The keto diet is an amazingly effective weight loss tool. It will also help you to improve your health both now and in the future. Here we will take a look at the 6 top rules of the keto diet that you need to make sure you follow.
The keto diet sometimes looks a little complicated to start with. However by following this 6 top rules, you will be making sure that you keep to all the important rules and maximize your chances of gaining all the benefits that this diet has to offer.
While it’s true that there is not too much wriggle room with this diet, especially in the beginning, it is far from restricted.
Many people feel they will be so limited with what they can eat that they are put off even giving the keto diet a trial.
So, we have put together this list of the 6 top rules of the keto diet to make things easier for you in the beginning, and prevent you from failing with this diet due to a few easily avoided mistakes.
Rule 1
Your daily carbohydrate limit is 20g net carbs each day. Work out your daily fat and protein allowance using this calculator.
Use scales or an app to track your intake throughout the day. Don’t guess, not ever.
For an in depth look at the importance of weighing your food:
Keto Eating: Always Weigh Your Food.
It’s harder than you think to eyeball a plate of food and know if its keto or not. Even more difficult to guess the exact grams you have of the three food groups.
Ensure that you keep to the keto rules you will get into ketosis. Guessing is almost guaranteed to make sure you don’t ever get this main benefit of the keto diet.
By sticking to these rules you should be in ketosis within a week. If you want to make sure you can always test your ketone levels.
You can read about the best ketone meter here .
For both weighing and tracking your food consider a specialist scale .
Rule 2
Never, ever eat sugar. Not in any form.
Sugar can be added to foods under a staggering amount of different names.
Sugar is a major cause of chronic inflammation in the body. This in turn is the largest cause of a very long list of serious illnesses and cognitive issues.
If you really need the taste of something sweet use a sweetener instead. Be aware though that if you are a carb addict, just the taste of sweetness could trigger your cravings.
For further reading see:
Rule 3
Don’t eat wheat. Apart from being loaded with carbohydrates, wheat can cause multiple health issues especially when eaten in excess.
Wheat is so heavily used in the food industry, that unless we make a concerted effort to avoid it, we will be eating it in vast quantities every single day.
By avoiding wheat you will be automatically reducing your daily carbohydrate count. By including wheat and wheat based products it will be very difficult to stay withing the 20g net carb daily limit.
Read Is Wheat Bad For You And Your Brain for more details.
Rule 4
It is vital for your health that you completely avoid seed oils.
These oils are highly processed oils that can do your health a lot of harm. Avoid them as if your life depends upon it.
For more information about seed oils read:
Reasons why seed oils are bad for your health.
The keto diet requires that 70% of your daily intake comes from fats. You’ll need to make sure that all your fats are healthy and natural.
Healthy fats are:
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Coconut Oil
- Lard
- Butter
- Ghee
- Tallow
- Other grass fed animal derived fats
Rule 5
Only eat above ground vegetables, and avoid the below ground variety .
Root vegetables such as carrots, swede and potatoes are loaded with carbs. Choose from the graphic above to keep your daily carb take to below the 20g net limit.
Some vegetables appear to have a high carb count but contain a lot of healthy fiber. You can subtract fiber carbs from the total carb count to find the net carbs. It is net carbs which you need to track.
Get creative with your use of vegetables, and with careful planning there is no need to miss out on their healthy micro nutrients.
For example, cauliflower grated and fried in a little oil with salt and pepper makes a great alternative to rice.
Rule 6
Base your keto diet on nutritionally dense whole foods. Meat, fish, healthy fats, above ground veggies and some nuts are all good choices.
Add eggs, avocados and some berries (no other fruits) and you will be meeting all your nutritional needs.
Always eat until you feel you’ve had enough to eat. The keto diet is not a calorie controlled diet, and nor is it an eat all you want feast. You need to listen to your body, eat only when you’re hungry and never over eat.
As you spend time on the keto diet, you will find your appetite naturally lowers, and you should not feel the rebound hunger that is often caused by eating too many carbs.
See here and here and here for more details of the type of foods you can enjoy on the keto diet.
To make things even easier for you to get started, we’re offering a completely free 28 day keto diet plan.download your own copy:
Free keto diet plan (28 day keto diet plan)
The keto diet is a fantastic way to meet all your weight loss and health goals.
At first glance it can seem restrictive but this is far from the truth about this amazing way of eating.
With some careful planning and a little reading, you can meet all your nutritional needs while enjoying a very wide range of foods.
Follow the 6 rules outlined here to get your keto diet off to the best possible start. You should begin to feel the benefits within the first week.
If you feel hungry in between meals, increase your portion sizes and/or increase the amount of fat you’re adding to your meals.
You should feel comfortably full with a steady amount of energy throughout the day.
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