Nowadays you hear it more and more: The ketogenic diet. However, not everyone knows exactly what it means and how you can start with the keto diet yourself.
In this article, you can read more about the basics of the ketogenic diet, how to get started and what you should pay attention to. Based on this information, you can make an informed decision whether or not to start with it.
What is a ketogenic diet?
A ketogenic diet is a diet in which you consume a lot of fat and protein-rich foods while trying to avoid carbohydrates. It largely corresponds to the low- carbohydrate diet, but the keto diet goes just one step further.With this diet, you replace as many carbohydrates as possible with fats and proteins, which causes a drastic change in your blood sugar level. Your body will then burn fat instead of carbohydrates. This is also known as “ketosis”.
Research has shown that a ketogenic diet can lower your blood sugar and insulin levels. In addition, it often leads to healthy weight loss.
To get your body into a state of ketosis, you should eat a maximum of 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. Instead of the extra carbohydrates, you would normally consume, you eat a lot of healthy fats. These healthy fats are found in foods such as fish, nuts, oil, and eggs. This keeps your body feeling satisfied.
What is the ketogenic diet good for?
Everyone who follows the ketogenic diet does so for different reasons. However, they have one thing in common: They want to become healthier and more vital.The ketogenic diet potentially results in multiple benefits to your physical health, making it a popular diet.
Below you will find the main benefits of the keto diet.
1. Diabetes type-2
Type 2 diabetes often suffers from high blood sugar and high insulin levels. Because the keto diet lowers your blood sugar and insulin levels, the chance that you will suffer from type 2 diabetes decreases.
If you already have diabetes, a ketogenic diet can reduce the need for medications. However, only do this in consultation with a specialist doctor for proper ketogenic diet guidance.
2. Cardiovascular Disease
When you get a lot of good fats, a ketogenic diet can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. This is about lowering LDL cholesterol. This type of cholesterol is found in animal fats.
On the other hand, HDL cholesterol is a good variant and you can get it in larger amounts. This type of cholesterol is found in vegetable oils, eggs, nuts, seeds, and some fish.
3. Weight Loss
You often get hungry when your blood sugar drops quickly. Because your blood sugar level remains stable on a ketogenic diet, you will usually have less appetite.
In addition, the fat and protein-rich meals ensure that you feel full faster so that you eat less and will probably lose weight faster.
What should you pay attention to during the keto diet?
However, there are also some things that you should keep in mind while following a ketogenic diet. For example, it is crucial to continue to get enough vitamins. After all, radically adjusting a diet can lower vitamin intake. Of course, you want to avoid that!
Therefore, choose vegetables with few carbohydrates, but a lot of volumes, such as broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach. Do you feel that you are still not getting enough vitamins and minerals? Then you can use supplements in consultation with a doctor.
It is also important to get enough fiber. Where you would usually get these from grain products, you can now opt for fiber-rich vegetables or psyllium fiber for support.
Would you like to follow the keto diet, but you don't know where to start? There are plenty of ketogenic diet recipes on the internet. It is also a good idea to contact a nutritionist.
