The first thing you might think about when you first heard of the ketogenic diet is how can it be as good as people say it is? The short answer is that there are enough benefits to change your life!
What is a Keto diet?
The Keto, or ketogenic, diet is a diet of moderate amounts of protein, high in fat, and low in carbohydrates (carbs). The goal is to dial in your nutritional intake in a way that your body enters a metabolic state known as ketosis.
Ketosis happens when your body has depleted its stores of glycogen sugar used for fueling your energy needs. After the available sugar is consumed your body has to use its stored fats for energy. Our body’s fat is converted into ketones by the liver as a source of energy. This is the reason the Keto diet is such an efficient way to lose body fat.
Top 7 Benefits Of The Keto Diet
Unlike other diets, where the only benefit is weight loss, the Keto diet offers several additional benefits.
1 – Weight loss
There’s no doubt that weight loss is the main goal of a Keto diet. The diet works because it causes your body to use its fat reserves to fuel its metabolism. Let’s go a little deeper into the process.
When a person is deprived of carbohydrates they enter a condition known as ketosis. In ketosis, blood sugar and insulin levels decrease. When our bodies convert fat cells to energy the fat cells release quite a bit of water. The combination of using fat for energy and the accompanying water loss makes for some great weight loss.
The fat is then free to enter the bloodstream and then the liver turns it into ketones to energize the body. So long as you can stay in a caloric deficit you will reap the weight loss benefit of the Keto diet.
2 – Keto curbs your appetite
When your diet isn’t loaded with carbs you won’t have the craving for as much food as you did before. A lot of people who use the Keto diet often fast for much of the day, only eating at mealtimes. They just don’t feel as hungry as they used to.
3 – Greater ability to focus
The Standard American Diet loads you up with a lot of carbs. Our brains have to deal with the resulting rise and fall of blood sugar caused by all those carbs. It’s hard for our brains to focus when we have fluctuating energy levels. But on a Keto diet, our energy levels are more constant and consistent. That makes it easier for the brain to focus and to stay focused longer.
4 – Feeling more energetic
Your body is always on the verge of running out of energy on a regular diet. You have to eat continuously to refuel it. On a Keto diet, your body is tapping into its fat reserve which is nearly an unending source of energy. Then the body can keep its energy level constant all day long. Resulting in you feeling much more energetic!
5 – It can help diabetes
A person who has Type II Diabetes experiences high levels of insulin. Because the Keto diet removes excess sugar from your diet it can help to stabilize their HbA1c counts and may even reverse Type II diabetes.
6 – Keto improves your levels of good cholesterol
HDL cholesterol helps your body get rid of bad cholesterol. After you start a Keto diet your triglyceride level decreases and the levels of HDL cholesterol increase.
7 – Improves your blood pressure
Being on a Keto diet can lower your blood pressure. Many people on a Keto diet are able to decrease their high blood pressure medicine or stop taking it entirely.
A person’s life can change dramatically, and in a positive way, on a ketogenic diet. The Keto diet isn’t hard to start either. There are plenty of Keto recipe books. All you need is a willingness to give it a shot.
The question comes down to this, can you stay in ketosis and still enjoy an adult beverage or two? This article will tell you everything you need to know.
A lot of “ketoers” (keto dieters) feel like alcohol is taboo in their diet. There are some good reasons for thinking this way. Besides just being generally unhealthy alcohol can be counterproductive for ketoers.
Here we’re going to discuss whether you can, or should, have alcohol while on a Keto diet as well as provide a shortlist of keto-friendly alcohol and some that are not so keto-friendly.
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Does keto and alcohol mix?
The way keto works
Before we get into what the effect of alcohol is on a keto diet we need to understand what a keto diet is. It’s a strict diet of high-fat, medium protein, and low-carbs that puts your body into a state of ketosis.
Normally your body runs on glucose as its primary source of energy. Regardless of your body’s state of activity, it’s using energy to keep everything functioning well. If you don’t eat enough carbohydrates you will have a deficit of glucose to fuel your body.
