Five Ways to Plan a Balanced Keto Diet Plan | Sydelma

A ketogenic diet includes reducing the intake of carbohydrates and increasing the consumption of fats promoting the body to use fats as the major source of energy also known as ketosis. Hence, the keto diet is for the extremes. And therefore, in theory, the keto diet is not balanced.

The will usually exclude most fruits, grains, legumes, and anything that might have carbohydrates. The truth is that apart from pure fats (oils) and meat (beef, fish, chicken), everything else will have some amount of carbohydrates in it.

However, having a balanced diet is crucial for the overall health of the body. Most people who switch to eating the keto diet are those who have previously consumed processed foods and trans fats. So, they are already deficient in several crucial micronutrients and macronutrients such as vitamin D, vitamin B12, vitamin C, selenium, calcium, and magnesium.

And this is a major concern for people who follow a keto diet plan. Experts suggest that anybody who wants to start a keto diet must consult their doctor to determine ways to get the required micronutrients. Apart from this, these five ways will help you plan a balanced and sustainable keto diet plan easily.

Make your carbs count

You already know that the keto diet asks to reduce the number of carbohydrates in the diet. But this doesn't mean you have to eliminate the carbs. Instead, you need to make sure that you make each gram of carbohydrate count. The usual limit for carbs in the keto diet is 20-50 g per day. Make sure that you choose food items that have dense carbs such as nuts, avocado, and seeds.

Avoid foods that have processed sugar such as cookies. This will only increase your sugar intake and disturb your ketosis. So, make an informed choice for carbohydrates!

Bring variety

A Keto diet will require you to consume foods that have more fats and fewer carbs. This will heavily limit your options for food items and recipes. This can also result in you getting stuck in the rut of making the same recipes again. This can become monotonous and reduce your motivation to follow the.

Hence, it is important to bring variety to the food dishes you eat while supporting your keto diet journey. The best way is to follow different keto bloggers on social media who have written books with keto-friendly recipes. If you want to know whom to follow, you can read our previous blog on Instagrammers you need to follow for keto diet inspiration.

Mix up your fats

Now, you might already know that saturated fats are not healthy for our bodies. But there is also no strict capping over the amount of saturated fat consumption in the keto diet. So, you might tend to load up on saturated fats such as coconut oil or butter.

However, you must not rely on saturated fats alone. In fact, saturated fats must only account for less than 10% of the overall diet. You need to mix unsaturated fats and saturated fats in your diet strategically. For example, adding coconut oil (saturated fats) to your smoothie and using avocado oil (unsaturated fats) on your salad or roasted veggies, or eating prime rib-eye for lunch while eating chicken prepared in olive oil for dinner. This is how you can switch up fats and ensure that you don't load up only on saturated fats.

Buy quality food

Since you are going to eat meat and a lot of fats, you need to ensure that you buy quality foods that you can afford. For example, you can buy organic eggs, organic butter, and wild seafood, and more such good quality products.

Measure your food at the beginning

When you start following the, you must make a habit of measuring everything you eat. Measure your protein, for example, use a scale to quantify 3 to 4 oz of meat for the day. Eating too much protein will bring you out of ketosis.

Make sure you have measuring spoons that allow you to measure the amount of fat in every recipe and keep track of it. In the beginning, measuring will also give you an idea of how much different quantities look like. Once you have understood different quantities, you can stop using measurement scales and spoons.

These five ways will ensure that you keep up with your keto diet plan efficiently and get the desired results.

Healthy food options that don't fit the keto diet

One of the major requirements of following a keto diet plan successfully includes keeping an eye on the net carbs for the day. As mentioned above, the net carbs should be between 20-50 grams per day. So, choosing the right kind of food items that don't exceed your daily net carbs is important.

Here are a few food items that are considered healthy but can't be included in the keto diet.

Apples

Yes, that's right! Although we say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, you can't include this fruit in the keto diet plan. This fruit has more than 20 g of net carbs that can go beyond the required quantity per day. And if you are someone who likes to eat sweets, eating just one medium apple can complete your net carbs of the day leaving no room for eating something keto-friendly sweet.

Quinoa

So, we always consider quinoa when we talk about healthy food. However, it is not a great choice for keto diet followers. This food item is rich in protein, but it also has almost 17 g of net carbs in ½ cup serving. This is not ideal for someone who wants to stay in ketosis.

Dark chocolate

Chocolate lovers! Following a keto diet will want you to make a major sacrifice and that is giving up on eating your favorite dark chocolate. 1 oz serving of dark chocolate will give you 10 g net carbs. If you are determined to keep your net carbs at 20 g, eating just one square of dark chocolate will complete half of the daily net carbs.

Black Beans

It is quite unfortunate that you can't eat legumes and beans while on the keto diet. Beans and legumes have high protein, fibers, and antioxidants, all of which are important for the keto diet. But they also have carbohydrates. ½ cup serving of black beans will give you 12 g of net carbs. That is a strict no-no!

Sweet potatoes

So, you have surely removed white potatoes from your keto diet plan. But make sure to remove sweet potatoes too. They are also loaded with carbohydrates (surprise, surprise!). A medium-sized sweet potato will give you a whopping 23 g of net carbs.

Oranges

While following the keto diet, you might have given up your morning orange juice. This kind of makes sense because it does have too much sugar. But make sure to say goodbye to the orange fruit as a whole. One small orange will give you 13 g of net carbs.

These are the six food items that are considered healthy but can't be included in your keto diet. If you want to keep getting more insights and updates about the keto diet, keep reading our blogs at Sydelma.com!

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