You might have often heard and read that diet and exercise are the two main pillars of any kind of workout. Once you have figured out what are the essential exercise routines you need to follow, you might now think of the diet pan. You might have heard the name Ketogenic diet many times nowadays. This diet is full in trend. So first let’s know what exactly is Ketogenic diet or Low Carb & Ketogenic diet plan?
A Ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low carb diet, also known as fat burning Ketogenic diet. Now you might wonder that why has it been so much in trend nowadays? Well there are many benefits of a Ketogenic diet. This diet can help you with losing weight and fuel up more energy in your body to perform workouts efficiently. But it is difficult to start a keto diet as a regular diet, all by you. Here we come to your rescue.
Often various keto experts focus on two things that is how to set yourself to achieve your required goals and get success and what keto foods are to consumed when you are a beginner. Another important thing to note is that if you want to start a keto diet then you should have a proper keto meal plan. You can do this by starting off with proper preparation of all the snack and meal plans and buy all the necessary food and dietary stuff necessary for the diet.
Now, once you’ve started this keto diet, it will only give you good result if you will stick to it till the end and won’t give up. Major reason why people give up keto diet is that it turns out boring to them after some time as they run out of interesting keto meals. There are very limited food items available for a keto diet and if you want the good results then you need to stick upon it no matter what. Also be ready for some small metabolic changes while you are ongoing this diet. Do check upon all the nutrients in your body so as to not face any kind of deficiencies while you are going on with the diet.
One thing that makes the keto diet easy is that you don’t need to track your calories very often as that of in a simple regular diet. The reason behind this is that, in this diet you are going to consume fat and protein which will keep you full for hours and not let you eat much throughout the day. Of course you need to keep a track of the nutrients you are consuming. A healthy keto diet consists of 70% calories from fat, 20% from proteins and 10% from carbs. So to achieve these ratios you will need a food tracking app to keep yourself assisted in the beginning.
In the beginning you need to reduce your exercise load for around 2 weeks which will help you adjust with the ketosis. If you are confused with the word ketosis let me help you with that. Ketosis is a carb reduction process that forces your body to rely on fat instead of glucose for its main energy source.
Before starting off with the meal plan let us know what the benefits of the keto diet are and why should you do one. Low Carb & Ketogenic diet plan helps your body to maintain:
- Lower blood pressure
- Skin improvements
- Digestive support
- Stable mood and energy levels
- Weight loss
- Reduced cravings and appetite
- Higher good cholesterol
- Possibly increase lifespan
- Blood sugar control
So let’s start off with the main segment that is Low Carb & Ketogenic diet plan.
Starting or switching to a Ketogenic meal plan seems to be difficult, but it isn’t that much. Only your main focus should be on food items which are high in fats and low in carbs. So it will ultimately lead your focus on reducing the carbs in your food and increasing the fat and protein in your food items. You strictly need to cut off the carbs while you are on a ketosis process. This will help you remain in ketosis state for a longer time and you won’t face any difficult while going on with this diet. The proportions of nutrients may differ somewhat from person to person. But the approximate average vale has been stated above. Now let’s have a look at what food items and drinks can need to consume and avoid while on ketosis.
Food items that you can consume:
- Dairy items: full-fat dairy items like yogurt, butter and cream that are rich in fats
- Poultry: chicken and turkey
- Eggs: pastured and organic whole eggs
- Cheese: types of cheese like cheddar, mozzarella, goat cheese, brie and cream cheese
- Fish: types of fish like salmon and mackerel
- Nuts and seeds: almond, walnut, pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds and peanuts.
- Healthy fats: coconut oil and butter, olive oil, avocado oil and sesame oil.
- Avocados: add whole avocados to any meal or snack.
- Meat: bison, grass-fed meat, pork organ meats.
- Nut butter: peanut, cashew and almond butters.
- Condiments: fresh herbs and spices along with salt and pepper, vinegar and lime juice.
- Non-starchy vegetables: all green leafy vegetables along with tomatoes, mushrooms and bell-peppers.
Food items you should to avoid:
- Sweet and sugary foods: sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup, ice-creams and candies.
- Starchy vegetables: potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, pumpkin
- Pasta: spaghetti and noodles.
- Beans and legumes: black beans, kidney beans, lentils and chickpeas.
- High-carb sauces: barbecue and dipping sauces.
- Fruit: citrus fruits, bananas, grapes and pineapples.
- Bread and baked items: white or whole-wheat bread, cookies, doughnuts.
- Grains and grain products: breakfast cereals, oats, tortillas, rice, wheat.
Choose wisely your food items. They should be healthy and high in protein and carb and avoid food items that are:
- Processed foods like fast food and packaged food.
- Unhealthy fats like various vegetable oils like corn oil or canola oil.
- Diet food items that contains preservatives in them or artificial colors or sweetening items.
Now let’s know what beverages you can include while you are on ketosis.
- Water: it is one of the best liquids that one can have to stay hydrated.
- Unsweetened tea and coffee: for tea you may switch to green tea which has many health benefits. And if you are a coffee person then try adding various flavors to your coffee and heavy cream to it.
- Sparkling water: it can be consumed in place of soda.
To maintain your ketosis you need to avoid the high carb foods and the sweetened drinks. It you wan to add flavors to your drink then add natural ones like mint and lemon in water to get a refreshing hydration drink.
Now let’s have a look at the drink that you should avoid while on ketosis.
- Sweetened beverages: soda, sweet teas and coffee, sweetened juices.
- Alcoholic beverages: beer and sugar mixed drinks.
Here are the Keto-friendly snacks that you can munch on:
- Almonds
- Hard boiled eggs
- cheese roll-ups
- guacamole
- Coconut and kale chips
- Berries with whipped cream
- Celery and peppers
- Smoothie containing coconut milk, cocoa and avocado
- Olives and salami
- Parmesan crisps
- Nuts and seeds
- Protein bars
So this was all about the Ketogenic diet plan in detail. If you want to have a detailed meal plan for all the days of the week you can refer the article Ketogenic meal plan. I think you like our article Low Carb & Ketogenic diet plan. please share your valuable feedback beow