Luckily, your body is able to burn fat for energy when your stored glucose is depleted. It’s our body’s ability to do this that makes the Keto diet so effective for weight loss. When your body is using fat as its primary fuel source you are in the state of ketosis.
The medical profession’s consensus is that alcohol is generally unhealthy and it’s not too good for that keto diet either. There are plenty of reasons for this and we’ll look at 6 of them here:
1 – A lot of alcohol is loaded with carbs
The reason alcohol is bad for the keto diet is that many types of alcohol are loaded with carbs. Since too many carbs will knock you out of ketosis, any high-carb beverage is bad for keto. Even one dose of glucose will impact your weight loss effort by reducing your body’s glucose tolerance, which in turn makes you more sensitive to carbs. Then the consumption of carbohydrates leads to blood sugar spikes taking you out of ketosis.
Additionally, there are studies showing that low-carb dieters can suffer physical damage by reintroducing high levels of carbohydrates to their diet suddenly. The study’s subjects had elevated biomarkers in their blood that indicates blood vessel damage.
Just how bad are the different alcohols?
Keto and wine
In reality, wine is comparably low in carbohydrates with +/- 2g in a small glass. Even the strictest ketoer could nurse a couple of glasses (about 9 fl.oz.) and keep their total carbs under the 20g daily keto limit!
Dryer wines are preferred on the keto diet because they have less sugar than the sweeter varieties. Also beware of the sweet dessert wines which are loaded with sugar, which is obvious since they’re so sweet. Five ounces of a Muscat or Sherry will add over 200 calories and 20g of carbs.
Keto and beer
Beer is especially high in carbohydrates, having 13g or more of carbohydrates. Beer is made with wheat, barley, and corn for the most part. Its ingredients give the beer a lot of bioavailable carbs the will move you out of ketosis very quickly.
Drinking large amounts of beer regularly is an obstacle to lose weight, or trying to keep it off. There’s a reason we say “beer belly”
Overall, avoiding beer and choosing lower-carb beverages is necessary to stay in ketosis. Fortunately, there are low-carb options if you really want a cold one, we call them lite beers.
Liquors and spirits
Pure spirits are practically a zero-carb beverage (gin, vodka, whiskey, etc.). So they won’t likely take you out of ketosis, however, we’re talking about 80 proof alcohol; moderation is key.
The issue with drinking spirits and liquors is the addition of the mixer to make them a little more drinkable like a “Tequila Sunrise” versus a shot of tequila.
Mixers are typically loaded with sugar and made from sodas and fruit juices, that are full of carbs, to balance the alcohol. So be mindful when choosing mixers and pick those that are low in sugar carbs (i.e., sugar-free tonic and seltzer, diet sodas, etc.).
Even though liquors have virtually zero carbs, they have calories. Calories won’t take you out of ketosis, but they will add weight to your body or make it harder to lose weight.
2 – Alcohol and metabolism
On the keto diet, your metabolism works very specifically to keep you in ketosis. Sadly, alcohol can interfere with your metabolism and your ability to stay in ketosis. Some of that interference is caused by byproducts produced by alcohol. Those by-products can cause a sudden burst of energy, but this may also stop ketosis.
Some alcohol byproducts are phosphatidyl ethanol, acetate, and acetaldehyde. All of these byproducts are quite toxic and your body tries to metabolize them like any other poison, prioritizing the toxins over burning sugars or lipids. Meaning, drinking alcohol often enough you will spend more time metabolizing its byproducts which can result in fat storage.
3 – Alcohol is calorie-dense
Alcohol can be low-carb, but all alcohol is pretty high in calories. Calories aren’t as troublesome as carbs on a keto diet, you should still be aware of how the additional calories will impact your weight goals. If you’ve gone keto to lose weight then you are most likely watching your calories since you won’t lose weight without being calorie deficient.
Alcohol is calorie-dense. For example, wine, gin, and beer have 123, 73, and 154 calories respectively. That may not sound too bad, but you can see how easily the calories can add up with just 3 or 4 drinks.
