Lately, as I've been browsing through social media pages about the Keto diet, I'm starting to see a concerning pattern as to what people seem to think Keto is. I'm seeing a lot of people putting a crap ton of butter on everything they eat, eating hotdogs and bacon for every meal, and dousing everything in copious amounts of melted cheese. I see people striving to "hit their fat goals" and eating thousand-calorie "fat bombs" as a result. This morning, I literally saw someone blending a HALF STICK OF BUTTER into their "bulletproof coffee" and I almost gagged. I don't mean to sound flip, or like the Keto police, but this craziness has gotta stop.
First, let's discuss what KETOSIS is. Ketosis is a natural state that your body enters when it is deprived carbohydrates. In the absence of carbs, your body burns fat for energy. It keeps you alive and functioning. You are born in a state of ketosis (don't believe me? Research the fat content in healthy breast milk. It's basically heavy whipping cream!). It is arguably your body's most natural state of functioning and fat burning.
SO, if you were starving, your body would keep you alive for a while. How would it do that? It would burn your body's fat for energy. It would tap into the stores of "white fat" (not the healthier brown fat that protects your major organs) and burn it for brain, metabolic, and organ fuel. This is why keto and intermittent fasting (see my article devoted to IF for more info) so frequently go together. Periods of fasting = increased ketone production. Increased ketone production = increased fat burning. Increased fat burning = weight loss. Make sense?
What a lot of people seem to miss, is that, Ketosis is created by what you do not eat. This is maybe the most important thing a person could understand when starting a Ketogenic diet. It is less about what you DO eat, and more about what you do NOT eat. Sugar/carb deprivation = nutritional ketosis.
The fact of the matter is, "Keto" is not the only diet that kickstarts the process of Ketosis. Atkins does it too by depriving the body of carbs. Any diet that removes sugar and carbs encourages nutritional ketosis. Some people don't lose weight as well on the high-protein structure of atkins. People like me, who need a diet consisting of healthy fats, will naturally do better on keto. How are they different? Keto focuses your macros at 75% fat, 20% protein, 5% carbs where diets like atkins focus on protein. Keto is great and works a lot better for some people for a few reasons. First, the presence of healthy fats like eggs, oils, fish, nuts, etc. There are tons of health benefits to these foods, not the least of which is decreased inflammation and healthier brain function. Second, the cycle of eating healthy fats only further promotes ketone production and fat burning.
So, where have we gone wrong? We have somehow gotten it in our heads that this means to eat fat, fat, and more fat. Instead of focusing on a nutritional diet that also happens to suit our ketogenic macros, we are focusing all of our attention on consuming fat in mass quantities. Logically, eliminating carbs and sugar from our diets is a great way to encourage healthy weight loss and better health. Nowhere is it written that insane amounts of butter also accomplish the same goal. Actually, extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil is a much better and healthier fat source. I'm not saying don't eat butter, I put butter on my steak, veggies etc and sometimes cook with it as well. But drinking a half a stick of butter for breakfast is borderline insane.
The problem is that our butter-chugger friend isn't an exception to the rest of the keto community. There are a large group of ketoers who have fallen into an unhealthy pattern of dousing everything in butter and cheese and restricting themselves to the point of being petrified of having "too much protein" in their diets or even refusing to eat vegetables because they have carbs.
Again, I realize that there are a lot of people who follow keto correctly. But for those among us who don't, I need to set the record straight.
You do not need to strive for a certain numerical amount of fat every day. You do not need to eat a thousand-calorie fat bomb to balance out your macros. You do not need to go without vegetables for fear of carbs. You do not need to avoid protein. And for gods sake, you do not need to put a half stick of butter in your coffee.
If you're focusing your attention on eating darker cuts of meat, cooking with healthier oils, and consuming an appropriate amount of eggs and nuts every day, you are hitting your fat goals. Vegetables are the exact carbs we should all be eating. Protein is fine, everyone's threshold is different, but protein is fine. If all you have in your house is boneless, skinless chicken breasts, you can eat them and be fine. If you still have fat on your body (you do, as long as you are living you will), you still have "fuel in the tank." You do not need to compensate irrationally via low quality fat sources. Bulletproof coffee has it's place and has it's benefits, but it is not a necessary staple of keto. Some people have found it to be a great, super helpful addition to their diet, when done properly (coffee + 2 tbs of fat (butter, coconut oil, mct oil), blended), but it's not necessary of helpful for everyone. For reference, I would say that is BPC fills you up and energizes you, and can be honestly called "breakfast," it's an OK thing for you. But the fact is, the calories in BPC are the equivalent of a whole meal. If it doesn't work as an entire meal for you, don't waste your calories. As wonderful (and I really mean wonderful) as keto is, you'll still gain weight if you take in more calories than your body is capable of burning.
I will be the first one to defend a ketogenic diet, and stand by the idea that the quality of your calories is immeasurably more important than the amount. However, we still have to think about fueling and sustaining our body and our health with the food that we eat. When you think about it that way, I would much rather fill my tank with healthy, nutritious sources of fat.
