One of the most fashionable diets to burn fat and lose weight today is the ketogenic diet or keto diet. Unlike other diets, the keto diet is based on the consumption of fats and the restriction of carbohydrates, as far as possible, in order to favor the loss of those extra kilos.
In the ketogenic or keto diet, the consumption of carbohydrates is restricted, which favors fat loss
The Keto diet can give favorable results since the success of this diet lies in the medical supervision and follow-up of the patient.
If you are interested in knowing a little more about this interesting diet, continue reading.
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What Is The Ketogenic Diet?
The ketogenic diet has its origins in the second decade of the 20th century when it was first used as a method to reduce anxiety attacks.
But, it was not until the 70's that it began to gain notable popularity as it was recommended by some health specialists as an alternative to lose weight.
This type of diet is based on replacing fast-absorbing simple carbohydrates with fats as the main source of energy for our body.
Usually, our body takes most of the energy required in its vital processes through the consumption of sugars, starches, and flours. These foods, after being digested, are processed into glucose, the main source of caloric energy for the body.
However, when fasting or doing some physical activity and stopping eating these carbohydrates, the sugar levels in the bloodstream decrease. Which turns on an alarm mechanism in our body known as a state of ketosis that is activated by taking the fat accumulated in our tissues to transform it into energy.
This typically occurs within about four days of starting a ketogenic diet and depleting glycogen stores.
It is common to find ketogenic diets that include up to 70% of the daily food intake based on fatty foods and only 20% on foods containing protein.
When following a keto diet, glucose levels should be monitored to establish the effectiveness of ketosis. Before starting this type of dietary regimen, I recommend that you go to a consultation with your nutritionist.
Such a radical change in our diet cannot be taken lightly, it must be done progressively and always under the supervision and control of a health specialist.
What Can You Eat On The Ketogenic Diet?
Broadly speaking, the ketogenic diet is mainly made up of foods that ideally should come from a natural source, processed as little as possible, and that also provide our diet with a significant caloric content and quality proteins.
When making a diet of this type you should not be carried away by appearances. Although the keto diet is based on the consumption of fats, these fats should be as healthy as possible, as is the case with unsaturated fats.
Not all types of food provide healthy fats for our body and for this reason, it is important to always take into account the opinion of a nutritionist
In general, lean meats and oily fish also contain large amounts of protein and minerals, especially if we compare them with other types of processed meat of poor quality.
Here are some foods that will be very useful when guiding you to put together a keto menu:
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Meat, chicken, and other meat substitutes
Unlike most other diets, the keto diet admits without any problem the intake of red meats such as beef, lamb, pork. As well as other meat substitute products, including tofu or soy meat and sausages or cold cuts.
However, by including vegetable protein substitutes, the protein content of these foods is considerably lower than that of animal proteins.
If you carry out training with exercises where hypertrophy prevails, or simply integrate a lightweight routine to tone your body, keep in mind that these are anaerobic exercises that recruit a large amount of protein in the post-workout phase to regenerate the muscle fibers.
So if this is your case, then perhaps animal proteins should prevail in your diet accompanied by healthy supplementation, such as whey protein powder.
The second point to take into consideration is that both sausages and cold cuts should be as little processed as possible, so I recommend you stay away from supermarket cold cuts and hams and opt instead for organic or artisanal products in which you always can verify their origin.
Ideally, they also contain a nutritional table so you can check their content of saturated and unsaturated fats.
Fish and shellfish
Fish of any kind is an excellent option not only to include sources of top-quality fat and protein but also provide a series of minerals and fatty acids such as omega 3 and 6 that are essential for our body.
An excellent source of energy and protein is, for example, fatty fish such as mackerel, tuna, or salmon. In addition to providing top-quality fats and proteins, they are also great for including compounds of great nutritional value in your ketogenic diet.
The only recommendation that you should keep in mind when preparing them is to leave aside the battered and breaded recipes because remember that in this type of diet it is about avoiding the consumption of carbohydrates as much as possible.
Vegetables
In the event that you plan to start a keto diet, then keep in mind that the use of vegetables is more than recommended as a healthy source of energy and minerals.
