The keto diet (also known as ketogenic diet, low carb diet and LCHF diet) is a low carbohydrate, high fat diet. Maintaining this diet is a great tool for weight loss. More importantly though, according to an increasing number of studies, it helps reduce risk factors for diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and more 1-6 .
On the keto diet, your body enters a metabolic state called ketosis. While in ketosis your body is using ketone bodies for energy instead of glucose. Ketone bodies are derived from fat and are a much more stable, steady source of energy than glucose, which is derived from carbohydrates.
Entering ketosis usually takes anywhere from 3 days to a week. Once you’re in ketosis, you’ll be using fat for energy, instead of carbs. This includes the fat you eat and stored body fat.
Testing For Ketosis
You can test yourself to see whether you’ve entered ketosis just a few days after you’ve begun the keto diet! Simply use a ketone test strip and it will tell you the level of ketone bodies in your urine. If the concentration is high enough, you’ve successfully entered ketosis! Note: Any change to the strip color indicates that you are in ketosis.
There are other ways of telling you’re in ketosis, though – look for changes in your mood and alertness, as well as a stronger smell in your breath and urine. Many people also report better sleep and decreased appetite when they’re in ketosis.
The Truth About Fat
You may be thinking, “but eating a lot of fat is bad!” The truth is, dozens of studies and meta studies with over 900,000 subjects have arrived at similar conclusions: eating saturated and monounsaturated fats has no effects on heart disease risks7,8 .
Most fats are good and are essential to our health. Fats (fatty acids) and protein (amino acids) are essential for survival.
Fats are the most efficient form of energy and each gram contains about 9 calories, compared to 4 calories per gram of protein and carbohydrates.
There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate.
The keto diet promotes eating fresh, whole foods like meat, fish, veggies, and healthy fats and oils as well as greatly reducing processed and chemically treated foods the Standard American Diet (SAD) has so long encouraged.
It’s a diet that you can sustain long-term and enjoy. What’s not to enjoy about bacon and eggs in the morning?
You’ll Love Our Keto in Five Cookbooks!
We believe that the key to success is simplicity and satisfaction with your diet. That’s why we created our Keto in Five ecookbook series which includes Breakfast in Five , Lunch in Five , Dinner in Five , and Dessert in Five .
Each book contains 30 recipes. Every recipe is made with just 5 ingredients and has up to 5 grams of net carbs. That means you can have seconds of any meal and you’ll still be within your daily carb limit!
How Calories Work
A calorie is a unit of energy. When something contains 100 calories, it describes how much energy your body could get from consuming it. Calorie consumption dictates weight gain/loss.
If you burn an average of 1,800 calories and eat 2,000 calories per day, you will gain weight.
If you do light exercise that burns an extra 300 calories per day, you’ll burn 2,100 calories per day, putting you at a deficit of 100 calories. Simply by eating at a deficit, you will lose weight because your body will tap into stored resources for the remaining energy it needs.
That being said, it’s important to get the right balance of macronutrients every day so your body has the energy it needs.
What Are Macronutrients?
Macronutrients (macros) are molecules that our bodies use to create energy for themselves – primarily fat, protein and carbs. They are found in all food and are measured in grams (g) on nutrition labels.
Fat provides 9 calories per gram
Protein provides 4 calories per gram
Carbs provide 4 calories per gram
Read our full What Are Macros guide for more information about macronutrients and how they affect your body and health.
Net Carbs
Many low carb recipes will write “net carbs” when displaying their macros. Net carbs are total carbs minus dietary fiber and sugar alcohols. Our bodies can’t break down fiber and sugar alcohol into glucose so they generally don’t raise blood sugar. For this reason, many people on a low carb diet don’t count them toward their total carb count.
Note: Dietary fiber is sometimes listed as soluble or insoluble.
How Much Should You Eat?
On a keto diet, about 65 to 75 percent of the calories you consume daily should come from fat. About 20 to 30 percent should come from protein. The remaining 5 percent or so should come from carbohydrates.
You can use our Keto Diet Calculator to figure out exactly how many calories and which macros you should be eating every day!
It asks you for basic info like your weight, activity levels and goals and instantly tells you how many grams of fat, protein and carbs you should be eating each day.
Carbs: What Exactly Are They?
Carbohydrates (carbs) are a macronutrient found in things like starches, grains and foods high in sugar. This includes, but isn’t limited to, bread, flour, rice, pasta, beans, potatoes, sugar, syrup, cereals, fruits, bagels and soda.
Carbs are broken down into glucose (a type of sugar) in our bodies for energy. Eating any kinds of carbs spikes blood sugar levels. The spike may happen faster or slower depending on the type of carb (simple or complex), but the spike will still happen.
