When your body enters a state of ketosis, it converts fat into ketones and consumes those ketones for energy. Ketosis has been found to have benefits for diabetics, people trying to lose weight and others. These seven tips can help you prepare your body for ketosis.
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Limit Your Carbohydrate Consumption
The body uses glucose as its main source of energy. To enter ketosis, you need to deplete your glucose stores, so that your body can switch to burning ketones. The best way to deplete your glucose stores is to eat a diet that is low in carbohydrates. There is no one set carbohydrate limit that works for everyone who wants to achieve ketosis. Limiting carbohydrates to 20 grams per day or less is a good starting point. You may need to adjust your intake based on your results.
Read: 9 Simple and Realistic Ways to Improve Your Diet
Many people start at this level and then gradually add more healthy carbohydrates, such as oatmeal carbs, to their diet until they reach their ideal level.
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Get More Exercise
Exercise depletes the glycogen in your body, which can help you get into ketosis. Usually, your glycogen stores are replenished after exercise by eating carbohydrates, but because you are following a low carb diet, your glycogen levels should remain low. Research has found that exercising before a meal can have additional benefits for ketone production. However, it can take one to four weeks for the body to get used to using ketones for fuel, so it is a good idea to give your body time to adjust before increasing your activity too much.
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Eat More Healthy Fat
Because consuming healthy fats can boost ketone levels, many keto diets recommend getting 60-80% of your calories from fat. Because fats will comprise such a large percentage of your diet, it is important to consume high-quality fats, such as avocado oil, olive oil, butter, coconut oil, lard and tallow. Eating healthy fats will help your satiety level, which can aid in weight loss, but because fats are calorically dense, it is important to monitor your portion sizes.
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Add Coconut Oil To Your Diet
Coconut oil contains medium-chain triglycerides. MCTs have been shown to have a positive effect on ketone production. However, because too much coconut oil in the diet can cause stomach cramps or diarrhea, it is a good idea to introduce it to your diet gradually.
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Make Sure You Eat Enough Protein
Unlike many other low-carb diets, the keto diet is not a high protein diet. You should aim for a protein intake that is high enough to maintain muscle mass, but low enough to avoid reducing ketone production. Try to consume .55 – .77 grams of protein per pound of lean mass.
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Try Fasting
Not eating for short periods of time is another way you can induce ketosis. Short fasts, such as those prescribed by some intermittent fasting diets, can have ketone boosting effects in some people. Alternatively, you can try what is called a “fat fast.” During a fat fast, you will consume about 1,000 calories per day, with most of those calories coming from fat. This can help you get into ketosis rapidly. However, you should not maintain this low level of calories for more than three to five days.
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Adjust Your Diet As Needed
Not everyone responds to a keto diet in the same way. Sticking rigidly to a recommended eating plan can negatively impact your results. Breath, blood or urine tests can be used to determine your ketone levels. Test your ketone levels periodically and adjust your diet until you are consistently achieving the results you want.
The keto diet has been proven to be effective for inducing a state of ketosis, which can have health benefits for many people. However, because results vary from person to person, it is important to experiment with different techniques to find the ones that work for you.