However, one detail that you should pay attention to is that when buying your vegetables, always choose those that are not starchy, since starch is quickly synthesized by the body and transformed into glycogen and precisely this diet focuses on maintaining as low as possible the level of glycogen in the blood.
In this sense, non-starchy green leafy vegetables will be your best allies to get rid of those annoying extra kilos, these types of vegetables include cucumber, radishes, cabbage, celery, cauliflower, avocado, and broccoli.
A detail that will make your meals much richer will be choosing fresh vegetables because they not only contain a greater amount of nutrients, but also their flavor is much richer and the crispy and firm texture will make each of your dishes stand out.
Eggs
It is one of the most versatile foods that exist in the gastronomic world and guesses what? They can be included in the ketogenic diet without any problem.
Take advantage of the flexibility of this diet to include eggs in a wide variety of preparations such as tortillas, omelets, fried or battered with butter and boiled, create new dishes with eggs, and enjoy a different one every day.
Fruits
Fruits as long as they do not contain a high sugar content can be included in each of your meals.
That is why most of the fences such as strawberries or raspberries, as well as lemons and pineapple, can be an excellent option for a healthy and rich snack for mid-morning or afternoon.
In general, you should stay away from fruits such as bananas or oranges due to their high level of sugars, however, melons or watermelons can be eaten thanks to their high water content.
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Cheese and dairy
As this diet is structured fundamentally from the consumption of fats, cheeses, dairy products, and their derivatives can be part of it since they contain an important composition based on fats.
In this food segment, I recommend using Greek yogurt as it is one of the healthiest as it contains a lot of protein and few carbohydrates.
With Greek yogurt, you can prepare dressings for main dishes and by mixing it with other fruits you can enjoy a healthy and fresh snack.
On the other hand, you should stay away from milk and "light" or flavored yogurts, these products have a fairly high level of sugars, carbohydrates, and preservatives.
Unsaturated fats
Like those found in olive oil, certain fruits such as avocados, walnuts, salmon, tuna, trout, or herring, allow us to considerably reduce the levels of bad cholesterol or dilute LDL in our blood.
For this reason, our salads can be seasoned with extra virgin olive oil.
Foods You Shouldn't Eat on a Ketogenic or Keto Diet
Another essential aspect if you want to start a keto diet is to keep your carbohydrate intake at bay.
In this sense, the ideal is that less than 10% of the calories consumed come from flour or carbohydrates, this is equivalent to a maximum of 50 grams of carbohydrates per day.
If you consume more carbohydrates than allowed then you run the risk of breaking the state of ketosis by increasing blood glucose levels.
In this case, glucose replaces fat as an energy source and you can lose all the results obtained and the effort invested in following the diet since the body consumes energy from sugars and carbohydrates again.
You can eat legumes and non-starchy vegetables such as celery, eggplant, artichoke, chard, or avocado. However, certain tubers such as potatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, or corn are ruled out due to their high percentage of starch.
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What Risks Does The Ketogenic Diet Have?
Although this diet has gained a lot of popularity in recent years and a number of followers have never seen it before, this type of diet is not without controversy either, as there are studies that have shown an increase in cholesterol levels and certain types of associated proteins to inflammation.
Due to the above, this diet in some cases can subject the body to high levels of stress, and can even lead to the risk of suffering from coronary diseases and obesity because many people do not do it properly.
It is not recommended that all people opt for the keto diet, especially if they suffer from a particular condition such as diabetes, hypertension, or any other type of heart condition.
Well, by substituting processed meats and butter for the main sources of fiber, vitamins, and minerals present in both fruits and cereals, and vegetables, there is an undeniable risk to our health.
If you decide to undertake this type of diet, I recommend that you choose natural foods with a high percentage of good cholesterol, leaving aside especially ultra-processed foods that can be extremely harmful to our lives.
I hope that this information will help you to learn a little more about this interesting type of diet, as well as its main advantages, benefits and the possible risks that it can bring to your health.
Do not take your health lightly, before starting a diet on your own, I invite you to consult the opinion of a specialist.
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