Keto Diet – Foods and Meal Plan

The Ketogenic diet is a high fat, low carb diet. The diet involves reducing carbohydrate intake and then replacing the same with fats. Thus reduction of carbs let your body in a metabolic state known as ketosis.

Introduction

Staying fit and being healthy has become the topmost priority in today’s world. People today have been investing a lot in their bodies and its wellbeing. Be it in terms of exercise or diet, people today are looking for a new and a little easy way to stay fit and have a healthier lifestyle. One such innovation in this sector was the Ketogenic Diet, also known as the Keto diet. In this article, we will try to understand a few things about this diet and know about the basics.

What is a Keto Diet?

Keto diet means a diet that is low in carbs and high in fat. This type of diet has been known to provide multiple health benefits and has been lately very popular amongst the youth. It has been proven in multiple studies that this diet is one of the perfect options to lose weight and to improve one’s health condition.

The idea behind the keto diet is that when a person consumes fewer carbs, the body, after one point, falls short of blood sugar that it could have used quickly. Once that happens, the body itself starts breaking protein and fat for energy, which eventually can lead to losing weight. This entire process is called ketosis and is highly beneficial for those who are looking to lose weight.

Who Should Not Follow the Keto Diet?

There is a specific category of people who should refrain from practising this keto diet as it may end up doing more harm than benefiting them. This category of people includes:

1. People who have diabetes and take insulin to control it
2. People who suffer from high blood pressure
3. Women who are breastfeeding

What are the benefits of Keto Diet?

Now there have been multiple known health benefits for people who practice and follow the keto diet. Some of these multiple benefits include:

Helps in Weight Loss

One of the first and foremost benefits of following the keto diet is that it helps in losing weight because of its low carb and high-fat diet. When you practice this diet, it has been noted that it reduced your hunger and appetite, thus resulting in weight loss. Different studies have been conducted over the years that have proven that the keto diet promotes more weight loss as compared to other diets.

Improves Acne

Many people today suffer from acne. Now the reason behind that can differ for each person, but it has been seen that it is due to improper diet and blood sugar issues in people for most of the audiences. Too many carbs are not suitable for health and often cause acne. With keto diet in which carb consumption is very, it helps in balancing the proportion, thus leading to reduced acne.

Reduced Risk of Cancer

Various studies that have been conducted have proven that a ketogenic diet helps in preventing and, at times, even treat certain types of cancers. People who follow this diet during their chemo and radiation therapy during a certain type of cancers.

Improves the Condition of Heart

If someone follows the keto diet sincerely and chooses healthy options in fat as well, that can help in reducing cholesterol, thus leading to better heart functioning. It has been a widely known fact that a high level of cholesterol causes heart distress. Therefore, it is all the more important to follow a diet that helps in controlling cholesterol and helps the heart perform better.

Neurological Benefits

Certain studies conducted in the year 2019 have suggested that the ketones generated during the keto diet end up providing neuroprotective benefits. This means that people following the keto diet can benefit from strengthening and protecting the brain and nerve cells. Therefore, people who have Alzheimer’s disease can follow this diet have to manage their condition well.

What Should You Eat and Not Eat in a Keto Diet?

As mentioned above, following the keto diet involved eating fewer carbs and more fats. Now there are certain edible items that one must consume and certain that one must avoid at all costs. Some of these products include:

What are the Side Effects of Keto Diet?

Now everything has both benefits and risks attached to it. Keto diet is another such thing that has many benefits but certain risk factors that one should be aware of before going ahead with this diet. Following are the risk facts that you should keep in mind:

Can Harm the Kidneys

Eating meat, eggs, and cheese are some of the basics of practising the keto diet. Consuming these food items in excess can result in the risk of having kidney stones. This is because when you consume animal food more, it leads to more acidic blood and urine and an increase in excretion of calcium in urine

Cause of Digestive Issues and Changes in Gut Bacteria

As keto diet requires you to restrict carb intake, it leads to difficulty in meeting one’s daily fibre needs. This at many times leads to discomfort in the digestive system and constipation

Nutrient Deficiencies

As we read above, several keto diet restrictions, especially nutrient-dense fruits, whole grains, and legumes, fail to provide your body with vitamins and minerals. Many studies conducted over the years have found that following a keto diet may lead to nutrient deficiencies in a body

Cause of Dangerously Low Sugar

A certain category of diabetic people like the ones with type 1 are at high risk of falling victim to very harmful and dangerously low sugar level

Some of the other health risks associated with the keto diet include damaging bone health, an increase in the risk of chronic diseases, and even keto flu. Now that you are aware of the keto diet’s yin and yang, ensure that you make the right decision when choosing it. One can even consider consulting a proper dietician before starting this diet and getting a deep dive into dos and don’ts associated with it.

How to do keto diet

With each passing day we are seeing that there is a rise in popularity of ketogenic diet. We see a lot of benefits in the diet. It gives out significant results and it is not that complicated in comparison to others, it is considered to be simple. If you wish to lose weight, gain some energy or want enhancement in the brain health, diet increases and helps improve your blood sugar level. It also improves your complete health. If you are looking for these benefits then keto diet can help.

Best and successful steps to start your keto diet:

When you have decided that you want to start on your keto diet and you are aware of the benefits that are availed by the diet. Then you are all ready to start it. So here are some steps to start your diet:

• First of all you need to start with taking in the right food.
• Secondly, eat right amount of food
• Lastly, prepare your keto diet chart

Step towards keto diet is: what you need to have in the diet and what you have to avoid

• Eat keto friendly food, you need to avoid carb avoid- ridden foods
• Use keto recipes in your diet and use guides to plan your meals.
• Check your food packaging and labels for ingredients.