Guest Post by Louise Hendon, co-host of The Keto Summit and author of
Eating the right diet is a surefire way to boost your wellbeing - And that’s where the keto diet comes in. It’s been receiving a lot of attention recently, and with good reason. But what exactly is the keto diet? And how does it benefit your health? In this article we’ll explain what keto is, how it can improve your wellbeing, what you eat on a keto diet and a few tips to get started.
What is Keto?
Here’s a quick intro to the Keto diet:
The main goal of the keto diet is to switch your body’s metabolic state into a fat-burning mode called ketosis.
In ketosis, your body breaks down fat into ketones which it uses as fuel, instead of relying on carbohydrates/sugars.
And this has a variety of health benefits (more on those in the next section).
How do you get into ketosis? By changing your diet so there’s less glucose available for your cells to use as fuel:
- Consuming fewer carbohydrates
- Sticking to a moderate amount of protein
- Eating plenty of healthy fats
If you’d like to know more about how the keto diet works, we have an article you should read.
4 Ways Keto Could Improve Your Wellbeing
A quick disclaimer - I’m not a doctor or nutritionist, so everything in this article is based on my own research, and as with starting any diet, you should always consult a medical professional first.
Now that you know what the keto diet is, here are a few of the health benefits you could potentially gain from it:
1 - Keto could help with weight loss...
If you’re looking to lose a few extra pounds to improve your health and wellbeing, keto may help.
A study compared folks on a low-carb diet and folks on a low-fat diet:
The researchers found that participants following the low-carb diet lost considerably more weight than those participants following the low-fat diet.
2 - Keto could help you get rid of your sugar cravings...
There’s nothing worse than struggling with cravings when you’re trying to eat healthy -
On the keto diet, you’ll go cold turkey on many popular sugary foods (don’t worry - there are keto friendly dessert/snack options you can eat instead).
This gives you the chance to beat your sugar addiction once and for all.
And to help you, Anna has some useful tips on avoiding sugar overload in this article.
3 - Keto could help stabilize your mood
There are plenty of anecdotal stories from keto dieters about how a keto diet helped with their depression.
And a scientific study found evidence which may support this -
The researchers measured depressive behaviors in rats and found that the rats who were fed a keto diet showed fewer depressive behaviors.
Strange as it sounds, the results of studies with animals are often a good indicator for how human will be affected in a similar situation.
4 - Keto could help improve your mental clarity
Plenty of keto dieters report feeling more alert, energetic and focused when they follow a keto diet.
And others say a keto diet helped them get rid of brain fog.
Although scientific research hasn’t yet been done to support this, you’ll find lots of similar-sounding anecdotes on keto diet forums.
Here’s a quick rundown..
DO eat these foods:
● Meats, organ meats, poultry, game, fish and shellfish
● Cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini and other low carb vegetables
● Spinach, kale, swisschard and other leafy green veggies
● Olive oil, ghee, coconut oil and other healthy fats
● Seeds, nuts and berries (in moderation - they’re easy to overeat and contain more carbs than you might think)
DON’T eat these foods:
● Cookies, candy, chips, energy bars, diet sodas and other processed foods/drinks
● Potatoes, sweet potatoes, squashes and other starchy veggies
● Lentils, beans, garbanzos and other legumes
● Wheat, oats, rice and other grains
● Artificial sweeteners and even natural sweeteners like honey and agave
3 Tips for getting started on Keto
If you’d like to try a keto diet in 2018, these are a few practical tips which could help you get started…
1 - Clear the non-keto foods out of your kitchen and the stock up on keto-friendly foods instead.
Sticking to your diet is a lot easier if you don’t have unhealthy treats around to tempt you!
2 - Boost your ketone levels in the morning by adding a little MCT oil to your diet.
Try stirring half a teaspoon into a green juice or smoothie - or even your morning coffee.
3 - Eat unlimited protein/fat to begin with and concentrate on keeping your carbohydrate intake under 25g per day.
You can tweak the amount of protein/fat you eat later on, when you’re more comfortable with eating low-carb.
Conclusion
The keto diet is a powerful tool you can use to improve your wellbeing this year -
It can help you lose weight, boost your energy, improve your focus and beat your cravings.
But taking care of yourself in other ways is equally important:
Make sure you’re getting enough sleep each night, minimize your stress levels and find time to exercise.
Help yourself look and feel your healthiest with a Keto Diet!
Check out some helpful recipes click here!
Post by Louise Hendon, co-host of The Keto Summit and author of