Other than causing you to make poor decisions it leads people to make poor food choices. If you go for drinks with your friends it’s wise to evaluate yourself and your willpower. Will you really hold to a keto diet after downing a few cold ones before your friends start ordering non-keto appetizers?
What about the day after? Will you have the self-control to avoid the “hangover munchies”?
5 – Your alcohol tolerance on keto
It’s likely you’re drinking less alcohol while you’re on the keto diet, so your tolerance will be much lower than before. On top of that, your glucose tolerance also drops when you’re in ketosis making your body more sensitive to any carbs or sugars you eat. This also means you will feel carb crashes more as well.
Because most alcoholic drinks are full of both carbs and sugars you may find your emotions and energy level will be on a rollercoaster too.
6 – Alcohol is generally unhealthy
The number one reason alcohol is thought to be unhealthy for ketoers is that it’s simply unhealthy. It’s not nutritional. It’s kind of the opposite of being nutritional, taking away nutrients your body has when you began drinking, interfering with digestion, and absorbing nutrients.
Not all alcohol is without nutrition. Red wine and beer are known to have antioxidants and B vitamins, respectively. But for the chronic drinker, the negatives outweigh the positives of alcohol.
Which alcohols are best for keto?
As stated early alcohol isn’t ideal for dieters wanting to stay in ketosis. Alcohol might lead to more fat storage due to our metabolism. But having an occasional drink isn’t the end of the world. It’s possible to have a drink or two if you pick some low-carb drinks that won’t derail metabolism.
Alcohol with low-carbs
If you’re on a keto diet, be sure to drink only low-carb drinks. If you like your drinks neat, you’re in luck because most hard drinks are carb-free, meaning them without worrying about exceeding your carb limit!
Still, remember alcohol can negatively affect your state of ketosis even if it’s not a high-carb drink. Here’s a shortlist of low-carb drinks for you to enjoy without too much guilt.**
Gin, tequila, rum, vodka, or whiskey neat for zero carbs.
Wine (red or white) has 3-4g of carbs
Light beer averages 3g per can
Low-carb mixes
The next point of cation is your choice of mixer for your cocktail. The popular cocktails are typically made with high-carb juice, soda, or an energy drink. To make a tasty low-carb drink use a carb-free mixer like these:
Whether you’re on a keto diet or not it’s imperative you know your limit regarding alcohol. But if you’re on the keto diet you need to set a limit much lower than usual. There are many reasons to keep your drinking to a minimum:
Drinks are loaded with empty calories, meaning calories without nutrients
Drinks may increase your chances to gain weight and take you out of ketosis
Drinks have a tendency to drain you or nutrients, leading to nutritional deficiencies
Excessive drinking can lead to physical and mental health issues
A lot of keto dieters believe alcohol is a no-no for anybody on a keto diet. But it’s not that simple. Choosing to include alcohol with a keto diet hinges on a number of factors. There are some things to consider before heading out:
There are a lot of varieties of alcohol and some are low-carb. Hard liquor is all but carb-free and wine has 3g of carbs or less per glass
Despite some alcohol being carb-free, all alcohol generates toxic byproducts that your body has to metabolize. Unfortunately, your body makes it a priority to burn the toxins first which can take you out of ketosis
Regular, or frequent, consumption of alcohol can cause your body to store fat
Be sure to use low-carb alcohol and mixers for your drinks
Keep all this information in mind and you should have no trouble including alcohol (in moderation) in your keto diet.
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When you begin the Keto diet you expect to lose weight, have fewer cravings, see improvements in your blood work, and improve your health overall, right? But you probably weren’t thinking about how your libido on Keto would fare, were you?
Some people have reported feeling, how can I say this in a G-rated way, “more frisky” after reducing their carb intake. But others say their libido on Keto decreased.
So what’s the real story?
First things first, the libido
Before we talk about the effect of a Ketogenic diet on your libido, we should take some time and talk about our libido in general.
