If you wish to lose weight and are seeking effective methods to do so, you have probably heard already about keto. This diet is pretty popular as it offers various health benefits, among which weight loss is the most prominent. However, if you don’t know much about keto, you might wonder: is it good for you? Would it give you the desired effect? What if the diet is too hard to follow? Let’s consider the keto diet in detail and decide if it suits your needs.
What is the keto diet?
The main principle of keto is simple – cut down the carbs in your food to 20-30 grams per day, consume moderate amounts of protein, and unlimited amounts of fat. In practice, that means that you’ll have to eliminate any sugary foods and drinks from your diet and even avoid sweet fruits or legumes, despite their otherwise healthy status. Don’t worry if you like plant produce, though – you just need to choose non-starchy veggies and berries, as they are rich in fiber and vitamins.
These restrictions serve one goal – make your organism enter the process named ketosis. Usually, our bodies use energy received from carbohydrates, but if this type of nutrient is limited, the organism can learn to break down fats, forming ketones. This is also why you need to regulate the amounts of protein – if you cut down on carbs in your diet, your organism can create them from protein instead.
Though the standard keto diet is known and researched the best, you can also try some other types. For example, there’s the targeted keto diet, which allows you to eat a higher amount carbs when you work out, or the protein-rich keto diet, where, as the name suggests, you can consume more protein.
Why choose keto among other diets?
Even a quick Google search can offer you a lot of various diets, all with their own standards and restrictions. However, what makes keto so special and helps it stay trendy among people with different weight loss goals? Let’s see the benefits of this diet and decide if they interest you.
- Keto is really useful for weight loss due to its specific properties. In ketosis, your body mainly derives energy from fats, which helps you shed those extra pounds quickly.
- Keto has various health benefits. Low-carb diets are often used to treat various diseases, like diabetes, Alzheimers, and seizures, among others.
- It’s filling. If you’ve ever struggled with battling hunger while trying to create a calorie deficit, you know how hard it is. However, due to the high amount of fats, keto doesn’t make you feel on the verge of starvation – you’ll feel full even though you haven’t eaten much.
How to ensure that keto will be healthy for your body?
Though keto allows you to eat a whole lot of different foods, it still has pretty strict limitations. Ensuring that the requirements of this diet align with your body’s needs is vital for obtaining its benefits in full and avoiding any potential problems. If you want to try out keto, you need to prepare thoroughly – but if you approach it correctly, the reward will be impressive.
First of all, be careful if you have any preexisting health conditions that heavily depend on your diet – in this case, consulting with your doctor might be an excellent decision. A qualified medical professional will recommend choosing products for keto properly to prevent any complications. However, there are also some widespread tips for people who follow this diet that ensure the healthiness of your everyday rations.
First of all, choose products with a lot of fiber and vitamins – since keto bans many fruits and legumes due to their high carbohydrate content, compensating for the nutrients in them is vital. In this case, the variety of non-starchy veggies is your best choice – fresh cucumbers, leafy green vegetables, tomatoes, and other products are both delicious and healthy. Moreover, pay attention to the kind of fats you consume – fish, avocadoes, and nuts contain non-saturated fats that are much better for your body than overprocessed fast food. To ensure that you can make keto-friendly meals and select suitable products, check the diet’s requirements thoroughly. Doing some research also makes you ready for some challenges you might encounter, like keto flu, which sometimes happens when your body enters ketosis.
Conclusion
Keto is on the rise right now – and if you are planning to lose weight for health or beauty reasons, this diet might be your best solution. Though the restrictions that eliminate a lot of products from your rations sound pretty scary, keto is far from too challenging. Just as with any other endeavor, carefully approaching keto might yield excellent results, while a lack of knowledge and dedication is unlikely to satisfy your needs. Thankfully, the recipe for success is pretty easy – choose your meals thoroughly to avoid missing out on some essential nutrients and research the diet before starting it.