How To Start Keto Diet?

Toni
9 min readJan 13, 2021

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Welcome to a ketogenic diet. Whether you are new to the keto diet or an advanced keto player, the Keto Recipes blog provides help, tips, and recipe suggestions for following the keto diet. You should also take a look at the Facebook Keto Recipes group, which offers peer experiences and more recipe inspiration from others who follow the same diet.

I’m not a doctor or a licensed nutritionist, I cook my educational background and household Master of Science. My studies have also included studies in nutrition and I work as a food expert. If you suffer from an illness or exceptional medical condition, I recommend that you always consult a doctor or nutritionist before starting any new diet. However, a ketogenic diet consists entirely of ordinary and natural ingredients as well as food, so in very rare cases it is harmful to humans.

A ketogenic diet is not a quick path to happiness and often requires a bit of effort and effort at first. Hopefully, you’ll find the keys to how you can get moving as smoothly as possible with a ketogenic diet, as well as the rules of the rule for those who don’t want to weigh food, count macros, or make too many changes.

Ketogenic diet in a nutshell

I have written a more broadly-based ketogenic diet here, the implementation of pitfalls here and there, therefore, always be sure to check out the keto info-page, if you feel that you crave more information about the page.

A ketogenic diet is a low-carbohydrate, high-fat, and legally high-protein diet that is eaten with a large enough amount of heavily grown or grown and low-processed foods. A variedly implemented keto diet provides enough energy to allow for cycle mobility and significant daily query, both in a sufficiently protective manner. Thus, a ketogenic diet does what the diet does.

A healthy and properly nourished body does not suffer from vague symptoms, uncontrollable thoughts because it has what it needs to keep extra fat stores, but it actually gradually settles into its most characteristic weight (which is nothing like the weight you blame yourself or the other you are aiming for). Therefore, an unhealthy diet for the affected body and metabolic health care is always always a primary goal and weight loss is its nice side effect. Based on the weight loss goal, it is also important to be realistic, overweight has come on slowly for weeks and months or just years and differently, it also starts. As a result of a successful ketogenic diet, food becomes a slave instead of a host, and the spine and willpower can harness things other than the use of eating control. Sounds largely easy to be true, but this really works.

When moving to a keto diet, I recommend getting started for a few weeks and even inflexibility in implementation. This is because by stepping briskly into the boat with both feet after the initial rocking, the ride quickly settles into a smooth and comfortable way and the diet can become part of your daily life without having to constantly reflect and meditate. If you keep one foot on the dock and implement a ketogenic diet a little over there, you often end up splashing your face above the water, suffering from unpleasant side effects and mistakenly stating that this didn’t suit you. Flexibility and exceptions have their time and place once the body has gotten used to the change in peace.

I recommend using at least initially a food scale and a nutrient counter to perceive eating, as visual assessment rarely produces the desired result if eating habits are wrong. Note that there are a lot of errors in the counters where users are allowed to enter their own nutritional values, so always check the origin of the information. Take time to cook and rest and accept that a change in diet can cause some discomfort. The more strictly you follow the instructions and advice, the sooner you will get ketosis and enjoy the benefits it brings and the ease of being. Ketosis is remarkably wonderful as a state of metabolism: hunger does not bother, food does not rotate in the mind constantly and energy seems to be endless. This of course requires that there is fat in the body (either stored or eaten) which it burns :).

Instead of a weight change, the goals for the first few weeks should be to clear the symptoms of ketofluenza and to achieve the correct macro distribution in most meals. The personal scale should be allowed to remain in the cabinet at this point, especially if you know that reading it will cause you stress. Stress is one major barrier to starting fat burning. During the first week, there is a little fat-burning, even if the weight has dropped a lot. The changes in the scale only tell you how well your diet was on the back and how much fluid has accumulated in your tissues. A more realistic weight change can be obtained by monitoring the balance readings, eg once a month.

You will learn what you have learned about a carbohydrate-weighted diet (e.g. eat several small meals a day to keep your blood sugar steady, need to eat fruit to get vitamins, hard animal fat is bad fat and vegetable fat is always good fat, you need to eat 25 g to ensure intestinal well-being, etc.…) do not apply in a ketogenic diet. So it’s pointless to try to fit them into it or make sense of things based on them. Diet is structured in a completely different way and changes the way your metabolism works.

A ketogenic diet talks about macros and monitors their relationships, that is, the proportions of energy nutrients in total energy intake. Macros include carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Carbohydrates should be obtained mainly as a by-product of the intake of vitamins and protective nutrients, ie from vegetables and seeds as well as nuts. Protein intake is meant to ensure muscle well-being, but an adequate amount is reasonably small from the perspective of the protein craze in recent years. Excessive protein intake can be a barrier to ketosis. Natural fats should be consumed in a variety of ways and should cover your energy needs even if you exercise a lot.

A good rule of thumb for a suitable macro distribution is as follows

Carbohydrates:

20–30 g / day, 5–10% of the daily energy requirement

This is individual and largely depends on how well the body can transfer carbohydrates to the cells for food, i.e. whether insulin resistance has developed or not. This is overcome by trying and identifying the symptoms of ketosis or by measuring the level of ketone in the blood or urine.

