A KETOGENIC DIET is a dietary program that aims to induce Ketosis – a state where our body uses FAT rather than glucose (sugar) from carbohydrates as its primary source of energy. This method has been used by doctors for many decades already primarily for the treatment of children with drug-resistant epileptic disorders.
There are several ways of bringing the body into Ketosis:
- Fasting
- Exercise
- High-Fat Low-Carb diet
- Ingestion of MCT (medium chain triglycerides) oil or coconut oil
- or all of the above
The popularity of the Ketogenic Diet or Keto Diet as a weight loss regimen in the recent years is based on the fact that it’s one of the most “doable” weight loss regimen with fewer restrictions on the type of food to eat. It also delivers fast results and a lot of other health benefits especially when enhanced with coconut oil.
READ MORE: COCONUT OIL KETOGENIC DIET
As with any other dietary regimen, the over-all success of a Keto Diet as a weight loss activity lies on discipline and consistency – the fastest way to Ketosis is of course when you restrict your carbohydrate intake and there’s more to it than just getting rid of rice in the diet. So let’s take a closer at what’s on a Keto Plate.
According to Dr. Regina Banda during a special forum on Coconut Oil Ketogenic Diet, knowing what you put on your plate every time you eat is winning half the weight loss battle.
Let’s start the one thing that you should be taking in less – CARBOHYDRATES.
Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate is one of the three essential macronutrients needed by the body to perform properly. The other two are Fat (Lipid) and Protein. Carbohydrates is our body’s primary source of energy, when we eat carbohydrates rich food, your body breaks them down into glucose, which enters your bloodstream and provides energy to your cells. Glucose is also one of the two things that acts as fuel for our brain, the other one are ketone bodies, produced from the breakdown of fats during ketosis.
Can Carbohydrate Make You Fat?
There are three different types of carbohydrates found in food: sugar (simple), starch (complex) and fibre (fibrous). Any food (not only carbohydrate rich food) can lead to weight gain when you overeat. If you frequently consume more energy than your body uses you are likely to put on weight. However, foods high in sugar are often high in calories and eating these type of food too often can contribute to you becoming overweight.
Now to achieve our Ketosis goal, we need to cut down our intake of carbohydrates so that our body will look for other sources of energy in our body, and that’s going to be either our stored protein or fats. If you’ve got lots of saturated fats stored in your body (see waistline) then that’s going to be a good thing.
Majority of the population can go into Ketosis with 20g of carbohydrates in the diet per day, but you can do 50g first and work your way down to it.
Here’s are your food choices:
High Carb Food – Remove in the Diet
- Rice
- Pasta
- Bread
- Cookies
- Chocolates
High Carb Food – Avoid as much as possible
- Fruits: Banana, Pineapple, Watermelon, Peach, Mangoes, Apple, Orange
- Peas and Beans
- Corn
- Sweet Potato and Potato
Low Carb – Okay to Eat
- Berries – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries
- Veggies- Cauliflower, eggplant, lettuce, cabbage, green beans, cucumber, broccoli, pepper, spinach
- Avocado
Now since you’re going to cut down your intake of Carbohydrates, you’re going to need a well-balanced diet of protein and fats to help you with your Ketosis (and weight loss) goals.
FATS AND PROTEINS
Protein intake should be 1g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. Now please take note that THE WEIGHT OF THE MEAT IS NOT THE WEIGHT OF PROTEIN – check protein contents of food with a nutritionist or an online nutrition site.
Also, there are different kinds of Fats in food that you should take note of – Trans Fats (avoid) Saturated Fats (take less) and Unsaturated Fats (take more).
- Trans Fats are mostly found in processed food like pizza, french fries, cakes, pies, cookies, crackers and many others.
- Saturated Fats comes from meats, dairy products, eggs and vegetable oils.
- Unsaturated Fats mainly comes from vegetable, nuts and fish.
So, what should be the content of a Keto Plate?
- Grab a protein
- Grab a Vegetable (low carb)
- Heat and Season (add some salt, fat and acids)
- Stay away from soda, juices and beer
- Hydrate
Here are some sample Pinoy Viands that you can choose from:
- Kangkong
- Talbos Ng Kamote
- Bulalo (walang patatas)
- Tinola (sayote)
- Sisig
- Itlog, Isda, Karne
- Tuyo
- Balot
- Fried Chicken (walang breading)
- Sinigang
- Kinilaw
- Inihaw
- Bicol Express
- Torta
- Pinakbet
- Binagoongan
- Igado
- Dinuguan
- Gising Gising
- Bistek
- Ampalaya Con Carne
- Ginisang Repolyo/Pechay
- Pork Giniling
- Sinampalukan
COCONUT OIL KETO DIET
Now COCONUT OIL although classified as a Saturated Fat, contains Medium Chain Fatty Acids (MCFAs) which has a lot of beneficial effects on the body. Lauric Acid (C12) which is abundant in coconut oil is also present in a mother’s breast milk, it is known to boost the immune system and has antimicrobial and anticancer properties.
Also, MCFA is not stored in the body as fat and is said to directly induced ketosis once it enters the liver. That is why a Coconut Oil Ketogenic Diet is greatly recommended. You can either have an MCT-rich supplement at home (usually 1 to 2 tbsp per day) or cook all your meals using only Coconut Oil.
MINOLA PREMIUM COCONUT COOKING OIL for example, is a very rich source of Lauric Acid and other MCFAs. The best part is that you can use this type of cooking oil every day, helping you with your Ketogenic goals while keeping the rest of the family healthy and well.
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