Brenda Khan
The ketogenic diet is notoriously strict, requiring adherents to eat a specific ratio of macros (protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates) every day. It can be tough to follow, and many people appreciate cheat meals or cheat days to give themselves a break. However, cheat meals or days are discouraged on the keto diet because they can easily break ketosis, the metabolic state that's the hallmark of this diet. Eating more than 50 grams of carbs can kick your body out of ketosis, causing spikes in blood sugar, sluggishness, and more cravings. While some people can eat up to 100 grams of carbs and stay in ketosis, for others, the threshold is as low as 10 to 20 grams. Ultimately, the decision to incorporate cheat meals or days into a keto diet depends on the individual's willpower and ability to get back into ketosis quickly after indulging in carbs.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Purpose of cheat meals | To give a break from rigorous diets and to motivate dieters to stay on track |
| Recommended frequency | Once every 3 weeks, once a month, or once every 6 weeks |
| Strategies to curb the urge to cheat | Practicing mindfulness, planning meals and snacks, keeping tempting foods out of the house, having an accountability partner |
| Negative consequences | Weight gain, digestive issues, blood sugar spikes, sluggishness, cravings, unhealthy eating habits, difficulty getting back on track |
| Positive consequences | Improved chances of staying committed to the diet, breaking through plateaus, giving something to look forward to |
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What You'll Learn
- Eating more than 50 grams of carbs can kick your body out of ketosis
- Cheat meals may lead to overeating and promote unhealthy eating habits
- Cheat meals can cause blood sugar spikes and sluggishness
- Cheat meals can be motivating and help you stick to your diet
- Strategies to curb the urge to cheat include planning meals and practising mindfulness
Eating more than 50 grams of carbs can kick your body out of ketosis
Cheat meals or days are a common strategy for strict diets. They allow you to break the diet rules for a day or a meal, and the idea is that by allowing yourself short periods of indulgence, you're more likely to stick to the diet over the long term. While this may be the case for some diets, it's not ideal for the keto diet.
The keto diet relies on your body staying in ketosis, a metabolic state where the body burns fat for fuel. To stay in ketosis, you need to eat fewer than 50 grams of carbs per day. Eating more than 50 grams of carbs can kick your body out of ketosis. As carbs are your body's preferred energy source, your body will use them over ketone bodies (derived from fats) as soon as a sufficient number of carbs are available. This can cause a spike in blood sugar levels, sluggishness, and more cravings.
If you've been kicked out of ketosis, you'll need to strictly follow the keto diet to re-enter, which can take several days to a week or more, depending on your carb intake, metabolism, and activity levels. To make it easier to get back into ketosis, you can try intermittent fasting, which may help your body shift its fuel source from carbs to fat. You can also try to boost your hydration to help flush out excess carbs and reduce bloating.
Some people on the keto diet have cheat meals or days every few weeks or months, and they don't seem to have any negative long-term effects. However, it's important to note that the more you cheat, the more you may overeat, and the more likely you are to gain weight. Additionally, eating a high-carb meal on the keto diet may damage your blood vessels, and reintroducing sugar and processed foods can mess with your gut microbiome, causing imbalances in gut bacteria, which can lead to food intolerances, acid reflux, brain fog, skin issues, and mood swings.
If you're considering a cheat meal or day on the keto diet, it's important to be mindful of the potential consequences and to plan to get back into ketosis quickly.
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Cheat meals may lead to overeating and promote unhealthy eating habits
Cheat meals are a common strategy for strict diets, and many people appreciate them as they provide a break from rigorous dieting. However, cheat meals on the keto diet can easily break ketosis, the metabolic state where the body burns fat for fuel, as they often involve high-carb foods. Eating more than 50 grams of carbs can kick your body out of ketosis, although this number varies from person to person. When you reintroduce carbs, your body will rapidly begin using them as its primary source of fuel instead of fat.
Cheat meals can lead to overeating and promote unhealthy eating habits. The more frequent the cheat meals, the more likely you are to overeat. Binge eating thousands of calories in a day will likely hinder weight loss efforts. Eating refined sugar and processed foods can also mess with your gut microbiome, causing digestive issues like bloating, gas, diarrhoea, constipation, and even brain fog, skin issues, and mood swings.
Additionally, cheat meals can lead to blood sugar spikes, causing sluggishness and more cravings. The sudden intake of high-carb foods can also cause digestive issues as your digestive system is no longer used to processing these foods.
To avoid overeating and unhealthy habits, some suggest limiting your carb intake and calories during cheat meals. This involves staying under the 50-gram limit of carbs to remain in ketosis while still enjoying treats. Others recommend increasing protein and healthy fat intake on regular days and slightly raising carb intake on cheat days, say from 45 grams to 55 grams, to avoid issues associated with a sudden carb overload.
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Cheat meals can cause blood sugar spikes and sluggishness
Cheat meals are common in many diets, and the keto diet is no exception. People on keto diets incorporate cheat meals or cheat days to give themselves a break from the rigorous diet. However, cheat meals on keto can have some negative consequences, one of which is blood sugar spikes.
The keto diet is a very low-carb, high-fat diet that aims to keep the body in a state of ketosis, where it burns fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates. When on a keto diet, the body's glycogen stores deplete, and a sudden intake of high-carb foods can lead to a significant spike in blood sugar levels, also known as the "blood sugar rollercoaster." This spike is followed by an energy crash as blood sugar levels inevitably fall. Additionally, reintroducing sugar can affect the gut microbiome, leading to imbalances in gut bacteria and causing food intolerances, acid reflux, brain fog, skin issues, and mood swings.
