The Ketogenic Diet Rule Book (Beginners)

How many times have you seen the word "Keto" floating around? Whether its in reference to a food being "keto friendly" or a friend has said "I'm on keto" and we nod our heads like we know exactly what that means...

Here are the basics for all things KETO!

The fact is, so many of us start a ketogenic diet not fully understanding the fundamentals of the diet, which can make the entire diet pointless if you eat outside the diets criteria. So lets get it RIGHT! Firstly, why does anyone do a keto diet?

The diet aims to force your body into using a different type of fuel. Instead of relying on sugar (glucose) that comes from carbohydrates (such as grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits), the keto diet relies on ketone bodies, a type of fuel that the liver produces from stored fat.

Ketones and ketoacids are alternative fuels for the body that are made when glucose is in short supply. They are made in the liver from the breakdown of fats.

Burning fat seems like an ideal way to lose kilos. But getting the liver to make ketone bodies is tricky:

• It requires that you deprive yourself of carbohydrates, fewer than 20 to 50 grams of carbs per day (a medium-sized banana has about 27 grams of carbs for example).

• It typically takes 2 weeks to reach a state of ketosis (do not believe anything less!).

• Eating too much protein or fats can interfere with ketosis.

A common misconception about keto is that its a HIGH FAT diet. Wrong, a ketogenic diet as we have now learnt is just having the absence of carbs from your diet (remember this includes sugar)

What Can You Eat?

• Fish and seafood

• Low-carb veggies (think "watery" vegetables such as capsicums, cucumbers etc)

• Cheese

• Avocados

• Poultry

• Eggs

• Nuts, seeds and healthful oils

• Plain Greek yogurt

• Berries

• Unsweetened coffee and tea

• Dark chocolate and cocoa powder (yes.... DARK CHOCOLATE!)

What Not To Eat!

• Grains

• Starchy vegetables and high-sugar fruits

• Some Juices

• Honey, syrup or sugar in any form

• Chips and crackers

• Baked goods including gluten-free baked goods

Don't get too discouraged. Some Dietitians say that no foods are really off-limits on the keto diet. It's about total carbohydrate intake and how you choose to "spend" your carbs.

Benefits Of The Keto Diet

Research has proven that there is evidence to support the use of the ketogenic diet in individuals with epilepsy who have seizures that are drug resistant. There is also recent research showing promise in disorders such as autism, traumatic brain injury, brain tumors, migraines and Alzheimer's & the list goes on. There is also research supporting ketogenic diets and type 2 diabetes reversal including dramatically reducing insulin needs, fasting blood sugar levels, lowering A1C and obtaining significant weight loss.

Fact: It takes a flawless 2 weeks of following the diet to reach a state of ketosis (some believe it takes only a few days but this is based of an individuals metabolism). Therefore if you somehow exceed your daily carbohydrate limit, you then need to start the 2 week phase all over again. This is why so many of us are not doing a keto diet effectively! This is a diet that must be perfect and measured.

In conclusion, Keto is a PHASE and not something that should be done long term. Its great to start a keto diet for 2-3 weeks when starting a fitness journey. This gets your body into a fat burning phase and also assists in the correction of your gut biome (by reducing the amount of "bad bacteria" caused by refined sugars and refined carbs) When the body is loaded up on sugar, this among other factors can contribute to insulin resistance when we want to become insulin sensitive!

Yours in health,

Coach Kimmi