Everything You Need to Know About the Keto Diet

Health

What Is The Keto Diet?

A ketogenic diet is a low carb, high fat diet. One of its main goals is to train your body to get its energy from a whole different source - ketones, rather than glucose.

When you eat carbs, your body naturally converts them into glucose and insulin. Glucose is the easiest molecule for your body to convert into energy and is your body’s immediate go-to for fuel. Insulin is what carries the glucose all through your bloodstream and gets the converted energy to where it needs to go.

Because of this process, the fats you eat don’t often get used and end up getting stored away. They are considered as more of a backup for your body and because of the high amount of carbs the majority of people consume, fats rarely get touched.

The ketogenic diet (AKA keto diet) breaks this cycle.

Through the dramatic drop in carbs, your body starts to go into a state known as ketosis. This is what happens when the amount of healthy fats you eat greatly outnumber the amount of carbohydrates you eat. When you start doing this, your body has no choice but to resort to this ketosis state. The fats you eat will start getting converted into ketones through your liver and those ketones will become your body’s main source of energy.

This is a whole different way to get your body into a metabolic state. Rather than starving it of calories, you are starving it of carbs, training your whole system to make ketones as your body’s main source of energy.

Different Types Of Ketogenic Diets

Standard Ketogenic Diet (SKD) - This is the typical form of the diet. It is very low carb and moderate protein. 75% fats, 20% protein and 5% carbs.
Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD) - This is a more advanced form of the diet, typically used by athletes. It involves high carb days. For example, 5 keto days will be followed by 2 high carb days.
Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD) - This is also a more advanced form used by athletes, which allows you to add more carbs around workouts.
High-Protein Ketogenic Diet - This is very similar to the standard form of the diet, it just includes more protein. 60% fat, 35% protein and 5% carbs.

Keto Macros