Most recently for people who want to lose weight, the hottest topic has been the ketogenic diet. Perhaps this diet is not new in the circuit. It has been used since a long time to treat many health related issues. Many with type 2 diabetes, inflammation and obesity has been long recommended this diet. It is an extreme low carb diet that aims in taking the body into the state of ketosis – a natural state, where the body utilizes fats as its primary source of energy instead of carbohydrates.
Well, saying it all, it is also true that a keto diet is quite a restrictive and articulate diet. The food propositions changes as you progress and needs a proper follow through and monitoring to achieve the optimal results. As a beginner of keto diet, there are full chances that you might face disappointed with no results and hence need to be precautious with certain mistakes that we all tend to make.
Let’s look into some of the common keto mistakes that almost all of us make, so that we get to avoid them and reap the maximum benefits and 100% results out of it.
- Going way too fast
Keto is a systematic approach and transition needs to happen over a period of time and not overnight. If you have been having and we all have a diet rich in carbohydrate and suddenly cut down drastically on the carb intake the next day could be way too dangerous than good. Yes, you do need to cut down on the carb and increase your fat intake – the ratio to begin with says 75% fats, 20% protein and negligible amount around 5% or less of carb to attain the state of ketosis. But that needs to be achieved over a period of time.
Rushing into it might induce keto flu, marked by tiredness, nausea, lethargy, irritability and sometimes even loss of ability. These are the symptoms that many develop going into the state of ketosis.
- Not eating enough fat and that too healthy fat
Fats have a misconception that they are bad. But not all fats are bad. You need to ensure that you know what are healthy and what unhealthy fats are. You may not be aware at the beginning that keto is all about having more and more of healthy fats at the start. Either you may not be consuming enough fat or it may also be that you are not aware of foods that provides healthy fats.
In keto, if you really want to get results and lose fat you need to consume it.
Another aspect to be considered in here is knowing the difference between healthy and unhealthy fats. For almost all of us, fats means processes and trans foods. These are saturated fats and do more harm than good. Healthy ones are the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated ones that promotes good cholesterol. Have more of avocados, nuts and fatty fishes instead of burgers and pizzas.
- Lessening or avoiding fruits and vegetables
Many beginners believe that vegetables are going to up their carb intake and start avoiding them. Never do this and nor does keto insist you to do so. Fruits and vegetables are critical for health, as they are enriched with micronutrients and fibers. Make sure that you eat vegetables that are non-starchy and fruits that are low in carbs.
Vegetables like broccoli, zucchini and mushrooms and fruits like berries are always keto friendly and must be included in your diet.
- No control on protein consumption
We all know that proteins are good for health and hence we love them in our diet no matter we are on keto or not. The truth is that keto permits moderate amounts of proteins. Excess of protein consumption will lead to conversion into glucose by the body, which you don’t want in keto.
Alike fats we need to monitor our protein intake too to ensure that the bod achieves the state of ketosis and starts burning fats for fuel instead of carbs.
As a beginner, none of these mistake are so that we cannot overcome. It is only that we were not aware of them. We may have disturbed our keto journey by committing these mistakes, but nothing is yet lost. We can start over again and ride the horse.
