With all the articles and posts about seemingly every different kind of diet under the sun it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or confused as to which diet is the “right diet”. The truth is there is no such thing as the “right diet”. They all have their strengths and weaknesses and may or may not be appropriate for you depending on your lifestyle and current situation. In the coming weeks I will go over some of the more popular diets that are doing the rounds in main stream and social media. Let’s start with possibly the most “in fashion” diet at the moment.
The Ketogenic Diet
This diet is currently very trendy and you have probably seem friends posting pictures of “keto Meals” and comments like “I’ve been in ketosis now for 7 days straight, lost 15 pounds and rainbows shoot from my rear end whenever I have to toot, which is far less often than the rest of you! Well maybe the posts aren’t quite that obnoxious but you get my point.
So what is the ketogenic diet? It works on the principal that when you restrict your carbohydrate intake to between 20g – 50g per day, your body will run out of glucose as its primary energy source and switch to metabolizing fat to meet your energy needs. It generally takes 3-4 days to get into ketosis but there are things you can do to help speed this process up (see the end of this article).
When your body is burning fat as its primary fuel source it produces ketones. To put it simply, if you have ketones in your urine, you’re in ketosis. You can check to see if your body is in ketosis with urine test strips. These can be picked up for less than $10 and you should be able to get them from a local pharmacy or you can order them from Amazon.
Some of the benefits of the diet include weight loss, reduced appetite, it can reduce acne, provide steady energy levels throughout the day, improve heart health, and may help protect brain function among other things.
Some of the more common less desirable effects of a ketogenic diet can include feeling weak or tired, often referred to as “keto flu”, diarrhea, and muscle cramps.
When following a ketogenic diet it’s important to drink plenty of water and to keep your mineral levels balanced, you can aid this by adding a little extra salt to your meals. I recommend using pink Himalayan salt. Try to drink an ounce of water for every 2 pounds you weigh. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds you should drink 100 ounces of water per day. This should be higher if you are sweating a lot.
When switching to a ketogenic diet it’s normal to experience some of these less desirable side effects. Just understand this is just your body adjusting to a new diet and they won't last forever. These side effects may be more prevalent if you are giving up a diet high in processed foods and sugar.
I hope this helps to give you a better understanding of what a ketogenic diet is without boring you to tears or taking hours to research. If it did please feel free to share it with your friends and help spread the love.
So are you ready to start losing weight, feeling great and having rainbow toots (disclaimer, rainbow toots aren’t real) on the ketogenic diet plan? If so sign up below to receive a free 7 day ketogenic meal plan as well as other cool articles and notifications. The 7 day plan will also include my tips and the product I always recommend to anyone if they want to get into ketosis as quickly as possible. If you’re already signed up you should have the meal plan waiting for you in your inbox.
Thanks for reading.
Max