How Do I Start Keto?
In today’s fast-paced world, eating the right food is crucial, especially for those looking to lose weight or follow a diet-conscious lifestyle.
A healthy food selection not only boosts the body’s immune system but also helps fight diseases. It is instrumental in achieving effective weight loss by burning extra calories. One of the most popular approaches for this is the keto diet, which is renowned for being a low-carb, high-fat diet.
During fasting or a ketogenic diet, the liver utilizes stored fats as fuel, breaking them down to produce ketones—a process known as ketosis. On the other hand, the intake of carbohydrates leads to the production of glucose and insulin in the body.
Glucose typically acts as the body’s main source of energy, but in a keto plan, fats become the primary fuel source. This shift is highly effective for those looking to burn fat efficiently. However, starting a keto diet should not be taken lightly; it is a satiating diet that requires medical supervision to ensure safety and success.
In the beginning, adapting to the keto diet can be challenging, as it demands a significant shift in both your body’s physiology and your eating habits. However, once committed, you can kick-start your keto journey by following three essential steps: consuming the right foods, controlling portion sizes, and preparing for the keto diet side effects, commonly referred to as keto flu.
Knowing what to eat and what to avoid is key. This includes sticking to keto-friendly foods while steering clear of starchy carbohydrates. You can follow keto recipe guides to plan well-rounded meals, and make food substitutions that align with your keto goals.
Regulating your food intake is also important. Keep your daily carbohydrate intake under 35 grams, consume enough healthy fats to meet your energy needs, and take in sufficient protein to maintain muscle mass. Using a keto calculator can help track your progress and fine-tune your diet for optimal weight loss results.
Finally, prepare your body for the potential symptoms of keto flu—such as fatigue, nausea, headaches, poor sleep, and stress. To combat these, increase your water intake and ensure you’re getting enough sodium, magnesium, and potassium. These steps are crucial to making the transition smoother and achieving your weight loss goals effectively.
Keto Diet Recipes For Beginners
For beginners, the menu shows recipes for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. It’s a complete meal plan.
Breakfast:
The recipe for keto diet beginners is quite simple: bacon, eggs, and guacamole.
The ingredients are:
- 1 avocado
- 2 eggs
- 50 grams of onion
- 50 grams of tomato
- 1 teaspoon of lime juice
- 3 rashers of bacon
- 5 grams of coriander
- Salt and
- pepper as required
The method of making guacamole is to cut the avocado into small cubes with a knife, remove the seed, and season it with salt, tomato, onion, coriander, and lime juice. Mix it well and mash it with a spoon. Guacamole is now prepared.
The next step is to fry the slices of bacon in the pan on medium heat till the fat comes out.
Put the cooked slices of bacon on the plate, and then in the same pan, crack 2 eggs either sunny side up or scrambled, according to your choice, or you can also make an omelet.
Fry the eggs for 1-2 minutes and season them with salt and black pepper.
Breakfast is ready for 1 person. If the avocado is not available, then it can be replaced by using spinach and broccoli (fried). Vegetarians can use white cottage cheese instead of bacon.
Lunch:
For lunch, the recipe is ‘Beef, broccoli and stir fry zucchini’ and serves four people. The ingredients are
- Half a kilo of minced beef
- 300 grams of broccoli flowers
- The same quantity for zucchini
- 50 grams of onion
- 1 Tsp. of paprika
- Fresh thyme, red chili
- 10 grams of garlic
- 50 grams of heavy whipping cream
- Cheddar cheese
- Cream cheese
- 1 Tbsp. of avocado oil
- Salt
- Pepper as required.
Start the recipe (by cutting the vegetables first) cut the broccoli from the stem into smaller florets and chops the zucchini into smaller cubes (or round shape).
Turn on the flame and pour avocado oil into an aluminum pan, add minced beef with seasoning and cook it for 2-3 minutes after that add onion and garlic into it.
When the onion turns (caramelized) light pink and garlic into golden brown then add chili flakes, paprika, fresh thyme.
Keep stirring for 1 minute so that seasoning gets absorbed and releases aroma then add zucchini and broccoli. Add a pinch of salt and give it a quick stir, cover the pan with a lid.
After 5 minutes sprinkle the grated cheddar cheese randomly on the top of the mixture and adds heavy cream, again cover the lid and cook it for few more minutes till the cheese gets melted.
If there is any liquid then reduce it down and finally in the end add cream cheese and mix everything well before turning off the heat.
Garnish the filled bowl with parmesan cheese. The dish is ready to eat. Ground beef can be replaced by chicken and alternative vegetables can be used like spinach, mushroom, Brussels sprouts, and asparagus.
Instead of cheese and cream, substitute with coconut cream.
For vegetarians, tofu and paneer can be used instead of beef. It’s a keto-friendly, tasty recipe.
