Welcome to part 2 of the Keto section in our new ongoing series looking at diet plans.
The Keto diet is a high-fat, very-low-carbohydrate, and moderate-protein eating plan designed to put your body into a state of ketosis, where it will burn fat as energy.
As mentioned in part 1 of this series, the real trick to this eating plan is not cheating from the restricted food list, as doing so puts your body back out of ketosis and you need to start back at square one to re-set it, which will then take days if not weeks to get back to a ketonic fat-burning state. If you are truly carb-addicted, or you can’t imagine life without bread, rice, pasta, pizza, cereal or potatoes (among other things) for the full duration of the diet, Keto is NOT for you.
So you’re thinking of trying the plan. Here are a few things you should know to give you the most success:
- Eat whole foods. Processed foods come with added ingredients you don’t need. You may find they have unexpected added sugars which will throw off your diet, or chemicals which can inhibit digestion. For instance, deli meats often add nitrates to give them longer staying power, however, if this keeps the meats from breaking down in the butcher’s case, it is also keeping the meats from breaking down easily in your stomach. The same goes for any other form of preservatives.
- Drink lemon water. Some say that eating lemons is associated with liver health and it is often a component of a liver cleanse or flush. As the Keto diet can stress the liver and gall bladder, drinking lemon water is often recommended when following the eating plan. Proponents claim that lemon water can clean the liver of toxic substances that may cause harm, thus improving the organ’s function and your health. Although no formal medical studies have tested the claims that lemon juice, or any of the other components of a liver flush, work as suggested, according to the American Cancer Society, lemons have been used in ayurvedic practices for thousands of years to aid in digestion. The Ayurvedic philosophy believes the first item you ingest sets the mood for the remainder of the day. With that thought in mind, drink a glass of lukewarm water flavored with freshly squeezed lemon when you get up. Here, the Ayurvedic reasoning is twofold. The warm water serves to stimulate the gastrointestinal tract and peristalsis—the waves of muscle contractions within the intestinal walls that keep things moving. Secondly, lemons are high in minerals and vitamins and help loosen toxins in the digestive tract. This is particularly important when your body is put into ketosis. Lemons do make a healthy addition to your diet and, in that sense, support liver function. Lemon juice is low in calories and an excellent source of vitamin C. The juice from one whole lemon has only 11 calories and 3 grams of carbs. It also has 19 milligrams of vitamin C, meeting more than 30 percent of the daily value. Although the juice from one lemon is not a significant source of any other nutrient, it can help you meet your daily needs for thiamine, pantothenic acid, folate, vitamin B-6, magnesium and potassium. Lemon water can also be used to freshen “keto breath” during the first few weeks of the plan.
- Drink a gallon of water per day. Water will help keep your digestion “moving” when you have a high fat intake. As noted in Part 1, you can expect your body to revolt a bit, digestively speaking, when you start the transition to ketosis. High water consumption will help with digestion as well as ease the headaches caused by the “keto flu.”
- Chew your food thoroughly. When I first began to learn about ayurveda, I often turned to a friend and ayurvedic doctor for tips and one of the things he was constantly telling me that I did not chew my food enough. As it turns out, he was right. Chewing is the first step in digestion. It allows the enzymes in your mouth to begin the digestive process before food even starts down your throat. When you are consuming the fat-dense foods of the Keto diet, this is particularly important. Every bit of digestive help in the mouth is a benefit to the liver.
- Exercise really helps. You’ve heard it before–diet doesn’t work without exercise. In this case, it not only helps with weight loss by kick-starting the glycogen burn, but getting yourself moving, helps your digestion keep moving too. I can’t stress enough that this is a challenging diet for your digestion, so everything you can do to ease the process will make you not only feel better, but have greater success with the overall plan.
- Consider a fiber supplement. This diet will cut out a lot of the fiber-rich foods you may have once eaten regularly, leaving your body at a loss for this digestive helper (there I go with the digestion again!). Many high fiber vegetables can not be eaten in quantities high enough for the fiber benefit without risking too many carbs. Of course, you should first try to max out on these natural food sources (broccoli is an excellent choice), before adding more fiber, but if you need it, natural psyllium will do the trick. As an added benefit, numerous studies have shown that fiber like psyllium, taken as part of a healthy diet, can help lower a person’s risk of heart disease by lowering blood pressure and improving lipid levels.
- Focus on sleep. While after a few weeks, the Keto diet has been reported to improve sleep quality, during the first few weeks, while your body adjusts to ketosis, you may experience sleep disturbances. The irony here is that extra sleep can help your body adjust better, and stave off the “keto flu”. So what’s a girl to do? This is an important time to focus on your sleep ritual. Try to go to bed at the same time each evening, and get your body into a routine so it begins winding down. This could include a hot shower, powering off any electronics at least an hour before bed, sleeping in a cool, dark space, and possibly using aromatherapy like lavender to put your mind into a rested state. Meditation can also help your body and mind get the relaxation it needs during this time. If you haven’t adopted a regular practice of meditation, now may be a good time to try it and see how you feel.
- Add electrolytes. The very low-carb nature of the Keto diet can change the way your body handles electrolytes and water, and it is easy to experience electrolyte imbalances and dehydration when you’re first starting and throughout your ketogenic journey. When you begin the Keto diet and drastically cut back on carbs, your body produces less insulin and glycogen (stored carbs) stores are depleted. For every gram of glycogen, three grams of water are stored as well. As those glycogen stores are depleted, your kidneys go from retaining water to excreting more of it. This is why when you initially start the diet, you will lose a lot of water weight early on–resulting from the excretion of water. With this flush of water, important minerals called electrolytes are excreted too. You must have enough of these in your body for processes to function correctly. If one or more of these electrolytes are deficient, you’re going to have some issues, which can include:
- Heart palpitations or racing heart
- Feeling shaky, dizzy or weak like you’re going to pass out
- Headaches or migraines
- Leg or other muscles cramps, such as getting Charlie horses at night
- Trouble with constipation and bloating
Starting the Keto diet can increase electrolyte and water loss, and replenishing both is important for overall health and reducing uncomfortable side effects. But be careful of high-sugar, and high-chemical sports drinks. You can get sufficient amounts of sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium either from your diet or in supplement form to replenish your electrolyte needs.
I hope these eight tips give you the added boost you need for success if you choose to follow the Keto diet plan.
Please note, the Keto diet should be followed only with doctor permission and supervision if you have (or have had) any liver, kidney or gall bladder issues. This diet is extremely taxing on those organs. This diet is also not recommended if you are pregnant, thinking of getting pregnant, or nursing.
We will continue this series over the next few weeks or months. Please message us or leave comments below if there is a particular eating plan you would like us to cover.
NOTE: I’m not a medical practitioner and the tips here are not intended to diagnose, cure or treat any health issue or disease. Please consult your regular health practitioner before starting any new diet plan. For personal coaching on how to make distinctive positive changes to your life, please get in touch with me through the contact form by clicking contact us above. I look forward to hearing from you!