There’s a big myth that makes some people steer clear of the diet. It’s that the ketogenic diet is the same as a high protein diet. It’s not, in fact, protein should only be approximately 30% of your macros for the day.
One reason people think keto is similar to high protein diets is that you can eat lots of protein foods such as eggs, chicken, beef, cheese and other meats for very few carbs.
This means dieters often fill up on these foods, and probably aren’t tracking their macros very well. If they were, they’d realize that most of their meals are made up of healthy fats, not proteins.
The macro count for healthy fats is approximately 70% of your nutrition for the day, with the remaining 5% being carbs. Healthy fats are beneficial for your body, while too much protein can be damaging.
One of the benefits about the keto diet is that you don’t have to go low fat. Fat is tasty, so consumers love to be able to eat marbled meat, like a steak, without having to feel guilty.
When bacon and cheese are encouraged on a diet plan, it makes many peoples mouths water, so you often see many starting their keto diet with a heavy amount of meats and cheese.
The real focus of the ketogenic diet is low carb, high fat – so it’s very important that as you wean yourself off carbs and sugar, you look at which fats will keep you satisfied in stead of larger portions.
Healthy fats are things like coconut oil, avocados, olives or olive oil, nuts and seeds. That doesn’t mean you can’t have other fats. Keep in mind that as you stay on the diet longer, your taste buds will probably change. After going without soda and fake sweeteners for weeks and you were to cheat and have a soda it would probably taste good or too sweet for you.
This is helpful because it curbs your sugar cravings and you begin craving the healthy fats that benefit your body. Enjoy the fact that you can have plenty of proteins, but don’t neglect the real star of keto, the one that keeps you feeling full, fat!
People are different in how much or how little they like to plan ahead when it comes to meals. Some like to avoid temptation by having everything planned and use a tracking system so they don’t go over their carb level. Others like to have the freedom to eat whatever keto friendly carb foods they want throughout the day. It’s all up to you. But if you’re a planner, here are some things you can do to make sticking to this diet plan easier for you.
You can purchase keto foods to have on hand in your home at all times. Some recipes or meals call for unique ingredients and you want it to be convenient for you to prepare your foods. You can prepare your favorite keto foods ahead of time. Some people prepare their meals on a weekend so they have everything ready a week at a time. Others only prep everything the night before, so it’s up to you.
Another way of planning is to think about what you want to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks and then enter them into your carb tracker the night before. That way, you know what you need to prepare meals and how many net carbs it will be.
One way to plan ahead is to educate yourself about which foods are carb friendly, and which foods at your favorite restaurants are going to help you stay in ketosis. If there aren’t any, you can plan ahead on how you’ll order tailored to your needs.
Some keto dieters even plan for temptations. Everywhere you go there will be the lure of carb laden foods. So you have to be ready to adjust. Some carry keto friendly snacks in case they’re put in an awkward situation where the only foods being served are those with too many carbs. For example, you can use bag of nuts, keto friendly snack bars or string cheese to satisfy your hunger.
If you’re active in outdoor activities, if you travel or if you have to be away from your home for any amount of time, you can take snacks along with you. Even if you simply drive a lot for work, you may want to have something on hand when hunger strikes.