Source: Mercola.com
If you’ve made the proverbial New Year’s resolution to lose weight this year, you may be interested in knowing that India TV News reports that a low-carb diet can help you achieve your goal. The information is based on a study published in the journal BMJ, which found that a low-carb diet not only helps you lose weight faster, but can help you maintain that weight loss long-term.
In terms of low carbs, a ketogenic diet is a great dietary approach that focuses on minimal carbs, moderate amounts of protein and high healthy fat consumption. To that end, these tips will help you succeed if you decide to try to “go keto”:
1. Remember that a ketogenic diet also involves consuming high amounts of fiber. Foods that are high in antioxidants are recommended as well, as long as they don’t contain high amounts of sugar.
2. Foods to avoid if you’re going keto include starches such as cakes, breads and rice, processed foods and high-fructose fruits.
3. Foods to load up on include avocados, coconut oil, organic pastured eggs, wild-caught Alaskan salmon or other healthy sources of animal-based omega-3 fats, grass fed meats, raw cacao butter, raw grass fed butter and raw nuts such as macadamia and almonds.
4. It’s important to note that healthy high-fat foods are small in terms of volume even though they’re high in calories, so don’t be confused when you see that vegetables still take up the largest portion of your plate.
5. In order for your body to turn fat into energy, it has to be in a state of nutritional ketosis, in which your body burns fat as its primary fuel. In other words, you can induce your body into this condition by focusing on three key points: high consumption of healthy fats, moderate intake of high-quality protein and minimal amounts of carbohydrates.
6. The most efficient way to train your body to use fat for fuel is to remove most of the sugars and starches from your diet, and that's true for everyone, whether you're an elite athlete or a sedentary diabetic. At the same time, you'll want to replace those carbs with healthy fats.
7. A dietary intake of about 50 grams or less per day of net carbs while also keeping protein low-to-moderate is usually low enough to allow you to make the shift to nutritional ketosis (the metabolic state associated with an increased production of ketones in your liver; i.e., the biological reflection of being able to burn fat).
8. That said, using a nutrient tracker will radically improve your ability to understand how much and what kind of foods help you to keep to your ketogenic diet nutrient targets while also helping you to assess the nutrient value of your food choices.
In addition to helping you lose weight and maintain that weight loss, a ketogenic diet will help your brain work better in general, as ketones are the preferred source of energy for your brain. In fact, those affected by diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and maybe even ALS may be helped with a ketogenic diet.
Nutritional ketosis is also indicated for obesity, metabolic syndrome (prediabetes) and diabetes. This is not surprising, considering the fact that one of its beneficial effects is correcting insulin resistance.
Additionally, hormonal and nervous system disorders may improve with a ketogenic diet.