Proteins:

1 g per target body weight/day, 15–20% of the daily energy requirement

Those who exercise a lot or do strenuous physical work may need to increase the amount of protein slightly, however, max 1.5 g per kilogram of body weight.

Fats:

2 g per target kg body weight/day, approx. 75% of the daily energy requirement

Fats regulate energy intake. If you are hungry or your consumption increases, increase the amount of fat. Do not compensate for energy deficiency with proteins or carbohydrates!

Also, plenty of water and salt 2 teaspoons/day

It is advisable to set intermediate targets for the target weight (eg every 10 kg) if there is a lot to drop to keep the energy intake at a reasonable level!

10 rules of thumb for implementing a ketogenic diet

Despite the recommendation, not everyone wants to weigh food or count macros and that’s okay too. Here is a compilation of ten rules of thumb that you can follow to assemble your meal according to ketogenic principles without counting and weighing.

  1. Green and white vegetables contain little carbohydrates, but plenty of protective nutrients. Eat those pounds a day.
  2. Yellow, Orange, Red, and Purple vegetables and roots contain some carbohydrates. However, you can eat them in small amounts (about 100 g) a few times a week.
  3. You can eat berries in small amounts (about 50 g) a few times a week.
  4. Try to avoid finished products with more than 3 ingredients in the ingredient list.
  5. Mainly choose raw materials that contain a maximum of 5 g carbohydrate / 100 g. (See hh quantities of different raw materials here)
  6. In protein sources, quality replaces quantity, choose organically grown or a game where possible, and eat in moderation.
  7. Natural fats are a and o of the diet. Don’t be afraid of them, but add 2 to 3 tablespoons of fat to each meal, varying sources.
  8. Ensured adequate intake of salt and electrolytes (magnesium, potassium). These are best obtained from salt and, for example, dark green leafy vegetables and bone broth.
  9. Eat fermented vegetables (e.g. sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles) or dairy products to ensure stomach and intestinal well-being.
  10. Eat as many different ingredients as possible, so you are sure to get everything you need from your food and stay healthy.

With what to replace pasta, potatoes, and bread?

For many, the easiest way to start a diet is to be able to continue cooking the dishes you are familiar with and replace the carbohydrates in them with something else. The keto diet is pleasant in this respect, as almost all of Finland’s everyday food favorites are or succeed in a keto-friendly way with small changes. Here is a list of the most common carbohydrate sources to replace with meals in a keto-friendly manner:

Boiled potatoes -> Boiled kale or cauliflower, steamed vegetables

Mashed potatoes -> Cauliflower or kale

Rice -> Chopped cauliflower or steamed broccoli

Pasta -> Zucchini or Asparagus Strips, Keto Pasta, Shirataki Noodles

Bread -> Ketoleu

Pizza base -> Fathead dough

Tortilla -> Ketotortillas, Oven tortilla

Fruits -> Berries

Flour -> Almond, coconut, hazelnut or hemp flour, pofiber, psyllium, xanthan

Porridge -> Seed porridge, Chia porridge, coconut manure porridge

Sugar -> Stevia, erythritol

All of the above foods will have instructions on where to use them in the future.

What can I eat on a ketogenic diet?

EAT FREE

  • Green vegetables: spinach, thicken, cucumber, lettuce, celery, asparagus, green beans, herbs
  • Broccoli, cauliflower,
  • kale and Brussels sprouts
  • Butter and ghee
  • Cold-pressed olive, coconut, and nut oils, homemade mayonnaise, avocado, olives
  • Organic meat and chicken, game and preparations without unnecessary additives

EAT WITH CARE

  • Carrot, beetroot, lantern, turnip, parsnip, kale, white cabbage
  • Tomato, paprika, eggplant, onions
  • Nuts and seeds and nut butter
  • High-fat dairy products
  • Berries, rhubarb, domestic apple

Evade

  • Cereals and cereal products, such as flour and oat flakes
  • Rice
  • Potato and sweet potato
  • Sugar, honey, syrups, sweets,
  • biscuits, ice cream, jams
  • Pasta and bread
  • Soybeans, beans, peas, and corn

What is good to always have at home?

A few cornerstones of the diet are always good to have in the fridge or freezer to make good choices easy when you are hungry. Below is a simplified list of what you can do.

  • Cold-pressed olive oil
  • Butter or ghee
  • Cold-pressed coconut oil
  • Salt and black pepper and other dry spices
  • Fish, chicken, meat, and/or eggs
  • Green or white vegetables
  • Pickled pickles
  • Apple cider or wine vinegar
  • (Bone broth or electrolyte powder)

During the first few weeks, you may come across the concept of fasting or you will find that naturally, your own meal needs will decrease. Snippet fasting describes the timing of eating for a limited period of the day and fasting for the rest of the day. However, I recommend that you only add snacks to your diet once you have adopted the principles of a ketogenic diet and cleared up any symptoms of ketofluenza.

Food or diet should not control or complicate life in the long run, but help to power well and go smoothly with your own life. It is only natural that there are exceptions in the diet and they should not be treated too dramatically. Once fat adaptation has taken place, you may well occasionally deviate from the diet without its major setbacks and return smoothly back to the keto diet and ketosis. The more accustomed your body becomes to burning fat, the less you will notice a difference in your well-being with dietary changes. Even then, however, I recommend avoiding industrially processed foods and enjoying the cleanest food possible.

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