and also helps in reducing the size and growth of the tumor.
- Parkinson’s disease: Studies show that this diet helps in improving symptoms of Parkinson’s disease as well.
- PCOD: Polycystic Ovary Disease Syndrome symptoms also improve as this diet lowers insulin levels which play an important role in polycystic ovary syndrome.
- Brain injuries: This diet helps in reducing concussions and helps in fast recovery after brain injury.
- Acne: Acne will drastically improve as the insulin level lowers to a great extent and consumption of sugar and processed foods also reduces. This gives radiant skin.
Let’s now have a look at what one must be careful about before going on a keto diet plan. Especially beginners are clueless and tend to do things wrongly. So here’s a concise explanation of guide to the keto diet for beginners.
What foods to avoid
Basically, any food rich in carbs has to be limited or avoided. Some examples of such foods are:
- Fruits: All sorts of fruits except some berries in a small portion should be avoided.
- Grains or starches: Cereal, rice, pasta and all wheat-based products should be avoided.
- Sugary foods: sugary foods are a big no-no. Products like soda, fruit juice, smoothies, ice cream, candy, cakes, etc. should be avoided no matter how drool-worthy they are.
- Root vegetables: All the vegetables obtained from roots or in the form of roots must be avoided-potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc.
- Beans or legumes: This will include chickpeas, peas, kidney beans, lentils, etc.
- Low-fat diet products: These create an illusion of being healthy but are high in carbs and are generally highly processed.
- A few Condiments or sauces: These contain sugar and unhealthy fat.
- Alcohol: Due to their carb content, alcoholic drinks will be a great hurdle and will stop your ketosis process.
- Unhealthy fats: Limit the consumption and intake of processed vegetable oils, mayonnaise, etc.
- Diet foods that are labeled sugar-free: These are generally highly processed foods that are often high in sugar alcohols and it badly affects the ketone levels in many cases.
- Unhealthy fats- Processed vegetable oils, mayonnaise, etc. are all unhealthy fats that must be limited with a keto diet.Also Read: 9 Tips to Lose Weight In Just 30 Days
Foods to eat
Certain foods like fish, meat, avocados, nuts, etc. must be included in the keto diet plan as they have low carbs and high fat which is essential with this diet plan. Examples of such foods are:
- Condiments: A little twist is always needed in taste so you can top up your healthy snacks with a pinch of salt, pepper and natural herbs.
- Green veggies: Most veggies like tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc. are low in carbs.
- Avocados: Diet plans and avocados go hand in hand due to their nutrition-rich properties.
- Butter and cream: Look for grass-fed whenever possible.
- Healthy oils: Coconut oil, primarily extra virgin oil, avocado oil should be replaced with other oils for cooking.
- Eggs and healthy nuts: omega-3 whole eggs, almonds, walnuts, flax seeds, chia seeds, etc. will make you feel full and energized for the whole day.
- Cheese: unprocessed cheese can be included in the diet.
- Fatty fish and meat: Red meat, ham, sausages, fish such as salmon, trout, tuna can be included in the diet.
There are some questions that come to mind before starting Ketogenic Diet such as:
- Can I eat carbs again after I lose weight?
Yes, you can but it is always good to put a limit on carbs and low-carb occasionally.
- How to build muscles on the Keto Diet?
Consume a lot of high protein diet for muscle building.
- What if I feel tired, weak or dizzy while keto diet?
It may depict that the diet you are taking is not right, you need to reduce carb and go for the above-mentioned food options to get rid of the weakness.
Nutshell
Keto diet plan is an exceptionally great plan to lose those extra pounds and enhance health but the people who are heavily dependent on carbs will find it very difficult to follow. Initial days will be difficult as you might experience a sudden drop in energy due to limited carbs consumption but thereafter as you proceed with the process of strictly abiding by the diet plan, you will witness a great surge in energy levels and reduction in weight with so much positivity. Your target weight is attainable but one must always seek some professional guidance of a medical practitioner for the best results and least side effects.
You can do it! Just be aware of the do’s and don’ts and incorporate the essential lifestyle changes. Just be prepared for some unpleasant changes in the initial days of following the keto diet. One of them is keto flu. This makes you feel extremely lethargic and weak in the initial 10 days until your body is trying to consume fats without any high carbs.
