[Jess1908]

The Best Keto Diet Do's and Don't for Beginners

Updated: 1 minute ago

Keto Diet Do’s

1. Prepare a keto diet food list.

“What can I eat on the keto diet?” If you find yourself asking this question often, I can help. Stick with high-fat and low-carbohydrate foods. Examples are fatty meat cuts, cruciferous vegetables, and eggs and dairy. Since I am a Pescatarian, I will be sharing some of my favorite recipes that pertain to Fish, Vegetarian, and Vegan styles.

Any diet takes time to adjust. Keep your ingredients and recipes simple and delicious. This is much easier than you think. As long as you meet your macronutrient and micronutrient needs, experiment with what works best for you. This will encourage you and motivate you after you begin to see your results quickly.

2. Eat whole foods.

Fact: Prepackaged foods are not your friend! They contain hidden sugars labels as — Dextran, Agave Nectar, Maltodextrin, and more.

Eating foods in their natural state is the way to achieve better health. Whole foods are rich in vitamins and minerals that help prevent micronutrient deficiencies. If you’re really busy, choose minimally-processed foods instead but food-prepping is a huge help here in keeping you on track

Here are some helpful ideas.

3. Eat plenty of healthy fats.

Many keto dieters make this mistake: They eat more fat but don’t pay attention to the quality of fat. While it’s important to get 60-75% of your calories from fat, you must make sure that those calories come from good monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

Remember that the good fat is usually found in fish, nuts, seeds, and vegetables. Some examples include salmon, sardines, walnuts, pecans, flaxseed, spinach, and avocados.

4. Check your blood glucose levels.

The goal of keto is to put your body in a state of ketosis. For you to achieve that, you need to keep your blood glucose under control (less than 100 mg/dL).

It makes sense to check for changes in your sugar levels while you’re doing keto. This is especially true if you’re trying out new “keto” foods, experiencing stress, or testing the effectiveness of fasting.

Watch out for hidden carbohydrates

The hidden enemy– hidden carbohydrates. Just because you’re avoiding rice, pasta, pastries and other carbs doesn’t mean you’re in full ketosis.

Fat-free dressings have hidden carbs including sauces, condiments, coleslaw, greek yogurt, and cashew nuts. Shocked and surprised? The best way to avoid these hidden carbs is to cook your meals at home and make your own dressings. Check out these suggestions below for super easy methods that take literally 5-minutes or less with 3 to 5 ingredients and taste incredibly better as well.

There are many ways to add more fat to your keto diet. You can add cheese to your vegetable meals, make tons of avocado recipes (my fav), drizzle olive oil on salads and other meals which can bring a ton of flavor.

6.Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate–Drink Plenty of Water!

Ketosis is known for causing various side effects. Dehydration is a known side effect. This happens because their bodies are reducing glycogin storage. In case you don’t know what glycogen is, it’s the principal storage form of glucose.

You’ll want to increase your water intake on keto. Doing so will also help prevent kidney stones and cure headaches. Set a water intake goal! Adding frozen fruit, cucumbers or fresh lemon or lime to water. This small change will help you and assist in weight loss and helping with memory and overall well being. So many Americans are dehydrated and the benefits of more water will enhance your mood and overall well being while helping you reach your intake goals.

7. Take Quality vitamin and mineral supplements

Can you take vitamin and mineral supplements on keto? The answer is most definitely! A ketogenic diet can cause vitamin and mineral deficiencies since you’re cutting out many foods. This can cause the “Keto flu” which happens as your body withdraws from carbs. Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, fatigue, stomach cramps, and muscle weakness. Avoid strenuous activity, get proper sleep, drink more water, increase healthy fat intake, and replace electrolytes as often as possible and take high quality supplements.

Taking a high-quality supplement will benefit and enhance your diet results and keep the “Keto Flu” away.

Make sure to get enough of B-complex vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin C, sodium, magnesium, and zinc. Aside from supplementing with a multivitamin, choose whole foods.

Keto Diet Don’ts

1. Eat low-fat food.

Because keto is a high-fat diet, it makes sense to prioritize foods that have more fat. Watch out for pre-packaged low-calorie food. A study also revealed that sugar content is higher in low-calorie food versions such as dairy products and baked goods. These often have MORE sugar and will not bring adequate results. My suggestion is meal-prep as much as possible. This can be so fun and planning ahead does not take much time at all. Just add it to your weekend routine and have the kids help as well. Mine love too! (see the YouTube Links above).

2. Eat Home-Grown Vegetables!

Cruciferous veggies and above-the-ground veggies are best for keto. These vegetables are low in carbs and loaded with nutrients and antioxidants. You can get amazing deals at your local Farmer’s Markets while supporting the farmers in your community. The average savings is over 50% and the taste and freshness do not compare. A win-win for everyone. Once you begin shopping at the market, you will never go back to the grocery story, trust me. Not for fresh produce. You will get a steal of a deal!

Low carb options include broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and spinach.

Foods to avoid: sweet potatoes, carrots, corn, peas, and beets.