The Ketogenic Diet is basically a low carb, moderate protein, and high fat diet that is designed to train a person’s metabolism to use ketone bodies or fatty acids to supply you with energy. Those who follow this diet plan show improvement on their insulin sensitivity and reduction of any inflammation in their bodies. This means that their risk of chronic diseases are reduced plus their fat metabolism as well as muscle development are significantly improved.
For those who are interested in following this diet for the first time, there are a few basic tips that you should take into consideration so that you will be able to ease into this diet. Here are some that are worth mentioning.
- Make sure you are hydrated. This tip is easier said than done as we often get consumed by our work or our busy schedule. In the keto diet, you will need to drink up to 32oz of water within the first hour after you wake up and another 32 to 48oz of water before lunch time. Since you will be eating a light breakfast, you will need to make sure that you stay hydrated until your next meal.
- Reduce your carbs. As it was mentioned before, the keto diet is low on carbs so you should make it a point to restrict your carbs to below 20g net carbs as well as 35g total carbs in a day.
- Add more good salts. Although reducing sodium intake is often recommended to maintain our health, especially when you’re on a high-carb diet, if you are following the keto diet, you will need to add more good salts to your meals. You can opt for Himalayan sea salt or natural foods that contain sodium to make up for the low sodium/potassium levels in your body because of your low carb diet.
- Avoid snacking. Skip snacking as much as possible when you’re following the ketogenic diet to avoid spikes in your insulin levels. If you continue snacking unnecessarily, you insulin levels will go up and down which can hurt your weight loss goals.
- Lower your protein intake. There are those who follow the keto diet that consume too much protein for their own good. Keep in mind when you consume plenty of protein, your body will transform it into glucose which you are trying to avoid. The best way to know how much protein you should be consuming per day, simply find your weight and divide it by 2.2 to know how many grams of protein per kg of your body weight. You should strive for this number during your light workout days. On the days when you do more strength training exercises, increase your protein intake to 1.5grams per kilogram.
 These are just a few tips on how you can slip into a ketogenic diet with ease. As with all diets, following the keto diet may be difficult at first but it pays to continue with this diet especially when you’re trying to boost your metabolism as well as reduce your risks of chronic disease as much as possible.