Our libidos, also know as our sex drive, is part of a four-phase sexual response cycle:
Desire
Arousal
Orgasm
Resolution
Some of the elements of the first phase, desire, include sexual drive, motivation, and our sexual wish.
Our desire for sex depends on a rather complex set of factors. Here are just a few of those factors in no particular:
Overall health
Age
Sex hormones
Social influences
Relationship satisfaction
Stress levels
Body image
So you can see our libido is dependent on several factors, both internal and external. The various interactions of all these factors, and more, influence just how high (frisky) or low (not so frisky) we’ll feel. Also, none of these factors are constant and they will change throughout our lifespan. A fluctuating libido is normal.
Diet will affect our libidos
It’s well known that our diet has a huge influence on our health, both physical and mental health. Seeing that our libido is an aspect of our health, it’s obvious that our diet will influence our libidos. For instance, it’s been shown that unhealthy diets can lead to metabolic syndrome, type II diabetes, and low testosterone – a hormone that plays a part in regulating our libidos.
The nutrients in the food we eat can have a far-reaching effect on our sexual health. The number of calories you take in can have an effect too. People carrying an excess of body weight who limit their caloric intake to lose weight tend to feel a bit more frisky. However, if our calorie intake is near starvation levels your libido will decline substantially as will your general health.
You might have already heard anecdotal evidence and stories about how the libido is affected by a Keto diet. That can add to the confusion. But if you stop and think about it, anything that improves your overall health is going to impact your libido in a positive way, increasing your sex drive. Losing weight doesn’t just improve your wellbeing, it’s also going to reduce inflation and bring hormones into balance. However, if you don’t eat a healthy diet and it’s causing negative side effects you’re likely to have a diminished libido.
If you don’t plan your Keto diet well you can end up with a deficit in nutrients that are important to hormones and brain health, like zinc and magnesium. The Keto diet is known to improve the functioning of the brain and since the brain is our main erogenous zone, the next logical step is a Keto diet that will improve your mood for sex.
A few theories about libidos and Keto explained
As you now know from reading the above, there isn’t a lot known about how a Keto diet affects our libidos. There are many ideas about it. Following are just a few of these ideas explained.
Hormones balance
A poor diet can create a sex hormones imbalance when our blood glucose and insulin are elevated. These imbalances are linked to a hormonal condition that leads to sexual dysfunction and other problems know as PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) in women. The Keto diet improves both glucose and insulin levels improving hormonal balance in turn.
Mood improvements
A Keto diet has been shown to improve conditions that are connected to problems with mood such as GABA deficiency, low levels of serotonin, proper functioning of the mitochondria, stress, inflammation, insulin resistance, and more. Additionally, the success you’ll experience with a Keto diet will give you an immediate mood boost and bump in your confidence (friskiness).
Nutritional deficiency
In spite of all this good news, starting a Keto diet can cause a temporary loss of libido. Often a person will experience an electrolyte imbalance when they first begin their Keto diet. One electrolyte, magnesium, is quite important for trusting sexually. Low levels of magnesium can affect the thyroid too. Fortunately, this all passes quickly when you’re eating the correct foods.
Regardless of your goals as an endurance athlete, the common denominator of all athletes is their drive to be in the best physical shape possible and feeling good about it. Due to their heavy load of training, it’s vital that they match their diet to the intensity of their training. The tricky part is when body composition gets confused with fitness. Here we’re going to look at endurance athletes and the ketogenic diet.
But even with that in mind, it’s hard to ignore the attractiveness of today’s trendy diets. Like the controversial Keto diet that is still the focus of many around the world.
The proponents of ketogenic dieting tell us it is the best diet ever. And it’s easy to see why with all of the stories of rapid weight loss, decreased cravings, lower appetite, improved insulin and HDL cholesterol (the good stuff), and especially the improved endurance in aerobic activities. It all sounds very appealing. But there’s another side to the story. The ketogenic diet is labeled a medical diet and it comes with some serious risks.
Should Keto be part of your plan if you’re an endurance athlete in training?
