Ketogenic diet for weight loss: what you can eat - sample menu

The ketogenic, or ketone, or keto diet is one of the well-studied nutritional systems that have been proven to be beneficial in many experiments and clinical studies.

However, the schema is complex. Not suitable for everyone and has many pitfalls.

What is the keto diet

This is a low carbohydrate type of food with a high fat menu. Similar to a regular carb-free diet or the Atkins diet.

A diet in which the amount of carbohydrates is significantly reduced and the intake of fat is increased, translates the body into ketosis.

Ketosis is a metabolic condition in which fats are the body's main source of energy. This happens when the intake of carbohydrates, usually the primary source of energy, is minimized.

Ketosis occurs during fasting, pregnancy and infancy. It can be artificially induced in adults by switching to a high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet.

In ketosis, insulin levels drop. Fatty acids in large quantities leave the adipose tissue and enter the liver, where they are oxidized and converted into ketone bodies, or ketones, which are a source of energy.

Formed:

• beta-hydroxybutyrate, the main ketone body circulating in the blood;
• acetoacetate - the main product of the liver;
• acetone is a volatile ketone responsible for the formation of a specific breath odor.

Ketone bodies are able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and feed brain cells in the absence of glucose.

The steady decline in insulin and sugar levels that occurs with a ketogenic diet has multiple beneficial effects on human health.

How ketosis differs from ketoacidosis

The ketosis that develops with a carbohydrate-free diet is fundamentally different from diabetic ketoacidosis.

Non-diabetic people have normal blood sugar levels. When carbohydrate stores are depleted, the liver starts producing glucose from other sources (pyruvate, glycerol, and amino acids).

This makes it possible to maintain normal blood glucose levels and ensure the concentration of ketone bodies within 8 Mmole / L, which is safe for health.

In type 1 diabetics, the level of ketones reaches 20 Mmol / L. And this condition is already life threatening.

What keto meals are: options

1. Standard protocol. This means eating a lot of proteins and fats and minimizing carbohydrates - no more than 50 g per day. The menu includes 75% fat, 20% protein and 5% carbohydrates.
2. A high protein keto diet. Same as the standard regimen, only more protein. 60% fat, 35% protein, 5% carbohydrates.
3. Cyclic option. With this diet, 5 days are followed by a standard pattern and 2 days are high-carb. Reminiscent of the BUCH diet.
4. Targeted approach. They eat according to a ketogenic scheme, and consume carbohydrates before and after training.

All scientific studies carried out evaluated only the standard version.

The cyclical and targeted approach is used only by athletes, mostly bodybuilders. These eating patterns are not intended to help you lose weight or improve your health.

How the keto diet affects weight loss

Scientific evidence indicates that this is a highly effective weight loss method that provides more consistent results than traditional, low-fat weight loss systems that require strict calorie restriction.

It was shown that those who were losing weight on a ketogenic diet lost 2. 2 times more kilograms of excess weight, those volunteers who were on a low-fat diet with a strict calorie restriction.

The mechanisms of weight loss on a keto diet are as follows.

1. Significant intake of proteins, which are necessary for stable healthy weight loss.
2. Gluconeogenesis. Proteins and fats are converted to carbohydrates. This process can burn additional calories throughout the day.
3. Suppress appetite. Ketogenic nutrition normalizes the levels of the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which are responsible for eating behavior.
4. Increase insulin sensitivity. Insulin resistance leads to weight gain. Therefore, an increase in sensitivity to the hormone speeds up metabolism and promotes the rapid breakdown of fatty deposits and a decrease in the rate of formation of new ones.

Treatment and prevention of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes

Metabolic syndrome is a metabolic disorder that significantly increases the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Signs that indicate a person has metabolic syndrome are:

• hanging blood pressure;
• abdominal obesity (big belly);
• high blood sugar (even if diabetes has not yet been diagnosed);
• poor lipid profile (rules for self-decoding analysis for cholesterol).

All of these indicators can be improved without medication by changing lifestyle and diet, for example, by switching to a ketone diet.

