In the endless sea of weight-loss diets, you can nowadays pick the one you like and stick to it. We usually choose our diets by the type of food they promote as helpful, the titles promising quick results, by celebrities’ testimonials of their eating habits, and so on. However, some diets are meant to get you to your weight goal and give you several health benefits (or disadvantages if you choose the wrong one). Therefore, next time you decide to go on a diet, make sure to have a more severe approach to get the best individual results with no side-effects.
In the last few years, LCHF (low carb high-fat) diets have grown extremely popular, and that’s no coincidence. These diets promote switching from carbs, as your primary resource of fuel, to fats. This may sound like the opposite of everything you knew on dieting so far, but trust me – it makes perfect sense! One of these diets is the ketogenic diet. You’ve probably heard of it, but let’s do a quick intro on why you should give it a go.
The science behind it: Ketogenic diet is named after ketones. Ketones are chemicals made in your liver when there’s not enough insulin in your system to turn the glucose into energy. As you probably know, our bodies predominantly use carbohydrates as fuel. When you start an LCHF diet, your body starts running low on glucose supply, so it has to find another source of energy, and that source becomes fat. By fat, we mean both the one you consume and the one you’ve stored in your body so far. That means your body has gone into a state of ketosis (the metabolic process of burning fat).
Your grocery shopping list: If the first thought of fats for you were fast food, french fries, and snacks, then sorry – but the keto diet embraces good fats. Think of fatty fish such as salmon, hard cheeses, avocados, bacon, eggs, nuts. Still sounds pretty good, right? Even though this regime doesn’t allow many fruit and vegetables, you’ll get your fibers by consuming green vegetables (like salads or spinach) and berries (blueberries, raspberries, and so on). You can prepare your food using olive oil or butter, and there are many other options; just stay away from processed ones.
Important notice: Don’t go over the board with proteins by consuming too much lean meat or fish since it will throw you out of ketosis.
What to expect: If you keep your carbs low (<10g a day), you’ll get into ketosis after a day. You’ll probably feel it yourself, but if you’re not sure, you can get keto test strips, which determine ketone levels through the urine. How long it takes to get in that state varies on many factors, such as your age, gender, carb intake, physical activity, and so on. You’ll soon notice your hunger dropping down, even though your calorie intake stays the same. You won’t have an urge to snack all the time, and odds are – you won’t think about the food at all. You can say goodbye to hypoglycemia since your insulin levels will remain constant between meals.
You might notice some negative symptoms as well, such as headache, frequent urination, brain fog, or bad mood. But don’t give up – they’ll go away pretty soon. Weight loss clinic Chicago claims that who spent a couple of weeks on this regime witnessed mind clarity and overall well-being!
Lastly, one more thing you’re bound to like about this diet is that you’ll see the results in a short time, and they’re sustainable! The deal about this is that your body will no longer have carbs for the water to hold on to, so all the excess water will simply get flushed out of your system, removing bloating and swollen legs.
