Keto for beginner- Keto 101

Keto Diet 101

Have you been struggling to lose weight?

• No energy and tired all the time
• Your back and joints hurt
• Diabetes
• Out of breaths
• Brain fog
• Hungry all the time
• Sugar or high carb food craving
• Not happy with how you look

You've tried every diet, but nothing worked.  Well, I have good news for you. Have you tried Ketogenic diet? By now you all know that "Eat less, exercise more" doesn't work right?  So get this; Ketogenic diet will change the way you feel and live your life for good! Ketogenic ( Keto) diet is not a fad diet. It is a science-based and proven to work for many of you. And it's a way of living, a lifestyle. I struggled to lose weight all my life. I was yo-yo dieting. Starve myself and binge to death. But when I started living a keto lifestyle, everything changed.    

Being overweight or obese is very often a symptom of other issues. Insulin resistance,  leptin resistance, an unsolved emotional issue so it leads to emotional eating, or just simply lack of information. Whatever the reason is, don't give up before you try this.

5 steps to achieve your ultimate health goal

 
1, Motivation ( Why are you doing Keto diet)

2, Knowledge( Learn to understand basics )

3, Get ready ( Prep, schedule)

4, Just do it

5, Try and fail (rinse and repeat, keep testing what works for you)

What is Ketogenic Diet?

The ketogenic diet (keto) is a high- fat( 70-80%), adequate protein (20-25%), low-carb (10-5%) diet. When you eat carbs, your body converts them to sugar. Eating very low carb and high fat lowers blood sugar and insulin levels so that your body can burn your stored fat rather than sugar that you just consumed, it forces the body to become “fat-adapted” and burn fat.

Cutting carbohydrate intake from 200-300g daily down to 20-50g daily and replacing those missing carbs with fat.  Reducing carbohydrates puts your body in a state of Ketosis.

 
What is Ketosis?

Ketosis is the metabolic process of using your stored body fat as the primary source of energy instead of carbohydrates you consume. That means your body is directly breaking down its fat stores as energy instead of slowly converting fat and muscle cells into glucose for energy. You enter ketosis when your body doesn’t have enough glucose (carbohydrates) available. The prime function of the ketogenic diet is to put the body in ketosis.

How do you get into Ketosis?

1, Cut carbs drastically and eat a lot of fat ( you are just switching around fat with carb)

2, Your body breaks down fat for energy( since there is not enough glucose, your body has to find other sources for energy)

3, You body start using ketone for energy (Become hybrid body)

Now you have 2 different energy sources glucose and ketone

 
How do you know you are in Ketosis?

There are 3 different ways to test your ketone levels.

• Blood Ketone Meter. Very accurate but the strips are a little bit expensive.

• Breath Ketone Meters. More accurate than the urine strips, but can sometimes vary inaccuracy. Cheaper than blood strips in the long-run

• Urine Sticks. This will answer the question “Am I in ketosis?” in the beginning but will not provide an accurate measure of blood ketones.

 Here’s a quick guide on the ranges; optimal weight loss will be in the “deep ketosis” range:

• Light Ketosis: 0.5 mmol/L – 0.8 mmol/L

• Medium Ketosis: 0.9 mmol/L – 1.4 mmol/L

• Deep Ketosis (best for weight loss): 1.5 mmol/L – 3.0 mmol/L

  What is going to happen to you when you become “fat adapted” ?

Weight-loss: When your body is using fat directly as a source of energy, you lose weight more readily because your body taps into your own fat stores for energy instead of the sugar you eat.
Improved energy levels: Without surges of glucose, your body has more consistent energy levels because you can use your own body fat for energy (no sugar crashes or food comas).
Increased mental focus: Fat is a more consistent source of energy, and preferred by the brain, meaning you don’t have ups and downs in energy and focus.
Longevity and disease prevention: Ketosis has been shown to decrease inflammation, Alzheimer's, and benefit cancer patients and diabetics.
Increased physical performance: Ketosis uses oxygen more efficiently and avoids physical crashes of low blood sugar.
It makes you feel so good all the time!

 What to eat on the Ketogenic Diet
Fats:

• Butter or ghee ( Kerrygold butter is great- Trader’s Joe ) 
• Avocados
• Coconut butter
• Coconut oil 
• Olive oil
• MCT oil 
• Avocado oil
• Lard
• Tallow
• Nuts and seeds or nut butter (choose fattier nuts like macadamia nuts or almonds)
• Pork rind ( Great no carb snack)

Protein:

• Beef- steak, veal,  ground beef, and stews ( Fatty meat)
• Poultry-chicken, quail, duck, turkey, and wild game ( eat dark meat)
• Pork- pork loin, tenderloin, chops, ham, bacon, and ground.
• Fish- mackerel, tuna, salmon, trout, halibut, cod, catfish, and mahi-mahi ( Choose fatty fish and wild-caught )
• Shellfish- oysters, clams, crab, mussels, and lobster.
• Organ meats- heart, liver, tongue, kidney
• Eggs- Use the whole egg (go with pasture-raised for the extra few bucks)
• Lamb
• Goat
• DAIRY-
• Full-fat cheeses
• Sour cream
• Full-fat (unsweetened) yogurt
• Heavy creams 

