Here’s What You Need to Include on a Keto Grocery List
What exactly is the keto diet?
The Ketogenic Diet is a low carb diet to produce ketones in the liver to be used as energy. It is sometimes referred to as a low carbohydrate diet, low carb high fat (LCHF), but is most commonly known as the keto diet.
This type of diet has gained popularity over the years, mainly for being an effective means of losing weight because of the very minimal carbohydrate needed for this type of diet. How minimal on carb and high on protein and fat should you get?
The standard ratios for macronutrients you find in a keto diet are:
- 55–60% fat
- 30–35% protein
- 5–10% carbohydrates
If you have a typical 2,000 calorie intake diet per day, following a keto diet means cutting down your carbohydrate intake to 20-50 (g) per day. The idea of the Keto Diet is for you to get more calories from fats and proteins and less from carbohydrates.
Why so much fat?
In a keto diet, fat becomes very important for your body to enter the metabolic state of Ketosis and use up those fats as your internal and primary source of energy. Contrary to popular belief, fat can be relatively healthy for you as it contains twice as much energy and calories as can be found in your proteins or carbs.
Why protein?
A relatively high amount of your nutrient source should be protein, as it also serves as a vital energy source. Protein is a good source for building mass and a vital one to complete your nutritional intake. And that is why getting enough protein is needed for you to maintain your muscle mass while on a keto diet.
On the other hand, minimal-carb intake is needed to boost the intake of essential nutrients. Simply put, the goal of this type of diet is for your body to enter a new metabolic state called Ketosis.
What is Ketosis?
When you take in a minimal amount of carbs and load up on high amounts of protein and fats, your body necessarily takes energy from the ketones stored in fats instead of the glucose stored in carbs. Ketosis allows you to enter the metabolic state of Ketosis in which fat becomes the primary source of fuel for the body.
Different Types Of Keto Diet
According to Vanessa Rissetto, MS, RD, CDN, the different types of diet all have the same gist–super low-carb, high fat, and moderate protein, but each has its guidelines. Here are the four most common types of Keto diet:
1. Standard Ketogenic Diet
Macronutrient ratio: 75% fat, 15-20% protein, 5-10% carbs
With the standard Keto diet, the idea is that you need to get about 150 grams a day of fat to shift your metabolism and burn fat as fuel. Consequently, this means that you need to slash your carb intake from your usual 200-200+ grams per day to no more than 50, or the amount found in just one blueberry muffin. Generally, this means loading up on leafy greens, low-carbohydrate fruits, and non-starchy veggies. Finally, you will need a moderate amount of protein intake, about 90 grams per day, or 30 grams for each meal.
2. Targeted Keto Diet (TKD)
Macronutrient ratio: 65-70% fat, 20% protein, 10-15% carbs.
This type of keto diet is prevalent among athletes and active individuals who want to do a keto diet but need a wider leeway for carbs. This type of diet apportions an additional 20-30 grams of carbohydrates. This amount of carb intake is usually taken immediately before and after every workout for high-intensity training and enhanced recovery. Generally, this means loading up on dairy or grain-based food, fruits, or other sports nutrition products.
Why this deviation? Athletes and other active individuals readily burn off the additional carb they take, and hence they don’t get stored as body fat.
3. Cyclic Keto Diet (CKD)
Macronutrient ratio: 75% fat, 15-20% protein, 5-10% carbs on keto day; 25% fat, 25% protein, and 50% carbs on off days.
The Cyclic Keto Diet allows your body to cycle in and out of the metabolic state of Ketosis. This diet generally lets you enjoy a more balanced diet on your “days off.” One keto cycling method you can try includes five days of the strict keto diet, two non-keto diet days per week. These non-keto diet days are usually saved by some people for special occasions, birthdays, holidays, and all the times when you can’t say no to all the food you see. For optimal results, load up on wholesome carbohydrate-rich foods on your non-keto days, which can include dairy products, fruits, starchy vegetables, and whole grains.
Lifestyle Change
For most, the keto diet has ceased to be another fad diet. Instead, it evolved to become a progressive change process and not an overnight fix. It is in this respect that a keto diet becomes a continuous journey that sparks a lifestyle change.
But while a low carb diet or keto diet can have numerous benefits, it is equally important to note that note everyone needs to be on one.
You might not need a keto diet if:
- You have no metabolic issues.
- You have no family history of Diabetes or other metabolic diseases.
- You feel that cutting down on your favorite carb foods will adversely affect your quality of life, notwithstanding the health benefits you get from it.
Again, not everyone may have a pressing reason to limit dietary carbohydrates. If you feel great taking in carbs, and you are at a healthy weight and have no apparent health issues, a keto diet may not be for you. While significantly reducing your carb intake has noticeable and proven benefits, that alone doesn’t mean that it is the “right” diet for everyone.
Benefits
1. Helping manage Diabetes
For people suffering from Type 2 Diabetes or Prediabetes, Ketogenic Diets helped improve their insulin sensitivity.Insulin sensitivity is enhanced since ketogenic diets lessen their body’s excess fat. With Keto Diets’ impact on the body’s three macronutrients–protein, carb, and fat, it helped the body better manage its blood sugar levels. Do Ketogenic Diets help manage Diabetes? Various researches suggest that people with Diabetes have experienced long term improvements in controlling their blood sugar level.
