The Ketogenic Diet For Beginners
Article by – Saguren Redyrs
You might have heard about the ketogenic diet from a friend or online. A lot of the terminology might sound like French to the beginner, so I am going to break everything down into simple terms and explanations so that it will be easy to understand for the novice who is not so sure about what the ketogenic diet is all about. Let’s get straight into it:
What is the ketogenic diet?
The ketogenic diet is a diet where you eat high amounts of fat, moderate levels of protein and a low percentage of carbohydrates. The goal of this diet is to encourage your body to use fat as energy instead of sugar or carbohydrates. The objective of people who follow a ketogenic diet is to get into a metabolic zone called ketogenesis. Ketogenesis is a state where fats are used as the primary source of fuel for the brain, the muscles and the rest of the body.
What products do I need to go on the ketogenic diet?
The great news about this specific diet is that you don’t have to buy a specific product. You simply eat certain foods while avoiding others to change the way that your body handles nutrients. All of the ingredients that you need can be bought from the grocery store.
What are the recommended fat, protein and carbohydrate eating ratios?
Three quarters (75%) of your food should come from fats. 20% of the remaining foods should come from proteins while only 5% of your daily food intake should come from carbohydrates.
How a normal diet affects our metabolism
Most diets are high in carbohydrates and sugars
A typical, western diet contains a lot of sugar and refined carbohydrates. 12 ounces of soda, for example, floods your system with 97 times more sugar than what is normally found in your entire blood stream. Carbohydrates break down into sugars in the digestive tract. Simple carbohydrates break down into sugars very quickly, while complex carbs take longer to break down and give the body a slower, more stable release of sugar.
How the body reacts to sugar
When we eat foods that contain sugar or carbohydrates, the sugar turns into glucose (sugar in the blood). Insulin is released to shuttle this sugar into the cells, muscle tissues and brain to be used as energy. Excess sugar is stored as fat. Insulin works very quickly to shuttle sugar out of the blood because high concentrations of sugar in the blood can damage the blood vessels, organs and nerves if it stays there for too long. This is why people who have diabetes may suffer from blindness, nerve damage, organ failure and other symptoms associated with a lack of blood circulation.
Sugar and carbohydrates are addictive
Eating foods that are high in sugar make us feel good by giving us a quick form of energy and stimulating the feel-good, reward-based hormone called dopamine. Insulin quickly shuttles sugar out of the blood stream to mitigate its negative effects. This causes a rapid drop in blood sugar and crashes our energy levels. Dopamine levels also drop and urge us to return to our previous state of high sugar. The drop in energy and dopamine causes us to crave for more sugar.
Regular sugar consumption leads to weight gain
Every time we eat more sugar or refined carbs, the excess energy is stored as fat and we crave for more sugar before the body can burn through the newly acquired fat stores. It is easier to use sugar for energy than fat because the molecular structure of sugar is less complex. The body only needs to work to pull 4 calories out of a gram of sugar, while it needs to work harder to pull 9 calories out of a gram of fat.
How does the ketogenic diet work?
The ketogenic diet works to counter this by training it to run off of fat instead of sugar. The body initially struggles to do this because sugar is easier to turn into energy compared to fat. By eating a higher concentration of fats, your body is forced to adapt to fat metabolism. As your body gets better at using fat for energy, it will convert existing fat into ketones. Ketones are made in the liver from fat cells and are released into the blood to give the body the energy that it needs.
Does the ketogenic diet work?
It takes some time for the body to get used to the decrease in sugar consumption. This will initially lead to negative energy and mood changes. As the body adapts by creating ketones for energy, you will have more energy than before because ketones are more stable than sugar as an energy source. Ketones don’t rise and fall as quickly as sugar does. When your body uses ketones for fuel instead of sugar, you lose cravings for sugar, sweets, sodas and other high-sugar products.
Keto means ‘ketogenic diet’ or a ‘ketogenesis state’
Keto is a short term for ‘ketogenic’ (diet) or ‘ketogenesis’ (metabolic state). For example, you can say that you’re on keto (You’re on a ketogenic diet). You can also say that you’ve entered keto (you’ve entered into a state of ketogenesis).
What foods can I eat on Keto?
The proteins that you can eat are lamb, chicken and turkey, beef, pork and bacon, steak, fish and eggs. The fats that you can eat are avocados, nuts and seeds, ghee, olive and coconut oil, butter and cream, almond milk (without added sugar), full fat unsweetened yogurt and cauliflower.
What foods shouldn’t I eat on keto?
There are unhealthy products that you shouldn’t eat, regardless of diet, that are high in sugar and need to be avoided when doing keto. These include sodas, sweets, candy and chocolates.
Check the labels of ordinary products and you will be surprised at how much sugar is added. For example, did you know that ketchup is typically made with more sugar than any other ingredient? Other foods include sugary fruit and vegetables like apples and carrots. Carbohydrates that should be avoided include bread, rice, potatoes, cereals, cakes, pastries and pies, cookies and pasta.
Why should I avoid sugary fruit and vegetables?
The point of a keto diet is to train your body to use fat instead of sugar for energy. There are natural foods that are high on the glycemic index (I.e. they have a high amount of sugar that gets released into the bloodstream quickly). You can check this list to see which foods are high on the glycemic scale.
What does a typical ketogenic diet look like?
A daily keto diet can be:
- 2 eggs fried in butter with sautéed greens for – breakfast,
- A large burger patty (no bun) with cheese, avocado and mushrooms with a green salad for – lunch
- Pork chops with sautéed greens for – dinner.
- You can also have an omelet with mushrooms for – breakfast,
- a tuna salad with a green salad and a tomato for – lunch
- And chicken with cream and broccoli for – dinner.
- If you would like to build your own keto diet, this a great guide on how to do so.
Are there any setbacks to the ketogenic diet?
Some would argue that the exclusion of sugary fruits and vegetables (and the high amount of fat and protein) decreases the amount of important vitamins and minerals that you consume on a daily basis. They also argue that the only way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than what you out in, regardless of the food itself. You can read more about the pros and cons of keto here.
My verdict
I definitely think that the ketogenic diet can help you to lose weight because it forces you to avoid sugary foods that are highly processed like cereals, sodas and pastries. When I need to lose weight, I simply cut out sugar and simple carbs so that my diet consists of meat, diary, fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds exclusively. One of my biggest rules is that the less processed the diet, the healthier it is for you. I also believe that no diet is complete without a good exercise plan.
Saguren Redyrs – Saguren Redyrs started his health and fitness blog SA Spotters to help people incorporate healthy habits into their daily lifestyle. He encourages people to drink more water at work, do at least one squat every day and use small changes to bring on the big results. A good example of his work is how you can use exercise to improve your sleeping patterns.
Now it’s your turn
If you know somebody who might benefit from learning about how the ketogenic diet works, feel free to share with article with them. Did you learn anything new about keto? What are your thoughts on this kind of eating plan? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
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