Dearest readers, as a long-time keto and low carb diet AND lifestyle fan, I have been smiling ear to ear over what I've been seeing lately in Toronto area. Eggsmart breakfast chain now has keto options. Mr. Sub has a keto bun. Oh, and Pizza Pizza now has a keto crust available too! This, and many other keto options and fast food places, restaurants and supermarkets show that, rightfully so, keto and low carb diets are winning against all others, not just as a means of losing weight but also as a way to eat for physical and mental power that can meet everyday challenges and then some. Personally, eating this way killed most of my cravings for different foods, allowed me to go longer between meals without my blood sugar crashing, and finally it gave me a new understanding of just how much I can get done in a day. Simply put, I had no idea who I really was and what I could do until I got into this lifestyle. However, if you thought about giving it a try, there are certain things you have to watch out for in order to do this diet safely and successfully and I would like to bring them to your attention. This is by no means a complete list, but here goes.
First, let me explain the difference between keto and low carb. The average North American carb intake for men and women is around 300 grams. This is a huge problem as recently the consensus on nutrition finally identified that it is sugar and carbs, not most fats, that cause obesity, heart disease and other related preventable diseases. A low carb diet is any diet that limits daily carb intake under 100g. A keto diet is a type of low carb diet that restricts carbs to under 20g per day. This is the key rule to your eating habits when you accept the low carb lifestyle, as this pushes your body to deplete its remaining storage of carbs and switch to using ketones to power the brain and body, and they come from fat. This allows you to lose weight faster for a few reasons. Using ketones does not mess with your blood sugar much so you can go longer without food and you can easily eat less. So, you limit your calories more peacefully and lose weight fast without feeling stressed, low energy, weak or irritable. Once you are done losing weight, it is always possible to push your carbs back to 150g so you can eat some of the desserts, pastries and more that you are used to, but you still do it in moderation and you still get benefits from eating healthy overall. Sounds awesome, doesn't it?
The first advice I can think of is that you ignore listening to so called experts who tell you to pack on high fat foods on keto and low carb and do less protein because fat is the main ingredient for your body to make ketones that will power it. The problem with this is that you could end up with serious problems like gout, kidney stones and more. If you are having a keto lunch that has a nice juicy piece of salmon, don't also put a slice of butter and an egg sunny side up on top of it. If it seems like insane gross fatty overkill, do not do it haha.
The next advice is that you do not need a crazy amount of protein on this diet, which is another misconception. One gram per kg of body weight is not a bad rule of thumb to go by. That way, you will not eat an excess of protein that could convert into carbs in your system, which would ruin your diet.
My advice number three to you would be to eat tons of veggies with as many meals as possible and in between. Naturally, you should be doing that anyways. Just make sure your veggies are not full of carbs. When it comes to salads, if you cannot find a salad dressing at your supermarket that is low carb and to your taste, here is what you do. Buy mayo, buy a few vinegars (white, Japanese and apple cider vinegar), and then buy your favorite individual spices or pre-made spice mixes (just make sure they are not stuffed with sugar). When you combine different ratios of these three categories, you can get so many varieties of salad dressings that are keto friendly and you do so at a fraction of the cost of store bought dressings.
My advice number four to you is to ensure you stay in low carb long term by finding keto versions of everything you like to eat. Most people who fail low carb totally cut out pastries, bread and desserts. Well, there are keto buns, keto bread, keto naan, keto pizza, and desserts like keto chocolate mousse, keto brownies, keto cheesecake... If you can't buy them, make them- it is far from difficult. Make in batches and freeze, that is completely fine. But remember- if you don't do this- you will not succeed in low carb long term.
My final piece of advice has to do with drinking. You cannot keep drinking beer on this diet, and that may or may not be a problem for some of you out there. Or at least, you cannot keep drinking your favorite beer. Most beers have way too many carbs. So, if you are a beer drinker, find out if there are low carb beers and watch how many you have before you reach your daily carb limit. As for wine, you need to pick dryer wines most of the time. I don't know about USA, but LCBO has on every price sticker on its wine shelves the g/l measurement for carbs in wine as well as champagne! This is extremely helpful, and I think they have the same measurement for ciders too. Finally, if you prefer spirits, you are in luck and then some! Some colored and most clear rums, all vodkas, most types of brandy and whiskey do not have carbs so you can go ahead and enjoy those while on a low carb diet. Naturally, make sure if you do mixers that you do not do them with any juices or pop. If you go for rum and coke or jack and coke, it has to be diet coke. Otherwise, you can have drinks on the rocks.
