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Introduction
Although Keto diet has been around for almost a century, it is rapidly gaining popularity today. There is a reason why keto is so highly regarded. It‘s not a fad diet. It actually works, and it has tremendous health benefits in addition to weight loss. When on the keto diet, you are feeding your body exactly what it needs, while eliminating toxins that will slow it down.
The keto diet focuses on low carbohydrates, which the body converts into energy to help speed up weight loss.
What exactly is the problem with high carbs, and why should you avoid them? Carbohydrates are converted into glucose and cause a spike in insulin. As the insulin enters the bloodstream to process the glucose, which becomes the main source of energy. A spike in insulin can also result in storage of fats. The body uses carbohydrates and fats as energy, the former being the primary source. So the more carbs you consume in your daily diet, the less fat is being burned for energy. Instead, the spike in insulin will result in more fat storage.
When you consume less carbohydrates, the body goes into a state referred to as ketosis. Thus, the name for this low-carb diet.
Ketosis helps the body survive on less food. By being in ketosis, you ?train‘ your body to utilize fats as the main source of energy instead of carbs, simply because there is close to zero carbs to begin with. During ketosis, the liver breaks down fats into ketones, which enables the body to use the fat as energy. During a keto diet, we don‘t starve ourselves of calories; we starve the body of carbohydrates. This makes weight loss easy and natural. Later on,
you‘ll learn that the keto diet has many additional health benefits besides fat loss.
The keto diet is an easy diet, but some people do miss beans and breads. It takes a bit of getting used to, starting anything new is challenging after all. But ultimately, you‘ll feel much better, both physically and mentally that you‘d be happy to avoid carbs once and for all. And being able to eat bacon on a diet does have its rewards!
Chapter 1: What is Keto Diet?
The keto diet is a low or zero carbohydrate diet, but it differs from other low-carb diets (such as Paleo) in that it deliberately manipulates the ratios of carbs, fats, and protein to switch fat into the body‘s primary source of fuel. Our bodies are used to using carbohydrates as fuel. Fats, which is a secondary source of fuel, are rarely tapped on. That means the extra fat is stored and keeps adding on the pounds.
The only ways to reduce fat in a ?normal‘ diet are to consume less fat and workout a lot in order to increase energy expenditure over daily calories intake, which is why most people fail to lose weight on conventional diet.
On the other hand, the Keto diet uses fat for fuel, which means it gets used instead of being stored. So, weight loss becomes easy. In addition to weight loss, the Keto diet is known as the ?healing? diet. The lack of sugar intake has been proven to help and prevent many diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, cancers, epilepsy, and many symptoms of aging.
The manipulation of carbs, fats, and protein is curcial in order to get into ketosis. It‘s a state when the body, deprived of the usual carbohydrates and sugar, is forced to use fat as its primary fuel. So the ratio of fats and protein are significantly higher than carbs in general.
Of course, consuming less carbs also means lowering the amount of insulin in your body. Less insulin; Less glucose and fat storage. That is why the keto diet has been so successful in helping people with diabetes. It adjusts the sugar level naturally.
The ratio of carbs, fat, and protein can vary. Many people allow themselves up to 50 grams of carbohydrates a day and still lose weight. On a stricter regime, the carb intake can be between 15 and 20 grams daily. The less carbs, the quicker the weight loss, but the diet is very flexible.
On the keto diet, you don‘t count calories. You count carbohydrates and adjust the intake of carbs vs. fat and protein. A typical keto diet will get 60 percent of its calories from fat, 15 to 25 percent of calories from protein, and 25 percent of calories from carbohydrates. The only limitation on the diet is sugar, which you need to avoid.
The Keto diet is not a fad. Many scientific studies have shown the benefits and healing effects of ketosis. Discuss the Keto diet with your doctor if you are interested in consuming less sugar, losing weight, or as preventive measures against vulnerable health problems.