What is a Ketogenic diet | Weight reduction with keto diet | Benefits of keto diet | Advantages and Disadvantages of ketogenic diet

Sometimes loosing weight becomes really difficult, as there are many reasons for weight gain. But there are even more ways to loose weight from different types of diet to exercise, just be determined to loose weight and choose a healthy life style, a perfect balanced diet and moderate exercise. There are many types of diet plans to loose weight. Among which Ketogenic diet is one of the popular type.
Lets know more about Ketogenic diet, its benefits, drawbacks. How its affects our body and other things.

What is ketogenic diet?
Ketogenic diet or also known as (Keto diet or low carb high fat- LCHF) is a low carbohydrate, high fat and moderate protein diet. During this diet plan you drastically reduce the carbohydrate intake and replace it by taking fat and protein, which includes 70% of fat, 25% of protein and 5% of carbohydrate (15-30 grams of carbohydrate every day).

What happens to body on ketogenic diet?
Whenever we eat food that contains carbohydrates, they produce Glucose and Insulin, from which glucose is easily converted into energy. While glucose (that comes from carbs) is mainly used as energy, other energy sources like fat are stored.
The reduction of carbohydrate intake puts the body into a metabolic state called ketosis, ketosis is a normal metabolic process that occurs when body does not have enough glucose for energy. During this ketosis state, our body produces ketones which are made in the liver from the break down of fats.
Ketones- If your body is unable to use glucose for energy, it breaks down the fat instead to use as energy, thus ketones are known as alternative fuel of body. This process occurs while we fast, or exercise and on low carb food intake.
In short when you don’t eat enough carbohydrates our body uses the stored fat to give us energy to do our day today work.
How much macros are needed in ketogenic diet? Carbohydrate intake per day?
What are macros? Basically carbohydrate, protein and fats are known as the macros. In ketogenic diet, the nutrient intake of macros are 70% of fat, 25% of protein and 5 % of carbohydrate.
Carbohydrate intake- Should be somewhere between 15-30 grams per day. Try to avoid food that contains carbohydrates.

Protein intake- Remember not to take too much protein in keto diet, because if you eat more protein than is needed by the body, it will convert the amino acids into glucose to be used as energy. This is known as gluconeogenesis, which means the body is breaking down lean protein for energy, which won’t help you to loose weight. Protein intake should be around 1.0 to 2.0 grams per kilograms of body weight.
Fat intake- As mentioned above the fat intake should be 70-80% of your total meal per day. According to 2000 calorie intake, fat should be 140 to 170 grams per day. Fat intake will vary with increase and decrease of calorie intake per day.
Taking healthy fats are equally important, some of healthy fats are listed below,
1. Egg yolks
2. Olive oil
3. Butter
4. Clarified butter
5. Coconut oil

Check for healthy cooking oils, saturated and monounsaturated fats.
What to eat and not to eat in ketogenic diet?

Food to eat
– Green leafy vegetables- kale, spinach, mustard greens etc.
– Vegetables- cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant, bitter gourd, ridge gourd, bottle gourd etc.
– Fruits- avocado, all the berries, cucumber etc.

– Dairy product- Butter, whole fat cream, cheese, whole fat milk and curd etc.
– Nuts and seeds- Walnuts, almonds, sunflower seed etc.
– Non-vegetarian- goat, lamb, beef, chicken, egg and fish etc.
– Fats- saturated and monounsaturated.
Food to avoid
– Grains- all the grains including, rice, all purpose flour, corn, wheat, etc.
– Sugar- Jaggery, honey, maple syrup etc.
– Below ground vegetables- Potato, yams, carrots, radish, beet root etc.
– Fruits- Grapes, banana, orange, watermelon etc.
Others- Onion, garlic, yam, tomato etc.
Benefit of ketogenic diet
– One of the best way to loose weight- due to lack of carbohydrate body uses fat for energy and insulin levels drop greatly,which helps to burn fat causing obvious weight loss benefits.
– Controls blood sugar level- low carbohydrate diet lowers the blood sugar level.
– Controls cholesterol and blood pressure.

-Constipation- Fiber is a carbohydrate that aids in gastrointestinal health and prevents constipation, thus eating less carb can increase the risk of constipation.
– Fatigue- Eating less amount of carbohydrate can cause fatigue.
– Bad breath- while on a low-carb diet, body uses fat and protein for fuel, which causes bad breath.
– Hungry all the time- Carbohydrates make the tummy filled. So while on low carb diet you always feel hungry. Sometimes high fat diet helps and sometimes not.
– Muscle cramps- You may experience cramps while starting a keto diet, as there a total diet change and lack of essential minerals.

Exercise during ketogenic diet?
As there is a lack of carbohydrate, the main source of energy a low to moderate exercise is fine during keto diet. As you are on a diet plan for weight loss you should always take care before intense work out. Tests should be performed to track your metabolic state of ketosis by checking the ketone levels. Check with your doctor before any changes to diet and exercise.
Advice
1. Keto diet needs to be strict and disciplined. Before going for a keto diet take a note of your weight, height and how much weight you should loose according to your age, weight and height.
2. Make a list of food to eat and not, as vegetables like tomato, onion also contains carbohydrates.
3. Keep a track of your medical history, including blood glucose level, cholesterol, blood pressure etc.
4. Consult your doctor if you have any medical conditions like diabetes, cholesterol, indigestion etc before going for a complete change in your diet.
5. Drink plenty of water or electrolytes to get away from dehydration. Salt your food, take your multi vitamins.

Takeaways
Though there are many types of diet plans for weight loss every plan has its own advantages and drawbacks. Before going into any diet plan consult your doctor or nutritionist for better advice and guidance.

Before making any metabolic changes to your body, you may require to go under important tests, which will guide you better for your diet plans and exercise regimen. Before going for a long run keto diet, start with a ketogenic diet test, in which maintain a keto diet life for 10 days and note the changes with your body.

Keto soup- Mushroom spinach soup
*Disclaimer- This article is written to provide only information and general idea.
This article should not be used, to diagnose or treat any medical condition.
Please consult your healthcare provider before any diagnosis, treatment or medication.
The statistical information given is taken from internet sources.