Losing weight with the keto diet

A few weeks ago we told you about the ten essential foods in the ketogenic diet or keto diet and we talked about the benefits of this type of keto shopping list. Its success is such that more and more people decide to follow it for a few months, with results that are visible to everyone.

However, this success does not prevent many from still not knowing how this diet works and making basic mistakes when it comes to eating. For this reason, we have gathered the most common mistakes we make when talking about the keto diet, starting with those people who decide to carry out this diet without being clear about what it is about.

We must not forget that the keto diet is based on the substitution of carbohydrates for healthy fats , in such a way that our diet is made up of more than 70 percent healthy fats and less than 10 percent carbohydrates, while the rest are proteins. These are the most common mistakes when talking about the ketogenic diet.

Does not cause constipation

Constipation usually occurs when there is a lack of fiber in our diet. It does not matter what diet we follow: if there is no fiber, we will be constipated. This does not mean that the ketogenic diet causes constipation: if we manage to ingest the necessary fiber we will not have any problems associated with the intestine.

The important thing is that there is a significant amount of fiber in the food we eat. For this reason, vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage or eggplants or fruits such as avocado cannot be missing from the keto diet. All of them are rich in fiber and are perfect for both following the ketogenic diet and going to the bathroom regularly.

Does not increase cholesterol

Historically, high-fat diets have been associated with high cholesterol levels and, therefore, with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. However, dozens of studies published in recent years have debunked these ideas, making it clear that healthy fats are far from bad for cholesterol.

Among those studies was a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that showed people on a low-fat diet lost less weight than those on a low-carb diet. And, in addition to losing more weight, people who reduced their carbohydrate intake also reduced their chances of suffering from cardiovascular diseases such as cholesterol.

Sweetener should not be abused

Sugar is one of the most forbidden foods on the keto diet. That is why there are many who are looking for substitutes to sweeten their recipes without having to resort to sweet sugar. The bad news is that not just any sweetener can be used and only a few such as stevia, erythritol or allulose should be part of our diet.

Because some of the most used products in the food industry such as fructose or aspartame are not so healthy. It is not that we should erase them from our daily lives but, in the long term, it is better that we replace them with healthy products for those cases in which we need a sweet taste, but we do not want to fill our recipe with sugar.

No need to cut out alcohol

The presence of alcohol is discouraged in ketogenic diets, basically because of the amount of carbohydrates it contains. However, that does not mean that we have to completely eradicate alcohol from our lives, far from it. What the keto diet recommends is that, until you adapt to the recommended levels of fat and carbohydrate intake, you do not abuse alcohol, but you do not have to cut it out.

The daily carbohydrate limit is set at around 20 grams per day. When our body adapts to this new situation, that figure can be increased up to the 50-gram barrier, approximately, so that we will be able to drink alcohol in a moderate way there. What is true is that drinks like beer or some spirits are high in carbohydrates and drinking them will cause you to come out of ketosis.

Ketoacidosis and ketosis are not the same

They are two very different terms, but they are often confused. Ketosis is achieved when following a healthy ketogenic diet, that is, low in carbohydrates and with the supervision of a specialist. The liver stops using glucose as an energy source and replaces it with fat. It is a safe process and should not affect our health as long as we are not diabetic.

However, ketoacidosis occurs when there is a lack of insulin in the body. In that case, blood sugar rises to dangerous levels and stored fat in the body causes an increase in ketones. When both circumstances are combined, acid levels in the blood can become unbalanced, but if a person is not diabetic, it should not happen.

Not a high protein diet

People who are new to the ketogenic diet tend to confuse it with a diet that is high in fat, but also high in protein. However, daily protein intake does not usually exceed 20 percent of total food, so it is not a high-protein diet, but rather a diet high in healthy fats.

The keto diet is one of the most successful today and, after having analyzed all these factors, you can decide if it is the one that most interests your body and your way of life. The most important thing is that you eat everything, that you do not miss any type of food in your nutrition and that you give your body the sustenance it needs.

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