Keto Diet.The keto diet emphasizes weight loss through fat burning. The goal is to quickly lose weight and ultimately feel fuller with fewer cravings while boosting your mood, mental focus, and energy.
What is Keto Diet?
According to Keto proponents, by slashing the carbs you consume and instead filling up on fats, you safely enter a state of ketosis. That’s when the body breaks down both dietary and stored body fat into substances called ketones.
Your fat-burning system now relies mainly on fat – instead of sugar – for energy. While similar in some ways to familiar low-carb diets, the keto diet’s extreme carb restrictions – about 20 net carbs a day or less,
- depending on the version – and the deliberate shift into ketosis are what set this increasingly popular diet apart. In fact, other eating plans are pulling in keto elements, so you can find versions like dirty keto, modified keto, and several diet programs that incorporate keto-friendly products.
keto diet plan and keto diet breakfast
The keto diet has its roots in the decades-old therapeutic ketogenic diet. Clinically, the ketogenic diet is used to reduce hard-to-control seizures in children. Studies also suggest possible benefits in other brain conditions such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
Fairly recently, the diet was introduced as a weight-loss diet by an Italian professor of surgery, Dr. Gianfranco Cappello of Sapienza University in Rome. In his 2012 study, about 19,000 dieters received a high-fat liquid diet via a feeding tube inserted down the nose. The study showed an average weight loss of more than 20 pounds in participants, most of whom kept it off for at least a year. The researchers reported a few minor side effects, like fatigue.
The medical community is taking note of the high public interest in keto. A 2018 article in JAMA summarized several areas of promise:
- Many people feel less hungry on the high-fat keto diet and so may naturally reduce their overall calorie intake.
- Beyond weight loss, there was good news for diabetes management, with improved insulin sensitivity and blood-sugar control for people following a ketogenic diet in an early, still-ongoing study.
- However, an editorial appearing online on July 15, 2019, in JAMA Internal Medicine concluded that “enthusiasm outpaces evidence” when it comes to a keto diet for obesity and diabetes.
Today, multiple versions of the keto diet are detailed in books, blogs, and Facebook posts. The common thread is choosing high-fat foods coupled with very low daily carbs. Guidebooks include “The Complete Ketogenic Diet for Beginners” by Amy Ramos and “The Keto Diet: The Complete Guide to a High-Fat Diet” by Leanne Vogel.
Low-Carb Diet
These diets provide fewer carbs than is recommended by government guidelines and are known to bring on quick weight loss.
- U.S. News Best Diet Rankings
Keto Diet ranked #37 in Best Diets Overall. 40 diets were evaluated with input from a panel of health experts. See how we rank diets here.
SCORECARD
- 3.7/5Short-Term Weight Loss2.2/5Long-Term Weight Loss1.4/5Easy to Follow1.9/5Healthy
Scores are based on experts' reviews.
How does Keto Diet work?
- Vogel offers some tips for getting started on keto:
- Educating yourself about carbs and getting familiar with good fats is the first step.
- Before jumping in, experiment with low-carb veggies in the grocery store’s natural produce section, find sources of grass-fed meat and learn about hidden sources of sugar, like the coleslaw at your local eatery.
- Don’t assume sugar cravings will disappear right away. Instead, stock up on keto-friendly desserts like dark chocolate with nut butter.
- During the first week of carb withdrawal, you might experience symptoms including muscle aches, headaches, fatigue, and mental fogginess – and yes, hunger. For early cravings, try nibbling on a high-fat snack such as a bacon strip or some cucumber with avocado mayo.
As the diet moves into the second and third weeks, you’ll begin to feel better. Soon, low-carb, high-fat eating will seem more natural as it becomes a habit. By week four, you can expect weight loss, especially if you’ve been physically active while sticking closely to the plan.
Selecting the right food will be easier as you become accustomed to the keto approach. Instead of lean meats, you’ll focus on skin-on poultry, fattier parts like chicken thighs, rib-eye steaks, grass-fed ground beef, fattier fish like salmon, beef brisket, or pork shoulder, and bacon. Leafy greens such as spinach, kale, and lettuce, along with broccoli, cauliflower, and cucumbers, make healthy vegetable choices.
But you’ll avoid starchy root foods like carrots, potatoes, turnips, and parsnips. You can work in less-familiar veggies such as kohlrabi or daikon.
Oils like avocado, olive, canola, flaxseed, and palm, as well as mayonnaise, will flavor salads while fattening them up. Clarified butter, or ghee, is fat you’ll use for cooking or as a spread.
Start your day with a nut butter-boosted latte, coffee, or tea, or have bacon and eggs as a breakfast staple. Stick with whole-fat milk, cheese, and other whole dairy products. Use stevia to replace sugar and artificial sweeteners.
In “Keto in 28,” author Michelle Hogan details her four-week plan. In the book’s menus, carbs are kept to low levels, ranging from 15 to 20 net carbs a day. Net carbs are the total amount of carbohydrates in a serving subtracted by the amount of fiber.
On the other hand, fat makes up a whopping 70% to 73% of the daily diet. Protein rounds out the meal plans, comprising a moderate one-fifth to one-quarter of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners daily, along with one or two recommended snacks. (Carb/fat/protein proportions vary from diet to diet with each author.)
For maintenance over time, Vogel suggests taking a cyclical approach and going in and out of ketosis, especially for women.
Dieters use several signs to know they’re in ketosis, some more subjective than others. Simple DIY urine or blood test results, bad or fruity breath, reduced hunger, sharper mental focus, changes in exercise performance and weight loss can all indicate ketosis.
How it works: With keto, your body enters a state of ketosis. It’s breaking down stored body fat and dietary fat into substances called ketones for energy – instead of using carbs for energy.
How does the Keto Diet Support You?
If you're looking to start the keto diet or have already begun your dieting journey, it's helpful to know the different ways you can receive support throughout the process. Below are a few examples of how the keto diet can support you:
- Numerous support websites, such as ketogenic.com.
- Private and public Facebook support groups.
- Keto diet apps that track carbs and provide keto recipes.
- Keto cookbooks for people at all stages of the keto diet, such as "Easy Everyday Keto" from America's Test Kitchen.
- Keto meal delivery services.
- KetoConnect, a full-service keto support website with recipes, podcasts and recipe ebooks.