The Keto diet restricts your carbs to under 50g/day (+/- 5% of the USDA’s daily allowance). That’s about half a cup of oats and one medium-sized banana. The rest of the calories come from fat and protein, 75% and 20% respectively.
By reducing the number of carbohydrates consumed by our bodies also reduces the amount of glucose in our blood, our body’s preferred fuel. Being on a Keto diet puts us in a state of ketosis where our bodies use ketones for fuel. When there isn’t sufficient glucose available our livers will produce ketones from our fat stores, this is ketosis.
Low carbs and long training sessions
How does a low-carb diet affect endurance athletes considering their energy requirement for both training and on race day? Supporters of the Keto diet like Dr. Phil Maffetone who is a leader in modern medicine and has worked with Mark Allen, a Hawaii Ironman champion six times over, believes optimal athletic performance can be achieved with Keto’s fat-burning ability. Dr. Maffetone tells us our aerobic system can be maximized in a low-carb environment and it also increases our ability to use fat during strength and endurance training. This also leads to more stable energy levels, less stress to our GI system, and leaner bodies.
Is your Keto curiosity heightened?
Are you ready to give the Keto diet a try? Keto guides suggest dramatically shifting your macronutrients to cause increased oxidation and ketosis. There’s typically a two to four weed transition period with the end goal of consuming:
50g of carbohydrates per day
65% to 80% of your calories from fat
0.6g to 1.0g of protein for every pound you weigh
Keto is a challenging diet. It can be difficult to create satiating meals with the correct proportions of macronutrients required by the diet. The majority of this diet is comprised of animal proteins and leafy vegetables with an occasional piece of fruit.
Keto flu
During the transition period from your standard diet to a ketogenic diet, you will most likely feel some symptoms like:
Headache
Fatigue
Low levels of energy
Extreme hunger
Difficulty sleeping
These symptoms during the transition period have been coined “The Keto Flu”. It will pass fairly quickly. Drinking a lot of water helps.
So, what should you be eating?
It takes quite a bit of effort and time to research the right portions for your personal goal. Obviously, there are a lot of keto recipe books on the market. This is great, once you know what to do with all that information.
Over the years many diets have come and gone promising miraculous weight loss and an overall improvement in body composition and wellness. But at what cost and how many have actually worked?
Most diets are designed to keep its practitioner in a caloric deficit. Meaning to consume fewer calories than their body needs to work normally and maintain its weight.
Generally speaking, the average person needs about 2,000 calories a day to function normally and maintain weight. The usual diet is designed to restrict our calorie intake to about 80% of normal, or 1,600 calories per day. These diets concentrate just on calories instead of considering the macronutrients that different food provides.
Obviously, this method of dieting works for many people. The challenge is when we run up against plateaus in our weight loss journey. People have been experimenting, for a number of years now, with high-fat diets and their possible benefits regarding weight and fat loss.
How can a diet high in fat help you lose weight?
It’s not very intuitive, but a high-fat diet can help you lose weight by putting your body into a state of ketosis. Ketosis is very effective at burning body fat.
What is ketosis?
Under everyday circumstances, our bodies can draw upon various sources of energy as needed. The primary energy source is glucose which comes from the carbohydrates that we consume. But when glucose isn’t available our bodies look for other forms of energy, these are called ketones.
So ketosis is our body’s metabolic state when there isn’t enough glucose and we’re using ketones as our energy source.
Eating a high-fat, low-carb diet can put us into the state of ketosis. While we are in ketosis our bodies convert our fat stores into ketones for energy.
Achieving ketosis
Whenever we fast for a prolonged time our bodies will enter a state of ketosis. A lot of the experts think that runners will enter ketosis during a long run, especially so when carb cycling.
Other than fasting or exercising, we can enter ketosis by consuming very few calories. By limiting the number of calories we get from carbohydrate consumption to less than 15% of our caloric intake, our bodies will start taking energy for its stored fat instead of the restricted carbohydrates.
Can ketosis help with fat loss?
There are always instances when any diet won’t work. However, the Keto diet is known for effectively stimulating fat loss and consequently weight loss.