1. Increasing the sensitivity of body cells to the hormone insulin plays an important role in the treatment and prevention of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. With a keto diet, insulin sensitivity increases by 75%. Some people with diabetes may even stop taking their medication.
2. Improved lipid profile indicators. Positive changes affect both cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
3. Additional support for the body is provided by ketone-forming bodies, which themselves have beneficial properties.

What other therapeutic effects does the keto diet have?

1. Help in the treatment of epilepsy. An up-to-date meta-analysis of 70 clinical studies found that the keto diet reduced the number of seizures by 50% in 46-62% of cases. The exact mechanism of dietary anticonvulsant action has not been established. Scientists believe that the positive effect may be associated with an increase in the amount of the antioxidant glutathione in mitochondria, an increase in the effect of inhibitory neurotransmitters GABA and adenosine, etc.
2. Alzheimer's disease therapy. Several small studies have shown that ketone nutrition improves the condition of patients with mild Alzheimer's disease. In patients with this ailment, the supply of glucose to the brain is impaired. And keto bodies make it possible to feed the brain with energy without the participation of glucose, while simultaneously reducing the toxic effects of glutamate.
3. Support for patients with parkinsonism. According to a few studies, a carbohydrate-free diet is beneficial for people with Parkinson's disease by preventing dopaminergic neuron death and mitochondrial damage.
4. Helping children with autism. There is speculation that the keto diet improves behavior in children with autism. And it does it more effectively than the Atkins diet, gluten-free and casein-free food. However, the data on this issue are so few that they cannot be considered completely reliable.
5. Cancer treatment. Tumor cells work exclusively on glucose. They cannot get energy from ketone bodies. Therefore, the transition to ketogenic nutrition promotes cell death in malignant neoplasms. However, experts emphasize that the method can only be used in conjunction with chemotherapy treatment and with the permission of a doctor. And don't put too much hope in this approach.
6. Improves skin condition. In particular, eliminating acne. Low insulin levels and the elimination of all industrially processed foods from the diet as required by the diet will eliminate chronic inflammation affecting the skin.
7. Treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome. The disease is associated with impaired glucose and androgen metabolism. The ketogenic diet helps restore the insulin sensitivity that plagues women with polycystic syndrome.

Dos and Don'ts on the Keto Diet: Food List

• Sugar in any form. Obviously sweet foods (sweets, ice cream) and those that do not seem sweet, but contain this ingredient in their composition, are also classified as prohibited. It could even be a store-bought ketchup.
• Cereals: wheat (including spelled), rye, barley, rice, corn.
• Vegetable oils that make you fat - soybean, corn, sunflower, rapeseed. And also trans fats.
• Fruit. Except for a small amount of berries such as strawberries.
• Legumes. Beans, peas, lentils, etc. Can be used in green form, for example, bean pods.
• Tubers and rhizomes. Potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips, etc.
• Any "dietary" food, for example, low-fat cottage cheese (in such products, fat is replaced by sugar).
• Products with sweeteners in the form of sugar alcohols (xylitol, erythritol) - have a negative effect on ketone bodies.
• Dips and sauces, in the preparation of which sugar, starch, flour were used.
• Alcohol.
• All ready-made products from the food industry.

The ketogenic diet: what you can and should eat

• All types of meat: beef, pork, poultry, lamb, etc.
• Fish and seafood.
• Eggs.
• Vegetables. Preferably green. Others are allowed (tomatoes, eggplants, onions, bell peppers) - the main thing is that there is a lot of fiber, and easily digestible carbohydrates are virtually absent.
• Fatty dairy products - cream, butter, cheese.
• Nuts and seeds.
• Mushrooms.
• The right vegetable oils: olive, coconut oil, avocado.
• Fermented foods: natural yoghurt, kefir, sauerkraut, etc.
• Spices and herbs.

