Ketogenic Diet: The Ultimate Guide of 2020 (With Fresh Case Studies)

Ketogenic Diet – Indeed every bodybuilder’s favorite diet! But wait, anyone can follow the Keto Diet? Let’s find out!

Today, we have created the article to share everything you need to know about the Keto diet!

A couple of months back, Jenna Jameson revealed on Instagram that she lost 57 pounds following Keto Diet and Kourtney Kardashian, Halle Berry, and Mama June have all sworn by the diet at one point or another.

However, while you have indeed heard of the ketogenic diet before, you may be a bit hazy on the details. Don’t worry, we got you.

The keto diet or the ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carb diet that offers many health benefits.

 While everyone’s body and needs are to some extent different, it typically translates to 5-10% of your calories from carbs, 15-30% calories from protein, and 60-75% of your calories from fat. 

Keto diets have many benefits against Cancer, Diabetes, Epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease.

In fact, several studies show that a ketogenic diet can help you lose weight and improve your health.

What is the Ketogenic Diet?

The ketogenic diet’s rule of thumb is, it’s high in fat, low in carbs, and moderate in protein.

When following the keto diet plan, carbs are typically reduced to less than 50 grams per day, though looser and stricter versions of the diet exist.

After about two to seven days of following the keto diet, you go into something called ‘Ketosis’ also known as the state our body enters when it lacks enough carbs for the cells to use for energy.

When it happens, our body starts making ketones – an organic compound that our body use in place of those missing carbs, and yes, it burns fat for more energy.

Keto diets can cause massive reductions in insulin and blood sugar levels. This along with increased ketones has several health benefits.

Different Types of Ketogenic Diets

There are several versions of the keto diet plan that we recommend to our users.

• StandardKeto Diet: this is a very high-fat, moderate protein, and low-carb diet. Standard ketogenic diet typically contains 5% carbohydrates, 20% protein, and 75% fat.
• CyclicalKeto Diet: the cyclical ketogenic diet involves phases of higher-carb refeeds such as five keto days followed by two high-carb days.
• TargetedKeto Diet: the targeted ketogenic diet allows you to add carbohydrates around workouts.
• High-ProteinKeto Diet: the high-protein ketogenic diet is similar to a standard keto diet, but includes more protein. The ratio is often 5% carbs, 35% protein, and 60% fat.

The targeted and cyclical keto diets are more advanced methods and we primarily prescribe them to athletes or bodybuilders.

What is Ketosis?

Ketosis is normal and natural, though questionably not optimal. Human body runs on glucose (carbohydrates) – they give us the required energy we need to function on a daily basis. When our body runs out of glucose, because either we haven’t eaten on too long or we are cutting carbs too low, our body starts to look for other sources for energy.

This is where fat comes into the play. Without glucose (carbs), our insulin level drops and fat is released into the bloodstream. The fat overwhelms the liver that turns it into ketones. Ketones are our body’s second choice to glucose for energy.

Biggest Mistakes People Make on Ketogenic Diet

Most of the people fail to distinguish between ‘clean’ keto and ‘dirty’ keto and end up failing to get the desired results. We always encourage people to know the differences that help them keep the weight off and succeed in the long term.

In our experience, we think that most of you are doing keto wrong. The keto diet plan, when correctly formulated, can (and should) be sustained over a long term.

In order to achieve that, you need to be consuming foods that feed the microbiome (bacteria living in your gut), that are anti-inflammatory and inherently healthy for you.

The ketogenic diet, when correctly formulated, justifies all these requirements, but there are some common drawbacks most people fall into.

We have said this a million times and we are saying it again – the main reason why people fail at the ketogenic diet, in the long run, is due to the fact that WHAT and HOW they are consuming cannot be continued very long.

Clean Keto VS Dirty Keto

Our body is a miraculously self-healing machine, but our self-repair systems require a nutrient-dense diet.

Most people, when they start on Keto, use an approach we call ‘dirty’ keto.

A correctly formulated ketogenic diet should have a moderate amount of protein, high fat, and low carb intake.

When we tell this, most people ‘get’ this logically, but the practical application of it often fails. This is why most of us start getting instructions on target, but after a couple of weeks are completely starving no matter how much fat we eat.

There are several reasons why this happens – the primary reason includes starving microbiome. This will direct all our attention to the longing after, burgers, pizza, or both.

Enter the splurge, the carbohydrate coma, the dropping off the wagon, and at last, the feeling of failure once again.

Believe it or not, this is how the weight loss industry works.

Dirty Keto is no Different

The weight loss industry is engineered to keep you on the pendulum routine so that you are continuously buying stuff and feeling like you are not good enough.

Even if you manage to get a quick win, the weight always comes back. This is because you have not been taught the abilities to keep it going on your own.

We work from a vantage point; we always start with the premise that your body wants to be fit, no matter what label you have been given.

Basically, dirty keto is what available in the market right now in abundance. It is when people eliminate all the carbs from their diet, including leafy greens, and then advance to equally nutritiously empty toxic trash. We may be breaking some hearts here, but you can’t just eat lard, bacon, and greasy burgers forever.

A Correctly Formulated Keto Diet is Plant-Based

Eating a large number of vegetables, especially green leafy ones with high fiber content followed by a layer of appropriate protein and fat on top of that is what we call clean keto diet.

The best thing about clean keto diet plan is that vegans can also be successful in becoming fat-adapted, and yield from the benefits from a fasting-mimicking diet.

When you layer fasting-mimicking diet along with fasting, you will hit the jackpot.