Some recent research has shown the keto diet improves the levels of triglycerides, LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol), blood sugar, and HDL cholesterol (“good” cholesterol). These effects are all beneficial to your overall health and well-being.
What are the downsides?
Nothing is perfect and diets aren’t any different. Even though we know low carb, high-fat diets are quite effective at getting rid of unwanted fat and weight they might be dangerous for people who have diabetes or a pre-existing heart condition. For that reason, you should talk to your primary health care provider before starting any diet that is a dramatic change from your normal diet.
Converting stored fat to usable energy for our bodies is much slower than readily convertible carbohydrates. So anyone on a Keto diet may find themselves lagging in high-energy activities like sports, cross fit, powerlifting, etc.
A balanced lifestyle is important
Long-term research hasn’t found any major negative health issues brought on from following a Keto diet. In fact, the opposite has been noted citing weight loss and weight control as well as internal health benefits.
Just remember, a balanced lifestyle is important no matter your diet. Don’t think just because you’re on a high fat diet you eat nothing but double bacon cheeseburgers without consequences. The Keto diet is intended to put your body in a state of ketosis by consuming whole foods, healthy oils, lean proteins, seeds, nuts, and plenty of dark leafy greens.
Undoubtedly, a healthy diet will lead to a healthy lifestyle including a healthy weight, more vitality, and deeper satisfaction with your life!
Are you a vegetarian or vegan wondering if a Keto diet (low carb, high fat, and moderate protein) could work for you?
Vegetarian Buffet
The mainstream thinking is a Keto diet is chock full of animal protein. At first glance it doesn’t look like a vegetarian or vegan-friendly diet, does it?
But having said that, a plant-based Keto diet can be accomplished with some adjusting.
If you mindfully design your plant-based Keto diet you will find plenty of protein, micro and macronutrients in eggs, herbal supplements, and some other places.
Typically vegetarians consume a lot of legumes. However, legumes aren’t part of the Keto diet due to their large number of carbohydrates in them. Eating legumes will take you out of the fat-burning state of “ketosis”, the diet’s namesake.
The trick for the would-be Keto vegetarian/vegan is to find foods that are low in carbohydrates and nutrient-dense. How easy this is to do depends on what type of vegetarianism you follow.
In this article we’ll also take a look at some potential benefits, some of the top foods to include in your diet, and how to meet some of the common challenges of eating a Keto diet as a vegetarian or vegan.
Vegetarian types
In general, a vegetarian is someone who doesn’t eat meat and perhaps won’t’ eat other animal products like cheese or honey. There are a few different types of vegetarians. Here’s a short, probably not complete, list of vegetarian types:
Pescatarians include fish and seafood, dairy, and eggs, avoiding meat and poultry.
Lacto-ovo vegetarians include dairy and eggs, avoiding fish, poultry, and meat. This is the primary vegetarian diet for most of the western world.
Lacto vegetarians will include dairy and avoid meat, fish, poultry, and eggs.
Vegans diets are completely plant-based avoiding all animal products, including honey.
The more restrictive the plant-based diet, the greater the challenge to build a healthy Keto diet. For example, a pescatarian wouldn’t have much trouble consuming enough protein, B12, or omega-3 fatty acids from fish. But a vegan would most likely have to take an omega-3 supplement derived from a plant source like algae. This article will focus primarily on how to build a ketogenic diet from the Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, the primary vegetarian diet for most of the western world.
What is a vegetable-based Keto diet?
There are a variety of reasons for choosing to eat a plant-based diet. They could be ethical or religious reasons or a conscious decision to reduce your own carbon footprint. Arguably the most common reason is to eat a plant-based diet for health and wellness.
Whatever your reason there are a number of ways you can adjust the Keto diet to be more in line with a plant-based diet.
A vegetarian Keto diet is nothing more than a Keto diet without animal protein sources. The objective still is to consume a primarily high-fat, low-carb diet with the goal of keeping your body in the ketosis state.
