What is Ketogenic Diet and How to Get into Ketosis
A keto diet is well known for being a low-carb and high-fat diet where your body produces ketones in the liver to be used as energy. This diet involves a significant reduction of carbohydrate intake, which is replaced with fat; therefore, your body becomes more efficient at burning fat. According to healthline.com, “the ketogenic diet is an effective way to lose weight and lower risk factors for disease”. And this is not the only benefit that this diet provides to your body. The ketogenic diet also lowers blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity.
How exactly do you get into ketosis? Here are 5 steps to know how it works:
- Cut down consumption of glucose from carbohydrate foods - grains, starchy vegetables, fruit, etc.
- Your body finds an alternative fuel source - fat, such as avocados, coconut oil, and salmon.
- Meanwhile, without the glucose, your body starts to burn fat and produces the ketones instead.
- After ketone levels in the blood rise to a certain point, you already enter int a state of ketosis.
- This final step results in quick and consistent weight loss until you reach a healthy, stable body weight.
Once you understand how this process is achieved, it is also important to know what foods we need to avoid or reduce on a ketogenic diet. Here is a list of some of those foods:
- Sugary foods (sodas, smoothies, any dessert like candy, cakes or ice cream)
- Grains (rice, pasta, cereal, wheat products)
- Root vegetables and tubers (potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc)
- Unhealthy fats (mayonnaise, vegetable oils, etc)
- Alcohol (many alcoholic beverages have carbs)
Avoid any of these foods, even beans, juices, and most fruits because they can throw you out of ketosis. Keep in mind that your goal after having entered the state of ketosis is to maintain your weight to stay healthy. In order to stay healthy and give to your body all the nutrients that it needs during this process, you need to know about the foods you should base in your meals. Here are some of them that healthline.com recommends:
- Meat and fatty fish
- Eggs (look for omega-3 whole eggs preferably)
- Butter and cream
- Cheese (try to eat unprocessed cheese)
- Nuts and seeds (almonds, chia seeds, walnuts, etc)
- Healthy oils (coconut and avocado oil preferably)
- Low-carb veggies (tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc)
Ketosis is a natural process the body initiates to help us survive when food intake is low. And to reach your goal of maintaining a properly keto diet is to get your body into this metabolic state. Our bodies have an incredible way of adaptation to what you put into it; hence, if you are thinking of getting into this keto lifestyle, inform yourself well and your body will thank you for that.
