Transitioning To Keto: A Step-By-Step Guide

The ketogenic diet, or keto diet, is a low-carb, high-fat diet that offers many health benefits. It involves drastically reducing your carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fat. This reduction in carbs puts your body into a metabolic state called ketosis, where it becomes incredibly efficient at burning fat for energy.

If you're thinking of starting the keto diet, there are a few things you can do to work up to it:

- Familiarize yourself with food labels and check the grams of fat, carbs, and fiber to understand how your favourite foods can fit into your diet.

- Plan your meals in advance to save time and effort throughout the week.

- Incorporate more exercise into your routine to deplete your body's glycogen stores and encourage it to turn to fat as a source of fuel.

- Gradually add more healthy fats to your diet, such as fatty fish, olive oil, and avocado oil.

- Try intermittent fasting, which can help you enter ketosis faster.

Severely limit carbs

Severely limiting carbs is a key aspect of the keto diet. Here are some detailed tips to help you limit your carb intake:

Know Your Carb Limits

The recommended carb intake for keto dieters is typically between 20 and 50 grams per day. However, the exact limit can vary from person to person. It's important to monitor your carb intake and make adjustments as needed.

Understand Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are found not only in bread, pasta, chips, cookies, candy, and ice cream but also in beans, fruits, and vegetables. Meat and pure fats like butter and olive oil are the only foods that don't contain carbs. Knowing which foods contain carbs will help you make informed choices.

Gradually Adjust Your Diet

If you're new to the keto diet, it's best to make gradual adjustments. Start by reducing your carb intake to 20-30 grams per day and slowly increase your fat intake. Try ordering a burger without the bun or substituting green veggies for fries. Opt for non-starchy vegetables instead of potatoes or rice.

Be Mindful of Protein Intake

It's a common misconception that the keto diet allows unlimited protein consumption. However, protein can be converted into glucose, so overeating protein can take your body out of ketosis. Aim for a moderate protein intake, focusing on a small portion of meat topped with a generous amount of fat.

Choose Healthy Fat Sources

When increasing your fat intake, prioritize healthy fats. Good sources include fatty fish like salmon, olive oil, and avocado oil. While the keto diet encourages fat consumption, it's still important to limit saturated and trans fats from fried foods.

Consider Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting can help you reach a state of ketosis faster. This involves eating within a specific time window and may include short-term fasts. Always consult a healthcare professional before starting an intermittent fasting protocol.

Monitor Your Progress

You can purchase simple ketone test strips to measure ketone levels in your blood, breath, or urine. This will help you track your progress and make adjustments to your diet as needed.

Eat more healthy fats

The ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet. It involves reducing your carbohydrate intake and replacing it with healthy fats. This can help your body to use fat for energy, encouraging weight loss and possibly reducing the chance of developing certain health issues.

• Increase your intake of fatty fish, olive oil, and avocado oil – These foods are excellent sources of healthy fats and are also very low in carbs.
• Cook with more oil – When preparing meals, cook with healthy oils such as olive oil or avocado oil. This will help you increase your fat intake.
• Choose high-fat foods – Opt for high-fat foods such as fatty fish (salmon, trout, tuna, mackerel), eggs, nuts, seeds, and avocados. These foods will help you meet your fat requirements while also providing essential nutrients.
• Add healthy fats to your meals – You can easily add healthy fats to your meals by using oils, butter, or ghee. For example, cook your vegetables in olive oil or add avocado slices to your salad.
• Be mindful of portion sizes – While it's important to increase your healthy fat intake, be mindful of your portion sizes. Consuming too much fat can lead to stomach discomfort and weight gain.
• Read food labels – When choosing packaged foods, read the nutrition labels to understand the fat content. Look for options that are higher in healthy fats and lower in unhealthy fats, such as trans fats.

Exercise more

Exercise is an important part of the ketogenic diet, and not just for weight loss. It can help you enter ketosis faster and stay in that state.

How Exercise Helps You Enter Ketosis

Exercise helps deplete the body's glycogen stores. These are normally replenished when you eat carbs, which are broken down into glucose. However, if you're on a low-carb keto diet, your glycogen stores remain low. In response, your liver increases its production of ketones, which can be used as an alternative fuel source for your muscles.

Types of Exercise to Enter Ketosis

Both low-intensity steady-state (LISS) cardio and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can help you enter ketosis. LISS exercises include walking, running, cycling, training on an elliptical machine, and swimming. HIIT exercises include burpees, sprints, and mountain climbers.

The more energy you use during the day, the more fuel your body needs, and the more it will tap into its glycogen stores. Therefore, the more active you are, the faster you will enter ketosis. Longer and more intense physical activity depletes glycogen stores faster.