A vegan Keto diet has the same goal without consuming any animal products (meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, honey, etc.). Eating Keto as a vegan is the most challenging way to go because a lot of the vegan protein sources are full of carbohydrates. But it’s not impossible given sufficient planning and you have resolved to make it work.
Considerations for vegetarians and vegans on the Keto diet
Some considerations for being on a low carbohydrate plant-based diet fall into three general areas regarding protein, fatty acids, and micronutrients.
Protein
Without eating meat and fish, a Keto vegetarian has to be especially diligent to get enough protein in their diet. What’s the deal with protein? Although all macronutrients are essential for good health, you can argue that protein is the most essential one.
Carbohydrates may be the least essential of the macronutrients. Our bodies will synthesize glucose with a process called gluconeogenesis.
Fats are essential. Not as essential as protein, but more so than carbohydrates. Our bodies carry a lot of fat stores to be used as backup energy. Even though fat is a great source of energy, carbohydrates provide energy as well.
More to do with protein. Proteins make up the structure of our body’s tissues. Protein provides us with amino acids that are used for muscle growth, the formation of hormones, and the healing of wounds. None of the other macronutrients can do what protein does.
Complete proteins (proteins containing the full range of amino acids) are provided in meat and fish. It’s possible, though difficult, to get the full range of proteins from plants, especially on the Keto diet devoid of grains and legumes.
The essential fatty acids
Meat and fish have large amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids. One of the essential omega-6 fatty acids, arachidonic acid, regulates immunity, helps to structure cell membranes, and helps in the brain’s reward signaling.
Omega-3 fatty acids are important too. Both EPA and DHA found in seafood have wide-ranging functions. Some of the areas they have been found to influence are maintaining healthy inflammation levels, brain functions, and even mood control.
The micronutrients
Some micronutrients such as carnosine, taurine, and creatine are only found in meat. Iron is another micronutrient primarily found in meat. Iron is found in plant foods also, but it’s not as bioavailable as the form of iron found in meat (heme iron).
It’s quite challenging to get enough of the B-vitamins with a plant-based Keto diet. B12 is most readily available in meat, and B1 and B3 are most abundant in starchy foods.
So how does a vegetarian eat a Keto diet?
Follow these four tips to get the most from your vegetarian Keto diet. Keep in mind the focus of this article is directed at the Lacto-ovo vegetarians, the primary vegetarians across most of the western world.
1 – Eggs (if you choose)
Eating eggs will take care of most of the protein concerns of a vegetarian Keto diet. The protein in eggs is one of the most bioavailable proteins out there.
Eggs also check off the concerns about not getting enough fatty acids. They are rich in arachidonic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid. Pasture-raised chickens, versus those from a factory farm, provide omega-3 acids too.
Eggs also take care of a lot of micronutrient worries. They contain vitamins A and B12, iron, and choline. You can see, eggs are nearly the perfect food for a Lacto-ovo vegetarian Keto diet!
2 – Dairy (if you can tolerate it)
Consider yourself a lucky Keto vegetarian if you’re not intolerant to dairy products. Dairy is rich in protein and several essential fatty acids.
There’s something to be said about whey protein. Whey protein digests much easier than casein, a different dairy protein. Whey is also more bioavailable.
If you have an intolerance to whey, you can try protein from soy, peas, hemp, or another plant-based product. Just remember that plant-based proteins have a lower value biologically than meat, eggs, or whey.
3 – Supplements
No matter how hard you try to design the perfect vegetarian Keto diet it’s likely you’ll miss some of the key nutrients. So consider taking some supplements:
The B vitamin complex aids with energy production
Carnosine to support antioxidants and muscle endurance
Creatine to support cognitive ability and strength training
Eggs as a supplemental food, 3-4 per day
Omega-3 fatty acids help control inflammation and brain health. If you don’t want to take fish oil supplements there are algae supplements providing omega-3s and
Taurine for cardiovascular health
Iron. As a Keto vegetarian you can get iron by eating dark chocolate, eggs, or seeds. If you can’t get enough iron with these foods, talk to a medical professional to find the right supplement(s) to keep your iron within a healthy range.
