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One of the most popular diets that continues to fly around these days is the ketogenic diet. This low-carb, medium protein, and high-fat diet have many supporters. You might ask, “is the keto diet right for me?” If you are considering jumping into it, here are a few things that you need to consider:
Is the Keto Diet Right for Me?
Know What To Eat and Avoid
The biggest change when you are going keto is you are severely limiting your carbs to less than 50 grams per day, so you need to know exactly what foods are high in carbs and protein to make the right choices. Mainly, you are looking at culprits like pasta, bread, chips, and cookies. For many people, this is why they go for meat as a staple part of their diet. When it comes to high-fat meats, pork is one of the best, and this grilled pork tenderloin is one variation that is worth trying.
It’s also worth remembering that if you are vegan or trying to minimize your meat, this could prove difficult, but not impossible. For example, you have to remember that pulses like beans are very high in carbs. Additionally, vegetables and fruits contain a significant amount of carbs. Usually, keto means having meat and fats like butter and healthy oils.
Look at Your Relationship With Fat
This is one of the most difficult aspects of going keto because we’ve all grown up thinking that fat will kill us. Therefore, choosing what to eat becomes very confusing. So if you are looking to undergo a high-fat diet, start by making small adjustments to see how you feel. A lot of people start by blending a little bit of butter into their coffee or just swapping out milk for cream. The ketogenic approach is as much a change in our mental habits as they are our dietary ones.
Change Your Perception of Protein
One of the biggest misconceptions of the keto diet is that you can eat as much meat or protein as you want. In fact, your protein intake needs to be moderate because an excessive amount of protein turns into glucose, which takes your body out of the ketosis state, which is the goal of a ketogenic diet. There are many ketogenic calculators available online so you can stick to it in the right way. It can prove difficult at first, especially when you are used to a high-carbohydrate diet, but after a while, it becomes a habit.
Be Prepared for the Side Effects
Many people undergo a ketogenic diet because they want to lose weight and be healthier. But there is a big side effect that everybody needs to be prepared for. The “keto flu” refers to the period of time when your body is adjusting to burning fat for energy instead of carbs, which can last up to a couple of weeks. Symptoms include mental fog, constipation or diarrhea, and extreme lethargy. Therefore, choosing a time when you are not so busy is crucial so you can rest. You may feel fantastic initially, but the keto flu tends to creep up on so many of us. If you do feel symptoms of keto flu and it is too much to bear, you can have a limited amount of carbohydrates but make sure it stays under the 50g threshold every day.
Look at Your Electrolyte Intake
When your body is in ketosis, your kidneys will excrete more water, which means that essential electrolytes are leaving your body. However, you can mitigate this with a bit more salt on your food and drinks like bone broth. This is also another thing that can be difficult to deal with. We’re told that too much salt is bad for us but we have to remember that having electrolytes, commonly known as salt, is crucial for so many functions in the body.
Bottom Line: Is the Keto Diet Right for Me?
There are a lot of resources out there that talk about how the ketogenic diet has changed people’s lives. While there are a lot of benefits to it, if you already follow a limited diet, for example, if you are vegan, it could prove more difficult because of the limited choice. So if you like cooking at home for the family and you are the only one on the ketogenic diet, you’ve got to decide if it’s a lifestyle that you can stick with.
You should also think about any medical conditions where a ketogenic diet could prove problematic, for example, diabetes. Many people talk about the ketogenic diet as a way to live a happy life and many people have made a success of this, but it is worth thinking hard about before you delve into this.
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