Source: medicaldaily.com
Gaining traction all over the years from people while being frowned upon by some number of health experts, the ketogenic, or keto diet is one of the most unique diet trends out there. And one can’t deny this whether you agree with it or not.
This is because the diet itself combines the power of calorie restriction with the benefits that you can get from putting your body in nutritional ketosis, which when done properly, can provide a number of health benefits while also helping you achieve weight loss at the same time.
Still, many people get it wrong and oftentimes misunderstood how keto is supposed to work, thanks in part to some common myths that people throw around.
In any case, here are a few “keto strategies” that will hopefully get rid of these common misconceptions and help you achieve the results that you’re aiming for.
Only eat keto food and ingredients
These are foods that are very low in carbohydrates. However, what’s low for you is determined by your daily carb limit. This means that you need to be more vigilant with your food choices because even healthier food like fruits and veggies can still pack a lot of carbs. With keto, however, do eat low-carb vegetables, meats, nuts and seeds, high fat dairy, sweeteners, avocado and berries.
Know what to focus on
And what you should focus on is being in a calorie deficit because it’s the key to burning off your own fat. To do this, you need to focus on two things: eat protein-dense and fiber-rich foods and eliminating all calorically-dense processed foods from your diet.
Track your macros
People usually tend to underestimate how many calories they really eat. Tracking yours can help you be more aware of where you are in the diet. Thankfully, there are many keto calculators that you can find on the internet.
Change your food environment
Of course, this can be hard for some people since changing your environment for one diet can be a bit much. Still, you can do this by only allowing keto-friendly food in your house, planning your meals ahead of time (stops you from overeating as well), only eating foods that you track and avoiding unhealthy foods you can binge on.
Prepare for keto concerns
Unfortunately, putting your body through ketosis isn’t that common, and so your body might have some adjusting to do. This “adjusting” comes in the form of the so-called “keto flu,” which may have symptoms like sugar cravings, dizziness, cramping, poor focus and insomnia. Luckily, drinking lots of water can help clear these symptoms. They would disappear as your body adapts more.