4 – Include low carb vegetables and plenty of healthy fat
This applies to all Keto dieters. But a vegetarian Keto dieter has to live by it! Your basic meal will be a bed of greens with nuts or eggs for their healthy fats and protein. Another, faster, meal would be Keto green smoothie.
Your low-carb vegetables include asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, chard, kale, lettuces, spinach, and every other kind of leafy green vegetable. Your healthy fats can include avocado oil, butter, coconut oil, ghee, olive oil, etc. Use these oils as you wish to suit your tastes.
Vegan Keto diet
It’s pretty easy to achieve a vegetarian diet by replacing traditional protein (meat, fish, poultry) with eggs, nuts, seeds, tofu, and dairy products. But going full vegan Keto is another thing.
Dr. Will Cole, a functional medicine practitioner, established the Ketotarian Diet which is a plant-based Keto diet offering completely vegan options. Meaning, you have to rely on plant-based protein such as seeds, nuts, tofu, and moderate amounts of tempeh.
Eating a totally vegan Keto diet is challenging, but it can be done. Here are four tips to help you can stay on top of it.
1 – Be sure to eat a variety of whole foods
Having gone low carb or plant-based you have greatly restricted your choices of food. By being low carb and plant-based (i.e., vegan) is even more restrictive. A highly restrictive diet may be even harder to stay on in the long term. Be sure you have a wide range of tasty recipes to experiment with. Dr. Will Cole’s book, “Ketoterian” will help you with this.
Another resource is this customized 8-week Keto diet planner. The planner is a brand new product that allows someone to create their very own keto diet plan based on their food preferences, daily activity levels, height, weight, and target weight goals. This means if you want a totally plant-based meal plan, you simply deselect the meat, fish, and poultry protein options and the planner will create your custom 8-week menu.
2 – Watch out for nutrient deficiencies
Even though you can be healthy eating a vegan Keto diet, you’re going to have to keep an eye out for some nutrient deficiencies that can occur. The nutrients to be mindful of are vitamins B12 and D, the omega-3s, iron, zinc, iodine, and calcium.
The best way to stay on top of your nutrient levels is to eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods of every color, eat the rainbow. You also will want to know your blood work and take supplements as needed according to your healthcare professional.
3 – Plant-based protein is a priority
It’s well known that proteins are important for many, many, processes in our bodies including feeling satiated, growth, and repair or tissues. It can be hard to stay on a vegan Keto diet since plant-based foods are high in carbs but we still have to take in a sufficient amount of protein.
Here are a few things you can eat to ensure you take in enough protein without eating too many carbs:
Hemp seeds have plenty of omega-3s and a complete profile of amino acids.
Tofu and tempeh are soybean products that have carbs, but they’re ok to eat in moderation. Choose an organic brand whenever you can.
Faux meats, or meal replacements, will help you consume enough protein. Common products like seitan and Beyond Meat are available in most grocery stores.
4 – Intermittent fasting
You can give your body a nudge toward ketosis with intermittent fasting while on a vegan Keto diet.
You can try intermittent fasting if it’s suitable for you. Do this by shortening eating windows and extending your fasting periods. Done right, this will give your body a quick start into the state of ketosis. Conceivable making it easier to stay in ketosis.
We have a short video on our YouTube channel discussing intermittent fasting.
You can get started today with your plant-based Keto diet
With your Custom Keto Plan, you have the ability to create a plant-based meal plan TODAY, making it easy for you to get started with your own Keto vegetarian diet!
The first thing you might think about when you first heard of the ketogenic diet is how can it be as good as people say it is? The short answer is that there are enough benefits to change your life!
Some people have reported feeling, how can I say this in a G-rated way, “more frisky” after reducing their carb intake. But others say their libido on Keto decreased.
Most diets are designed to keep its practitioner in a caloric deficit. Meaning to consume fewer calories than their body needs to work normally and maintain its weight.