Sample weekly menu for women and men ketogenic diet

Monday	Tuesday
Breakfast: scrambled eggs with bacon and tomatoes. Lunch: cauliflower and broccoli soup in chicken broth, boiled chicken with eggplant and bell pepper sauté. Dinner: a piece of red fish baked in sour cream with vegetable salad.	Breakfast: fatty natural yoghurt without sweeteners or flavors with nuts and / or seeds. Lunch: bone broth (preferably beef) with a hard egg, a piece of boiled beef with sauerkraut (no potatoes). Dinner: chicken stew with zucchini.
Wednesday	Thursday
Breakfast: scrambled eggs with bell pepper. Lunch: fish soup (no potatoes), pork chop with green beans stew. Dinner: oven-baked chicken breast with sour cream, cucumbers and tomatoes.	Breakfast: normal fat cottage cheese without sugar and flavorings. Lunch: mushroom soup (no potatoes and noodles), minced meat steak with egg and vegetable salad. Dinner: fish baked under a cheese crust with vegetables.
Friday	Saturday
Breakfast: soft-boiled eggs with a slice of cheese. Lunch: sour cabbage soup (without potatoes), chicken liver, stewed with sour cream and fried onions, with shirataki noodles. Dinner: salad with fish and / or seafood (no potatoes and rice), but with green vegetables, tomatoes, etc.	Breakfast: cottage cheese with herbs. Lunch: bone broth with meatballs (no flour or bread), beef azu with stewed cabbage (fresh or sour). Dinner: boiled chicken with radish and cucumber salad.
Sunday	Move to next week
Breakfast: scrambled eggs with feta cheese. Lunch: Light vegetable soup with cauliflower and broccoli (no potatoes), whole oven baked chicken, with cucumber and tomato salad. Dinner: mushrooms, stewed with sour cream, with vegetable salad.	Repeat the first week, trying to add maximum variety to the menu. There are a lot of recipes in the world to satisfy the keto diet.

Rules to be followed

1. You can and should eat your fill without counting calories.
2. Only the right fats can be eaten. This means that cooking is allowed only with oil that can withstand heat treatment. Salads should be lubricated only with the correct dietary dressings.
3. There should be a lot of fat in the diet. You can't focus on proteins.
4. Tea, coffee, instant chicory and many other drinks are allowed. The main selection criterion is the absence of sugar and sweeteners in the drink.
5. You should try to put a lot of spices in your food.

Healthy snacks while losing weight on a ketogenic diet

Since the ketogenic diet does not require calorie counting, snacking is not only allowed, but even encouraged. But they must be correct.

Allowed:

• boiled eggs;
• meat chips;
• cheeses;
• nuts, seeds, as well as various pastes and oils prepared from them;
• berries, for example, strawberries with cream (however, you should not get carried away with berries);
• natural yogurt and other natural fermented milk products;
• all vegetables allowed by the diet and light salads from them.

All dairy products, be it cheese or yogurt, should be of normal fat content.

What is "keto flu": symptoms

The first few days of switching to a low carb diet can be tough. Unpleasant symptoms are often observed, which are called "keto flu".

May be tagged:

• Constant hunger, especially sugar cravings;
• tiredness;
• insomnia;
• discomfort in the abdominal region, pain in the stomach;
• nausea and vomiting;
constipation or diarrhea;
• trouble concentrating;
• headache and dizziness;
• muscle pain and cramps;
• irritability, tearfulness.

How long does ketoflu last

From several days to several weeks. It is associated with the restructuring of the body to use fats as a primary fuel source. While adaptation is taking place, energy may not be enough, which leads to the listed symptoms, which are unpleasant. But they do not pose any danger.

Ketone bodies are always present in the blood in small amounts. After the first 2-3 days of a strict carbohydrate-free diet, the liver begins to produce ketones and their blood levels rise to 2-3 mM.

Adaptation is completed when cells, placed in conditions of carbohydrate starvation, reduce the absorption of ketone bodies from the blood, increasing their concentration to 8 mM. At this point, effective transport of ketones across the blood-brain barrier begins.

Why some people easily adapt to the ketogenic diet, while others are difficult, has not been precisely established. It is assumed that a person's eating habits matter. The more easily digestible carbohydrates he consumes, the more difficult the transition is. Genetic predisposition is of some importance.