The threshold for staying in ketosis varies from person to person, but it is generally accepted that consuming more than 50 grams of carbs in a day will kick the body out of ketosis. Some people can eat up to 100 grams of carbs and still remain in ketosis, while others have an upper limit of 10 to 20 grams. A cheat meal high in carbs can easily exceed these thresholds and cause a person to exit ketosis.
To minimize the impact of cheat meals on blood sugar spikes, it is recommended to limit carb intake and calories during the cheat meal, making it more of a pseudo-cheat meal. This can involve having a single meal with a moderate amount of carbs, such as 40 grams, while keeping the rest of the day's carb intake at zero grams. Another strategy is to exercise after the cheat meal, as exercise increases insulin sensitivity and helps the body handle carbs better, making it easier to get back into ketosis.
In addition to blood sugar spikes, cheat meals can also lead to sluggishness or a lack of energy. This is because the body has become adapted to using fat as its primary fuel source during ketosis. When a high-carb meal is reintroduced, the body rapidly shifts back to using carbohydrates for energy, and the transition can cause sluggishness as the body adjusts to the new fuel source. To mitigate this, it is important to get back to eating keto meals quickly after a cheat meal. The longer one waits to return to the low-carb routine, the harder it will be, and the more likely they are to experience sluggishness and other negative side effects.
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Cheat meals can be motivating and help you stick to your diet
Cheat meals are a common strategy for strict diets, and they can be motivating and help you stick to your keto diet. The idea is that by allowing yourself short periods of indulgence, you're more likely to stick to the diet over the long term. The keto diet is very strict, requiring adherents to eat a specific ratio of macros (protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates) every day. For people who have spent their lives enjoying bread, pasta, and cookies, going without or sticking to very small amounts can be challenging. Cheat meals give keto dieters something to look forward to and a break from the rigorous diet.
However, there are downsides to increasing your carbohydrate intake, even for a single day while on a ketogenic diet. Eating more than 50 grams of carbs per day can kick your body out of ketosis. As carbs are your body's preferred energy source, your body will use them over ketone bodies (the main source of fuel during ketosis, derived from fats) as soon as a sufficient number of carbs are available. Eating a high-carb food, even as an occasional treat, could knock you out of ketosis.
If you want to go all out on your cheat meal and don't care whether the food you eat throws you out of ketosis, consider how long it will take to get back into that state. If you know that you'll spend a week getting back into ketosis, then schedule your cheat meals for once a month or once every other month. This way, you'll be able to remain in ketosis long enough to reap the benefits of the diet. However, if it takes you less time to get back into ketosis, you can schedule your cheat meals more often. If you want to limit the number of carbs you eat on your cheat meal, you can schedule those meals more often. Once a week will work just fine for those who plan to stay under the 50 grams of carbs limit in order to remain in ketosis while still eating some additional treats.
To make up for the lesser carbs on regular days, increase the amounts of protein and healthy fats that you're eating. Then, when it's time for your cheat meal, you can eat 50 grams of carbs and still remain in ketosis. Another method is to simply keep an eye on your macros. If you measure them carefully, you may be able to raise your carbs on your keto cheat meal while still staying in ketosis. A small increase, say to 55 grams from 45 grams, may keep you in ketosis while still allowing you to enjoy that little bit of pasta. It all depends on how your body responds to the carbs and how long you've been in ketosis. By increasing the number of carbs included in your meals only slightly on your cheat meals, you'll be able to avoid many of the issues that come with suddenly introducing a lot of carbs into your system.
To resist the urge to cheat on keto, try keeping carbs out of the house, planning out your meals and snacks, and practicing mindfulness.
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Strategies to curb the urge to cheat include planning meals and practising mindfulness
The keto diet is very strict, requiring adherents to eat a specific ratio of macros (protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates) every day. It can be challenging to stick to, and cheat meals or days are common strategies to give those on a strict diet a break. However, cheat meals or days are discouraged on the keto diet because they can easily break ketosis, the metabolic state that's the hallmark of this diet.
Practising mindfulness involves paying attention to your body, which may help you resist cravings and emotional eating. Mindfulness can help you make better decisions about what you eat and avoid developing a bad relationship with certain foods. It's about balance and not letting yourself feel like you're missing out.
Other strategies to curb the urge to cheat on the keto diet include:
- Making your everyday diet enjoyable by incorporating different keto-friendly meals to add variety.
- Keeping tempting foods out of the house so that cheating becomes inconvenient.
- Having an accountability partner to help you stay motivated and stick to your diet.
- Intermittent fasting, which may help your body shift its fuel source from carbs to fat.
- Tracking your carb intake to ensure you don't underestimate it and accidentally kick your body out of ketosis.
- Allowing yourself time off from keto for special occasions.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, but it may negatively impact your progress. A single cheat meal may not bring you out of ketosis, but it can be just as damaging to your progress as an entire day of eating carbs. Eating more than 50 grams of carbs can kick your body out of ketosis.
It depends on how long it takes your body to get back into ketosis. If it takes you a week to get back into ketosis, you can have cheat meals once a month or once every two months. If it takes less time, you can have cheat meals more often.
Eating a high-carb cheat meal can cause blood sugar spikes, sluggishness, cravings, bloating, constipation, and weight gain. It can also mess with your gut microbiome, causing imbalances in gut bacteria and resulting in food intolerances, acid reflux, brain fog, skin issues, and mood swings.
You can eat up to 50 grams of carbs and still remain in ketosis. You can eat keto-friendly substitutes for your favorite foods, such as keto chocolate chip cookies. It's best to avoid sugary foods as they can fuel sugar addiction and drive future cravings.
To get back into ketosis, you need to strictly follow the keto diet. This process can take several days to a week or more, depending on your carb intake, metabolism, and activity levels. Intermittent fasting and increasing hydration can also help you get back on track.
