Keto is a diet for those who want to lose weight, feel energetic and live a healthy lifestyle.

You may have tried various weight-loss methods, but have resulted in frustration.

A keto diet is an effective way to achieve rapid weight loss within a few months of starting and an excellent way to maintain your figure.

You can get remarkable results by combining a keto diet with an exercise program for more than 15 minutes daily.

What is the keto diet?

A keto diet is a diet that provides you with the required calories, but it is not based on carbs like our usual diet. The Keto diet has a high amount of fat, a moderate amount of proteins, and a low amount of carbs.

How does the keto diet work

The keto diet is low in carbs and high in fats, switching the body’s energy production from carbs (glucose) to fat. The body utilizes fat from the diet (bloodstream), and the body stores it to generate energy. 

The resulting metabolic state is known as ketosis.

As a result, body fat levels are reduced with numerous other health benefits. It helps to lower blood glucose and bad cholesterol (LDL), thus reducing the risk of heart diseases, diabetes, and certain cancers.

It is helpful in Epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease. A Keto diet is also helpful in reducing body weight even without exercising.

How to begin a keto diet

The keto diet is typically taken for a short period to target weight loss.

How many calories a person needs to stay healthy with average body weight, and who does little or no exercise? It is between 1500 and 2000 calories per day as a rough guide. Check how many calories you need a day.

Your diet must provide calories in the following percentages: 75% of calories from fat. Protein and carbs must generate 30 % and 5% calories, respectively. You need to know what you can and cannot eat in a keto diet. Here is an easy guide that you can follow,

Foods to eat

• Non-starch (non-root) vegetables–Most green vegetables are broccoli, spinach, tomato and onion.
• Meat – Include poultry (chicken, duck and turkey) and red meat (beef, mutton, lamb and pork). Choose unprocessed meat over processed ones.
• Fish – Any edible fish but oily fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardine rich in omega-3 fatty acids
• Eggs
• Milk, cream and cheese
• Nuts and seeds – Almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, and walnuts
• Healthy oils – Olive, sunflower, canola and coconut oil
• Fruits – All types of Berries, avocado

Foods to avoid

Every pleasure has some cost. Similarly, the keto diet restricts your food intake, and you might need to avoid taking your favourite foods for a few months.

• Sweets: The most loved candy, chocolate, cakes, pastries, ice creams, and cookies should be left during this diet, and besides this, cane sugar, maple syrup, honey, saccharin, and corn syrup are considered unhealthy.
• Fruits: Surprisingly, few fruits are allowed, like Tangerines, oranges, pineapples, bananas, grapes, peaches and mangoes.
• Grains: Like fruits, grains are also unsuitable for this food plan. It includes almost every grain, like wheat, rice, corn, millet, etc.
• Legumes: We have to avoid most beans like black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, soybeans, and chickpeas.
• Root vegetables – Potato, carrot and sweet potato
• Sauces: We must avoid consuming ketchup, BBQ sauce, Tomato sauces, and especially sugar-added sauce.
• Alcohol: Beer, wines, sweetened alcoholic drinks, and cider

Benefits

After paying many costs to avoid some beloved food, it pays us back with pleasure and better health.

• Weight Loss: A high-fat, low-carb diet shifts the body’s energy production fuel. This situation turns your liver to break down the stored fat in the body. The ketosis state reduces appetite, reducing the desire to eat many foods. The combination of a low-carb diet and the resultant utilization of fats leads to loss of body weight within a few weeks of the commencement of the keto diet.
• Blood Sugar Control: The ketogenic diet helps decrease blood glucose levels. First, the diet is low in carbs and other simple sugars. It also promotes the action of insulin. As a result, you can control your blood glucose level better.
• Reduction of bad Cholesterol: In a ketogenic diet, the body utilizes fats from the diet, and the body stores them, thus reducing the LDL cholesterol level in the blood.
• Acne Improvement: Better sugar levels & refined carbohydrates create balance in the guts of bacteria that enhance our skin health.
• Reduce cancer risk: This ketogenic diet complements our body against several cancers because it reduces the oxidative-free radicles in the body, a precursor of cancers.
• Improve heart health: A low LDL cholesterol and better blood sugar control lowers the risk of a deadly heart attack.
• Neuroprotective benefits: These diets help us to protect and strengthen brain & nerve cells.
• Lower Seizure Risk: Research has shown that a keto diet controls epilepsy. But you should not stop any medication you are on for epilepsy without advice from your doctor.
• Betterment in PCOS symptoms: Studies show that a ketogenic diet improves the hormone balance that stabilizes our menstrual disorder.

Is the keto diet safe?

It is a safe and sound diet with a lot of benefits. It is suitable for people with higher body weights seeking weight reduction. But when it comes to weight loss, it is essential to make a realistic plan, including a healthy diet and exercise plan.

You need to seek your doctor’s advice on specific health problems. For example, if you have diabetes, take medicine to control your blood glucose level.

The Bottom Line

The keto diet is a high-fat, low-carb diet. That creates a positive result in our body through the resultant ketosis state. The Keto diet brings many health benefits while assisting weight loss without exercise. Everyone must try a keto diet for at least a few days a week.