How to quickly enter ketosis on a keto diet

1. Correct water regime. When carbohydrates are removed from the diet, glycogen stores are reduced in the body. Since glycogen accumulates water around itself, with a decrease in its amount, dehydration may develop, which leads to fatigue and muscle pain.
2. Only light physical activity. During the period of adaptation of the body, only light exercises are allowed: walking, yoga, slow cycling. All kinds of grueling fitness must be abandoned.
3. Recommended intake of mineral supplements:
   • sodium - 3-4 grams per day;
   • potassium - 1g;
   • magnesium - 0. 3g.

Supplements with creatine monohydrate and caffeine are also shown.

Keto respiration and specific smell of urine

The transition to a carbohydrate-rich diet with an abundance of fat is often accompanied by the occurrence of a specific odor from the mouth. The person himself often feels it as a metallic taste in the mouth. People around you usually perceive it as the smell of nail polish remover. Some people think it smells like fruit. The same smell is acquired by urine.

The phenomenon is caused by the formation of the volatile acetone ketone, which is often found in nail polish removers.

Odor is not a side effect. It simply indicates that the body switches to working on fats and forms ketone bodies. It is harmless to health. But it can be unpleasant for the person himself and for those around him, especially when it comes to breathing.

To reduce the severity of a symptom, you need to:

• drink more fluids;
• eat fewer proteins;
• use mint chewing gum;
• slightly increase the amount of carbohydrates (only if you eat less than 50 g per day).

After 1-2 weeks, the smell should disappear on its own.

Delayed side effects of the keto diet

In addition to ketoflu, which resolves within a few weeks, this dietary regimen can lead to delayed side effects. Possible:

• problems with the digestive system caused by the intake of excessive amounts of fat and impaired functioning of the intestinal microflora;
• gradual rise in cholesterol levels;
• increased burden on the kidneys, which can increase the likelihood of developing kidney failure and cause urolithiasis;
• decreased bone density.

Potential nutritional deficiencies on a long-term ketogenic diet

Since the diet cannot be called balanced, prolonged exposure to this diet can lead to a lack of some important components.

1. Calcium. Leaves in urine. Since with an excess of fat, urine becomes too acidic, and the body is forced to alkalize it with calcium. In addition, a lack of carbohydrates impairs the absorption of this trace element.
2. Magnesium. According to the assumptions, the gradual development of the deficiency is associated with the withdrawal from the diet of foods rich in this microelement - cereals and fruits.
3. Iron. An abundance of fat in food impairs the absorption of iron.
4. Sodium and Potassium. Due to the decrease in insulin levels, the loss through the kidneys increases. However, unlike other micronutrients, such as calcium or magnesium, the lack of which is found over time, potassium and sodium go away quickly. And in many ways, their shortage is due to the symptoms of the keto flu, which are gradually disappearing.
5. Selenium. Deficiency may be due to the lack of this trace mineral in foods rich in fat. The exception is the Brazil nut, one piece of which gives the body 100% of the daily value of selenium.
6. Carnitine. The disadvantage is that the compound is consumed too quickly on a fat diet.

If you are on a keto diet for a long time, you should regularly check the level of all those substances that may become deficient over time. It is advisable to take supplements with nutrients at risk.

Who should not switch to keto food: contraindications

1. Children, pregnant and lactating women, patients with diabetes mellitus and cancer are allowed to switch to a ketogenic diet only if prescribed by the attending physician and under his supervision.
2. Diet is contraindicated in people with genotypes ApoE3 and ApoE4, as it can lead to life-threatening increases in cholesterol levels.
3. Do not follow epilepsy patients with KCNJ11 and BAD genes.
4. Serious liver and / or kidney disease are contraindications for following this dietary regimen.

Conclusion

The keto diet is a fairly tough nutritional system that requires an almost complete rejection of carbohydrates and the introduction of a significant amount of fat into the diet.

Switching to a ketogenic diet is often difficult to tolerate.

The dietary regimen has received a large body of scientific research, many of which prove its benefits for weight loss, treatment of type 2 diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases, normalization of the lipid profile, and elimination of metabolic syndrome.

However, there are not many studies that have evaluated the health effects of prolonged (more than a year) dieting. And, according to some assumptions, the constant presence of such a diet can mean harm to health.