You’ve heard about the ketogenic diet, but how much do you really know about it? The standard American diet is full of excessive protein, processed grains, carbohydrates and refined, added sugars. Indulging in this type of diet leads to insulin and leptin resistance. As a result, you increase your risk of gaining weight, developing chronic inflammation and becoming prone to mitochondrial and cellular damage. By switching to eating a ketogenic diet, you reduce your risks and improve your overall health.
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So what is a ketogenic diet? To follow a standard ketogenic nutritional plan, you focus on consuming high amounts of healthy fats. Aim for 70% to 85% of your total calories from healthy fats and 1 gram of protein for every kilogram of your lean body mass. Your net carbohydrates should account for no more than 4% to 10% of your daily calories.
Ketosis supports your mitochondrial health and reduces inflammation. As your body burns fat for fuel, the liver creates ketones, creating far less reactive oxygen species and secondary free radicals. This then reduces the damage to your cellular and mitochondrial membranes, protein and DNA. This reduction in inflammation may also play a major role in chronic pain, including orthopedic conditions like osteoarthritis. As many of the aging factors are characterized by low-grade inflammation, eating a ketogenic diet may also reduce your risk of premature aging. The anti-inflammatory effect on the central nervous system has had an impressive effect on epilepsy and other neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease.
With a cyclical approach to eating a ketogenic diet, you increase the health benefits of the diet and have greater flexibility in your meal planning. There is a three-part key to using this approach: 1) restrict net carbohydrates (total carbs minus fiber) to 20 to 50 grams per day; 2) consume 50% to 85% of your daily calories from healthy fat; and 3) limit protein to one-half gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.
When it comes to food, you’ll want to cut out carbohydrates from grains and all forms of sugar, including high fructose fruit. You may have vegetables without restriction as they are loaded with fiber and help offset carbohydrates. Add healthy sources of fat including avocados, coconut oil, animal-based omega-3 from fatty fish, butter, seeds, olives and olive oil.
Macadamia nuts and pecans are ideal as they're high in healthy fat but low in protein. Organic, pastured egg yolks and grass fed animal products, along with MCT oil and raw cacao butter may all be included on your list of healthy fats. Avoid all trans fats and vegetable oils as they cause more damage than excess carbs.
To learn more about combining a cyclical ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting and cyclical partial fasting to try the KetoFast protocol and get the most out of your ketogenic diet, click here.