A ketogenic diet or Keto diet is a diet system that is known for being extremely low-carb. The way that it works is by changing the way the body harnesses energy. The body produces a number of ketones in the liver that can be used to produce energy but by adjusting diet you can also adjust metabolism in the way that the body works at gaining energy through diet.
How to Get Started on a Ketogenic Diet
Eating a diet that extremely high in carbs will cause your body to produce an excessive amount of insulin and glucose:
Insulin is a compound that’s produced by your body process glucose and glucose is the easiest molecule that a body can convert food into to produce energy.
Glucose is used as the primary energy meeting that much of the fat that you already have on your body continues to be stored. By reducing the total intake of carbs that you have within your body it’s possible to change your metabolism into a state of ketosis.
What this causes is the body to begin the process of changing fat into energy rather than changing carbohydrates or glucose into energy. What eventually happens with this diet as it is maintained in the process of continuing to keep this body and the metabolic state. There is no starvation of calories and you can still feel extremely full throughout the diet, there’s just no inclusion of carbohydrates that can be so easily converted into energy.
As ketones are continually produced by the liver our bodies also continue to become incredibly adaptive. Over the course of several weeks our bodies eventually start to adapt offering us a number of different benefits and weight loss, mental performance benefits as well as overall health benefits.
The first way to get started with the ketogenic diet involves picking out the right diet plan. Cutting out some of the old carbohydrates and unhealthy fats that would dominate your diet involves the process of laying out a diet plan that you can stick to.
Some of the basic things that you can eat on a ketogenic diet include fish and seafood, non-starchy vegetables like leafy greens, lean meats, healthy fats like olive oil, butter, coconut oil or tallow as well as some types of berries. The Keto diet is mostly based on natural ingredients and a typical day of your menu might include eggs and lean bacon for breakfast, a homemade chicken bone broth with a chicken salad for lunch and lean steak with a roasted veggie for dinner.
If you have a sweet tooth there are even some excellent desserts that can be made with sucralose to give you a great boost through your diet.
Some of the precautions when you start your diet are the changes that you might experience as you adapt. These changes are often called the carb flu. This occurs when your body starts to adapt to living without carbohydrates. Usually, these feelings can last between one to two weeks and you might feel extensively tired, slightly nauseous or even moody as your body continues to adapt to your new diet. In order to combat the carb flu during the start of the ketogenic diet work at getting enough protein with healthy fats or a multivitamin, make sure you are well hydrated and consider adding in sweet potatoes and other clean carbs to wean yourself off carbohydrates.
A ketogenic diet is a tool that is really designed to help with weight loss and a jumpstart to any other workout and diet plan.
In most cases, people stick to the Ketogenic diet over several weeks and eventually move on to a paleo or very low-carb diet with exercise later on. By starting with the Keto diet you can work on boosting your mental clarity and health before taking on other diet and exercise plans.
This diet can create a dramatic change in your body over just a few short weeks!