Whenever people come to use seeking answers to the questions

• What are foods I can create that will nourish and feed my cells?
• What are the things I can eat that are anti-inflammatory?
• What will help with regular and consistent elimination?
• How can I keep my brain happy and healthy?
• What will stabilize my mood and make me feel good, increase my energy, focus, and clarity?

The answer, dear friends, is your fats and vegetables.

Do’s and Don’ts of a Ketogenic Diet

Protein:

Do’s- Most proteins are a fair game with a clean keto diet, but we encourage our clients to enjoy pastured-raised, grass-fed, or organic meats. On a ketogenic diet, you can enjoy a whole lot of good protein sources like whole eggs, seafood, and fatty fish like salmon, steaks, poultry, pork, organ meats, and more.

Don’ts- Although the majority of proteins are okay in a clean keto diet, any protein sources or meats with added sugars is a big no. Here are some considerations regarding keto diet foods.

Oils and Added Fats:

Do’s- Fat covers a huge part of the ketogenic diet as it turns out to be your main fuel. This is why we encourage people to choose grass-fed and organic whenever possible. Excellent fat sources include lard, butter, coconut oil, mayonnaise, olive oil, and other unprocessed or non-hydrogenated oils.

Don’ts- Most fats are a fair game as long as there are no added sugars to them.

Nuts and Seeds:

Do’s- Seeds and Nuts are the best snacks to fuel your day on a ketogenic diet. Excellent sources of seeds and nuts include pecans, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, flax seeds, and almond butter.

Don’ts- As said earlier, anything covered in sugar should be avoided.

Dairy:

Do’s- Enjoy all the cheese and butter you would like on a ketogenic diet. Other than cheese and butter, you can go for whole milk, cream, and full-fat Greek yogurt.

Don’ts- We recommend people to completely avoid creams and yogurts that are sweetened because sweetened yogurt can quickly add to your overall carbohydrate count for the day.

Veggies and Fruits:

Do’s- Load up on low carb vegetables like green beans, green bell peppers, mushrooms, cabbage, spinach, and kale to avoid constipation. On the other hand, some lower sugar fruit options include raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries, but eat them sparingly.

Don’ts- Since fruits are rich in carbs and sugar; they are usually a no-go except for the few we have mentioned. You must avoid fruits like dried fruit, banana, pineapple, apples, mango, oranges, and fruit concentrate when you are on a keto diet. Moreover, avoid highly starchy veggies like yams, parsnips, corn, and potatoes.

Grains:

All grains including the whole grains should be avoided when you are fooling a ketogenic diet. Grains are a rich source of carbs and it can interfere with the ketosis.

Beans and Legumes:

Legumes and beans are filled with high starch content; therefore, they should be avoided.

Sample Ketogenic Meal Plan for One Week

To help you get started, we have prepared a sample keto diet foods for one week.

Sunday:

• Breakfast- fried eggs with mushrooms and bacon
• Lunch- burger with cheese, guacamole, and salsa
• Dinner- eggs, and steak with a side salad

Monday:

• Breakfast- tomatoes, eggs, and bacon
• Lunch- chicken salad with feta cheese and olive oil
• Dinner- salmon with asparagus cooked in butter

Tuesday:

• Breakfast- goat cheese omelet, basil, tomato, egg
• Lunch- stevia milkshake, cocoa powder, peanut butter, and almond milk
• Dinner- green veggies, cheddar cheese, and meatballs

Wednesday:

• Breakfast- a ketogenic milkshake (peanut butter milkshake or strawberry milkshake)
• Lunch- shrimp salad with avocado and olive oil
• Dinner- broccoli and salad, and pork chops with parmesan cheese

Thursday:

• Breakfast- omelet with spices, onion, peppers, salsa, and avocado
• Lunch- a handful of nuts and celery sticks with salsa and guacamole
• Dinner: chicken stuffed with cream cheese and pesto, along with vegetables

Friday:

• Breakfast- yogurt (sugar-free) with cocoa powder, stevia, and peanut butter
• Lunch- beef pan-fry prepared in coconut oil with green vegetables
• Dinner- burger with cheese, egg, and bacon

Saturday:

• Breakfast- cheese and ham omelet with vegetables
• Lunch- cheese slices and ham with nuts or seeds
• Dinner- white fish with spinach and egg cooked in coconut oil

Note: it is advised to rotate the meat and vegetables over a long-term, as each type provide different health benefits and nutrients.

You can always contact us for tons of keto diet recipes.

Side Effects of Keto Diet and How to Minimize Them?

A ketogenic diet is healthy and safe for most of the people, however, there may be some initial side effects that your body may show while adapting to the new diet.

Keto flu is one such condition that most people experience. The symptoms include poor mental function, energy, sleep issues, increased hunger, decreased exercise performance, and digestive discomfort.

We recommend people to try a regular low-carb diet at the start of their keto diet plan. This can go for a few weeks and can help your body learn to burn more fat before completely eliminating the carbs.

You should also note that a keto diet might also influence the mineral and water balance of your body, so we suggest you should take mineral supplements or add extra salt to your foods.

For minerals, try taking 1000 mg of potassium, 3000-4000 mg of sodium, and around 300 mg of magnesium every day for minimizing the side effects.

The most important, in the beginning, you should eat until you are full and it is essential for you to avoid restricting too many calories. If you may not know, keto diet plan causes weight loss without intended calorie restriction.

We have serious of ultimate guides on our blog gym guide. So stay tuned with us. For keto diet recipes and foods contact us!