There you have it, dearest readers- some truly excellent low carb and keto diet and lifestyle advice that many gurus out there would charge money just to share it with you. You do not really get to find these out until you have done it for a while too. Now that you know all this stuff, will you try it for the first time, or try it again? :)
First, let me explain the difference between keto and low carb. The average North American carb intake for men and women is around 300 grams. This is a huge problem as recently the consensus on nutrition finally identified that it is sugar and carbs, not most fats, that cause obesity, heart disease and other related preventable diseases. A low carb diet is any diet that limits daily carb intake under 100g. A keto diet is a type of low carb diet that restricts carbs to under 20g per day. This is the key rule to your eating habits when you accept the low carb lifestyle, as this pushes your body to deplete its remaining storage of carbs and switch to using ketones to power the brain and body, and they come from fat. This allows you to lose weight faster for a few reasons. Using ketones does not mess with your blood sugar much so you can go longer without food and you can easily eat less. So, you limit your calories more peacefully and lose weight fast without feeling stressed, low energy, weak or irritable. Once you are done losing weight, it is always possible to push your carbs back to 150g so you can eat some of the desserts, pastries and more that you are used to, but you still do it in moderation and you still get benefits from eating healthy overall. Sounds awesome, doesn't it?
The first advice I can think of is that you ignore listening to so called experts who tell you to pack on high fat foods on keto and low carb and do less protein because fat is the main ingredient for your body to make ketones that will power it. The problem with this is that you could end up with serious problems like gout, kidney stones and more. If you are having a keto lunch that has a nice juicy piece of salmon, don't also put a slice of butter and an egg sunny side up on top of it. If it seems like insane gross fatty overkill, do not do it haha.
The next advice is that you do not need a crazy amount of protein on this diet, which is another misconception. One gram per kg of body weight is not a bad rule of thumb to go by. That way, you will not eat an excess of protein that could convert into carbs in your system, which would ruin your diet.
My advice number three to you would be to eat tons of veggies with as many meals as possible and in between. Naturally, you should be doing that anyways. Just make sure your veggies are not full of carbs. When it comes to salads, if you cannot find a salad dressing at your supermarket that is low carb and to your taste, here is what you do. Buy mayo, buy a few vinegars (white, Japanese and apple cider vinegar), and then buy your favorite individual spices or pre-made spice mixes (just make sure they are not stuffed with sugar). When you combine different ratios of these three categories, you can get so many varieties of salad dressings that are keto friendly and you do so at a fraction of the cost of store bought dressings.
My advice number four to you is to ensure you stay in low carb long term by finding keto versions of everything you like to eat. Most people who fail low carb totally cut out pastries, bread and desserts. Well, there are keto buns, keto bread, keto naan, keto pizza, and desserts like keto chocolate mousse, keto brownies, keto cheesecake... If you can't buy them, make them- it is far from difficult. Make in batches and freeze, that is completely fine. But remember- if you don't do this- you will not succeed in low carb long term.
My final piece of advice has to do with drinking. You cannot keep drinking beer on this diet, and that may or may not be a problem for some of you out there. Or at least, you cannot keep drinking your favorite beer. Most beers have way too many carbs. So, if you are a beer drinker, find out if there are low carb beers and watch how many you have before you reach your daily carb limit. As for wine, you need to pick dryer wines most of the time. I don't know about USA, but LCBO has on every price sticker on its wine shelves the g/l measurement for carbs in wine as well as champagne! This is extremely helpful, and I think they have the same measurement for ciders too. Finally, if you prefer spirits, you are in luck and then some! Some colored and most clear rums, all vodkas, most types of brandy and whiskey do not have carbs so you can go ahead and enjoy those while on a low carb diet. Naturally, make sure if you do mixers that you do not do them with any juices or pop. If you go for rum and coke or jack and coke, it has to be diet coke. Otherwise, you can have drinks on the rocks.
There you have it, dearest readers- some truly excellent low carb and keto diet and lifestyle advice that many gurus out there would charge money just to share it with you. You do not really get to find these out until you have done it for a while too. Now that you know all this stuff, will you try it for the first time, or try it again? :)