Carbs( When you count carb, count net carbs. For example, 10g carbs but if there is 3g fiber in it, it is 7g of carbs)

• Green leafy veggies- Kale, Spinach, Swiss chard, Bok choy, Lettuce
•  Radicchio, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Broccoli
• Other options include:
• Onions, Bell peppers, Asparagus, Celery, Cucumber, Zucchini, Cauliflower
• Fruit- Berries( keep it very low) Lemon, lime

 Condiment

• Pink Himalayan sea salt, Sea salt
• Any herbs and spices, any condiments without sugar( Make sure to read the Nutrition Fact label.
• Any condiments without sugar ( Check the Nutrition Fact Label)
• Sweetener- Stevia, Erythritol ( Try to avoid artificial sweetener )

Beverages

• Water- still or sparkling water
• Bone broth (High in vitamins and minerals. It replenishes your electrolytes)
• Coffee and Tea- Bulletproof style, no sugar added, or use heavy cream
• Coconut/Almond milk (unsweetened)
• Alcohol- Choose hard liquors. No beer and sweet mixed drinks Note: alcohol will slow weight loss down)

 Foods to avoid

• Sugar- Avoid sugar at all costs include freshly squeezed juice
• Grains- Any wheat products, pasta, cereal, cakes, pastries, rice, corn. Includes whole grains like wheat, rye, barley, buckwheat, and quinoa
• Starch- Avoid root vegetables like potatoes and yams( at least fist 4-6 weeks until you are in ketosis ) and other things like oats, muesli.
• Vegetable oils- Canola Oil. Corn Oil. Soybean Oil. “Vegetable” oil.
• Peanut Oil. Sunflower Oil. Safflower Oil. Cottonseed Oil. ( Highly processed, GMO, they causes inflammation in your body)
• Trans Fats- Margarine or any other spreadable replacement butter should be avoided as they contain hydrogenated fats (bad for us).
• Fruit -Avoid almost all fruits (apples, oranges, bananas) as they’re extremely high in sugar ( at least the first 4-6 weeks). Some berries can be consumed in moderation
• Low-fat foods- They tend to be much higher in carbs and sugar than full-fat versions. Make sure you read the package

What to expect

First few days are the hardest. I am sorry to tell you. You have been using glucose for your energy pretty much for all your life. All of a sudden, you are trying to switch your energy source to ketone, your body is working hard to figure this out. Of course, change is hard right? Meanwhile, you might be going through some tough times like

• Sugar cravings
• Dizziness
• Brain fog
• Irritability
• Poor focus and concentration
• Stomach pains
• Nausea
• Cramping
• Confusion
• Muscle soreness
• Insomnia

It's called Ketoflu! But you are not really sick. It is kind of withdraw symptoms from eating a large amount of carbs.

When switching to a low carb diet, our body excretes a lot of water and you pee out water, that means you pee out electrolytes as well. So you need to supplement with magnesium, potassium, sodium to avoid Keto-flu. But remember Keto-flu is a result of the body's result for carb withdrawal. Be patient. It only lasts 2days- up to a week. You are not getting sick.

You can simply drink tons of water with a pinch of pink salt
Supplement with electrolyte 
Add salt to no-calorie flavored drink
Eat more fat
Remember! Make sure to drink a lot of water with electrolytes. So important.

 
Once you become a “ fat adapted”, things are going to be so much easier. Just patient, it will happen.

 
In the first month, you should keep your menus very simple and basic.

Once you are getting used to eat Keto food, you can go fancy and try different stuff. 

But for now no keto bread, keto bomb, Keto dessert. Because you are more than likely going to overdo it. Well I did so I am telling you.

Here are the recipes and more you should try!

But for now, very basic meals anyone can make.

Breakfast:

• Bulletproof coffee or tea ( Here is how)  
• 2,3 eggs fried in butter and half Avocado
• Eggs and bacon
• Breakfast sausage with scrambled eggs
• Cheese, bacon and spinach  omelet

Lunch:

• Huge green leafy salad with grilled chicken
• Cheeseburger without buns
• Chicken thigh with broccoli with butter on top
• Steak, cauliflower mash and salad
• Avocado tuna salad

Dinner

• Steak and grilled veggies with butter
• Slow-cooked chicken  with asparagus
• Grilled salmon with Brussel sprout
• Chicken drumsticks cauliflower fried rice

Snack

• Pork rinds
• Beef Jerky
• Hand-full of nuts ( Not a whole bag!)
• Hard Cheese
• Whip cream with nuts
• Cream cheese wrapped in sliced of ham
• Almond or cashew butter
• Boiled eggs

 
Use myfitnesspal (Carb manager and other apps. I personally like myfitnesspal) to see if your macros are on point. I know some people don't track macros but I believe you should at least in the beginning. That way, you are not walking in the dark and hoping to get things right.

But don’t worry about calories first. Let’s get you in ketosis first and we can always adjust calories later. Once you get used to eating Keto style, you are not going to want to eat high carb sugary stuff anymore.

 
Use this to figure out your body fat percentage. 

Use this to figure out how much macros (fat, carbs, protein) you should be eating.

 
You may be scared to eat so much fat. But it works. Just a couple of weeks, your life is going to change. Trust me.

 
Good luck!