2. Improving Heart Health
Some Ketogenic Diets give importance to consuming healthy fats instead of the less healthy kinds of fats present in, for example, pork rinds. This type of healthy fat consumption contributes to improving your heart health, as this helps your body reduce the consumption of cholesterol.
It is known that high cholesterol levels can increase your risk of acquiring heart disease. In various study reviews of humans and animals undergoing a keto diet, its subjects experienced a significant drop in levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol). The findings strongly suggest that with keto diet’s reducing effect on bad cholesterol, it may, therefore, reduce a person’s risk of heart complications.
3. Improving Mental Performance
Studies suggest that Keto Diet helps improve mental performance by enhancing your mental focus. With ketones as the alternative fuel source of the brain instead of glucose, your body can avoid the erratic spike of
Side Effects
For some people, the Keto diet has become their holy-grail to achieve their weight loss goals continually. However, as your body adapts in this type of diet, there may be initial side effects that you may experience.
Although the keto diet is generally safe for most healthy people, some experience a “keto flu” as its side effect, Keto Flu is your body’s natural response to carbohydrate restriction. With Keto’s emphasis on high on fat, moderate in protein, and low in carbs diet implies that your body will burn fatty acids for energy instead of glucose, which comes from sugar and other carbohydrates. Restricting carbohydrate intake means that your body will experience lower levels of glucose, your body’s preferred fuel source. By depriving your body of the usual glucose level it operates, your body experiences carb withdrawal. As your body continuously experience insufficient glucose levels, it will substitute fats at its alternative fuel source. This fat-burning aspect of the ketogenic diet is its secret weight-loss weapon.
You may have wondered what the signs of a typical Keto Flu are. For some, that have experienced headache, dizziness, nausea, poor focus, sugar cravings, and stomach ache. Keto Flu usually happens on the 24-48 hour mark after you have started the diet. It usually lasts from a few days to a month at most. The severity of the flu depends on your metabolic flexibility–your body’s ability to adapt to another fuel source,
Meal Plan
In starting your successful keto diet journey, you need to plan. Detailed and visible meal plans will help you to better and consistently focus on sticking to your keto diet journey as well as to meticulously figure out what and what not to eat when you are in a keto diet.
As emphasized, a keto diet needs to strictly follow a high in fat, moderate in protein, and very low in the carbs meal plan. Your nutrient intake should be around 55-60% fat, 30-35% protein, and 5-10% carbohydrate depending on what type of keto diet you are going for. Considering the specific nutrient content, you need to be mindful of your food intake.
Shopping ingredients for your keto diet are quite tricky. With this in mind, we have listed ingredients you need to include on your grocery list the next time you shop for your keto diet meal plan.
1. Seafood
High-quality proteins such as wild or sustainably farmed seafood such as wild salmon, sardines, mackerel, shrimp, crab, tuna, mussels, and cod are a great source of healthy fats like omega-3 fatty acids as well as other nutrients such as selenium and protein.
2. Organic Meat, Poultry, and Eggs
It is essential to buy and consume organic poultry and grass-fed meat products as part of your Keto diet. These organic selections are proven to contain high levels of healthy fats, which your body can better absorb when compared to commercially fed and grown meat and poultry
3. Dairy Products
Dairy products such as cheese, cottage, plain greek yogurt, and butter are a good source of protein, healthy fats, and calcium.
4. Oils
Oils from fruits like olives or nuts like wall-nuts are a great source of healthy fats for your keto diet meal plan. Also, other oils such as extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, coconut oil, nut oils, and coconut butter oils are good alternatives too!
5. Coffee and Tea
Unsweetened teas and coffees are keto-approved to be part of your next keto diet plan. Instead of munching on unhealthy breakfast, you can skip it and substitute it with coffee or tea. It will not only make you healthier but saves you time in preparing your breakfast as well.
Now that you know what ingredients you need to buy for your keto diet plan, it is time to whip off some easy and basic keto meal plan from these ingredients.
Breakfast Meal Plan
Do you prefer quick with minimal to no cooking kind of keto breakfast? The Classic Scrambled Eggs or Bacon and Eggs is the right breakfast for you! Eggs are considered as an all-rounder when it comes to nutrients as it contains all the nutrients you need except for Vitamin C! You can add some leafy greens for a perfectly healthy and satiating meal. You can also add some mayonnaise, olive oil, or butter to add some extra fat in your breakfast meal. If you don’t want to cook at all, you can skip them and drink your preferred coffee, either mixed with cream or butter! Adding some fat in your coffee or tea provides just enough energy to get you through until lunch!
Lunch and Dinner Meal Plan
The keto diet might be strict with carbs, but it is generous when it comes to flavors. In preparing for your lunch and dinner meal plan, your imagination and creativity is the limit whether you’re looking for budget-friendly lunchbox meals or you’re planning a fancy dinner.
If you want a Keto Meal that will only consume 15 minutes of your time, a simple Keto Halloumi Cheese and avocado is right for you. You can fry the halloumi and add a slice of avocado with generous portions of cucumber and pistachios on the side. You can also add sour cream and a drizzle of lemon. If you want a simple but elegant keto dinner, you may find the Keto turkey with cream-cheese sauce appealing. The Briny capers combined with turkey and cheese will surely excite your palette. Add some succulents, and it will make your meal more satisfying!
Planning your keto diet does not have to be complicated. What is important is balance and the right proportion of fat, protein, and carbohydrates in your meal.