Blood sugar spikes cause strong insulin releases to combat the spikes. Constant insulin releases result in fat storage and insulin resistance. After many years, this cycle commonly leads to prediabetes, metabolic syndrome and even type 2 diabetes 9 .
In a world full of sugar, cereal, pasta, burgers, French fries and large sodas, you can see how carbs can easily be overconsumed.
Where We Are Today
According to the 2014 report by the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. (86 million people) have prediabetes, a condition in which blood glucose is always high and commonly leads to type 2 diabetes and many other medical problems 10 .
Today, almost 1 in 10 people in the U.S. have type 2 diabetes compared to almost 1 in 40 in 1980. Fat has been blamed as the bad guy and companies have been creating low-fat and fat-free, chemically-laden alternatives of nearly every type of food in existence, yet obesity, diabetes and heart disease rates are still increasing.
Nearly 1 in 10 adults in the U.S. has type 2 diabetes, almost 4 times more than 30 years ago.
Fat is Making a Comeback
We’re starting to understand that carbs in large quantities are much more harmful than previously thought, while most fats are healthy and essential.
The nutritional landscape is changing. Ketogenic diet and low carb diet groups, as well as similar dietary groups like paleo, are growing and a nutritional revolution is beginning. We are starting to realize the detrimental effects of our relationship with excess sugar and carbs.
Benefits of the Keto Diet
Long-Term Benefits
Studies consistently show that those who eat a low carb, high fat diet rather than a high carb, low fat diet:
Lose more weight and body fat11-17
Have better levels of good cholesterol (HDL and large LDL) 18,19
Have reduced blood sugar and insulin resistance (commonly reversing prediabetes and type 2 diabetes) 20,21
Experience a decrease in appetite 22
Have reduced triglyceride levels (fat molecules in the blood that cause heart disease) 19,23
Have significant reductions in blood pressure, leading to a reduction in heart disease and stroke 24
Eating a keto/low carb diet helps you lose more weight than eating low fat.
Day-to-Day Benefits
The keto diet doesn’t only provide long-term benefits! When you’re on keto, you can expect to:
Lose body fat
Have consistent energy levels during the day
Stay satiated after meals longer, with less snacking and overeating
Longer satiation and consistent energy levels are due to the majority of calories coming from fat, which is slower to digest and calorically denser.
Being on a low carb diet also eliminates blood glucose spikes and crashes. You won’t have sudden blood sugar drops leaving you feeling weak and disoriented.
Entering Ketosis
The keto diet’s main goal is to keep you in nutritional ketosis all the time. If you’re just getting started with your keto diet, you should eat up to 25 grams of carbs per day.
Once you’re in ketosis for long enough (about 4 to 8 weeks), you become keto-adapted, or fat-adapted. This is when your glycogen decreases (the glucose stored in muscles and liver), you carry less water weight, muscle endurance increases and your overall energy levels are higher.
Another benefit of being keto-adapted is that you can eat ~50 grams of net carbs a day to maintain ketosis.
Type 1 Diabetes & Ketoacidosis
If you have type 1 diabetes, consult with your doctor before starting a keto diet. Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a dangerous condition that can occur if you have type 1 diabetes due to a shortage of insulin.
Avoiding The Keto Flu
What is the Keto Flu?
The keto flu happens commonly to keto dieters due to low levels of sodium and electrolytes and has flu-like symptoms including:
Fatigue
Headaches
Cough
Sniffles
Irritability
Nausea
It’s important to note that this isn’t the real flu! It’s called keto flu due to similar symptoms but it is not at all contagious and doesn’t actually involve a virus.
Why Does It Happen?
The main cause for keto flu is your body lacking electrolytes, especially sodium. When starting keto, you cut out lots of processed foods and eat more whole, natural foods. Although this is great, it causes a sudden drop in sodium intake.
In addition, reducing carbs reduces insulin levels, which reduces sodium stored by kidneys 25 .
Between your reduced sodium intake and stored sodium flushed by your kidneys, you end up being low on sodium and other electrolytes.
The keto flu can be avoided by consuming enough electrolytes, especially sodium.
Ending the Keto Flu
The best way to avoid (or end) the keto flu is to add more sodium and electrolytes to your diet. Here are the most effective (and tasty) ways to get more sodium:
Adding more salt to your food
Drinking soup broth
Eating plenty of salty foods like bacon and pickled vegetables
Try to eat more sodium as you start the keto diet to prevent the keto flu entirely. If you do catch it, just remember that it’ll go away quickly and you’ll emerge a fat-burning machine!
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