How to Exercise When You're Already in Ketosis

When you're in ketosis, you may feel more fatigued due to the lack of carbohydrates in your diet. Therefore, it's recommended to start with low-intensity exercises and work your way up to more intense workouts as your body adjusts to burning fat for fuel.

Other Benefits of Exercise on the Keto Diet

Exercising while in ketosis accelerates weight loss and helps preserve lean muscle mass, which increases your resting metabolic rate. This means your body burns more calories even when you're resting. Resistance training or lifting weights is the most effective type of exercise for building and preserving muscle.

Try intermittent fasting

Intermittent fasting is a popular dieting approach that can be combined with the keto diet. It involves eating only during a certain time window, usually eight hours, over a single day. For example, you would eat only during the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then fast during the other 16 hours. Other approaches to intermittent fasting include alternate-day fasting and whole-day fasting, which don't involve strict fasting but instead require you to cut way back on the food you eat on certain days.

Intermittent fasting can be a good way to lose weight and improve your cardiovascular health. It can be easier to manage than other diets because, rather than restricting what you eat, it restricts when you eat. Short-term studies suggest that people stick to intermittent fasting diets as well as or better than other diets.

Intermittent fasting can be combined with the keto diet. The keto diet is a high-fat, very low-carb diet that puts your body into a metabolic state called ketosis, where it burns fat for energy instead of carbohydrates. Intermittent fasting can help your body reach ketosis more quickly.

If you want to try intermittent fasting, it's important to first get the go-ahead from your healthcare provider. Skipping meals and severely restricting calories can be dangerous for people with certain conditions, such as diabetes.

• Start slowly by delaying breakfast by an hour and then slowly extending the time.
• Choose a time window that works for you. For example, not eating for 12 hours a day (say overnight from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.) is a natural habit for many people.
• During your eating window, eat meals that are based on meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and other protein-rich foods. Include lots of leafy greens, non-starchy veggies, and healthy fats like olive oil and avocado.
• During your fasting window, you can drink water, tea, and black coffee.
• If you feel hungry during your fasting window, try drinking a cup of water or a cup of tea.
• If you're combining intermittent fasting with keto, make sure to still eat enough fat and not too much protein.
• You can also try other forms of intermittent fasting, such as the 5:2 method, where you eat normally for five days and then restrict your calories for two non-consecutive days.

Remember, it's important to consult your healthcare provider before making any major dietary changes.

Consume more MCT oil

MCT oil is a supplement made from medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), a type of fat with shorter chains of fatty acids. These shorter chains make MCTs easier to digest and absorb than the long-chain triglycerides (LCTs) found in most other fats. MCTs are quickly converted into energy, and they can also be used to create ketones, which are an alternative energy source for the brain and body.

MCT oil is often used as part of the keto diet, as it can help with weight loss and increase energy levels. Here are some reasons why consuming more MCT oil can be beneficial for those following a keto diet:

Weight Loss and Satiety

MCT oil may help reduce calorie intake and promote weight loss. It has about 10% fewer calories than LCTs, and some studies suggest that it could help release hormones that increase feelings of fullness. For instance, one study found that people who consumed MCT oil at breakfast ate less at lunch compared to those who had coconut oil.

Energy and Endurance

MCTs are rapidly converted into energy, and they can also enhance athletic endurance. Consuming MCT oil may enable athletes to work at a higher intensity for longer periods. Additionally, MCTs can help suppress the utilisation of carbohydrates for energy, allowing athletes to tap into their fat stores for fuel.

Ketone Production

MCTs are quickly converted into ketones, which are an alternative fuel source for the brain and body. This can be especially beneficial for those following a keto diet, as ketones are a more efficient source of fuel than glucose. MCT oil can help individuals get into ketosis faster and stay in that state.

Management of Certain Health Conditions

MCT oil has been linked to potential improvements in various health conditions. For example, it may help manage epilepsy, reduce the risk of heart disease, and improve symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and autism. It's important to note that MCTs are not a replacement for prescription medications, and individuals should consult their doctor before incorporating MCT oil for these purposes.

Other Potential Benefits

MCT oil may offer additional advantages, such as improved blood sugar control for those with diabetes, enhanced cognitive function, and antimicrobial and antifungal effects.

While MCT oil has many potential benefits, it's important to consume it in moderation. Excessive intake may lead to gastrointestinal distress and other side effects. Additionally, MCT oil is high in calories and saturated fat, so it should be used within recommended limits to avoid potential negative impacts on heart health.

Frequently asked questions