For reference, I'm including a nutrition pyramid that I think is super useful. Your fats should come from oily fish, darker cuts of meat (with skin and on the bone is preferable), oils, eggs, nuts, avocados. Add butter in reasonable amounts. Your protein will be present in all of those foods, naturally. And your carbs should come from green vegetables (think: veggies that grow above ground) and occasionally berries. Don't eat sugar, bread, pasta, beans or rice. Make sense? :)
As always, if you have any questions about keto or how to get started, you can email me at ketorebekah@gmail.com or on IG at keto_rebekah :)
First, let's discuss what KETOSIS is. Ketosis is a natural state that your body enters when it is deprived carbohydrates. In the absence of carbs, your body burns fat for energy. It keeps you alive and functioning. You are born in a state of ketosis (don't believe me? Research the fat content in healthy breast milk. It's basically heavy whipping cream!). It is arguably your body's most natural state of functioning and fat burning.
SO, if you were starving, your body would keep you alive for a while. How would it do that? It would burn your body's fat for energy. It would tap into the stores of "white fat" (not the healthier brown fat that protects your major organs) and burn it for brain, metabolic, and organ fuel. This is why keto and intermittent fasting (see my article devoted to IF for more info) so frequently go together. Periods of fasting = increased ketone production. Increased ketone production = increased fat burning. Increased fat burning = weight loss. Make sense?
What a lot of people seem to miss, is that, Ketosis is created by what you do not eat. This is maybe the most important thing a person could understand when starting a Ketogenic diet. It is less about what you DO eat, and more about what you do NOT eat. Sugar/carb deprivation = nutritional ketosis.
The fact of the matter is, "Keto" is not the only diet that kickstarts the process of Ketosis. Atkins does it too by depriving the body of carbs. Any diet that removes sugar and carbs encourages nutritional ketosis. Some people don't lose weight as well on the high-protein structure of atkins. People like me, who need a diet consisting of healthy fats, will naturally do better on keto. How are they different? Keto focuses your macros at 75% fat, 20% protein, 5% carbs where diets like atkins focus on protein. Keto is great and works a lot better for some people for a few reasons. First, the presence of healthy fats like eggs, oils, fish, nuts, etc. There are tons of health benefits to these foods, not the least of which is decreased inflammation and healthier brain function. Second, the cycle of eating healthy fats only further promotes ketone production and fat burning.
So, where have we gone wrong? We have somehow gotten it in our heads that this means to eat fat, fat, and more fat. Instead of focusing on a nutritional diet that also happens to suit our ketogenic macros, we are focusing all of our attention on consuming fat in mass quantities. Logically, eliminating carbs and sugar from our diets is a great way to encourage healthy weight loss and better health. Nowhere is it written that insane amounts of butter also accomplish the same goal. Actually, extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil is a much better and healthier fat source. I'm not saying don't eat butter, I put butter on my steak, veggies etc and sometimes cook with it as well. But drinking a half a stick of butter for breakfast is borderline insane.
The problem is that our butter-chugger friend isn't an exception to the rest of the keto community. There are a large group of ketoers who have fallen into an unhealthy pattern of dousing everything in butter and cheese and restricting themselves to the point of being petrified of having "too much protein" in their diets or even refusing to eat vegetables because they have carbs.
Again, I realize that there are a lot of people who follow keto correctly. But for those among us who don't, I need to set the record straight.
You do not need to strive for a certain numerical amount of fat every day. You do not need to eat a thousand-calorie fat bomb to balance out your macros. You do not need to go without vegetables for fear of carbs. You do not need to avoid protein. And for gods sake, you do not need to put a half stick of butter in your coffee.
If you're focusing your attention on eating darker cuts of meat, cooking with healthier oils, and consuming an appropriate amount of eggs and nuts every day, you are hitting your fat goals. Vegetables are the exact carbs we should all be eating. Protein is fine, everyone's threshold is different, but protein is fine. If all you have in your house is boneless, skinless chicken breasts, you can eat them and be fine. If you still have fat on your body (you do, as long as you are living you will), you still have "fuel in the tank." You do not need to compensate irrationally via low quality fat sources. Bulletproof coffee has it's place and has it's benefits, but it is not a necessary staple of keto. Some people have found it to be a great, super helpful addition to their diet, when done properly (coffee + 2 tbs of fat (butter, coconut oil, mct oil), blended), but it's not necessary of helpful for everyone. For reference, I would say that is BPC fills you up and energizes you, and can be honestly called "breakfast," it's an OK thing for you. But the fact is, the calories in BPC are the equivalent of a whole meal. If it doesn't work as an entire meal for you, don't waste your calories. As wonderful (and I really mean wonderful) as keto is, you'll still gain weight if you take in more calories than your body is capable of burning.
I will be the first one to defend a ketogenic diet, and stand by the idea that the quality of your calories is immeasurably more important than the amount. However, we still have to think about fueling and sustaining our body and our health with the food that we eat. When you think about it that way, I would much rather fill my tank with healthy, nutritious sources of fat.
For reference, I'm including a nutrition pyramid that I think is super useful. Your fats should come from oily fish, darker cuts of meat (with skin and on the bone is preferable), oils, eggs, nuts, avocados. Add butter in reasonable amounts. Your protein will be present in all of those foods, naturally. And your carbs should come from green vegetables (think: veggies that grow above ground) and occasionally berries. Don't eat sugar, bread, pasta, beans or rice. Make sense? :)
As always, if you have any questions about keto or how to get started, you can email me at ketorebekah@gmail.com or on IG at keto_rebekah :)
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