Snack:
This includes Ham and cheese roll-ups for two persons. The ingredients are pretty straightforward with 4 leaves of lettuce and 4 slices each of cheese and ham with mustard paste.
The recipe starts by spreading the mustard paste on lettuce leaves, then placing a slice of ham with a cheese slice and rolling it up to make a ready-to-eat wrap.
Vegetarians can replace the ham with an omelet and mustard paste with keto mayo or hot sauce.
Dinner:
For dinner, the recipe is simple and basic; ‘Chicken salad with peanut butter dressing.’ The ingredients are
- 2 skinless chicken thighs
- 1 packet of ready-to-eat salad mix
- Half a teaspoon of black and sesame seeds
- 1 Tsp. of curry powder
- A half tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp of water
- Soya sauce
- Lemon juice
- Stevia to taste
- Salt and pepper as required.
- Marinate the chicken with salt
- Pepper and
- curry powder.
Turn on the flame of the stove and put avocado oil in a non-stick pan, add marinated chicken to the pan, and fry it for 3 minutes till golden brown, moist, juicy, and fully cooked (not undercooked).
Then, set it aside on a plate and make the dressing in another bowl by mixing the peanut butter and water to make a liquid sauce; add soy sauce, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper with stevia. Stir it well.
Open the salad packet (your salad mix can also be used) pour over the peanut butter dressing, and then add black and white sesame seeds.
Slice the chicken into long pieces add it to the salad, and garnish it with coriander. The recipe is ready to eat and serves 1 person.
Beefsteak is the best option instead of chicken. For vegetarians, white cottage cheese, halloumi, and buffalo mozzarella is an alternative option. Salad mix can be substituted by using baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, and grated cabbage.
FAQs
Q. What do you eat for breakfast on the keto diet?
On a low-carb diet, doing breakfast is a challenging task and it is not wise to skip. There are many recipes to make nutritious breakfasts like
- Eggs and vegetables fried in coconut oil
- Cowboy breakfast skillet
- Skillet-baked eggs with spinach
- Yogurt
- Chili oil
- Bacon
- Eggs
- Savory, flourless egg-and-cottage-cheese breakfast muffins
- Cream cheese pancakes
- Spinach
- Mushroom
- feta crustless quiche
- Coconut chia pudding
- Bacon
- Avocado
- Tomato salad
- Smoked Salmon baked eggs in avocado
- Apple with cinnamon almond butter
- Sausage and eggs to go
- Bacon pancakes
- Low carb no egg breakfast bake with sausage and peppers
- Spinach
- Goat cheese
- Keto corn flakes
- Low-carb blueberry pancakes
- Keto French toast egg puffs
- Keto-iced coffee
- Bullet coffee
- Slow-cooked bone broth-3 ways
- Dairy-free keto latte
- Iced tea
- Keto taco omelet
- Keto casserole
- Chorizo omelet
- Low carb Waffles
Every recipe is based on healthy, high-fat, moderate protein, and low carbs and keeps you satisfied and full for hours. The options are endless. Making breakfast recipes with processed protein, starches, sugars, and fibers is not a good choice.
Q. Can you eat oatmeal on the keto diet?
A. Oatmeal is not a keto-friendly food. The oats are full of carbs and do not blend with keto diet rules. Germ, endosperm, and bran are part of oats and stay during the milling process. They are rich in dietary fiber and other nutrients like magnesium, phosphorous, zinc, and thiamine.
Cooked oats comprised 21 g of carbs, and in keto, the total amount of carbs must not exceed 15 grams. If you eat oatmeal in a keto diet, then you have to skip all-day meals. It is easy to make mistakes (cheats). Our body is naturally made to burn carbohydrates; the body takes time to adapt to a low-carb diet by overcoming keto flu symptoms.
Patience is necessary to see the result in the form of weight loss. Keto low carb oatmeal (minus oats) can be done by following these recipe directions: overnight low-carb keto oatmeal is easy to prepare by using four ingredients: powder of flax seeds, chia seeds, sugar-free shredded coconut, and a keto-friendly sweetener in the form of maple syrup.
Combine all of them, and then add two tablespoons Of liquid (of choice) and let it sit overnight, and then add more in the morning to get a thinner consistency. Top it with macadamia nuts and chocolate chips. You can also drizzle a little quantity of monk fruit maple syrup on it for a delicious feeling.
FAQs
Q. Can I eat as much as I want on keto?
A. Ketogenic meal and snack consumption give a feeling of satisfaction. On the safer side, it’s crucial to track your calories by controlling your food portions. Certified nutritionists allow taking large portions (too many calories) throughout the day to get adequate nutrition.
Q. How does a calorie deficit occur?
So, a calorie deficit must be created by increasing physical activity. Excess pounds can be dropped by limiting the snacks and meals and curbing portion size. By selecting keto-friendly, lower-calorie foods, weight loss can be promoted.
