Today, people follow many low-carb diets and regimens to stay fit and healthy. The keto diet is among the most popular diets that everybody has been intrigued by, from celebrities to mango people.
Before we get into the dynamics of how much carbs one should consume in the keto diet, foods that are good during the diet, and answer more popular FAQs, let’s look at what a keto diet is and how it works.
What Is A Keto Diet?
The Keto is an acronym for Ketogenic. A keto diet is a food diet that includes high intakes of fat, medium levels of protein, and quite a low amount of carbs throughout the period. The process of breaking fats and proteins for energy is called ketosis. It makes our body run on ketones rather than energy from carbs. This is the main feature of this low-carb diet.
Low-carb diets like these generally follow people who want to lose weight fast. People have observed fast results after this diet (with due medical supervision). There have been speculations of other reasons for following this diet, such as getting rid of acne, disorders, heart diseases, and other illnesses. However, there is proof to support the theories that have come forward just now.
How Much Of Carbs Should You Consume On A Keto Diet To Lose Weight?
“There shouldn’t be any carb intake.” This is one of the misfacts about the keto diet.
This is false since carbs should be taken at a low percentage. You shouldn’t cut it off completely from your daily life. Foods with carbohydrates are required to build glucose, help in heart muscles and the nervous system, and have other advantages.
Even though the intake of carbs should be less in this low-carb diet in your daily life, some carbs should be there. Thus, it is said that people should consume 20 to 50 grams of carbs on a keto diet to lose weight. So, almost 5-10% of your daily diet.
However, remember the limit of carbs for every person differs. It depends upon their food, stage of the keto diet, metabolism, and other essential factors.
For the first three months of the diet, your body is still getting used to the new keto regimen, so you are a beginner. For a novice, the carb limit should be 5%, which is 20 grams per day of the diet. You can increase the percentage to 10% after this period. If you’d like to get scientific, then you can use a ketone monitoring device.
A ketone monitoring device is similar to a glucose monitoring device. After testing it on the device, you will need to prick your finger and use the blood spot to see the ketone level. It is best to be used just after waking up.
How Long Can You Do A Keto Diet?
Low-carb diets like the keto diet should be recommended to be continued for a maximum period of 6 months on average. Of course, you should discuss with your dietician or medical professional to get a round date and time for your keto diet length. This depends upon your body type, age, metabolism, and other essential factors.
Can You Cheat On Your Keto Diet?
It takes one to two weeks for your body to adjust to the normal diet when you come off from keto. Not cheating on your diet is recommended since it will break a pattern. Aside from the stoppage of ketosis in the body, this can increase blood sugar and water weight.
How To Restart A Keto Diet?
Even though the recommendation is not to cheat on a keto diet, once in a while, a situation arises where you might want to. So, you can restart this carbs diet. Like doing more exercise, tracking your daily carbs after a restart, being vigilant, do fasting and intermittent fasting.
What is Keto Flu?
Carb diets have their side effects like any other diet and regimen. In the keto diet also, there are some side effects like constipation, nausea, body aches, and other similar symptoms one goes through. This is known as the keto flu. It is normal, but if you are not feeling well, you should check with your doctor to be safe.
What Are Some Other Low-Carb Diets?
If you want to try different low-carb diets like the keto diet, you can start with diets like the Low-Carb Paleo Diet, LCHF diet, i.e., Low-Carb, High-Fat diet, and The Atkins Diet.
What are some foods for low-carb diets?
Low-carb diets require the intake of healthy and organic food so we can maintain our proper diet schedule.
You can take a variety of vegetables in your keto diet, like broccoli, eggplant, green beans, and olives. You can have grapefruit, berries, melons, peaches, and many more from the fruit section.
Proteins make up at least 10% to the maximum of 20% of the keto diet. The food eaten during the meal includes eggs, chicken, fish, and other lean meats. A protein you should generally avoid because of its high fat count is ham. As its forms are not the healthiest.
As for carb intake, remember that carbs should be taken within limits and not cut off for low-carb diets like these. They can be taken as butter, nuts, seeds, cheese, and other keto diet-friendly treats. Bread, pasta, beer, and some grains are foods you shouldn’t take while on a keto diet.
Conclusion
The Keto diet has been seen as wonderful if you want to lose weight, but remember that everyone’s body is different. Some people can start seeing the results in weeks, while others may take months. While participating in these low-carb diets, you should have a dietitian or a medical professional monitoring your health. This should be done to ensure your body is healthy throughout. Before starting the diet, see a professional to see if you are fit enough to start strict carb diets so that you do not have any misfortune in the future.
