Why Keto

If a person can live 7 days without eating…
Why are you hungry every 3 hours?

The best answer: your spoiled, lazy brain is playing with you for sugar treat

Your body can develop different mechanisms for handling energy from food. The most common is based on glucose.

Your body can obtain glucose from carbohydrates. This is probably the easiest way to obtain energy. It takes almost no effort and you can feel the peak of energy almost immediately… If you have doubts, give candies to children.

But the duration of that peak is too short, glucose is rapidly consumed by your brain and body. And, of course you have other sources of energy, but it is easier for your brain to ask for more carbs, to make more glucose. And all those other sources are left as “emergency reserves”. It is a low-level survival instinct, but we are no longer living in caverns and fighting for food with other neanderthals, so there is no need to have such huge reserves and you need to discipline your brain.

Instead of using carbs to obtain glucose, it would be great that your body starts to consume all that fat that is spreaded in every place you don’t want to have it. By doing this, you don’t have to do any exercise (but it is always a good idea to do some, of course) and you will have your own body consuming from those fat reserves to generate the energy you need. This will be an energy not based on glucose obtained from carbohydrates, but on ketones obtained from fat.

Ketones provide a lower peak of energy, but once you are producing them, that energy lasts longer. You will not feel weak or downhearted, you will have a continuous level of energy, decoupled when you eat.

But hey, it is not that easy. You have to somehow “convince” your brain it’s time to produce ketones from fat and stop using just glucose. And that is a hard thing to do, because your lazy brain will always try to take the easiest way, so if it has carbs, that will be used first. That’s the idea of the Keto diet, to deprive your organism from carbohydrates so there is no way to produce glucose and there’s no other choice than to start producing ketones from fat.

Instead of using carbs to obtain glucose, it would be great that your body starts to consume all that fat that is spreaded in every place you don’t want to have it. By doing this, you don’t have to do any exercise (but it is always a good idea to do some, of course) and you will have your own body consuming from those fat reserves to generate the energy you need. This will be an energy not based on glucose obtained from carbohydrates, but on ketones obtained from fat.

Ketones provide a lower peak of energy, but once you are producing them, that energy lasts longer. You will not feel weak or downhearted, you will have a continuous level of energy, decoupled when you eat.

But hey, it is not that easy. You have to somehow “convince” your brain it’s time to produce ketones from fat and stop using just glucose. And that is a hard thing to do, because your lazy brain will always try to take the easiest way, so if it has carbs, that will be used first. That’s the idea of the Keto diet, to deprive your organism from carbohydrates so there is no way to produce glucose and there’s no other choice than to start producing ketones from fat.

You will have an ultra-low carb diet, and you will replace those carbs with fat. We know that could sound a bit crazy, but just give it a chance and watch yourself losing 2 pounds/week eating eggs with bacon.

The limit on how much carbs you can eat in a day is really low for this diet, and even when the threshold could be different for individuals, let’s say that 30g in a day can be used as reference. Please remember to fill up that empty with fats, such as meat, fish, eggs, nuts, and healthy oils. You should not be hungry on the keto diet, as long as you don’t exceed the daily carbs limit, you can eat all you want.

Doing the Keto diet is the fastest way to lose weight.

Important disclaimer!

Switching to ketones-based energy is not an easy task. Let’s say that your brain will pass by almost the five stages of grief:

Day 1: Denial

You’ve just started eating a lot of proteins and fat, your brain still has some carbs being processed to make glucose. You are not giving him more carbs, but hey… it’s all ok, nobody is dying here.

Day 2: Anger

Now the buddy (your little brain) realized he is not getting his daily dose of carbs, and will make a scene with a headache. The intensity of the pain can vary from person to person, depending on how used to consume carbs they were. The more you were consenting yourself, the worse you will feel at this stage. Please, this is the day when you have to be conscious that this is all normal, and maybe just take a pain reliever but don’t fall back to the things you are wanting to eat.

Day 3: Negotiation

You are still feeling sick, this is often called “keto flu” because the symptoms are almost the same as the flu. And you can try to eat a lot of zero-carbs products to give some overdose nutrients other than carbs, for your brain to start managing the idea to produce ketones because it has no other choice.

Day 4: Depression

Very probably this will be the day your headache will disappear (if it didn’t disappear on day 3). Your brain has no longer any way to produce glucose and is resigned to start using fats to produce ketones. You will feel no hunger but desire for sweet or bread-based products. Just make your best to ignore it, you can always try to fool yourself with edulcored, or almond flour products, but use them as last resort, as they are not zero-carbs products, and in big amounts could be too much for the keto diet limit.

Day 5: Acceptance

By day 5 you should be already in ketosis, the state in which your body is working with ketones rather than glucose. You may feel a distinct smell in your urine when you go to the toilet. This is because you will be dropping ketones in the urine. Your hungry levels will be low, and you may still occasionally have some cravings, but you will be in a stable ketosis phase and this will not be a big issue. Try not to do intense physical activities, as you have a constant level of energy, but you are not able to produce peaks, so if you put yourself in an intense physical routine during ketosis, you will feel exhausted very quickly.

Foods to avoid

Any food that’s high in carbs should be limited.

Here’s a list of foods that need to be reduced or eliminated on a ketogenic diet:

  • sugary foods: soda, fruit juice, smoothies, cake, ice cream, candy, etc.
  • grains or starches: wheat-based products, rice, pasta, cereal, etc.
  • fruit: all fruit, except small portions of berries like strawberries
  • beans or legumes: peas, kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc.
  • root vegetables and tubers: potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc.
  • low fat or diet products: low fat mayonnaise, salad dressings, and condiments
  • some condiments or sauces: barbecue sauce, honey mustard, teriyaki sauce, ketchup, etc.
  • unhealthy fats: processed vegetable oils, mayonnaise, etc.
  • alcohol: beer, wine, liquor, mixed drinks
  • sugar-free diet foods: sugar-free candies, syrups, puddings, sweeteners, desserts, etc. 

Foods to eat

You should base the majority of your meals around these foods:

  • meat: red meat, steak, ham, sausage, bacon, chicken, and turkey
  • fatty fish: salmon, trout, tuna, and mackerel
  • eggs: pastured or omega-3 whole eggs
  • butter and cream: grass-fed butter and heavy cream
  • cheese: unprocessed cheeses like cheddar, goat, cream, blue, or mozzarella
  • nuts and seeds: almonds, walnuts, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, etc.
  • healthy oils: extra virgin olive oil, and avocado oil
  • avocados: whole avocados or freshly made guacamole
  • low carb veggies: green veggies, tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc.
  • condiments: salt, pepper, herbs, and spices